Housing near Rollins College

04The drive to Rollins from each home

By road, without traffic, the drive to campus from our thirteen homes runs from 11 to 22 minutes. WinterPark Home in Lockhart is the closest at about 11 minutes, Fruit Tree Home in Holden Heights is about 14, and Amelia’s Arena Retreat in Parramore is about 15.

Behind those three, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando and City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes, both in Washington Shores, run about 16 minutes each. The Clue House, Meet. Play. Stay. and Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat are about 18. Entertainment Home and Cozy Home are about 19, Piedmont is about 20, and Wekiwa Home, our home farthest to the west, is about 22. WinterPark Home reaches Winter Park by way of US-441 and I-4, the same roads that connect Lockhart to downtown and to Altamonte Springs. Amelia’s Arena Retreat has quick I-4 and SR-408 access from Parramore, and Fruit Tree Home connects the same way from Holden Heights, with fast I-4 access into the corridor. Wekiwa Home also sits close to SR-429, useful for trips around the west side beyond this particular commute. Orlando's rush hours add time to any of these routes, morning and evening alike, on both ends of the drive.

05Where the homes sit around the campus

The three closest homes still split across different sides of that divide. WinterPark Home is in Lockhart, to the northwest; Fruit Tree Home is in Holden Heights, south of downtown; and Amelia’s Arena Retreat is in Parramore, on the downtown edge itself. All three land within a few minutes of each other on the drive to campus despite sitting in three different directions, worth knowing if the choice between them comes down to neighborhood rather than minutes. The Lockhart, Holden Heights and Parramore neighborhood pages cover each in more depth.

Farther out, the Washington Shores and Malibu Groves homes sit on the west side of the city, and the Pine Hills and Rosemont homes sit northwest, each adding a few more minutes than the closest three because they start farther from the corner of the city where Winter Park sits.

06Getting to campus without driving the whole way

WinterPark Home sits in Lockhart, part of the cluster with no rail option: LYNX buses run the main roads out there, but there is no SunRail line, so the drive is the only way in from that home. Fruit Tree Home and Amelia’s Arena Retreat are different. Both sit close to downtown's two SunRail stations, LYNX Central and Church Street, and the regional SunRail line runs north toward Winter Park. Neither home is a walk from a station, so a trip to campus by rail still needs a ride or a car waiting at the Winter Park end, but it is worth knowing about for a day you would rather not drive the whole route. The same SunRail line continues north past Winter Park toward Sanford as part of its regular regional route.

SR-408 and I-4 carry tolls collected by transponder or by plate; setting up a SunPass or E-PASS soon after you arrive costs less over a full semester than paying by plate trip after trip. Parking at the house is never the issue. WinterPark Home and Amelia’s Arena Retreat each have a private concrete driveway, and Fruit Tree Home has its own concrete driveway too, so a car sits off the street every night, whichever of the three you book. A round trip five days a week for a full semester adds up fast on either toll road, which is the main reason a transponder pays for itself quickly on this stretch.

07A stay for each of the roles Rollins brings

Visiting faculty and scholars

A visiting professor or scholar on a semester appointment needs a home ready for the exact dates of that appointment. We write the agreement to those dates, and if the appointment shifts by a few weeks on either end, we simply adjust the existing agreement to the new dates. A returning visiting professor who teaches one course each spring does not need a year-round lease sitting empty the rest of the year.

Postdocs and researchers

A postdoc or a researcher who has accepted a position but has not signed a lease yet needs somewhere to land before the apartment search even starts. A month or two in a furnished house, extended by the month if the search runs long, covers that gap without a string of short hotel stays in between. Some arrive weeks ahead of the first day of work, and the same short stay covers that early stretch too.

Program and grant staff

Program and grant staff brought on for a defined stretch of funded work need the same clean start and finish as a faculty appointment. The grant's own timeline usually sets the dates, so the agreement is written to match the funding period, which does not always line up with a full semester. If a department or the grant itself is the one settling the account, the agreement and the monthly invoice can be written directly in that department's or grant's name; our corporate and business housing page covers how that billing works.

Families supporting a student

A family renting a house for a student's final term, or through a hard stretch of the school year, is booking around someone else's schedule. The agreement can name the student as the resident guest while a parent handles the booking and the deposit. More than one visit during a single term is common, and each stay is booked and closed out on its own; our student and intern housing page has more on how that is set up.

08The homes closest to campus

Northwest Orlando

Lockhart / Rosemont

WinterPark Home

3 bd 1 ba Sleeps 8

13 min downtown · 10 min AdventHealth · 26 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalRelocation & Long-Stay

South of Downtown

Holden Heights

Fruit Tree Home

3 bd 2 ba Sleeps 10

6 min downtown · 5 min ORMC · 13 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalInsurance & Displacement

Downtown Orlando

Parramore / Downtown Edge

Amelia’s Arena Retreat

4 bd 2 ba Sleeps 8

7 min downtown · 9 min ORMC · 16 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalInsurance & Displacement

WinterPark Home, about 11 minutes away in Lockhart, is a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home with a screened porch, a private concrete driveway and a keypad lock on the front door. It sits on a quiet street a short walk from a community park with a playground and courts, and it suits one visiting scholar or a couple well; it sleeps up to 8, so it holds a family too. The kitchen was freshly renovated with stainless steel appliances, and wood-look flooring runs through the house. The screened porch gives a quiet spot to sit outside without leaving the property.

Fruit Tree Home, about 14 minutes away in Holden Heights, is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow with keyless entry, fruit trees in the yard and full-size laundry on site. It carries 142 Airbnb reviews at a 4.83 rating, the most of any home we have, and its second bathroom makes it a practical pick for two people sharing. It sits on a residential block just south of downtown, close enough to reach I-4 quickly for the rest of the drive to Winter Park. Amelia’s Arena Retreat, about 15 minutes away in Parramore, is a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a bedroom that has its own attached bathroom, useful when two people keep different schedules, plus a fenced backyard with mature shade trees. Its private driveway and covered front entry mean arriving after dark is never a problem.

09Billing for this stay

Every stay starts with a written agreement naming the home, the dates, the rate and the deposit, whichever kind of payer is behind it; the rate itself is confirmed in writing when you inquire.

Program and grant staff, and any appointment where a department or a grant is settling the account, can be billed the way we bill an established company: one monthly invoice in the college's or department's name, a signed agreement or purchase order, and a W-9 and a certificate of insurance on request, since we carry a commercial landlord liability policy. Net-30 terms apply once that agreement is in place, though the first booking is paid up front while it gets set up.

Visiting faculty, postdocs and families paying their own way use the same terms as any leisure stay: the rate and deposit confirmed in writing, an itemized receipt each month, and an extension by the month if the term runs long. We do not offer net-30 or purchase-order terms on a personal or family booking; those terms are for companies, agencies and insurers with their own accounts payable process. If a department later decides to reimburse you or pay directly, tell us and we will change who the agreement and the invoices name. None of this changes what you pay; it only changes whose name is on the invoice and how the paperwork moves. Every invoice, whichever name is on it, itemizes the rate and any fees the same way, so expense reports and grant reconciliations have what they need.

10Winter Park beyond the campus

Winter Park's Park Avenue shopping and dining district is a separate destination the site tracks on its own, and for these three homes it lands a few minutes closer than the campus itself: about 8 minutes from WinterPark Home against 11 to campus, about 11 minutes from Fruit Tree Home against 14, and about 12 minutes from Amelia’s Arena Retreat against 15.

The campus and Park Avenue are two separate points in the same town, and the site tracks their drive times separately rather than assuming one stands in for the other. A short drive to one does not tell you the drive time to the other. AdventHealth Winter Park, on Lee Road, sits in the same town too, a short drive from our Lockhart and Rosemont homes if a health need comes up during a term. If a trip to Park Avenue matters as much as the drive to campus, tell us and we will help you weigh the three homes against both trips.

11What's in the house

Every home comes furnished, with beds and linens made up, a stocked kitchen, Wi-Fi from day one and private parking, ready to move into for the length of a term. Exact inclusions are confirmed in writing when you book.

Exact inclusions vary a little by home and are confirmed in writing when you book.

The three homes closest to Rollins handle laundry and parking a little differently. Fruit Tree Home has full-size laundry on site. WinterPark Home and Amelia’s Arena Retreat each have a washer and dryer plus a private driveway; WinterPark Home adds a screened porch, handy for reading or grading outside, and Amelia’s Arena Retreat's bedroom with its own attached bathroom helps when two people keep different schedules. None of the three has a desk built into a bedroom; a dining table and Wi-Fi cover most work. The Clue House and Meet. Play. Stay., both about 18 minutes from campus, are the two homes in the portfolio with a desk in a bedroom, worth asking about if a dedicated desk matters more to you than the shorter drive. A stocked kitchen matters more over a full semester than over a weekend, since cooking most meals at home costs less than eating out every night. Linens are part of every home too, so the packing that matters for a semester is clothes, books and whatever the job or the program requires.

12What guests at WinterPark Home said

These are real reviews from WinterPark Home's own Airbnb listing, quoted verbatim with the reviewer's name and month. Every home carries its own set of reviews, and the full collection is on our reviews page.