Windsor Palms or Windsor Hills

[2xDisneyDad]

Firstly, thank you all for the information provided on this board. I must admit I have been "watching" it for some time before finally joining today.

We have historically stayed offsite because we really do enjoy having some room to move around in, and allow both ourselves and our kids (3 & 5) some freedom during vacation. While we have usually switched into a 2 bedroom villa at Marriott Grande Vista from our timeshare in Aruba we would like to perhaps move up a little into a 3 bedrooom townhome. We love the idea of the small splash pool, and first thought they were only available at Windsor Hills, which looks absolutely fantastic, but I also see there are similar units at Windsor Palms as well. 5mins2disney, your homes look absolutely perfect and we would have loved to rent from you, but as would be expected you are booked for our April trip.

I have found some suggestions on the board and will use them to make our final decision as to where to stay. I am curious other then age, what are there major differences between the two resorts such as park distance, "feel" of the properties, etc... Also, we are tossing around the idea of looking at properties to buy dependent upon how this area appeals to us. The Marriott is on the other side of Disney on the quiet side of I drive and we like the distance from the highway while still having the proximity to the parks.

Thanks for any advice or comments

 

[5mins2disney]

Well I can speak for Windsor Hills, which we feel is newer, nicer, and closer. Many of the same resort amenities in both resorts, both were built by Pulte, both are still VERY nice resorts, just Windsor Hills was built in 2005 so it's all brand new and newer versions of things like the pools, clubhouse, etc.

We wanted to buy a place in Windsor Hills in 2005 and they were all sold out... they sent us to Windsor Palms. After staying at WHR.. we just didn't "feel it" in the other resort, the fact that the guy was showing us a small condo, where he had liberally encased all of the furniture in the clear furniture plastic protective covers didnt' help much either.... (and he GUSHED About how he did all of the decorating HIMSELF! gee... I think we knew that... LOL)... it was an ..interesting experience to say the least..LOL.

You can see resales at WHR on the web by the way...
www.windsorhillsreserve.com (click on resales)... you can see all of the MLS realtor listings online there by home type if you're interested.

Windsor Palms I would imagine you can rent for slightly less and buy a place there for slightly less still due to the age, but it's still a nice resort and there are many nice homes there for rent and resale.

I've had a couple of people ask me lately what we think about buying in Windsor Hills, obviously we bought a place there so I think it's a good deal, at least for us, but everyone's financial perspective is different. I would suggest, if you haven't stayed there before, go spend a week there on vacation and check it out yourself, first hand, then if you like it you can get a realtor to show you listings one day while you're there. (That's what we did). Rent the kind of place you're interested in possibly purchasing and see how you like it, etc. Use all of the facilities and see it yourself first hand.

 

[mareed]

We've stayed at Windsor Palms several times. Our first visits were in the condos, and then we discovered the town homes for our last few trips, and have decided that the town homes will always be our first choice in the future. We've been able to find several to choose from between $80 & $95 per night including all taxes. I don't think you'd find much if any at Windsor Hills under $100. I think the location of Windsor Palms is great, but I can't do a direct comparison to Windsor Hills. We never use any of the resort amenities, so things like having a slide at the Windsor Hills pool makes no difference at all to me. I'm just not willing to pay a premium for Windsor Hills when Windsor Palms is basically identical for my needs.

Regarding the drive to Disney... From what I can see, using the Sherberth Rd shortcut is better from Windsor Palms because you're making a right onto 192 instead of a left from Windsor Hills. But, I admit that I may be completely wrong about that, and as I said before, I don't think the driving distance difference is really anything significant at all between the 2.

You didn't ask, but we've definitely found we prefer the town homes to the condos. We like being able to park right outside our place instead of possibly a bit further away. We also don't have to take stairs or elevator. We like having a splash pool or hot-tub on our private patio with the town homes.

A good spot for booking Windsor Palms is http://www.windsor-palms-florida.net/.

Good luck with your decision. I really think you'll be happy with either place!

 

[2xDisneyDad]

Rent the kind of place you're interested in possibly purchasing and see how you like it, etc. Use all of the facilities and see it yourself first hand.

Thanks for the advice. I agree, and I think we were fortunate (especially over Easter week) to find a townhouse that was recommended on a few boards in windsor hills. I was able to rent directly from the owner and she seems very pleasent. Sounds nice with plasma TV's, quality beds and bedding, nice kids room with a bunk bed, and an end unit with room for the kids to play.

Mareed, I think that my kids would have a great time with some of the "extras" at windsor hills like the slide, but I agree it seems overall a bit more expensive.

Thanks for the comments

 

[5mins2disney]

Sounds nice with plasma TV's, quality beds and bedding, nice kids room with a bunk bed, and an end unit with room for the kids to play.

Sounds like Lee & Laura's place, we stayed there ourselves 2 years in a row, it was awesome! It inspired us to buy there ourselves we loved it so much!

She has the same MC as us, they're great too, take wonderful care of our homes and our guests.

Tell her George says "hi" and you found her on the DIS!



If you're still interested in looking at real estate while you're there you can call any local realtor and they will gladly show you homes in both WHR and WPR...and EI for that matter if you want to look there too! We checked out WHR and WPR while there with a realtor in 05.

 

[2xDisneyDad]

George,

I guess the quality places are easy to spot, you nailed it on the head. Their place felt "right" for us and your review of it puts me more at ease. I was going to PM you, but I don't think I have risen to that DIS board level yet. If you would not mind sharing, would you let me know what realtor or realtors you used as I would like to get some info/contacts before our our trip in April. We may find out quickly, based on what the overall expenditures are with a rental property, if this is a doable/good idea.

Have a great trip, I will pass on your message,

Steve

 

[5mins2disney]

George,

I guess the quality places are easy to spot, you nailed it on the head. Their place felt "right" for us and your review of it puts me more at ease. I was going to PM you, but I don't think I have risen to that DIS board level yet. If you would not mind sharing, would you let me know what realtor or realtors you used as I would like to get some info/contacts before our our trip in April. We may find out quickly, based on what the overall expenditures are with a rental property, if this is a doable/good idea.

Have a great trip, I will pass on your message,

Steve

Thanks, you can PM me though I don't mind. I would not want to recommend the realtor I used, I just walked into an office off the street on 192. She was just "ok" compared to others I've used, and actually, has since quit the business. I can send you a link to another one though...PM me your email please.

Realtors won't give you an accurate idea of the expenditures for what it takes to own a property, just so you know! Many of them seem more interested in the sales process than the STR rental market ( and rightly so..that's their job).

I happen to have recently met a guy who owns several homes in Windsor Hills and is a licensed realtor in the area...that's who I would talk to. He knows both sides of the equation. I can send you a link to sold properties, also a link to the MLS listings for sale, at least in WHR.

 

[2xDisneyDad]

Thanks again George,

Are there any other renters that went on to owning that now think it was much more then they bargained for or found it easier then they thought it would be?

 

[isla bonita]

We also own a home and I think it is a lot of work. I also do not want to give it up we love going down but it is not easy.

 

[5mins2disney]

Thanks again George,

Are there any other renters that went on to owning that now think it was much more then they bargained for or found it easier then they thought it would be?

LOTS... a lot of people in Florida, I hate to say it, get "sold the dream" as I call it..buy realtors, MCs, salespeople, you name it. They get promised that rentals will be easy or the MCs will do it for you. I talk to other unhappy owners all the time who are unhappy about amount of bookings, price wars, bad MCs, you name it! Some find out that it IS more than they bargained for, and end up disillusioned, losing $$, selling, etc. Others find out that they can do it, but it's a lot of hard work to make it happen (I think I fall in that category). Most end up losing money / are cash flow negative, and many struggle with marketing / sales, bookings, etc. Others are unrealistic about their places, their amount of work vs reward, you name it.

Lots of unscrupulous MCs will "nickel and dime" the owners to "death" (at least this is what I hear from the other owners! LOL) and there goes their last chance of making a profit...well...scratch that P word..I mean their last chance of losing even MORE money! hehe

One thing is for sure, if the resort operator or MC tells you they will run everything and you just own it, you will be losing $$ in a big way for sure. I couldn't believe the amount of people over at Mystic Dunes looking at timeshare presentations this weekend when we played golf there! DOZENs of people being "toured" around the resort. Sad, but they're mostly going to all be losing $$ on the deal...who makes the $$? The people selling them of course. There's a lot of this kind of activity in central Florida though.

I did meet with a realtor though on Monday at Windsor Hills and looked at a few townhomes, some furnished in fairly high end interiors (some nice places to rent actually...all looked pretty nice from that perspective!)... 1 was empty. Most had standard TVs though (not the high end plasmas like I have in my places). Easily fixable though, and some of these even came with their own websites and some bookings in place (which you pay for in a higher sale price I learned by the way). Having done it already, at least in my case, I would go with an empty less expensive one and do it all up from scratch again (they all had tile already at least...mine didn't when I first bought it), since I already have a website and bookings and all going already, that makes more sense to me (would cost less).