Communities near Orlando

[Donalds_best_pal]

We are looking to buy a home near orlando to stay at during the summer. We live in mississippi now and arent to fond of it and there isnt a lot to do like there was when we lived in California. We go florida all the time and know the area very well but wondered what you guys knew of new communities. We really would like to be with 25 minutes of WDW. Some communities we have looked at online are Avalon Park and we really like the Town of Windemere. We arent planning on buying until spring so we would prefer a neighberhood that isnt almost sold out since it wouldnt work with us. Avalon Park just started a new village but I dont know how long they will be selling houses there and what new plans are for even more new construction. So if anyone knows of some nice neighberhoods let us know. We are looking to spend 200,000-300,000 and 3 or 4 bedrooms. Let me know what you guys think.
Matt

 

[chrissyk]

We built in Celebration after looking at Avalon Park. Avalon Park is just awesome-looking except for one thing...the 2 giant coal smoke-stacks in the distance Seriously, you could see those things from a lot of different vistas in the town, including from the main drag. I thought that that would hurt resale. That is the main reason that we decided against Avalon Park.

Celebration is pretty close to being built-out I think, but there is still some construction going on. I'm glad that we decided to build there. At the very least, the property there seems to be a good investment.

 

[Ted and Holly]

An the exact opposite of the spectrum, is just being started. Right now, we just have the Apartments, a small shopping area, and the resort. The houses will start going in soon.

If you are interested in less prestigious neighborhoods, check out any of the new communities along Route 27. Some have been completed, some still building, and a coupe just breaking ground.

For the amount you want to pay, you can have a REALLY nice house if you buy or build in a place with not as much of a "Brand name".

Ted

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Thanks for your replys. I will keep in mind what you said about Avalon Park when we checked it out. Celebration we have looked at before but it seems you get so much less for your money then other communities. Chapions gate looks nice but seems exspensive for us to. We are building a very big and exspensive house here in mississippi so dont want to be overwelemed with another exspesnive house. Hopfully we can keep our price range under 300,000. We were looking at Gulf Coast condos and before you know the condos we were looking at were 450,000 for beachfront. We decided that was to much for us. Any other planned communities you guys know of? Does Osceoloa or Orange have better schools in terms of resale? Now this route 27 area were exactly is that. Not real familiar with that road off the top of my head.
Thanks
Matt

 

[olena]

My folks bought a home in St. Cloud. They really like it. It's close enough to the parks and distant enough not to feel touristy.

 

[Feralpeg]

I live in the Lakes of Windermere subdivision. I love it. It takes me 10 minutes to get to Disney property. Try looking at www.AshtonWoods.com.

 

[Virgo10]

Originally posted by Donalds_best_pal
Does Osceoloa or Orange have better schools in terms of resale? Thanks
Matt

My realtor just sent me this link:
http://www.greatschools.net

I'm not sure how good the site is (haven't had a chance to check it out yet) but it's a place to start.

HTH.
Roberta

 

[safetymom]

You can reach Highway 27 by taking exit 55 or 58 on I-4. I live in the area and there are lots of new developments.

 

[ducklite]

I'm in Clermont, it's about 20 minutes from my house to the AKL, 30 to WL. I'm off Route 27 in Legends. Houses here run $225,000 to $375,000 for Lennar built homes. I'm pretty sure Engle is sold out, although there are some resales, and they run $275,000-$375,000.

Lawson (my builder) has two lots left. Because Lawson is a custom builder, it takes about 18 months for the entire building process to be complete. Lawson's homes start at $425,000 and go to well over a million , depending on the model and options. They are about to open another community in Clermont, so even if you aren't ready to buy yet, stop in and see their model and check out their other communities.

There are quite a few Lennar cmmunities in Clermont and Davenport (which is also close to WDW), and you can get a nice house in the $275,000 range from them.

Anne

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Thanks guys for your replys. Lakes of Windemere looks nice. I am hoping to call a sales person and see how long the expect to be building. We dont plan on buying until spring.
Matt

 

[Feralpeg]

Lakes of Windermere is about to finish their first tier of homes, but they have at least two more to develop. Your timeframe shouldn't be a problem. You might want to ask for Melissa Teachworth. She was great to work with.

 

[vernon]

I've just come back from house hunting and posted a "trip report" on the UK boards, it contains quite a lot of information on housing communities and my opinions on those I saw. I was also looking in that sort of price range ( $200-300k) so you may find my report of some use.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=651889

I've ended up buying a 2700 sq foot house for about $225k (including a lot of "upgrades") , you could get something with less sq feet, but still 3/4 bedrooms and nicely finished for less than $200k quite easily in that area (Poinciana). The "base price" of the house I chose was $191,000, but in most cases, people are likely to spend a good $20k on upgrades no matter what house they choose, it's worth taking that into consideration when looking at prices that builders/developers are quoting. It's about 25 minutes drive to WDW. The area is south of WDW, and can link up to I27 near Davenport, I think the road will be upgraded in the near future.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Thanks for your replys again. We really cant wait to see Lakes of Windemere. If I understand correctly the neighberhood has a pool? We are looking forward to seeing the nieghberhood this christmas.
Matt

 

[jajuan]

I am so stressed out reading all of these posts. We are in the beginning processes of "thinking" about a transfer to Orlando. I would love to be near the beach and WDW.

BUT...we have a 3450 square foot house in a suburb of Dallas for around 290,000. I have four children so I can't really downsize. It looks like DH would have to get a substantial raise to even come close to something like that in Orlando. Of course since we are only in the "thinking" stage, I haven't contacted a realtor. I haven't even seen a whole lot of properties with 4 or more bedrooms and then only 2 baths.

Maybe once it gets closer to reality, I will have to take an exploratory trip. Sorry for the vent. All of these homes are beautiful...just not big enough or in the right price range for us.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I didnt realize Texas was so cheap! Your lucky you guys may transfer to FL. We moved to mississippi and I dont like it that much at all. To rural and different then Orance County,CA. Anyways we also though we might move to Flordia before the mississippi thing came up. We went house hunting and were in heaven. We knew our house which is 3450 sqft also, would sell for around 1.2 million. We couldnt belive what we could have got in orlando. We came to Mississippi and its even cheaper! Its all realetive. I cant wait at least to call Florida my summer home!
Matt

 

[jajuan]

What part of Mississippi? I know what you mean. That is a small option too. (Jackson...we would probably live across the resorvior(sp?)) The city of Dallas is very expensive, but the suburbs are less expensive. We have a small yard, but everything else is very upgraded. There would have to be a lot of thought into a transfer. I would love to be looking for a vacation home there. Maybe if we don't move, we could look into that in a couple of years and at least spend all summer and holidays there since it is our favorite vacation destination.

 

[Feralpeg]

Matt, Lakes Of Windermere has a very nice pool. We also have a large common area with a tennis court/basketball court and a soccor field. There is also a nice Bandstand type structure. I'm not sure what they call them. We are located on Lake Sawyer.

You'll be happy to hear that the houses stood up very well through the 3 hurricanes. That is more than can be said for many new homes here. There are a couple of builders that are going to be sued by the residents of the subdivisions they built because their houses had considerable water damage. In one neighborhood here in Windermere, 80% of the homes had water come through the stucco. The people are having to have their walls torn out and carpet replaced. The builder will not stand behind his homes so they people are going to sue them.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Glad to hear most houses withstood the Hurricanes, I was actually in Florida for Jeane and I was at home when we got hit by Ivan, we came out fairly good. You guys have an Ashton Woods home? That is what I can gather would be the builder we would be looking at.

I thought Dallas was exspensive but didnt know much about the suburbs. We will live in meridian, east mississippi about 2hours from the beach. Unfortunately east missisippi here got hit by Ivan. Home you guys can move or get a vacation home in FL.
Matt

 

[Feralpeg]

Yes, I have an Ashton Woods home.

 

[Sammie]

Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Mary, Sanford, Winter Park, Clermont are all very nice areas.