Where and How to Find and Buy NON HOA Homes Near Orlando
Almost nothing in Florida real estate elicits stronger responses than the concept of an HOA. Some people love them, some people hate them. I watched a bunch of other videos before sitting down to make this one, and these were some of the comments I found: HOAs harass people for stupid stuff. Voluntarily stepping onto a bear trap would be a better choice than buying a home in an area with a HOA. Like even the pros of HOA sound like cons. And the cons of living in an non HOA sounds like a parody of a rich person complaining about unrelatable things. I want to move to Orlando in a couple of years. I do not want to live in an HOA because I want to have a pet cow or two. I’m going to film this video primarily for those of you who have already made up their mind that they don’t want an HOA, but are now realizing that they can’t find the house that they want without buying in an HOA community. I hope you will hear me out as we try to figure out if there are any pros to be found. And stick around to the end, because I will be discussing some of the best non-HOA communities in Central Florida. So let’s talk about what an HOA is. An HOA or homeowners association is a group of homeowners who live in a residential community and have come together, whether by the developer who initiated the community, or later on in time, to maintain a clean and cohesive atmosphere in the neighborhood. Sounds great right? So why all the hate? Well, lets talk about that. The fees Fees vary widely in HOA communities.Most people when they think of an HOA, seem to think of paying hundreds of dollars each month in fees, but that’s really not always the case. I know of HOAs whose fee only goes to providing a key to give you access to a gate that lets you launch your canoe onto a lake. Others only maintain an entrance sign, you know, those stone signs that say things like “Heavenly Estates,” or “Sunshine Acres” or “Sheer Bliss Homes”. I made those up. Don’t look for those. Others offer tennis courts, a pool, a gate, a guard station (and here I’ll point out that I’m going to link my video to gated communities above), they may mow your lawn or do your laundry. No, none of them to the best of my knowledge do your laundry. Maybe they should start! Even within a community the fees aren’t always the same. Some range based on your lot or home size, so it’s really important to make sure that you verify that with the HOA. So look, my point is, don’t necessarily rule out all HOAs just because you think the fee is going to be really high. Some of them are little as $100 per year. The restrictions Don’t rely on secondhand information for finding out about the restrictions, you must obtain a copy and read them yourself. There may be things on there that you couldn’t even dream up. Recently I saw in a community regulation document that throwing balls was not allowed. I’m sure there was an interesting story behind that. For older people, this may sound like heaven -- no sounds of basketballs, no baseballs potentially breaking your window. Parents of kids may want to think twice. Oftentimes I hear the argument I don’t want anyone to tell me what color I can or cannot paint my house. I wanted to address this. FIrst of all, it’s not common for the HOA to tell you what color you can or cannot paint your house. Usually there are pre-determined color schemes that you can choose from, so you still have some element of choice. And let me add right now that there are certain jurisdictions that control your home color that aren’t part of an HOA, and those are historic districts. So anywhere where you are buying a historic home, be it Deland, Sanford, Mount Dora, Winter Park or the like, make sure you get a copy of their guidelines. You won’t pay money to be a member like with an HOA, but they may have just as much control. Many people really have that fear of being restricted on what they can do, and that scares a lot of people away, but I can tell you the flip side can be equally as grim. You’re not controlled by an HOA. You can paint your home that pretty blue-grey and put on a navy door. But what if your neighbor wants a purple house with pink shutters? How do you feel now? Your first thought might be, “how can they get away with that? That looks awful….” ahh, that’s what the HOA takes care of, but you’re not in one. And yes, you can park your lawn care trailer in your driveway, but what if your neighbor has 5 cars in their driveway? The flip side is that you have freedom, but so does your neighbor. It’s a double edged sword. And if you’ve had your fill of your neighbor’s pink and purple house with 5 cars in the driveway and you want to sell, all your potential buyers are going to see that neighbor, too. So, just keep that in mind. Know the difference between HOA and zoning restrictions In the beginning of the video, I read a comment that I found where someone wrote that they didn’t want to be in an HOA because they wanted to have a cow or two. There are HOAs in agricultural areas where you can have a cow. You will not be able to have a cow just because you are not in an HOA. That’s a zoning issue. Same thing goes for chickens. Many cities and counties do not allow chickens, regardless of whether you are in an HOA or not. Most counties also have limitations on how many pets you can have, regardless of whether you are in an HOA or not. What if you want new construction? This becomes really tricky. There are so many of you who want new construction, but don’t want to be in an HOA. It is exceedingly difficult to find, because most national home builders establish an HOA when they create a community. You have the choice of buying land and building, but then you are creating a custom home and that’s going to be a great deal more expensive. My suggestion to you is that you either consider buying in an HOA community or really think about why you want new construction. Usually when pushed, I hear that they think a new home will be safer during hurricane season. This seems counterintuitive to me. For instance, my home was built in 1910, which means it has withstood 110 years of hurricane seasons. On the other hand, I know a family who had a very nice custom home built, and during a hurricane every single window leaked and flooded the floor because the windows hadn’t been sealed properly. Anyway, each decade of home building has had its plusses and minuses and you will save money on homeowners insurance with a newer home, but I would definitely ask you to consider an older home. Where are the non- HOA homes I want to give you some specific areas to consider if you are looking for non HOA communities. Now I can’t, of course, name all of them, but let’s start off by discussing generalities. Generally, if your home is from the 1970s or earlier, you are more like to NOT be in an HOA. Houses with larger lots or multiple lots are less likely to be located in an hoa. I searched the MLS just now for non-HOA new construction homes and I found 97 houses but that’s in all of Florida. The entire state. Around the Central Florida area I found one in the Sanford Historic District and a handful in Deltona.
Read MoreTop Ways to Save Money When Moving to Orlando
Here are my top tips to help save you some money when youare moving to Orlando. Furniture. Should it stay or should it go? From my personal experience, which was an international move, I sold most of it, but I kept some of it, and the stuff I kept really never got used. It doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit in with the style of my house now, and to quote Marie Kondo -- it doesn’t bring me joy anymore! It would have been a lot less expensive if I had left it behind. If you’re moving internationally and you don’t know America yet, well we have a “garage sale” culture here where people sell their unwanted items on the weekends. I’m going to show you a photo of my actual bedroom. I bought this super nice set on Craigslist when we first moved here for $1000, and I even got a copy of the receipt from when the seller bought it for $8000 maybe a year before they ended up having to sell it due to a divorce. Not that i like profiting off of someone’s misfortune, but it’s a great way to pick up furniture at a great price. And if that’s not enough, let me reassure you that the sofa that you bought because it looks awesome in your current home probably won’t look awesome in your new one. Then you’re stuck with trying to buy a home based on a sofa that you don’t want to sell because you’ll be out a few hundred dollars if you try to sell it now...and you’re basing your whole home choice on it. Of course, keep your family heirlooms, but I would beseech you to consider unloaded. Similarly, clothing and personal items. Guys, you’re moving to Florida. One winter coat will suffice. If you’re coming here from up north, you’ll probably still be swimming long after the locals have closed up their pools for the year. You will be completely impervious to the ever so slight cold that we sometimes get here in Central Florida. Keep it mind, pack accordingly, save yourself time and space in your new home. Boxes, paper and supplies. You’re going to need boxes, right? Lots and lots of boxes. My favorite place to find boxes include craigslist, the Nextdoor Neighbor website, LetGo, and facebook marketplace. People hate throwing away boxes once they’ve moved, obviously it’s a really huge investment as some of those bigger boxes will cost you as much as $20 per box -- I’m talking about those big boxes -- if you buy them from your moving company. Oftentimes people who have recently moved are glad to give them away and let them be re-used, and then you can do the same when you’re done with them. For paper to wrap valuables in, of course you can use newspaper, if you can find enough, but with the advent of online news that’s becoming harder and harder to come by. Can’t exactly wrap your valuables in a webpage can you? Another idea is to go to one of your wholesale clubs like Costco, BJs or Sam’s and buy meat wrapping paper. I’ve seen it for $30-$40 per roll, and you’ll get quite a lot. I saw 720 feet for sale. Another tip - pick up wrapping paper in January when it’s sitting in bins for $.50 per roll. Appliances. Take them or leave them? Well, generally speaking most of the appliances in the home you’re going to buy will stay. That includes your dishwasher, stove, over the range microwave or range hood, and garbage disposal. The refrigerator also normally stays although some people like to take them along, although frankly they are a huge hassle to move, very often wind up getting dented and sometimes don’t fit in the next house, or are the wrong color. The Washer and Dryer are usually negotiable, and out of all the appliances, those two more than anything are NOT included in the sale. They are fairly easy to move and a lot of people just get attached to their washer and dryer and want to take them along. My suggestion is to leave yours behind, save yourself the hassle and let us negotiate them into your next purchase. Where to stay when you get here? My top hack in this category is to tell you to go ahead and search AirBnb and VRBO for a short term rental. Especially right now, many owners will be glad to have a longer term short term rental because it means less cleaning, also a lot of vacations have been postponed and so vacation rentals are down right now. Believe me, as an airbnb owner, I can tell you assuredly do NOT hesitate to reach out to an owner, explain your situation and ask if you can get a discount for a longer stay. It happens all the time. Other options include executive housing, and extended stay hotels, but I think youll find the best deal and the most flexibility with airbnb. What I’ve already discussed is but a drop in the bucket compared to point number 5 and that is making sure to reach out to me. You need an expert real estate advisor on your side because this is probably the biggest financial decision of your life and you want to make sure you have someone on your side who is working for you to make sure you make the right choice in terms of location, school district, price, and everything else that is wrapped up with making this very large decision.
Read MoreLake Nona Area Golf-front Pool Home For Sale
North Shore at Lake Hart is a master-planned golf community that consists of nine separate gated communities. It is located just minutes from the 417, ten minutes to the Orlando airport, even closer to the Lake Nona Medical City, and is an easy drive to Disney and Downtown Orlando. And of course, there is golfing just outside your door at the North Shore golf course,which is an 18 hole, 72 par course. There is also a shop and restaurant located within the clubhouse. Here is a video tour of the area, as well as a home I listed late in 2020, which went under contract for over the asking price on its first day on the market.
Read MoreOrlando Luxury FORECLOSURE minutes to Disney
Who doesn’t want a luxury home? I’m guessing we all do, but we don’t all want to pay luxury home top dollar. I found two interesting luxury foreclosures and I spent some time this past weekend checking them out. From time to time, buyers will reach out to me and tell me they are only interested in foreclosures because those are the only good deals. Others will tell me they are not interested in foreclosures at all and please don’t show them any because they don’t want the hassle. I think both of these are kind of misconceptions and in this video, we’ll take a look at these two luxury foreclosures and discuss why I feel that way. Our first stop is Lake Mary, and our second stop is Winter Garden, just a ten minute drive from Disney. Read on, or watch the video below. Welcome back to my channel, if you’re interested in all things real estate related in the Central Florida area, I’ve been selling real estate in Orlando since 2009 and I invite you to subscribe to my channel, so you don’t miss a weekly video with insight into the real estate market. Also, you may set up a zoom call in the description below, so we can chat face to face and get your move to Orlando started. Now today as I said we are going to start by visiting a luxury foreclosure in Lake Mary, in the guard gated community of Heathrow Woods. Last year I toured another one in the same community and I’ll drop a link to it if you’d like to check it out. When you think of a foreclosure, you probably think of a damaged, vacant, abandoned home. But that’s not always the case. In Central Florida right now, there certainly aren’t a lot of foreclosures, but there are a handful. And yes, you do see things even at the luxury level that indicate that the home maybe hasn’t been cared for -- but if someone hasn’t been making their mortgage payments it stands to reason that they probably aren’t worried about re-staining the front door, getting rid of that big dent in the garage door, replacing a broken appliance and the like. They know their time there is limited. This home is the least expensive currently for sale in Heathrow Woods looking at price per square foot. It’s just under $200 per square foot. Other listings in this neighborhood are currently listed as high as $299 per square foot. So right there, you can see that you are able to pick up a pretty good deal. But what about the quality? Are there going to be hidden issues? Well, when you buy a foreclosure you are allowed to inspect the home and back out of the purchase based on the inspection. The timeframe for that is contractual and is typically 7 to 10 calendar days. In that regard it is just like any other purchase you would do in Central Florida, although banks are definitely less likely to make repairs on small issues that may come up in the home inspection. They will normally do big repairs that would perhaps hinder financing or the appraisal, such as roof issues, rotten wood -- so common in Florida -- and safety issues. Basically things that would prevent any buyer from being able to buy. They will not usually make any cosmetic repairs or repairs to things that you should have readily noticed on your first visit to the house -- for instance repairing a dented garage door, fixing screen enclosures or painting the walls. This is in contrast to when you purchase a home at auction, which is another way to pick up a good deal, but there is no inspection contingency in that scenario. I made a video on the topic of auctions too, and I’ll drop the link for you above. I’m not going to get too much into the specifics of this particular property other than to provide you with the basics. It has 5,289 square feet, a fabulous swimming pool, 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, the kitchen is beautiful with a gorgeous Kitchenaid gas stove, and a huge 3 car garage. The taxes are about $13,000 per year and the HOA fee -- and remember, this is guard gated -- is a little over $2000 per year. The listing price is $1,050,000 it has been for sale for about 4 months. Our second home is located just ten minutes from Disney in a gated community in Winter Garden. This home has a fantastic infinity pool and lake view that you’re sure to love. This home is absolutely amazing and has a list price of $1,162,500. It is 5,653 SqFt, which comes to $205 per square foot. It has five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, a 3 car garage, and sits on nearly two acres of land. This home has many bells and whistles including two staircases, a theater room, which unfortunately I couldn’t film because I couldn’t find any lights, a circular kitchen and ceilings reaching up to the second floor. It’s a stunning property. Now to touch on something I mentioned in the beginning -- I also get clients who say they only want to purchase a foreclosure. The foreclosure market in Florida is very limited. There are only a handful of foreclosures available in Central Florida at any given time. For that reason, at least right now, it’s not a great idea to base your search only on foreclosures, unless you are an investor or you have unlimited time to wait for the right property to come along. If you have any interest in purchasing a foreclosure, whether the ones in this video or otherwise, please reach out to me, here is all my contact information. As always, there is a link in the description below, to where you will be able to set up a 15 minute zoom call with me if you would like to discuss any aspect of purchasing a home in Central Florida.
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