Orlando, where to live?

[Exhondaman]

First off, just a suggestion for mods. How about grouping up the Florida forums? Maybe, Orlando-Tampa, Space Coast, Miami, ect. Just to make it easier to navigate within Florida. Just a thought.

Anyways, I got a "Jay Oh Bee", and starting Jan25th. I'll be a Chef working at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal. So....


No frickin' clue where to start looking for apartments/condos to rent. The human resources department suggested only the Metro-West and "anything south of 50th". Great. I got two weeks!

Criteria:

Rent, under $600-800, 1br or large studio

I'm looking to live no more than 10-20 miles from Universal Park.

Avoid the I-4, if possible. Or at least alternate back roads.

An area that is close to shops, stores, good bars/restaurants, nothing fancy, I like dive bars. Doesn't have to be walking distance, but at least driveable when *ahem* tipsy.

Gated, or garage parking (super paranoid about the hardtop).

For those that are familiar with San Diego, I'm basically looking for a North Park, Bankers Hill or outside Gaslamp.

If you or a friend/lover/mistress are living in a place closely resembling my criteria, please chime in.

Thanks!

-Tam

[Phatmiata]

First off, just a suggestion for mods. How about grouping up the Florida forums? Maybe, Orlando-Tampa, Space Coast, Miami, ect. Just to make it easier to navigate within Florida. Just a thought.

Hey Tam, not sure I understand your request? Do you mean to create subforums inside the Florida section?






Gated, or garage parking (super paranoid about the hardtop).



Don't be paranoid in the least bit, I have NEVER heard of a Miata Hardtop being stolen in Florida. If and when that happens it has to be pretty damn rare. The only thieves in this state are stealing Hondas, and other Imports, the Miatas are still looked at like a chicks car, and they could care less about a big bulky hardtop, so no worries here. And Orlando has mostly tourists anyone, any thieves would target them first as most carry cash.

[The Driver]

Criteria:

Rent, under $600-800, 1br or large studio

I'm looking to live no more than 10-20 miles from Universal Park.

Avoid the I-4, if possible. Or at least alternate back roads.

An area that is close to shops, stores, good bars/restaurants, nothing fancy, I like dive bars. Doesn't have to be walking distance, but at least driveable when *ahem* tipsy.

Gated, or garage parking (super paranoid about the hardtop).

For those that are familiar with San Diego, I'm basically looking for a North Park, Bankers Hill or outside Gaslamp.

If you or a friend/lover/mistress are living in a place closely resembling my criteria, please chime in.

Thanks!

-Tam

Sounds like you are looking for Winter Park, but I'm not sure you could find anything for 600-800, as you are competing with rich kids attending Rollins College...

Please don't take this the wrong way. I love FL as it is my home, I love SD; heck I applied to SDPD while I was unemployed. There is NOTHING in FL that can be compared to So Cal.


Good luck!

[Exhondaman]

Hey Tam, not sure I understand your request? Do you mean to create subforums inside the Florida section?





Don't be paranoid in the least bit, I have NEVER heard of a Miata Hardtop being stolen in Florida. If and when that happens it has to be pretty damn rare. The only thieves in this state are stealing Hondas, and other Imports, the Miatas are still looked at like a chicks car, and they could care less about a big bulky hardtop, so no worries here. And Orlando has mostly tourists anyone, any thieves would target them first as most carry cash.

Yeah, subforum.

Good to hear about the hardtop non-issue. I did see lots of riced out hondas in orlando,haha.

Yeah, I'm looking at Winter Park also, but since I'll be spending some of my weekends back in Palm Bay with my parents, I don't want to spend too much money.

[Thumper13]

Amana refrigerator,washer,and drier boxes. Triplex under I-4 ..............ok ,no more bullshit. You can negotiate some good deals with extended stay places for mid $30.00 a night for a furnished,kitchen, 1 bedroom or less for an efficiency if you book for 4 or 5 months.( includes maid service ) I was able to get deals for 49.00 on major chain motels extended stays are negotiable.

[kabel]

I have no idea what the apartment scene is like these days, wish I could help you.

If you want to avoid I4, which you should, Winter Park is not where you want to locate. You would have to commute via I4 every day. Orlando is not a place of real character LOL but we make due. Maybe look at the lake Nona area? It's straight east on the 528 from universal.

Can you make it out to the next Orlando Roadsters Meet monday evening? If we have a decent turn-out maybe some of the gang can make some suggestions.

[The Driver]

For those that are familiar with San Diego, I'm basically looking for a North Park, Bankers Hill or outside Gaslamp.

If you or a friend/lover/mistress are living in a place closely resembling my criteria, please chime in.

Thanks!

-Tam




If you want to avoid I4, which you should, Winter Park is not where you want to locate. You would have to commute via I4 every day. Orlando is not a place of real character LOL but we make due. Maybe look at the lake Nona area? It's straight east on the 528 from universal.

Can you make it out to the next Orlando Roadsters Meet monday evening? If we have a decent turn-out maybe some of the gang can make some suggestions.


That's the reason I suggested Winter Park as it will be the closest to those neighborhoods. But Like I said before, he can't bring SD to Orlando, anymore that you can take Orlando to SD...

[Exhondaman]

Thanks guys, Yeah, I SHOULD be at the Orlando meet this monday.

Not trying to bring SD over to here, I know each city has a different vibe. Just wondering if there was a 'hood where everything I need is within walking/stumbling distance. I *might* reconsider the I-4 situation since I will be going to work during non-peak hours.

[The Driver]

Not trying to bring SD over to here, I know each city has a different vibe. Just wondering if there was a 'hood where everything I need is within walking/stumbling distance. I *might* reconsider the I-4 situation since I will be going to work during non-peak hours.

And I wasn't accusing you off. But I know Orlando fairly well, and same with SD. Not many people in Orlando or SD do...

[PAW47]

I use to live in the Metro West area.. Some places are nice and some are not.. Look at Bala Sands, prolly on the top end of your price. But they have attached garages and was a pretty nice place. Distance to universal is about 15 mins

[fitftw]

May I ask how you landed your new job? My girlfriend and I are trying to move to Orlando or the surrounding area when our lease is up in October and I really have no idea how to go about being assured a job before I pack up and leave. Basically what I'm saying is I absolutely need a job before I can go because I don't have much money at all but I don't ever want to go through another freezing northern winter ever again in life.

[Phatmiata]

His folks live here, so he has back up yO!

Make SURE you have a job lined up before you come, they dont allow panhandling here anymore :teehee:

[Exhondaman]

May I ask how you landed your new job? My girlfriend and I are trying to move to Orlando or the surrounding area when our lease is up in October and I really have no idea how to go about being assured a job before I pack up and leave. Basically what I'm saying is I absolutely need a job before I can go because I don't have much money at all but I don't ever want to go through another freezing northern winter ever again in life.

As phatty said, my parents live in Palm Bay, so I was able to take my time looking for a job, and picking the right one, however, since they are retired, I still had to chip in for expenses. So it wasn't a total freeby.

I did have a comfortable amount of money in my savings account for bills and expenses though. Depending on your prior company, you can actually have a pretty chunck when leaving. Save up on your PTOs and don't use any of it until you leave, then cash out. Do you have a 401k? In a pinch, taking a few thousand out won't hurt you all. My goal before moving was to have enough money for 6 months of unemployment. It took me 3.

As for jobs, the job I ultimately accepted was found by a head-hunter. But I found a lot of jobs on simplyhired.com and indeed.com. Again, the key is to take your time looking for a job.

Good luck!

[Exhondaman]

Well, after looking at 10 different places all dayam day, I finally settled on a nice community called Harbortown in MetroWest. I"m still in shock, for LESS then the price of a one bedroom dinky apartment near downtown San Diego, I got a huge 2 bedroom condo.

I also quickly found out where all the get-tows are. :)

[kung fu jesus]

May I ask how you landed your new job? My girlfriend and I are trying to move to Orlando or the surrounding area when our lease is up in October and I really have no idea how to go about being assured a job before I pack up and leave. Basically what I'm saying is I absolutely need a job before I can go because I don't have much money at all but I don't ever want to go through another freezing northern winter ever again in life.

Anywhere south of Raleigh, east of the Appalachian mountains fits that bill. Sure fire way to land a job, depending on your career, is a kickass resume, impeccable credentials and great references. Living in Charlotte, we saw snow maybe twice in the 3 years we lived there, once was a "every 25 years" storm and it quickly melted. Lots of 'bounce backs'; people who move from the to FL and find it too hot. They bounce back a little north to Georgia, SC and NC.

[Thumper13]

Well, after looking at 10 different places all dayam day, I finally settled on a nice community called Harbortown in MetroWest. I"m still in shock, for LESS then the price of a one bedroom dinky apartment near downtown San Diego, I got a huge 2 bedroom condo.

I also quickly found out where all the get-tows are. :)

If you ever want or need to wrench on your car there are 4 of us in Brevard Co maybe 20 minutes from you when you're visiting the folks on the weekends. I know how tough it is to wrench in the parking lot of an apartment. We also go on some " interesting " rides. Just PM us. We have a 1/2 day road trip on Feb 26th planned.