Lake County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Tavares

Tavares is the county seat, incorporated in 1885. The Property Appraiser is at 320 W. Main St., the main Tax Collector office is at 1800 David Walker Dr., and Lake County Schools has its district office at 201 W. Burleigh Blvd.

SR 19 links Tavares and Eustis, and a funnel cloud was reported over Tavares during Hurricane Charley in 2004.

Clermont

Clermont was incorporated in 1916 and is home to the 226-foot Florida Citrus Tower at 141 N. Hwy 27 and Lake Louisa State Park at 7305 US 27. The Tax Collector has a Clermont office at 1505 Hooks St.

Leesburg

Leesburg is the county’s oldest city, incorporated in 1875, and it runs its own municipal electric utility. It has two Tax Collector offices, at 1720 N. Citrus Blvd. and the Plantation office at 25321 US Hwy 27, and Beacon College is here. The airport weather station, LEE, logged a 34-knot gust when Charley went by.

Mount Dora

Mount Dora was incorporated in 1910 and, like Leesburg, runs its own electric utility. US 441 runs through the city on its way to Leesburg.

Groveland

Groveland is a south Lake city on SR 33, and Kroger runs a distribution center there.

Four Corners

The Four Corners area runs along US 27 in the Clermont 34714 ZIP code. The Tax Collector runs a Four Corners office at 1714 US Hwy 27, Ste 23, in partnership with 4 Corners Tag Agency.

Eustis and Lady Lake

Eustis and Lady Lake were both incorporated in 1883. Eustis sits on SR 19, the road that links it to Tavares, and Lady Lake is a town at the north end of the county.

Fruitland Park

Fruitland Park became a city in 1927 and is where you’ll find Lake Griffin State Park at 3089 US 441-27.

Sorrento and Mount Plymouth

Sorrento and Mount Plymouth are east Lake communities strung along SR 46.

Lake County SHIP Purchase Assistance

The county’s Local Housing Assistance Plan offers first-time buyers down payment and closing cost help as a 0% deferred loan, secured by a second mortgage that’s forgiven gradually over the loan’s term. The amount depends on whether your household falls in the very low, low or moderate income tier, and the plan caps the sales price.

Lake’s SHIP money comes in funding cycles, and each new plan can change the amounts and the price cap. Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll find out whether Lake County SHIP is taking purchase files and what it pays for a home in Clermont, Leesburg or anywhere between, before you write the offer.

Lake County housing plan

Lake County SHIP for current owners

The same plan covers homeowners who already live in Lake: owner-occupied rehabilitation, demolition and replacement of a home that can’t be saved, and disaster mitigation.

Thinking about a rehab or a roof before you refinance? Text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll ask the county whether repair money is in this cycle, and price a cash-out refinance alongside it.

Florida Housing local plans

Moving from Lake into Orlando

If you live in Lake and plan to buy inside Orlando city limits, your time in Lake counts toward the residency requirement for the City of Orlando’s down payment assistance.

The city opens and pauses that program on its own schedule. Call 888-601-8344 before you shop in Orlando and we’ll check whether it’s taking applications.

Official program page

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Hometown Heroes pairs a Florida Housing 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% down payment and closing cost second. There’s no monthly payment on the second; it’s repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or stop living in it, and it isn’t forgiven. The household needs at least one full-time worker at an eligible Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care. Active-duty military are eligible with any employer, while veterans, Reserve and National Guard members are eligible working full time for a Florida-based employer.

Florida Housing assistance is once in a lifetime, and you apply through a participating lender or broker. Call 888-601-8344 first so you spend it on the right Lake County home, and we’ll check the income and price limits and whether the program has funds for your loan.

Official program page

FL Assist, FL HLP and HFA Preferred (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% second mortgage with no monthly payment that’s deferred until you sell, refinance, transfer the home or move out. FL HLP is a second with a small fixed monthly payment over 30 years. Both go with a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA, or a Conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage loan, and HFA Advantage PLUS pairs a Freddie Mac Conventional first with a second forgiven over 5 years while you live there.

What these seconds pay moves during the year, so text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll tell you which one lines up best with Lake’s SHIP help.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

Public schools are run by Lake County Schools, with the district office at 201 West Burleigh Blvd in Tavares, (352) 253-6500. Call the district to confirm which schools serve an address.

Colleges include Lake-Sumter State College, Beacon College in Leesburg and Lake Technical College.

Getting around

Florida’s Turnpike runs north-south with four Lake County interchanges. US 27 is the main north-south road in western Lake, US 441 runs through Mount Dora and Leesburg, SR 50 is the main east-west road in south Lake, SR 19 links Tavares and Eustis, SR 33 serves Groveland, SR 46 runs through Sorrento and Mount Plymouth, and SR 40 crosses the Ocala National Forest at the county’s north end.

Florida Citrus Tower

The Citrus Tower opened in Clermont on July 14, 1956. It stands 226 feet, about 22 stories, on one of the highest hills of Florida’s central ridge, and on a clear day you can see about 35 miles in every direction.

Lake Louisa State Park

Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont takes in Lake Louisa, Lake Hammond and Dixie Lake within a network of ten lakes. It has 20 cabins overlooking Dixie Lake, a campground, about 20 miles of unpaved multi-use trails and 7 miles of paved roads that cyclists ride regularly.

Lake Griffin State Park

Lake Griffin State Park covers 620 acres in Fruitland Park, with paddling on Lake Griffin and the no-current Dead River marsh and 40 hookup campsites. Its live oak, about 400 years old, is the second-largest in Florida.

Lake Apopka North Shore

The St. Johns River Water Management District manages 19,730 acres on the north shore of Lake Apopka, Florida’s fourth-largest lake, shared with Orange County. The 11-mile Wildlife Drive opens Fridays, weekends and federal holidays, and the 1998 Christmas Bird Count there tallied 174 species in one day, the Florida record for an inland site.

Sugarloaf Mountain and the forest

Sugarloaf Mountain rises to 312 feet, the highest point in peninsular Florida. At the opposite end of the county, SR 40 runs through the Ocala National Forest, and state and regional agencies hold conservation land across the county.

Buying a home

FHA is the loan most of our Lake County buyers choose: 3.5% down, flexible credit guidelines, and it pairs with county SHIP help and the Florida Housing seconds above. Veterans buying around Leesburg or Clermont can use a VA loan with no down payment, and we also write Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% financing.

AAA Capital Funding has been a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997, lending from Lady Lake to Four Corners and in all 67 Florida counties statewide. We shop your loan with multiple wholesale lenders, and we’ll tell you what you qualify for before you sign a contract on a new build or a resale.

Refinancing the home you have

Lower your monthly payment, take cash out for a roof or a pool, consolidate higher-interest debt, or buy out a co-owner and take the home in your name alone. The equity you’ve built in Lake is yours to use.

Call 888-601-8344 with your current balance and we’ll show you the new payment, the cash you’d walk away with and the closing costs in one comparison.