Central Florida Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
***smilejenn***
How do I private message you? Just wanted to make sure you got the links I sent you on the other forum. You should check out Pulte homes in Clermont if you like Winter Garden. We were able to cut our property taxes in half!
?http://www.pulte.com/communities/fl/clermont/verde-ridge/index.aspx
?and also check out this site that lists all homes for sale and homes that recently sold in Central FL
?http://www.myfloridahomesmls.com/?
?
Re: ***smilejenn***
*butting in*
Verde Ridge is great, smilejenn. Hibiscus Homes and Adams Homes are also builders in this development as well (my parents bought from Hibiscus and had a great experience with them)
My mother in law is from Ohio and she was in town a couple weeks ago and we took her out there before making our final decision. She loved it so much she is seriously considering moving down here to build in there too! LOL
?Great to hear you love Verde Ridge! I am sooooo excited! ?Jenn come join our crew!?
?
Property taxes on a 186k home is going to run about $2200 a year, compared with a 180k home also in Clermont pre-owned at 5k a year (or for first year till you can have them reassess the taxes based on the purchase price) At least I hope those estimates are correct...they better be!?
We love Lake Nona and looked out there too, but just couldn't get it to work in our budget...well at least not on our home tastes anyway! Where are you getting ready to close at? Did you find something in Winderemere/Winter Garden?
That is a *huge* difference in property taxes! I can definitely see why you went with a new build! Have you been looking at that neighborhood for awhile? Have you noticed if the builder's prices have come down at all? We have new townhouses going up near our neighborhood, and the prices have dropped a good amount in the last year. Although they've been stable the past couple months.
We're working on a house in Winter Garden right now. We still have to make it through the inspection and closing though, so I'm trying not to get too excited yet. I'm sure you know how that all goes!
That's awesome
Where at in Winter Garden?
Our home buying happened REALLY fast. We were planning on renting again just a little over two months ago and had been trying to find a rental house closer to our jobs with a fenced in yard. After realizing typical rent on a house was going to run us $1425 a month plus moving expenses and dog fees and a months deposit as security, we figured we might as well be paying a mortgage for that and save our $3,000 in moving and security deposits to put towards a house. So we worked with a local realtor (he actually does the House Hunters show when they are in Orlando) we met him through his sister. Anyway, based on our monthly budget of what we wanted to spend he actually recommended we go with a new build and showed us this neighborhood. We fell in love with it. I was hard to please after living/renting in Stoneybrook. I have champaign taste on a beer budget...what can I say? Kept looking at SS and some foreclosures around but realized we could get a lot more house and it would be new for the same monthly payments. To get payments around $1400 for everything we would have had to go with a $140k pre-owned home that carried 4k a year in taxes, so SS or foreclosure were pretty much all we could get...and all the ones we went to see needed sooo much work. I'm amazed at how people neglect their homes and trash them...every one at least needed new floors. I went to see one in Windermere, but the tile needed to be replaced and the kitchen vinyl was yuck...and it needed new toilets and appliances. We just didn't have excess cash to put into remodeling, so this worked out the best route for us. Are you going to be anywhere near Summerport or Independence in your new home? If by chance it doesn't work out definitely check out our neighborhood.
OH and yes, the prices have significantly dropped in the past few years for the new builds.
I hope you check back in this thread, because I have lots of questions for you! lol
I love your statement about champaigne tastes on a beer budget - that perfectly fits me!
The house we're currently under contract for is in Stoneybrook West in Winter Garden. I love the neighborhood and I'm sure it would be over our price range had we not been looking at bank owned homes. We just had our inspection today and it came back with about $2000 necessary repairs, in addition to the cosmetic fixes. And they aren't being upfront about their HOAs either. Some agents are saying that they have been known to add in an extra $4k or $10k at closing as a HOA "initiation." Very disappointing! We could try to ask the bank to do the repairs or give us a credit...or there's another house we're up for in Winter Garden that we should hear back about next week... Too many decisions!
So after our less than stellar inspection today I think we're going to go tour the new builds in Clermont tomorrow. Did you by chance look at schools at all? I know very little about Lake County, but the schools they are zoned to seem to be good. Were you apprehensive about moving that far away from central Orlando? And did Pulte offer the best prices within that area? I wonder why their Delray model is priced below the Destin? The Delray 200sqft, but yet it's 30k lower!
Oh...and not to confuse you about the Del Ray...they will build it in Verde Ridge, they just don't have a model on site. They have the Dearborne and Durham on site. But the really nice thing about the neighborhood is that they are all on at LEAST quarter acre lots. Some are half an acre. So there is at least 40 feet between houses instead of the standard 10ft and 20ft in most Orlando neighborhoods. It makes it feel really roomy like you can breathe!
Hi! Thanks for answering my questions and for the info on schools! My little guy is at least 10 years away from high school, so I don't think the HS zoning will deter me from the area.
I'm so glad that you told me that they don't have a Del Ray model in Clermont. I think we might call their sales center tomorrow to get additional information, and then perhaps ride out to Melbourne if it's something we want to look into further.
I've never looked into new construction before, so these are probably ignorant questions... But I've heard that the starting price is just for bare bones and that it won't include things blinds, appliances, closet organizers, carpet, etc. Was this true with your house? Did you find it hard to stay close to the starting price, or did most available lots put you well above that point?
I think you still need to go see the neighborhood though. It will really make the difference for you. Check out the models they have and see what the bare bones model looks like versus the full upgrades. Even the bare bones one impressed me. Seriously. I was surprised. We did about 10k in upgrades. I just caved and decided to upgrade to maple cabinets. But you may be able to get them to tie in some upgrades for you to make the sale. They also paid 6k in our closing costs. We had to come up with 5k to start the process. The base price for the Durham is 175k, and we are up to 186k I think. The only thing we didn't upgrade was to granite counter tops. Seriously, just ride out there today or tomorrow if you can and take a look at them. We worked with a guy named Anond. Our realtor is the one who took us out there. Do you have a realtor you are working with as well? Have you ever been in Eastwood near Stoneybrook East? Verde Ridge is kinda like it except lots more space between the homes.
Have you figured out how to private message on here yet? I can't figure it out.
Just to note, they are not as "bare bones" as KB homes. They are the home builder that charges for every little thing like plain carpet or base boards.
Here i what we upgraded:
stone front on house
tile in kitchen and family room and hall
blinds (yes this is an upgrade but cheaper than buying them)
maple cabinets
stainless steel appliances ($770 upgrade) totally worth it
screened in patio with an insulated roof
Hi! It sounds like you got a lot of upgrades for 10k! You know so much more about new construction than I do, I'm glad that I stumbled across your post yesterday on The Nest.
I think we're going to take a trip out there in the next couple days with our realtor. One more question for you! Did they tell you how long it would take to build your home? You wouldn't get the 8k tax credit unless you closed and the house was done this year, right?
You can send me a private message by clicking on the Contact link below any of my postings. Or you can send me an email at smilejenn at aol dot com.
Thanks again for all of your help!!!
Our home is supposed to be done by November.
They haven't even broken ground yet. We just got approved for our loan.