Is Lake Mary, Florida a Good Place to Live?
It wasn't that long ago, that almost all real estate listings in Lake Mary started out with something like:
"Beautiful home in Lake Mary, which was voted the #4 best place to live in the US by Money magazine."
This phrase was used over and over again for years. It was a fact that Lake Mary was very proud of. But why? Why did Money magazine find it the #4 best place to live? Let's talk about that.
If you prefer to watch rather than read:
1) Live, work, play
Lake Mary offers something unique in the Central Florida area, in that it's a city near Orlando where many of its inhabitants don't really have to commute. It's one of the few places where you can truly live, work and play. There are numerous employers in Lake Mary that each offer several hundred jobs. Among them are Orlando television studios, Verizon, Mitsubishi, several banks, Convergys, Fiserv, Symantec and AIG. This means that many people can avoid the commute to Orlando via I-4 by being employed where they live. That's a big draw for a lot of people. The median household income in Lake Mary is about $84,000. For comparison, the median household income of Orlando is $52,000.
2) Housing
Lake Mary offers mainly single family homes, although there are a handful of condo and townhome communities that round up the lower end of available properties, price-wise. In general Lake Mary's average price is well above Orlando's average of $265,000, with an average asking price of $495,000 and an average square footage of 2,600. Lake Mary homes tend to be newer, with very few significantly older homes, and there are numerous beautiful and well-kept communities, many of which are gated.
One of the most popular communities in the Lake Mary area is Heathrow, which has about 2,200 homes. It is a gated and guarded community, and home to over 4,000 people. Within Heathrow there are 30 neighborhoods and homes range in age from 1985 to nearly present day. Current home prices range from $325,000 to nearly $2 million. The community used to be a celery field owned by Jeno Pauluci, the food entrepreneur who founded Chun King foods and eventually developed the fields into Heathrow starting in 1985. It has numerous attractive amenities like tennis and golf, pools and playgrounds and its popularity endures.
There are many other communities within Lake Mary to chose from and another great feature of Lake Mary are of course the lakes. At any given moment about 10% of the homes for sale are lake or pond front.
A little tip, if you want to live in Lake Mary, but can't quite afford it -- Sanford is nearby and houses are much less expensive. Sometimes it's difficult to even tell if you're in Sanford or Lake Mary, and there are numerous new home communities springing up in Sanford, where you can get a brand new home for under $300,000.
3) Schools
Of course to attract executives to want to both live and work in a city, the schools have to be good, and Lake Mary offers A-rated schools that are some of the best in Seminole County. There are also 5 private schools including Lake Mary Prep. In addition, Lake Mary is home to Seminole State College, which has four campuses throughout Central Florida and serves 30,000 students.
4) Golfing
Golfers will love Lake Mary. You have Heathrow Country Club and Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes, which are both members only golf courses offering 36 holes, a full gym, a gorgeous pool (with water slides and lanes for competitive swimming), a food truck by the pool, 5 restaurants, tennis courts and pickle ball courts. Lake Mary also has Timucuan Golf Club and Alaqua Country Club. If you're into golfing, you're going to love it here.
5) Shopping
Lake Mary offers a bit of fun on Saturday mornings, Lake Mary offers a farmers market. Located in Central Park at Lake Mary City Hall, near the corner of Lake Mary Boulevard and 4th Street. I'd like to say I go there for the fresh vegetables, but I particularly enjoy the homemade cake pops. There are a variety of vendors there selling everything from plants to dog treats and it's a pleasant opportunity to support local cottage industries.
And of course right next to the farmers market we have the fun shops, boutiques and restaurants of 4th St, which is a small, walkable shopping district in Lake Mary. These shops include smaller specialty shops, not chain stores.
But Lake Mary is full of big chain stores as well, mainly dotting Lake Mary Boulevard. Here you can find Home Goods, Home Depot, Target...and much more. You don't have to leave Lake Mary unless you want to go to a shopping mall, and there is one nearby in Sanford, and another in Altamonte Springs.
6) Finally, we have my favorite Lake Mary celebrity (she's moved, so please don't try to find her here!) Toni Tennille - but you'll have to watch my video to find out why she's so special to me!
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