Seven Reasons to Move to Maitland Florida
Maitland, FL is a fantastic suburban bustling town just 20 minutes north of downtown Orlando and a 12-minute drive northwest of the ever-popular Winter Park, FL. It offers a vibrant city feel, has something to offer everyone, and is desirable to young professionals, families, retirees — there is really something for everyone. Now let's look at seven reasons why you should consider moving to Maitland, Fl. My name is Krista Taurins, and I’ve been selling real estate in the Orlando area since 2009. If you’re interested in all things real estate related in the Central Florida area, please subscribe to my channel. My contact information is always available below my videos and if you’re watching on a cell phone, just click the title below this video to populate that information. Now, let’s get started. 1. Proximity to Major Attractions Often, people choose to live in larger metropolitan cities for access to major attractions. What makes Maitland so appealing is its convenient proximity to some of Orlando's most sought-after attractions. This aspect alone makes it a top pick for entertainment seekers who prefer a smaller city to live in. Below is a list of a few. Walt Disney World Parks: Recognized as one of Florida's most popular tourist attractions, any Walt Disney World theme park is a short 35-45 minute commute for Maitland residents. It makes for an excellent weekend trip for the family or a destination to 'wow' your visiting guests. And let’s face it - you will be getting guests! Orlando Science Center: For all the science lovers out there or anyone who loves educational attractions, the Orlando Science Center has an exhibit for you. The best part is, it's located a short 15-minute drive south of Maitland. You can get there quicker than some Orlando residents can. The Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens Orlando: Located a 13-minute drive SE of Maitland, this popular tourist attraction is a historic site in Winter Park that attracts millions of tourists each year. 2. There’s Something For Everyone - Culture & Recreation When choosing a forever home or a location to live in for the foreseeable future, one of the more influential criteria is the culture & recreation scene it offers. In this case, look no further than Maitland, FL because this quaint suburban town prides itself on its diverse culture and recreation community. The Maitland Art Center: This history museum, while small, is one of the more popular attractions that locals frequent on weekends. You can expect regular events and outdoor exhibits, and to top it off, there is beautiful venue space offered for weddings and corporate parties. Maitland Community Park: One of the best things about Maitland is the year-round warm sunny weather. Locals can be found enjoying the weather while walking through 25-acres of the lush park, filled with trees, tennis, basketball, and racquetball courts, a 600-ft boardwalk, and outdoor pavilions. Enzian Theater: This nonprofit arthouse movie theater is another local staple that is most notable for hosting the Florida Film Festival, among many others. It is an intimate theater that attracts art lovers of all types and is an excellent place to sit back and relax to artistic movies and indie films. In addition, there is an outdoor dining area at the attached Eden Bar. Maitland Rotary Art Festival: Located in the locally famous Lily Park, this weekend-long event is held in November of each year. Attendees can enjoy performances from top artists, a selection of artwork to browse or purchase, and a host of music, food, and family entertainment. It offers a unique experience for anyone looking for a change in pace and is an all-around exciting weekend activity. Coffee Shops and Diners: If you're looking for a variety of sit-down coffee shops and diners to choose from, Maitland has you covered. The locals have enough options to last them weeks, from bistros and gourmet cookie shops to bakeries and ethnic breakfast joints. Whether you're looking for a Turkish breakfast, a traditional Ethiopian coffee, or an American-style brunch, you won't have a problem finding a lovely place to sit and enjoy your favorite foods. Nightlife: Any residential dense city or town needs to offer nightlife to attract the younger professionals and tourists. There is no shortage of nightlife entertainment in Maitland, and there are many options to suit your preference. Breweries, jazz bars, pubs, and nightclub lounges are some of the more popular go-to places, and they do an excellent job at keeping Maitland alive and vibrant in the evening hours. 3. Quality of Life Maitland comes in at #5 for best overall suburban towns to live in Orlando, Florida, and residents are satisfied with the quality of life this close-knit community offers. Maitland has a population of just over 17,000 as of 2021, making it a stress-free and relatively relaxed community. A large portion of the residents is academically educated, with 98.2% being a high school grad or higher and 57.5% having a bachelor's degree or higher. Maitland has an above-average employment rate, with many residents working locally or in surrounding areas. 4. Cost of Housing One of the more appealing aspects of Maitland is its affordability factor. Depending on your preference, there are various housing units to choose from, including single or multi-unit, beautiful historic bungalows, and mobile homes. English Estates is a sought-after neighborhood that predominantly features mid-size homes from the 1960s on larger lots that regularly attracts interest from buyers and new residents. Recent sales have ranged from the low $300s to mid $400s. Right now the average asking price on a single family home is in the mid-$500s and there are just about 25 homes for sale. I have mentioned Winter Park several times in this video. If you want to live in Winter Park, but you find that you are just priced out of the housing market there, Maitland might be a great alternative. 5. Education Another attractive attribute of living in Maitland is the variety of public and private schools available for children. Most schools are above-average regarding teaching style, curriculums, graduation rates, and college preparedness. It’s worth noting that some of Maitland falls in Seminole County and some falls in Orange County. There are online tools for you to use to figure out which school your home is zoned for, and please do verify that regardless of what the MLS says if schools are important to you. For parents seeking a highly rated public for grades PK-5, Dommerich Elementary School is located in the Dommerich Hills neighborhood and is always a top pick. Maitland is home to Everglades University for residents interested in higher education. 6. Crime While realtors really aren’t free to discuss crime rates as it can be construed as steering, I will say that crime rates play a large part in the overall health of a community. Fortunately for Maitland, there is a below-average crime rate in comparison to the national average. Most residents feel safe, and a bulk of the crimes are property and theft-related. Maitland is an overall safe and close-knit community where residents spend most of their leisure time outdoors, taking advantage of this beautiful community. I encourage you to do your own research on crime statistics for this or any other community you are considering. One way is to call the non-emergency line of the local sheriffs department and ask to speak to someone about crime in the specific neighborhood you are considering. There are also crime maps available online for you to research. 7. Attractive Weather & Lakes Last but certainly not least is the beautiful weather that comes with living in Maitland. In the peak months, summer averages around 92 degrees, and winter drops to a low of 49. For all you warm-weather seekers and snowbirds, you will be happy to know that Maitland gets no snow at all and stays warm all year round. Additionally, it gets just enough rain to maintain the dense greenery across the town. Maitland is home to 21 lakes, the most significant being Lake Maitland totaling 451 acres. Many locals enjoy the beautiful weather on the lake, basking in the sun. When it comes to popular living destinations, it's easy to identify why residents flock to specific places. All you really need to do is look at the local culture, amenities, housing options, and economic opportunities to determine why it's so popular and how it could fit your needs.
Read MoreHometown Heroes Downpayment and Closing Costs Assistance Program in Florida!
Today we are going to learn about the newly announced and launched Florida’s Hometown Heroes Housing Program. My name’s Krista Taurins and I’m a realtor in Central Florida helping people like you buy and sell properties every day. First up let’s talk about who can use this program. If you’re a first time home buyer and you’re employed in one of the following fields, you may qualify. ✓ Law Enforcement Officials✓ Firefighters✓ Educators✓ 911 operators✓ All manner of healthcare professionals✓ Childcare employees and teachers✓ Active military or veterans. In total there is a list of 50 professions that can applyFor the complete list,you may visit the link belowhttps://bit.ly/3N6q34X Now let’s talk about what the program does. This $100 million program allows Eligible borrowers to receive up to 5% of the first mortgage loan amount or up to $25,000 in the form of down payment and closing cost assistance. In other words, this is interest-free money that you can use towards buying a home. When is this happening? You can start applying on June 1, and the funds will start to be available from July 1 of this year. Let’s talk about how to apply? First, you need a minimum credit score of 640, and your income has to be under certain thresholds. To find out more, contact me and I’ll set you up with a lender who can get you started.
Read MoreDealing with the Aftermath of Hurricane Ian
All eyes are on Florida right now, as we deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. It was indeed a very scary few days. As I’ve mentioned in many of my videos, I live in a home that was built in 1910, which as I like to say has been through 112 years of hurricanes, but I’m also just a few houses from a major lake. Now I’m just two houses from that lake, as the lake has crept its way down the street. Luckily on my street, the water has actually remained on the street, but other nearby streets in my neighborhood have not been so lucky and there has been a lot of flooding. A friend of mine on facebook was flying back into orlando and snapped a picture out of the window of the plane of some rooftops sticking out of the water in the town of Geneva Florida and I recognized just by coincidence that I had sold one of the houses he had caught in that photo. It was canal front – on a canal from the St Johns River which is expected to peak this week. It’s been rising steadily all week. That was very devastating to see. Some areas in the Central Florida region that have been heavily affected are Deltona and much of Volusia County – I drove through Deltona last week just after the storm and had to turn around several times. Daytona Beach also seems to have suffered much flooding. All of this you can find on social media, and I of course haven’t been everywhere yet, but I have driven through much of Seminole County and Orange county and the parts I saw looked much better than northern Seminole County and Volusia County. So I lost power for a few days, I lost internet for a few days, but everything has come back. We also have a couple of generators and were even able to loan one out to a neighbor so that they could power up a few things too before power came back on. And that is one thing I will say about hurricanes. You get to know your neighbors. People are truly helpful and ready to pitch in as we’re all in this together. We’re all outside clearing up the lawns, moving logs, replanting our torn up landscaping – we’re all usually way too hot, although Ian brought cooler temperatures so that wasn’t so bad. I’m looking for the silver lining. I watched a news clip where a man was saying Florida was ruined and would never recover. I beg to differ. This isn’t the first terrible storm the state has weathered. Welcome back to my channel everyone. My name’s Krista Taurins and I’m your realtor on the ground in Central Florida. Please remember to subscribe for all things real estate related, and if you’re interested in speaking to me personally a link to my calendar can be found in the video below and you can set up a call with me. Now let’s talk about how Ian is affecting the real estate market. Well, first and foremost the already scary insurance rates. Florida lost six insurance carriers this year alone. You might be tempted to think that’s because of hurricanes, but Florida has a totally different problem regarding insurance, and that’s this scenario – and trust me, I get notices on my door and texts about this all the time. Contractors will say they can get you a new roof for free. Who wouldn’t want that? Often there isn’t really that much damage. The contractor promises to take care of everything if the homeowner will just assign their insurance benefit. The contractors then can claim whatever they want from the insurance company without needing the homeowner’s consent. If the insurance company decides the damage wasn’t actually covered, the contractor sues. So the insurance company is stuck either fighting the lawsuit, or settling. Either way, it’s incredibly costly. 17 companies are on a watch list and may lose their A-rating status, meaning they are considered to be in financial difficulty. This means that they won’t be able to write policies for anyone trying to get a mortgage backed by Freddie or Fannie – in other words the majority of loans. When we have fewer insurers that means that more and more people must turn to Citizens Insurance – the last resort insurance. Citizens is flush with cash right now as they have been increasing their reserves through policy increases, but they have the right to increase everyone’s policy in the state if they start to get in trouble. That means an increase for all homeowners, not just the ones covered by Citizens. Right now there are very few carriers who are binding policies in Central Florida as most are still waiting to see how many claims they have. I spoke to a Farmers office this morning and they had 6500 claims in the past week in Florida. It was already getting increasingly difficult to get “good’ insurance for older homes, so we will see how many more carriers become even stricter as a result of Ian. The only properties that so far have not really been affected are those that were built in the past 5 years so newer to brand new construction remains a safe bet. And to that end, I tried to talk to as many of my recent buyers as I could and those who had purchased new construction in the area didn’t even lose power. A lot of that has to do with the fact that new construction tends to have underground electrical lines, which is really helpful when things are flying around in high winds. New construction is also never going to be in a flood zone, it’s built up high, so that risk for from the ground up flooding is diminished greatly. Another change we are seeing is an increased demand for rental properties and in particular furnished, shorter term rentals. I am seeing posts of people needing rentals asap as they have nowhere to go or are staying with friends but don’t want to wear out their welcome. Not only that but you have many out of state workers like roofers, contractors, carpenters and insurance adjusters headed to the hardest hit areas with nowhere to stay. AirBnb and hotel bookings spiked and I imagine that will continue for a long time. If you’re holding onto cash and not sure what to do with it, now might be a great time to consider purchasing a condo to help meet that need for rental properties. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting tenants. I checked several condos in three counties and I noticed that it does appear that rent prices have already gone up. A 2/2 that was $1500 per month last month is now $1600, and I found similar properties with a slight increase. I think if you’re not looking to make a move yourself, it is a great time to jump into the rental market with perhaps a modest single family home or even a condo. I noticed a lot of houses were withdrawn from the market immediately following Ian. In the Orlando MLS I saw 2611 properties were withdrawn or taken into temporarily off market status in the past 7 days. There may be different reason for why that happened but I’m sure some of it is due to hurricane damage. I suspect that we will also be seeing an influx of people from southwest florida who want to remain in the state but can’t stay – or don’t wish to stay – where they were living before.
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