You mention you are from Discovery to plenty people around Johannesburg and they will automatically assume that you work for the medical aids, rather than living in the suburb in Roodepoort. Discovery is a classic example of the old mining suburb, with lots of yellowish facebrick on display and houses that were specifically build with a small front garden and a large backyard.
It is also just on the right side of the tracks with the railway line running along the southern boundary of the suburb. There is actually a tiny portion of the suburb of the other side of the track (closer to Florida Lake) but not even the locals know it is part of the suburb.
With plenty of parks in the immediate vicinity it is a great suburb for those that like to spend time outdoors. The suburb is bounded by Ontdekkers Drive in the north and Goldman Street in the south (Goldman is just on right side of the tracks) with Honeyball Street cutting the suburb in two. The area north of Honeyball is slightly better than the area south of the street but there is plenty of value to be found in both sections.
There is a fair split in the recent buyers with 40% coming from the 18-35 year old group, 38% from the 36-50 year olds and 17% from the 50-65 year old group. Average freehold prices are in the R800 000 range but a glance at prices on the web indicates that you will pay in the region of R1.2 million for a property in a good location and in good repair. That said it is possible to find fixer-uppers for a relative bargain around the suburb. Over the past 12 months there were four houses sold for under R400 000, 42 between R400 000 and R800 000 and 41 between R800 000 and R1.5 million, with nothing over the R1.5-million mark changing hands. There are some sectional title units, but most of these are flats, with very few townhouses in the suburb.
While the main street of Florida not really somewhere where you might do your weekend shopping it does have banks and a few useful stores. There is also a newly renovated Spar on Ontdekkers, but unfortunately a real scarcity of Woolworths Food stores in the area. You will have to venture to Town Square next to Hillfox to get that fix satiated.
There are both English and Afrikaans primary schools in Discovery with Florida Park High and Hoerskool Florida within walking distance. Victory House private school is on the edge of the suburb and La Salle College (which is a co-educational Catholic school) is also in the suburb. This offers a range of schools and should this not be sufficient there are options further afield in the Ruimsig and Weltevreden Park areas.
