Orange County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners
Orange County covers 902 square miles of spring-fed lakes, old citrus towns and newer planned communities, and about 1.5 million people live here. It began in 1824 as Mosquito County and took the name Orange in 1845, the year Florida became a state.
This page is what we’d walk you through over the phone if you were buying or refinancing here: which town runs what, where down payment help comes from, how taxes and storms show up in your payment, and who to call after you get the keys.
Every source for this guide is listed at the bottom of the page.
- County seatOrlando
- Founded1824, as Mosquito County
- PopulationAbout 1.5 million
- Land area902 sq mi
- Named forThe orange, once grown widely here
- FHA limit, 1 unit$541,287 in 2026
- Conventional limit, 1 unit$832,750 in 2026
- School districtOrange County Public Schools
- Cities and areas
- Homes and loan limits
- Down payment help
- Property taxes
- Storms and insurance
- Jobs, schools, commute
- Parks and local favorites
- Moving checklist
- Buying or refinancing
Cities and communities across Orange County
Orange County has 13 incorporated cities and towns, but a lot of the places people call home, like Dr. Phillips, Horizon West, Hunter’s Creek, Meadow Woods and Pine Hills, sit in unincorporated Orange County. That’s worth knowing before you buy, because it decides which government handles your water, garbage and permits, and which city taxes, if any, land on your bill.
The county seat started out at Enterprise, when this was all Mosquito County. Orlando holds that role now, and the county’s name comes from the oranges that once grew across these hills.
Orlando
Orlando is the county seat, and downtown wraps around Lake Eola, with its 0.9-mile walking loop, swan boats, the Linton E. Allen Centennial Fountain, the Walt Disney Amphitheater and a Sunday farmers market.
Lake Nona, the master-planned area southeast of the airport, is inside Orlando city limits. That matters if you plan to use city programs.
Winter Park
Winter Park was incorporated in 1887 and is built around a chain of lakes, Lake Virginia and Lake Osceola among them, joined by navigable canals. The SunRail and Amtrak station sits in Central Park downtown, and Rollins College has been here since 1885.
The city has run its own municipal electric utility since 2005, when it took the system over from Progress Energy.
Winter Garden
Winter Garden was incorporated in 1908 on the south shore of Lake Apopka. Its historic downtown, Plant Street, has the West Orange Trail running right through it and the old Edgewater Hotel, built back when the lake drew fishermen.
Apopka
Apopka, first incorporated in 1882, calls itself the Indoor Foliage Capital of the World for its many greenhouse nurseries. Wekiwa Springs State Park and the county’s Kelly Park, home of Rock Springs, are both here.
Horizon West
Horizon West is southwest Orange’s planned growth area, adopted by the county in 1995. It covers about 20,704 acres organized into five villages and a town center, and much of the county’s new construction has gone up here.
Lake Nona
Lake Nona spreads across roughly 11,000 acres, about 17 square miles, southeast of Orlando International Airport. It holds Lake Nona Medical City, with the UCF College of Medicine, the UF College of Pharmacy, Nemours Children’s Hospital and a VA medical center, plus the USTA National Campus.
Maitland
Maitland has its own SunRail station and is the Central Florida base for the payroll company ADP.
Christmas and east Orange
In rural east Orange, Fort Christmas Historical Park covers 175 acres, with a replica of an 1837 Second Seminole War fort, eight pioneer homes, a schoolhouse and a sugar cane mill.
Homes, new construction and Orange County loan limits
Orange County housing runs from the older lake towns of Winter Park, Winter Garden and Apopka to the newer villages of Horizon West on the southwest side and the planned neighborhoods of Lake Nona on the southeast side. If you’re shopping new construction out there, get pre-approved with us before you walk into a sales office, so you know your budget and your loan options going in.
If you rent now, call 888-601-8344 and we’ll show you what the rent you pay could buy instead.
The FHA and Conventional limits for Orange County are in the table below. HUD and FHFA reset them every January, and the table updates itself from their published figures.
| Loan limits in Orange County for 2026 | Maximum loan |
|---|---|
| FHA, single-family home | $541,287 |
| FHA, two-unit home | $693,050 |
| FHA, three-unit home | $837,700 |
| FHA, four-unit home | $1,041,125 |
| Conventional, single-family home | $832,750 |
HUD sets the FHA limits and FHFA sets the Conventional limits for every county, and both change each January. This table refreshes itself from HUD's published figures.
Here’s how FHA’s minimum down payment works, as an example and not a local price: on a $300,000 purchase, 3.5% down is $10,500 with a credit score of 580 or higher, and down payment assistance can cover part or all of it. Call or text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll run those numbers on the house you’re looking at.
One practical check before you make an offer: Orange County Utilities is moving homes from septic tanks to sewer through its Septic 2 Sewer program, so ask whether the house you like is on septic or central sewer.
Down payment help for Orange County buyers
Orange County buyers can draw on a county program, City of Orlando programs and statewide Florida Housing programs. Each one sets its own income and price rules, and funding opens and closes during the year, so we match the program to the address before you sign anything.
Orange County Down Payment Assistance
The county’s Housing and Community Development Division runs this program for first-time buyers purchasing a new or existing home anywhere in Orange County. The help is tiered by household income, and a HUD-approved homebuyer class is required.
Amounts, income limits and the application window all move during the year. Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll confirm with the division on East South Street what it pays and whether it’s taking applications for the home you want, before you write an offer. County contact: 525 E. South St., Orlando, (407) 836-5171.
City of Orlando Down Payment Assistance
The City of Orlando offers a forgivable recorded mortgage for homes inside city limits, forgiven after 10 years if you live in the home and don’t rent, sell or transfer it. Single-family homes and townhomes qualify, you can’t have owned a home in the past 3 years, the city requires residency in the surrounding Central Florida counties, and the first mortgage has to come from a city-registered lender.
The city sets its price cap and opens or pauses applications on its own schedule, so text us at 954-816-8820 with the Orlando address and we’ll check where the program stands before you make an offer.
Orlando Unlocked Open Door (Parramore)
The City of Orlando created Unlocked Open Door to help buyers with the down payment on new single-family homes built on Community Redevelopment Agency lots in Parramore and downtown, with extra help for certain first responders and nurses. You agree to live in the home at least 5 years.
The program runs on a set pool of city money, so call 888-601-8344 before you tour a Parramore lot and we’ll find out whether funds remain.
Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)
Florida Housing pairs a 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% down payment and closing cost second mortgage. The second has no monthly payment and is repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or stop living in it; it isn't forgiven. One buyer on an Orange County purchase must work full time for an eligible Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care. Active-duty service members qualify with any employer; veterans and Reserve or National Guard members qualify if they work full time for a Florida-based employer.
You can use Florida Housing assistance once in a lifetime, and you apply through a participating lender or broker. Spend it on the right Orlando-area home: call 888-601-8344 first and we’ll check the county’s income and price limits and whether funds are open for your loan.
FL Assist and HFA Preferred (statewide)
FL Assist is a 0% deferred second mortgage from Florida Housing with no monthly payment, repaid when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or move out. It pairs with a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA, or a Conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage loan. There’s also HFA Advantage PLUS, a Freddie Mac Conventional first with a second that’s forgiven over 5 years as long as you live in the home.
Florida Housing adjusts what these seconds pay during the year. Text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll tell you which one pairs best with your Orange County purchase.
We also offer FHA 100% financing: a 96.5% FHA first mortgage paired with a down payment assistance second, which can take the down payment out of your pocket entirely. Call us before you write an offer and we’ll check which of these programs are funded that week and how they pair with your loan.
Property taxes and your homestead exemption
If the home is your primary residence, file for the Florida homestead exemption. It takes as much as $50,000 off your taxable value: the first $25,000 applies to all property taxes, and the rest to non-school taxes. It also puts your home under Save Our Homes, which holds yearly increases in assessed value to 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, and portability lets you carry some or all of that difference to your next Florida homestead.
Ownership on January 1 decides the year, and the deadline is March 1 of the year after you buy. Miss it and you can pay a full year of taxes without the exemption.
Orange County tax bills go out by November 1. Paying in November earns the biggest early-payment discount, and the discount shrinks each month through February. Taxes are due by March 31 and turn delinquent on April 1. Most buyers with a mortgage pay through an escrow account, so the lender handles this for you.
Orange County Property Appraiser
200 S. Orange Avenue, Suite 1700, Orlando, FL 32801
Phone: (407) 836-5044
Homestead filing and property search: ocpaweb.ocpafl.org
Tax bills and payments: Orange County Tax Collector
Storms, flood zones and insurance in an inland county
Being inland doesn’t take Orange County off the hurricane map. On the night of August 13 in 2004, Hurricane Charley’s eye passed over Orlando International Airport at 8:52 pm, then Orlando and Winter Park. The airport recorded a gust of about 105 mph, and around 250,000 Orange County homes lost power.
When Hurricane Ian stalled over Central Florida in 2022, it dropped 14 to 20 inches of rain in places. Shingle Creek overflowed, and some Orlo Vista homes took in nearly two feet of water. The county later deepened the retention ponds there by 10 to 12 feet and upgraded the pumps.
In 1981, a sinkhole about 300 feet across and 80 feet deep opened in Winter Park near South Denning Drive and West Fairbanks Avenue. It swallowed a house, a community pool and part of an auto repair shop, several Porsches included. It filled with water and is now Lake Rose.
- Look up the flood zone before you make an offer on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. If the home is in a high-risk zone, one starting with A or V, a federally backed loan will require flood insurance.
- Get a homeowners insurance quote early, especially on an older home. Roof age drives price, and a wind mitigation inspection can lower your premium.
- Keep the county’s Hurricane Safety Guide handy. It covers wind, tornadoes and flooding for inland residents.
Jobs, schools and getting around
Orange County’s biggest employers come from tourism, health care and defense technology. The region’s largest include Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, AdventHealth, Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando Health, Lockheed Martin and the University of Central Florida. Darden Restaurants is headquartered in Orlando, and SeaWorld, Siemens Energy, Nemours Children’s Hospital and Hilton Grand Vacations all have large operations here.
Orlando is also a center for modeling, simulation and training. The Navy, Marine and Army simulation commands, known together as Team Orlando, are based here, the Central Florida Research Park sits next to UCF, and Lockheed Martin runs Missiles and Fire Control research, manufacturing and a training center in the city.
Schools and colleges
Public schools are run by Orange County Public Schools, which publishes attendance zone maps so you can see which schools serve a given address.
The University of Central Florida was founded in 1963 and has its main campus in east Orlando at 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Valencia College, Rollins College, Full Sail University, the UF College of Pharmacy in Lake Nona, and the law schools of Barry University and Florida A&M in downtown Orlando round out the list.
Getting around
The main roads are I-4, Florida’s Turnpike and the toll expressways: the 408 (East-West Expressway), 414, 417 (Central Florida GreeneWay), 429 (Western Expressway) and 528 (Beachline). The big surface roads are Colonial Drive (SR 50), Semoran Boulevard (SR 436), Orange Blossom Trail (US 441), US 17/92 and US 192.
SunRail stops in the county run from Meadow Woods north to Maitland, on a commuter line that reaches from Poinciana in Osceola County to DeLand in Volusia County. Orlando International Airport carries the airline traffic, Brightline has run to its airport station since 2023, and Orlando Executive Airport serves private and small aircraft.
Springs, lakes and local favorites
Wekiwa Springs State Park
The springs at 1800 Wekiwa Circle in Apopka hold 72 degrees all year and feed the Wekiva River. People rent canoes and kayaks, swim, snorkel, hike, bike and ride horses here.
Kelly Park and Rock Springs
Kelly Park is a 380-acre county park in Apopka where you float the 68-degree spring run on a tube, about 25 minutes from start to finish. Entry is capped each morning and the park often fills, so go early.
Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive
The 11-mile, one-way drive runs along the North Shore of Lake Apopka, Florida’s fourth-largest lake, on land that was once muck farms. It’s open Fridays, weekends and federal holidays, and the 1998 Christmas Bird Count there tallied 174 species, a Florida record for an inland site.
Trails and preserves
The paved West Orange Trail runs through Winter Garden and Apopka, with stations at Killarney, Winter Garden, Chapin, the Apopka-Vineland Outpost and Apopka. Moss Park, 1,551 acres on Moss Park Road, has camping and a boat ramp, and a trail from inside it leads into Split Oak Forest’s 2,462 acres. Tibet-Butler Preserve covers 438 acres near Dr. Phillips, with the Vera Carter Environmental Center.
Winter Park traditions
The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival has filled Central Park and Park Avenue every March since 1960. The Scenic Boat Tour has taken people through the lakes and canals on hour-long trips since 1938.
Game day and gardens
Orlando City SC and the Orlando Pride play at Inter&Co Stadium downtown, open since 2017. Harry P. Leu Gardens on N. Forest Avenue is the city’s historic botanical garden, with the Leu House Museum on the grounds.
The freezes of the 1980s ended most of the commercial citrus in the county that’s named for it. Oranges and grapefruits are still city symbols in Winter Garden.
Moving to Orange County: your first-month checklist
- Electric: depends on your address. Duke Energy Florida and OUC (the Orlando Utilities Commission, a municipally owned, not-for-profit utility founded in 1923) serve most of the county, and Winter Park runs its own electric utility.
- Water and sewer: Orange County Utilities provides water, wastewater, reclaimed water and solid waste service across much of unincorporated Orange, while cities such as Orlando (through OUC) run their own water systems.
- Driver license and tag: handled by the Orange County Tax Collector. Appointments are available.
- Homestead: file with the Property Appraiser by March 1 of the year after you buy.
- County questions: dial 311 or (407) 836-3111, or go to ocfl.net.
- Hurricane season: the Office of Emergency Management is at (407) 836-9140.
Buying or refinancing in Orange County with AAA Capital Funding
Buying a home
FHA is the loan most of our Orange County buyers use: 3.5% down, flexible credit guidelines, and it pairs with any of the down payment programs above on an Orange County home. We also do VA loans with no down payment for eligible veterans, Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes, and FHA 100% financing.
We’ve been a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997 and lend in all 67 Florida counties statewide, so the same team can handle a move from Orlando to the coast or the Panhandle. We shop your loan with multiple wholesale lenders, and we’ll tell you what you qualify for before you fall in love with a house.
Refinancing the home you have
Lower your monthly payment, take cash out for a new roof or a remodel, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy out someone else’s share of the home. A refinance is how you put the equity you’ve built to work.
Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll lay out the new payment, the cash you’d take out and the costs side by side, so you decide with real numbers.
Orange County questions we hear a lot
What is the FHA loan limit in Orange County, Florida?
The FHA and Conventional limits for one to four units are in the loan limit table on this page, which updates from HUD’s published figures. HUD and FHFA reset them every January, so call us and we’ll tell you how the limit lines up with the home you want.
Is there down payment assistance in Orange County?
Yes. The county runs a program tiered by income, the City of Orlando has its own forgivable assistance inside city limits, and statewide programs like Hometown Heroes and FL Assist work here too. Funding and limits change during the year, so call us and we’ll check what’s open for your address.
Is Lake Nona in Orlando or unincorporated Orange County?
Lake Nona is inside Orlando city limits. Horizon West, Dr. Phillips and Hunter’s Creek are in unincorporated Orange County.
When do I file for homestead in Orange County?
By March 1 of the year after you buy, with the Orange County Property Appraiser. Ownership on January 1 decides which year the exemption covers.
Do I need flood insurance in Orange County?
If the home is in a high-risk flood zone on FEMA’s maps, a federally backed mortgage requires it. Outside those zones it’s optional, but Hurricane Ian showed that inland neighborhoods can flood too, so get a quote either way.
Sources for this guide (44)
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Orange County, FL
- Orange County, Florida (Wikipedia, history, roads and municipalities)
- Winter Park, Florida (Wikipedia)
- Winter Garden, Florida (Wikipedia)
- Apopka, Florida (Wikipedia)
- Lake Nona (Wikipedia)
- City of Orlando: Lake Eola Park
- City of Winter Park Electric Utility
- Orange County: Horizon West
- Orange County Parks: Fort Christmas
- Orange County Parks: Kelly Park
- Orange County Parks: Moss Park
- Orange County Parks: Split Oak Forest
- Orange County Parks: Tibet-Butler Preserve
- Orange County Trails
- Orlando Economic Partnership: Top employers
- Orlando Economic Partnership: Modeling and simulation
- Orange County Down Payment Assistance
- City of Orlando Down Payment Assistance
- Spectrum News 13: Orlando Unlocked Open Door program
- Florida Housing: Hometown Heroes
- Florida Housing: Homebuyer programs
- Florida Department of Revenue: Property tax exemptions
- Orange County Tax Collector: Property tax
- National Weather Service: Hurricane Charley survey
- Spectrum News 13: Hurricane Ian and Orlo Vista
- USGS: Winter Park sinkhole
- FOX 35: The history of Lake Rose
- Orange County Hurricane Safety Guide
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center
- Orange County Utilities
- Florida Public Service Commission storm report (electric providers)
- OUC: About
- SunRail stations
- Orlando International Airport station (Wikipedia)
- University of Central Florida: About
- Orange County Public Schools
- Florida State Parks: Wekiwa Springs
- St. Johns River Water Management District: Lake Apopka
- Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival
- Scenic Boat Tour, Winter Park
- Harry P. Leu Gardens
- Orlando City SC: Stadium
- Orange County Tax Collector: Driver licenses
AAA Capital Funding, Inc. NMLS #374739. Jason J. Sarji, NMLS #374700. Licensed Florida mortgage broker serving Orange County and all 67 Florida counties since 1997. Equal Housing Opportunity.
You work with the same person from start to finish, in every county in Florida.
We've been closing Florida loans since 1997, in all 67 counties. If you want to know what's possible in Orange County, call 888-601-8344 or text 954-816-8820. One call, under ten minutes. No application needed to start.
AAA Capital Funding, Inc. · NMLS #374739 · Jason J. Sarji, NMLS #374700