Pros and Cons of Living in Deltona, FL

I sell a lot of homes in a city called Deltona, FL. It's a little north of Orlando, maybe half an hour drive. It's southwest of Daytona Beach, also maybe half an hour drive. It's pretty easy to sell there and the reason usually is simply that you get a lot of bang for your buck there. Here's a link to a video I made, or if you prefer to read, continue on below.

So, let's talk about the good and the bad.

The good. Well, as mentioned, Deltona has a convenient location about halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach (or New Smyrna Beach). The main Central Florida, non-toll road I-4 runs through Deltona, and generally depending on where you live in Deltona, you should be able to get to I-4 in under 15 minutes. Considering houses are maybe 1/3 of what you'd have to pay in Orlando, that's a big enough draw for many to commute.

As mentioned, Deltona is super affordable. At this moment, you can get a pool home for as little as $177,000. I don't know when you might be reading this, but here is a link to current Deltona pool homes for comparison: https://bit.ly/2X6Fcfd

While we're at it, let's through in some lakefront homes: https://bit.ly/36BdSbZ

Why? Because Deltona is full of lakes. If you don't boat when you move to Deltona, you'll probably want to start. Deltona sits on the banks of Lake Monroe, which connects to the St Johns River, which takes you all the way to Jacksonville and the intercoastal. It used to be a steamboat route. Pretty cool. 

Deltona is also very convenient for shopping. Deltona doesn't have a lot of HOA communities, but rather (and this kind of goes back to its history) it sort of started and just spread in all directions. So you have shopping plazas really all over the place. It's not terribly walkable, but you won't have a long drive to get your groceries, gas or other essentials.

Deltona is home to some pretty great parks, too. For weekend outings, you won't have to drive far. Green Springs Park is great for a walk or a family picnic in a pavilion, and there are some pretty elaborate kids playgrounds in Deltona also, like Thornby Park.

Now, let's talk about the cons.

For the most part, Deltona is a bedroom community, so you'll probably be getting to know I-4 pretty well on your commute to somewhere else. An exception -- the Amazon Distribution facility. It's not open right now, but will be soon, and is creating 500 jobs in Deltona.

Deltona isn't highly walkable. If you love that downtown feel, where you can stop, grab a drink at one place, walk to dinner a little further down the street and have dessert nearby too, you probably won't find that here. There are other towns nearby (DeLand and Sanford come to mind) where you can get that, but not so much in Deltona.

Finally, Deltona is prone to flooding. As mentioned, there are lakes all over the place, but even homes that aren't right on the water sometimes require flood insurance. This is something you need to consider when buying a home -- so that it's not a surprise when your lender requires you to get flood insurance, it's best to check the FEMA map before even making an offer because that flood insurance bill for some can be a deal breaker.