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

Kissimmee

Kissimmee is the county seat, incorporated in 1883 on the northern shore of Lake Toho. It has two SunRail stations, Kissimmee/Amtrak and Tupperware, plus its own airport (FAA code ISM).

US 192, Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, is the main east-west corridor through Kissimmee, and the Property Appraiser and the main Tax Collector office sit side by side on it.

St. Cloud

St. Cloud was incorporated in 1911, and OUC (the Orlando Utilities Commission) operates its electric system. The Tax Collector keeps a branch at 1300 9th Street, Suite 101B, so you can handle tags and licenses without driving to Kissimmee.

Poinciana

Poinciana is the southern end of the SunRail line, with direct trains north to downtown Orlando and Seminole County. Valencia College has a Poinciana campus here.

Harmony

Harmony sits east of St. Cloud on US 192. During Hurricane Charley in 2004, an F0 tornado briefly touched down here.

ChampionsGate

ChampionsGate is a resort community and home to the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, which makes the Orlando Economic Partnership’s list of top regional employers.

Campbell City

Campbell City runs along South Orange Blossom Trail (US 441) in Kissimmee, and the Tax Collector has a branch at 4730 S. Orange Blossom Trail.

Osceola Heritage Park

Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee holds the Silver Spurs Arena at 1875 Silver Spur Lane, where the Silver Spurs Rodeo runs the third weekend of February.

Narcoossee and the ranch country

Narcoossee, Kenansville, Holopaw, Deer Park, Bull Creek and Whittier show up in the county’s early history as hamlets, and none of them is incorporated. County government handles permits and services out there.

Osceola County SHIP Purchase Assistance

Osceola County’s SHIP Purchase Assistance is a 0% deferred loan for the down payment and closing costs, forgiven in stages in the later years of its term, with the award tiered by household income and a price cap on the home, new or existing. The county runs it jointly with St. Cloud under an interlocal agreement.

Pre-applications are taken in announced windows and stay open until the money is committed. Files are handled first-come, first-ready, first-served, with preference for very-low-income and special-needs households, and the intake form comes only from an approved lender through SHIP@osceola.org.

The window dates, award tiers and price cap all change from one funding round to the next. Call us before the county announces its next window and we’ll have your file built, so it’s ready the morning Osceola SHIP opens.

Official program page

Homebuyer class and county housing office

Every applicant, co-signer and spouse has to finish the “A Home of Your Own” first-time homebuyer class (UF/IFAS) before receiving county DPA. Applications go through the county’s Neighborly portal, and Osceola Housing and Community Services is at 1392 E. Vine St., Kissimmee, FL 34744, (407) 742-8400.

The county won’t release DPA on a file until the class is finished, so it’s the step to start first. Call us and we’ll map out the class, the pre-approval and the application window in the right order.

Official program page

City of Kissimmee SHIP

Kissimmee runs its own SHIP plan, separate from the county’s. Its homebuyer piece is Purchase Assistance for New Construction/Infill Housing, delivered through a sponsor, with the buyer’s share set up as a 0% deferred loan forgiven a portion each year, for very-low and low-income buyers. The city also funds owner rehab, roof and emergency repairs and foreclosure prevention.

This money flows through sponsor-built homes inside Kissimmee city limits, not through a buyer’s own search, and which projects have units changes as they sell. Call us and we’ll find out which Kissimmee sponsor projects have homes left.

Kissimmee housing plan

City of Orlando Down Payment Assistance

The City of Orlando runs its own down payment assistance for homes inside Orlando city limits, and months spent living in Osceola count toward its 12-month residency rule.

Orlando opens and closes its program as funding allows. If you’re set on a house across the county line, call us and we’ll check whether the city is taking applications.

Official program page

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

On an Osceola purchase, Florida Hometown Heroes teams a Florida Housing 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% second that covers down payment and closing costs. The second has no monthly payment and isn’t forgiven: you repay it when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or stop living in it.

At least one buyer 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, so a nurse at HCA in Kissimmee may qualify. An Osceola buyer on active duty can work for any employer, and a veteran or Reserve or National Guard member qualifies by working full time for a Florida-based employer.

You get Florida Housing assistance once in a lifetime, so use it on the right home with the right lender. Limits vary by county and household size and funds are reserved loan by loan, so call us first and we’ll check what Hometown Heroes pays on an Osceola purchase.

Official program page

FL Assist and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% Florida Housing second for the down payment and closing costs, with no monthly payment, repaid when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or move out. It goes behind a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage.

HFA Advantage PLUS pairs a Freddie Mac Conventional first with a second forgiven over 5 years while you live in the home, and FL HLP is a second with a small fixed monthly payment over 30 years.

What each second pays is adjusted by Florida Housing. Call us and we’ll tell you which one works next to the county SHIP loan without pushing you past the county’s price cap.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

Public schools are run by the School District of Osceola County. Call the district to confirm which schools serve an address before you buy.

Colleges in the county include Valencia College, with Osceola and Poinciana campuses, Johnson University Florida and Florida Technical College.

Getting around

The main roads are I-4, Florida’s Turnpike, US 192, US 441, US 17/92, SR 417 and SR 429. Commutes here can run long, so test-drive the morning route before you commit.

SunRail has three Osceola stations, Poinciana, Kissimmee/Amtrak and Tupperware, on the line that runs north through Orlando and Seminole County to DeLand. Kissimmee also has its own general aviation airport, FAA code ISM.

Silver Spurs Rodeo

The Silver Spurs Rodeo fills Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park the third weekend of February. It’s billed as the largest rodeo east of the Mississippi and grew out of a 1940s gathering of ranchers.

Lake Tohopekaliga

Lake Toho covers 22,700 acres and is known for bass fishing. Shingle Creek, which rises in Orlando, is its main source, and Canal 31 links it to East Lake Tohopekaliga.

Disney Wilderness Preserve

The Nature Conservancy’s 11,500-acre preserve at 2700 Scrub Jay Trail sits at the headwaters of the Everglades system. It grew from the 8,500-acre former Walker Ranch, and Disney bought 3,000 bordering acres in 2014. Its trails reach Lake Russell, an undeveloped 540-acre sand-bottom lake whose water flows south through a series of lakes and rivers toward the Everglades. Check the preserve’s page before you drive out, since storms have closed it before.

Conservation land

State and regional agencies own more than 200,000 acres of conservation land in Osceola, nearly a quarter of the county’s land area and a bigger share than Florida as a whole.

Buying a home

FHA is what most of our Osceola buyers use: 3.5% down with a 580 or higher credit score, and it works with the county SHIP money and Florida Housing seconds above. Eligible veterans can go VA with nothing down, and we close Conventional, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% loans too, plus DSCR loans for investors buying rentals.

Licensed as a Florida mortgage broker since 1997, we lend statewide in all 67 Florida counties and shop your loan with multiple wholesale lenders. When the county announces a SHIP window, we can have your pre-approval done before it opens.

Refinancing the home you have

A refinance on your Osceola home can lower the payment, pull cash out for a new roof or pool screen, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy out someone else’s share of the house. If you bought new in Poinciana, Harmony or St. Cloud, it can put the equity you’ve built to work.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll show you the new payment, the cash in hand and every cost on one sheet, so the call on your Osceola house rests on real numbers.