Orlando

Frank,

 

Don't live there, but every month I'm there on business along with visiting the parents.  Definitely no basements, and you wouldn't want one with all the critters that would get down there.  Your layout would become home to a couple dozen geckos.  Others on the forum have some great ideas on simply built structures if you didn't want to deal with the permitting of a two story stand alone garage.

Hey, Frank, remember me? It sounds as if we're going to be neighbors!  

 

I live in Sanford, which is about 20 minutes North of downtown Orlando on Interstate 4. Although you won't find houses with basements, you still have a few options for building a layout.

 

One option is, of course, to purchase a house with one more bedroom than you really need. However, that would  typically allow only a modest or smaller layout.

 

A second option is to buy a house with a multiple car garage and use one, or more, of the auto bays for a layout.

 

The third option is to do what I did, which is to purchase a house with a "bonus" room or suite, generally on a second floor.

 

Let me know when you plan to be in town on a house hunting trip and, perhaps. we could connect.

Frank,

 

Lived just outside Orland for five years, no basements anywhere to be found, but lots of "Bonus" rooms above attached garages.

 

Good luck, it is a great city to live in, although not much in the way of trains.

 

It can't be bad living in a city with my last name LOL !!!

Frank:

 

I live outside Orlando.  Check out nearby Clermont, about 20 miles west of Orlando.  It sits along the U.S. route 27 “ridge” and there are rolling hills and many homes with rooms that could be used as basements.   I have a rental home there but it sits on a flat lot so it doesn’t have a basement however I know of a two fellow train hobbyists with such rooms in Clermont. 

 

HTH,

 

Bill

  

Frank:

 

First, good luck with your move. I agree that a home that affords a room above the garage (bonus room) is probably your best bet. Let your realtor know that this is a requirement before they take you to look at available properties. Let them do the spade work for you. Give them a rough idea of what you want for square footage for the bonus room.

 

Sure hope you find something that works for you. Let us know how you make out.

When you move to Orlando and before you even think about building an additional garage (for trains) on you property, check local zoning laws. Orange County can be extremely difficult in that process. Plus if you choose to live in a newer subdivision you will also have to deal with the homeowners association when adding any kind of additional structure to your property. That includes a garden shed. Like others have already said, plan to build your layout in the existing garage, spare bedroom, bonus room, Florida room, etc. And don't forget to go to the DeLand Train Show once every 3 months.

One individual here in Orlando (Bay Hill area) had, what would appear (from the street) to be a 3 car garage built on to the side of his house for his train room. Another person had a "storage shed" in his backyard painted up  like a New York Central Pacemaker Boxcar (he used the painting diagram from the Historical Society) taken off of its trucks, to house his layout. Others have had rooms added onto their houses or detatched garages built in their backyards for train rooms. Having a basement would be nice but here in Orlando the land is fairly flat, low, and dotted with lakes, so it's something we have to work around.

Looks like I might have to build. Not much on the market with suitable "bonus room". Anyone familiar with builders??

barry - yes we'll have to meet up. Maybe a trip soon. 

What about hobby shops in OrlandO?

i believe Orlando has I train store-colonial-but you are not far from Daytona beach-

roundhouse south-60 miles-fantastic mth service and mth train store plus the most beautiful beach in the us-you can drive on it-lots of restaurants here-good day trip for you and the mrs.a  real good day trip is going to ready to roll in maimi-mecca of train stores.in fall and winter on a Friday afternoon you might bump into a guy called mike wolf.

I believe Ocala has some good stores also.

In Orlando itself, there are very few train stores. You have to go way outside the city to find a decent train store. Only one that i know is in town is Colonial photo & hobby. Closest best train store is Roundhouse South in Port Orange-- 40 miles up I4 near Daytona Beach. next best one is Hollash's Trains in Riverview Fl. opposite end of I4 near Brandon, Fl-- I4 to I75 south. about 70 miles.

Be careful which community you move into. Many have HOA's and they can be a real pain in the a-s if you want to do something like building a seperate building or an addition. I live in a gated community in south Florida (Pembroke Pines). The HOA here does a good job of keeping the community standards up but are a real bear to work with. We will be moving to NJ in about 4-6 weeks and the HOA will NOT be missed. You do have one advantage though, you are moving to a relatively sane part of Florida. Anything southeast of Orlando is "Crazyville" and west is a little too sedate for our taste. I'm glad we lived here before we retire, we now know to look elsewhere for that final landing spot.

sir-I suggest you go to www.wesh2.com

this is the top news station in Orlando-it would do you good to read this site every once in a while  to see what is going on for real in Orlando-joe

Having a vacation home in FL, one of the main reasons for a lack of basements in FL is the high water table. The only reason to have a basement is if you wanted an indoor pool.  In any case, you want to make sure that wherever you have a trainset set up that it is climate controlled because with the high temperature/temperature environment everything will rot and rust.

I am a mountain man when I leave Nashville, TN -would NOT live in Florida under any circumstances!

Oh Goody, another FL thread...