Would you consider Cellebration?

[Tigger031266]

We own at 4 DVC hotels for a total of 425 points. We love our DVC and all the benefits. I have been watching the sale prices of celebration condo's plunge. So 2 weeks ago we decided to look a couple condos in celebration. The idea is to think about selling DVC for celebrations and renting out celebration to our niece that works for Disney when we are not there. We checked out 4 condo's all for under $100K. The condo's we viewed were originally sold for $250 to 300K according to the real estate paperwork.

Advantages over DVC:
- You own forever
- You can stay as much as you like (you can't get enough points from Disney to pull off)
- You can rent out
- You can bring pets
- It is true investment that could actually go back up in price
- Larger in overall space. The condo's we looked at had 2BR, 2 bath, storage, living room (much larger that 2BR at DVC)

Some background on celebration as I understand it (please correct if not true)
- Celebration was once going to be the Disney city
- Nice center city with restaurants, bars, stores...
- Buying a $100K condo in Celebration means 3 costs (Taxes, Maintenance Fees and a condo fee) which total about $600-800 per month.
- Disney has pulled back on Celebration development because it cannot run the city as it wanted (residents have power) but still owns all land, most commercial properties....
- Technically, you only buy the interior walls...the rest is owned and maintained by association
- Celebration is seeing hard times because of real estate bust, some high publicized crime and Disney pullback
- When Celebration started selling it was though lottery because interest was so high even at prices that are 4-8 times what they are selling for now

Condo Review:
- The first 2 condo's that we saw were in pretty shabby shape.
- The condo's in the Georgetown area were better but still not impressive
- For $100k for the most part you got a pretty cheaply made apartments. The condo's in that range were actually made as apartments but became condos
- No Disney feel
- We felt that selling DVC for celebration would defeat the purpose of vacations.
- Celebration is a beautiful town with Disney influence but not WDW. The location is not walking distance to anything in WDW
- Maybe worth looking at with $250K but not $100K
- In celebration, the fees are the problem. 9-10K in fees is way to much for a vacation home.
- Our conclusion, look at the houses in celebration after we retire (but check out other places as well)

Has anyone else considered celebration over DVC? What were your conclusions?

 

[OhioDVC]

My wife and I went through the exact same thing 6-9 months ago. We decided that it did not have the Disney feel enough for us and we like the feeling of being on vacation at DVC. We thought that we would loose that vacation feeling if we were living where we like to vacation.

We decided not to buy at Celebration and kept our DVC points

 

[erinna]

A very interesting idea. Thanks for posting this, Tigger031266!

I've been following Celebration for a bit - here's couple of books that might interest you.

Celebration, USA: Living in Disney's Brave New Town
http://*******.com/28vfgv8

The Celebration Chronicles
http://*******.com/2erdzjz

 

[Dizny Dad]

Wow - great thread - thanks Tigger031266!

DW and I have discussed similar ideas, but had not yet begun the process of looking into life in Celebration.

Thanks for the insights!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We visited Celebration about 5 years ago, and decided not to buy there, but now we are considering it again.

 

[DizGirl20]

 

[bwvBound]

Tigger031266 - Neat thread. Thanks for inviting us to ponder the idea with you!

For those of us giving "first thought" to Celebration, Celebration FAQs with links to the Covenants and Rules: http://www.celebrationhouses.com/faq.html

FWIW, we have a vacation (weekend) home and love it. Your list of advantages are similar to those I posted in a related topic in 2007. One advantage worth underscoring: Not having to pack stuff! It is a wonderful thing to arrive at your vacation home carrying only your weekend tote bag and a few fresh food items. Everything else you need will already be in the home/condo: clothes, shower items, kitchen items, books, movies, favorite pillow, quality sheets, comfy mattress, etc.

And yes, having the pets. I can't say enough ... but that is just me. I don't give them enough of my time/attention during the normal work week and I love being able to play with them at our weekend home.

Best wishes in your research.

 

[magicmommy]

Great thread! DH and I took a quick ride thru this summer. We were very interested but decided at this point we will continue to add to DVC in order to just be able to be snowbirds for a few months each year.

 

[mic_KY_mouses]

Great thread, I agree. We are in the same boat of looking and listing pros and cons. We are comparing our DVC to a possible purchase. You have to lease for a minimum time on all Celebration properties so no short term usage. Does anyone know how the rental/lease market is in Celebration now?

 

[wiltonken]

We took the plunge and purchased a single family home in Celebration. Best thing we ever did. We now go back and forth up north at our leisure. No more checkin/checkout times and we have our "private" roadway to WDW. The town is wonderful and the people have great spirit. It is truly a family oriented town.

 

[ajf1007]

I'm so glad you posted this thread. My DH and I keep talking about our 5 year plan and in 5 yrs we wanted to move to Celebration in a 2-3 bedroom condo. I'm so interested in what you all have to say.

Celebration looks so amazing to me on-line, however, we've never been through it actually. We will be in Disney in a few weeks and plan on heading over there and taking a look.

Maybe my 5 year plan won't be in Celebration, but it's definitely in Florida somewhere!

 

[Dizny Dad]

So in May, DW & I took two days and tooled around central Florida, with a half day stop in Celebration. We spoke with a realtor, did some touring on our own, dreamed the dream I am reading about in this thread.

And yes, the prices have plummeted from the original asking prices, but are still above what you can get elsewhere for a lesser price. Celebration has its premium status.

And then I read an article on the legal rights of HOAs (Home Owner Associations). Most have the power to foreclose! If a few in the association can't pay any assessments, it is distributed over the remaining few, such that even though you have paid the standard HOA fees, if you can't pay up for those that can't/don't, the HOA can start foreclosure for the few dollars additional fees you owe.

I don't like the idea of unexpected HOA fees, especially at a time of my life when my income will be fixed. It sounds to me like our present day income taxes; many pay for those that can't/wont. And you can bet that the ones not paying their assessments complain first when the commons aren’t mowed . . . .

 

[Sammie]

I don't think Celebration has fallen on any harder times than any other development.

As to the crime, where does anyone live that is completely crime free. I can assure Disney World resorts are not crime free, they just do a better job of covering it up.

I consider Celebration a very safe place to live.

 

[stitch1094]

You mentioned 3 costs associated with buying vs DVC (Taxes, Maintenance Fees and a condo fee).

However, I think there is a 4th. Homeowners insurance, which might be a significant cost in Florida.

 

[nu2dvc]

Like many of you on this thread, I often think of Celebration & how it would be the ideal retirement destination, close to the magic, and ensuring years of visits from our kids & (hopefully) our grandkids

Sometimes I go house-hunting online for fun, looking at all the beautiful homes & checking the real-estate trends. It is absolutely true that home prices have dropped there recently (as they have everywhere!). See the following chart which is from a very reliable source & documents the decline: http://www.celebrationhouses.com/pdfdocs/trends_price.pdf

I have found the following website to be very informative & helpful in considering a move to Celebration sometime in our future, it is: http://www.celebrationhouses.com/

But I have never seen it mentioned anywhere that the association could begin foreclosures on our home if our neighbors don't pay their homeowner's fees. Can anybody who currently lives in Celebration attest to that?? Seems crazy, but then again I have no experience with HOA-style living, and admit that I'm clueless. I sure hope this is not something that could really happen, as I'd certainly think that's a deal breaker in retirement, when on a fixed income.

Anybody wanna chime in?

 

[Dizny Dad]

I don't know what the contract/deeds may stipulate in the Celebration HOA. I was just relating how surprised I was when reading the retirement sites I came across the HOA Foreclosure topic. Search HOA FORECLOSURE on your favorite search engine, pick a site, read a few of the reports, and hold onto your hat!

I would hope Celebration's HOAs don't include such avenues of control!

 

[LauraLea]

First of all, if you want a nicer home in a good neighborhood in central Florida you will have to deal with an HOA.

My husband is a board member of our HOA. I am sure all HOAs are different, but I do know the state has some say in what can or cannot be in the deed restrictions. I know for a fact several homeowners in ours are deliquent in their fees. The rest of the homeowners are not responsible for the shortfall. Our HOA has money in the bank and can deal with a few non-payers for now. I also know that our HOA cannot start foreclosure on homes for nonpayment of fees.

We bought a foreclosed home here 2 years ago. Before we could close on the home all fees had to be paid by the holding bank. We were dealing with USBank and they were terrible. We even offered to the HOA president to pay the fees ourselves so we could just get closing over with. The HOA would not let us, we had to wait for USBank to get their act together.

Our neighborhood has had at least 5 other homes foreclosed on since we bought here. We are fortunate most of these are now selling and we are not stuck in a community of a bunch of empty homes. I am sure though there are many communities not so lucky. The remaining home owners in these cases probably do have to bear the burden of meeting HOA expenses when so little money is coming in.

Laura

 

[cloudnut220]

The only thing I can say about a weekend/vacation home vs. something like DVC is other things you have to worry about. I own a beach house with my family. We sweat things out like coastal storms, broken AC units, the sump pump, etc. So we get all of the worries of homeownership, which are amplified by not being there all the time. And we spend a fair amount of time when we're there doing maintenance, cleaning, etc. So it's not quite the same carefree check in/check out, call mousekeeping if there's an issue situation.

All that being said, I LOVE OUR BEACH HOUSE! It's my second home, my second bed, my second kitchen, etc. But it's not that same carefree attitude as checking into a resort.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I was considering a job in the area and looked at Celebration.

Decided against it, but then didn't go to the job either so...

Having lived in lots of HOA the fees were HIGH and the "stepford wives" feeling got to me.

 

[DiznyDi]

If not Celebration, any other communities of interest?