Orlando.....it's time (Sanford, Winter Park, Winter Garden: crime, new home, neighborhoods)

[Christian11]

Sanford - Glorified Ghetto

Date posted: 9/14/2006
Years at this locationt: 2004-2006

This place is awful, the glorified ghetto of Sanford. They give it a fancy ad on forrent.com but please don't let that fool you! Only move to sanford if you absolutely have no other choice. It's affordable for this area but the rent keeps going up every year. I'd say about 45% of the people here do and deal drugs, you can hear them at night on their Nextels or you smell the marijuana in the hallways. Smoke come out of unites all the time (meth?) The kids around here run around like savages in the streets at all hours of the day and night. They play in the street, throw balls around and won't move when cars try to drive by. An apartment gets broken into or a car window gets smashed, or tires get slashed at least once every a month.

I have had to call the cops at least once a month b/c of people yelling or slamming doors or partying with a whole bunch of friends in their apartment, or people blasting music to the point that the wall vibrates. And there is never any parking b/c mysterious cars pop up in your parking space all the time!

Oh and in the winter time beware of the mold that will creep all over your windows and walls. I have had to contact their corporate to get that fixed and they still did a crappy job on it. The office staff is lazy and rude, especially the manager is a B***H! If you have children, they will ride the bus with troublemakers that argue and fight and bother the busdriver while he/she is driving, very dangerous! Oh and if you don't like ghetto people, don't move here b/c they are everywhere. You will either need a weapon or a large dog for protection b/c the doors only have one crappy lock that is very easy to break. Also don't live here if you have a nice car b/c it will get f***ed up!

This is Sanford. I warned you!

[pianogal]

Am looking at possibly west near Winter Garden, east near Avalon Park and north as far as Sanford. Thanks so much. I am living in South Florida so people, traffic, home prices, congestion and any other negatives will have no effect on me. Thanks

Your best bet would be to come and drive these areas and talk to the locals. However I can give you some impressions of east Orlando and Sanford. I currently live in East Orlando in the Vista Lakes/Lake Nona Corridor. Located nearby are Waterford Lakes, Stoneybrook East and Avalon Park. One of the greatest things about living in my location is that I have very easy access to the 417, 528 and 408. Although these are toll roads, I can be anywhere in the central florida area (including Cocoa Beach and the Cruise Ship Terminals) within about 30 minutes. Because this is a new area everything is fresh, clean and modern looking and we have excellent new schools. The only downside is that we're not in the middle of a highly developed business section. My community sits in the middle of a 3 mile tract of woods. If that is important to you, perhaps you should look into the Waterford Lakes area - it is more highly developed and where I shop most of the time.

Sanford is a mixture. It is an old city, older than Orlando. It does have some old, run down areas. Recently developers and city leaders have stepped in and begun to revitalize the area. We have several church families that live there in middle to upper middle class areas and love it. Seminole High School hosts the IB - International Bacalaureate Program for Seminole County and is the magnet school for the Academy of Health Careers.

Sanford is a smaller town of 47,000 residents and is more like the old fashioned hometown. There is a charming 1920's style theatre downtown that hosts community theatre groups, dance recitals, etc. We've attended a number of charity events there. Every 4th of July the city hosts a big party in the park by Lake Monroe - at the center of Downtown culminating in a fireworks display over the lake. Alot of the businesses downtown have been reopened by local tradesmen and it's beginning to fashion itself somewhat after the downtown charm of Mt. Dora with little shops featuring crafts, gifts, antiques, coffees/teas etc.

Because it is an older city - it doesn't look as modern and clean as some other areas. However there are some beautiful areas that we can't duplicate today. Drive down the streets of the turn of the century Victorian Homes with large Oaks dripping with moss....see the adjacent community parks, the old churches.

Good luck on your decision.

[deana]

Thanks so much pianogal...your post was just what I was looking for. Great info!

[mom2hn]

Hi!
We moved here 5 1/2 years ago and love our town. It is a very family oriented community with lots of activities planned year round. One of our favorites is the annual "light up Winter Garden" that we just went to. They do all the normal Christmas stuff ... but also made a hill with real snow and let all the kids (and parents with young children ...) sled down ... just an example of the extra effort to keep the town active and involved. It was so fun to throw snowballs in 75 degree weather!!

When we moved here the downtown area was under construction and now is one of the prettiest downtowns around. Brick streets, fountain, beautiful landscaping, etc. No big name stores here ... our fav. is Downtown Brown's ... a nostalgic little diner and homemade ice cream shop.

The West Orange Trail (bike trail)runs through the downtown (and right past our neighborhood on the East side) It goes north to Apopka and west towards Clermont. It is a great place to bike/walk/run etc.

The newer 429 (toll)connects Winter Garden with Apopka and the Disney area. We went to my husband's office party at Disney and got there in 20 min. The FL Turnpike and 408 run right through W.G. as well. It's a very convenient location!! (we go to church downtown Orlando and travel the 408)

There may be a possibility of my husband's job bringing us back to NC and I will miss Winter Garden so much. It the short time we have been here, we have found a place that really feels like home. It truly has a small town feel even though it is growing so fast. And someone mentioned that it is close to Pine Hills ... it's not. The downtown area IS on the "north" side of Orange county (but so is Winter Park) but there is a whole town (Ocoee) separating W.G. from Pine Hills. No big deal.

Any more info wanted ... just ask!!

[AutumnIsTheSeason]

Originally Posted by Christian11

Sanford - Glorified Ghetto

Date posted: 9/14/2006
Years at this locationt: 2004-2006

This place is awful, the glorified ghetto of Sanford. They give it a fancy ad on forrent.com but please don't let that fool you! Only move to sanford if you absolutely have no other choice. It's affordable for this area but the rent keeps going up every year. I'd say about 45% of the people here do and deal drugs, you can hear them at night on their Nextels or you smell the marijuana in the hallways. Smoke come out of unites all the time (meth?) The kids around here run around like savages in the streets at all hours of the day and night. They play in the street, throw balls around and won't move when cars try to drive by. An apartment gets broken into or a car window gets smashed, or tires get slashed at least once every a month.

I have had to call the cops at least once a month b/c of people yelling or slamming doors or partying with a whole bunch of friends in their apartment, or people blasting music to the point that the wall vibrates. And there is never any parking b/c mysterious cars pop up in your parking space all the time!

Oh and in the winter time beware of the mold that will creep all over your windows and walls. I have had to contact their corporate to get that fixed and they still did a crappy job on it. The office staff is lazy and rude, especially the manager is a B***H! If you have children, they will ride the bus with troublemakers that argue and fight and bother the busdriver while he/she is driving, very dangerous! Oh and if you don't like ghetto people, don't move here b/c they are everywhere. You will either need a weapon or a large dog for protection b/c the doors only have one crappy lock that is very easy to break. Also don't live here if you have a nice car b/c it will get f***ed up!

This is Sanford. I warned you!

Worst than this apt, try the Villages at Millenia in o-town, there is worst, some weird men like to threaten women, awful. There is a place in winter park that is really bad too... name??? uhhmmm.,..

oh and sanford is very very bad i know a gal who lives close to Sanford, it is not good at all everything is old the only nice thing in sanford is the marina and boardwalk the rest is trash very old city... !yucky!

Meth is real I hear in Orange Blossom Trail there is always smoke coming from houses, but are not fireplaces they are drug-making houses, orlando is very terrible, i get scared even reading the newspaper or the local news....eehhh

[Dee2e]

Originally Posted by Christian11

Sanford - Glorified Ghetto

Date posted: 9/14/2006
Years at this locationt: 2004-2006

This place is awful, the glorified ghetto of Sanford. They give it a fancy ad on forrent.com but please don't let that fool you! Only move to sanford if you absolutely have no other choice. It's affordable for this area but the rent keeps going up every year. I'd say about 45% of the people here do and deal drugs, you can hear them at night on their Nextels or you smell the marijuana in the hallways. Smoke come out of unites all the time (meth?) The kids around here run around like savages in the streets at all hours of the day and night. They play in the street, throw balls around and won't move when cars try to drive by. An apartment gets broken into or a car window gets smashed, or tires get slashed at least once every a month.

I have had to call the cops at least once a month b/c of people yelling or slamming doors or partying with a whole bunch of friends in their apartment, or people blasting music to the point that the wall vibrates. And there is never any parking b/c mysterious cars pop up in your parking space all the time!

Oh and in the winter time beware of the mold that will creep all over your windows and walls. I have had to contact their corporate to get that fixed and they still did a crappy job on it. The office staff is lazy and rude, especially the manager is a B***H! If you have children, they will ride the bus with troublemakers that argue and fight and bother the busdriver while he/she is driving, very dangerous! Oh and if you don't like ghetto people, don't move here b/c they are everywhere. You will either need a weapon or a large dog for protection b/c the doors only have one crappy lock that is very easy to break. Also don't live here if you have a nice car b/c it will get f***ed up!


This is Sanford. I warned you!

Where are you getting your statistic from?

It sounds like you live in crappy apartment complex. Which one do you live in?

[deana]

Pianogal and mom2.....just wondering how far you are from the Orlando airport??? Thanks

[pianogal]

Deana, I am about 15 minutes from OIA.

[traysea]

Look in Winter Garden and head a little west on 50 and check out Oakland. It's a cute town that I hope to get back to soon! Don't listen to the negatives on Winter Garden. It's not too close to Pine Hills. The downtown is very cute, my fav pizza place is there and we've walked from Oakland to WG downtown on the bike trail many times with out feeling unsafe.

I wouldn't hang out on the trail at night b/c I wouldn't be sure who would be hanging out in the woods -- but the same could be said about where I live now outside Cincinnati (and I live in a nice neighborhood not close to the hood). The hood can come to you where ever you live.

Getting around from WG to other areas isn't that bad. I don't know how bad traffic patterns have gotten since I moved in 02' but was just down over Thanksgiving and it didn't seem bad (any worse then Cincy traffic).



Good luck!

[Bubblicious]

I do beleive you do nothing but rent gang movies and watch Scareface all day long and then imagine that is where you live. You really crack me up. If Orlando scares you so much and you see all this ghetto and drugs and violence I really cant imagine how you would make it in Detroit or philly or East LA. My God try going to the beach and surfing one day or move to a ncer part of town because I really cant imagine where you are living.