Sullivan Ranch Subdivision in Mount Dora (Orlando, Clermont: condo, zoned, work)

[Levita]

Does anyone have information on this subdivision. The homes are Centex which I've heard mixed reviews.

[rholborn]

hi! i am very familiar with the quality of centex homes, and i am familiar with the subdivision too. have you been there as of yet? it's a lovely subdivision!!

[Levita]

Originally Posted by rholborn

hi! i am very familiar with the quality of centex homes, and i am familiar with the subdivision too. have you been there as of yet? it's a lovely subdivision!!

I've done a couple drive throughs and it looks lovely . I've been in contact with someone at Centex but I haven't had a chance to view any of the models. I love the location and I think Mount Dora would be ideal for my husband and I. We currently live in Clermont but everytime I go up to that area I just fall in love. I'm originally from New England so of course it reminds me of that. My main caveat is I currently work in Orlando (not far from Disney) and that commute could potentially be a hassle but I don't know if it would be that much different than my commute coming from Clermont. I'm backed up in traffic every day from here as it is. My other concern is that two friends of mine had Centex built homes, one just typical problems (paint peeling after just three months of living there, doorknobs falling off etc.) but she still lives in her home, the other is involved in a class action suit (not here in Florida in Georgia)

[rholborn]

hi levita, i am also from New England too! I lived in NY and Maine, and I still have family all over New England. Everytime I visit and walk around Mt.Dora, I have thought how much it reminds me of home.my husband works as a firefighter for disney, and he has lots of firefighters that commute from clermont, and his boss lives in Mt. Dora.

[GregTraub]

Mt. Dora I think wouldn't be too much of a change in your commute from clermont. You can probably just hop on the 429 and take that down to the disney area. It'll be more tolls (if you used to just take 27) but I haven't ever seen much traffic on the 429.

As far as centex goes. I'm living in one of their homes right now! I think overall their construction is on par with other builders in the area. Not top rate, but certainly not near the bottom. Their Fox & Jacob line of homes is meant to be less expensive, but even with lower quality building material are still well built. The biggest factor in the build quality of your individual home/community will be the guy incharge of all the construction that inspects all the subcontractors work. Then only way to be absolutely sure about your home is to bring in your own independent inspector during different phases of the build. If you were looking at inventory homes, of course get an inspection again, you won't be able to see how everything behind the walls are, but in general the inspector can catch things that may have been overlooked.

I may be getting centex mixed up with another builder (gotta look at my most recent notes) but I beleive they now have the 3 year warranty? I haven't heard much about centex being in too much financial trouble, and in the past with my home they were pretty quick to come out and fix anything wrong (all small things).

Sullivan Ranch itself is a higher end neighborhood for centex, so i'm sure they have some of their best workers on that site.
Can I assume you've checked out their website for sullivan ranch? Have any particular model in mind? When were you planning on moving? It's the end of the year, so they are a little more motivated to sell you a home before Dec 31st if that at all fits in with your plans. What brought you to Sullivan Ranch in particular? Have you toured the area for other homes and builders? There is alot to choose from out there.

P.S. if you were planning on enlisting the help of a buyer's agent, make sure they come with you when you go see the models. To make sure the builder know's your being represented, they tend to deal with you a little differently/better.

[ko1212]

Levita, be sure to ask the Centex sales staff if they have experienced any sinkholes in their community. This has been a problem in the Lake County/Mt Dora area. You want to at least be aware of what you're getting into.

[Levita]

Sullivan Ranch itself is a higher end neighborhood for centex, so i'm sure they have some of their best workers on that site.
Can I assume you've checked out their website for sullivan ranch? Have any particular model in mind? When were you planning on moving? It's the end of the year, so they are a little more motivated to sell you a home before Dec 31st if that at all fits in with your plans. What brought you to Sullivan Ranch in particular? Have you toured the area for other homes and builders? There is alot to choose from out there.

I'm leaning towards Royale and Bramley but may settle for a single story depending. I wish I could move by Dec 31st!!! We haven't even put our condo on the market yet, still have to do a few facelifts etc. besides right now the market isn't exactly promising. A few of the units in our condo complex have been on the market well over a year and no luck selling so that hasn't exactly been optimistic in our favor. Ideally we'd like to have our ducks in a row next year at this time (so as you can we are not in any big rush but I figure I should start shopping now, getting info) How I found out about Sullivan Ranch...honestly Orlando Sentinel online and a billboard or two.

[Cyndieeee]

Hi.

I was just repling to your message about being concerned with Centex built homes. I live in Clermont in a home built by Fox and Jacobs which is a Centex owned company. Due to various reasons, Centex ended up taking over the building process of our home so I can say that our home is built well. Anything that we've found problems with they've come out and fixed. To confirm this, we had an on going issue with the AC, which we could not figure out what the problem was, Centex had their people here doing investigation work. Turned out a wire (inside the walls) was cut by accident during the building process. Centex fixed it for free and I tell you, there was a lot involved to fix that problem, and they did it for free. We have posts outside of our house going the whole height of our 2 story home and during the building process, I thought one of the posts was off center. What did they do? They knocked it down and rebuilt it with no complaints. We wanted another ac vent in our laundry room, and they came in and did it for free. After the hurricanes a few years back, which our area didn't get any damage. They sent people to inspect our home for free and then they said to insure saftey they were installing new flashing and repainting all of the homes in our neighborhood, for free! This was about a year after the home was built. I still get calls to see how I like my home, how everything is going. For this reasons and many others, I will always purchase a Centex built home. They stand behind their homes even years after they are built.

[BLDER]

Dear Levita,

Centex offers an industry leading two-year fit-n-finish warranty along with a 10-year structural warranty... If your friends are encountering any issues within the first two years, have them contact the customer serivce dept immediately for resolution.

Centex - Orlando uses Sherwin Williams paints and each home is certified by a Sherwin Williams inspection.

Sullivan is a fantastic community with a very diverse product offering to appeal to any customer lifestyle stage... in fact, there are several multi-generational families currently living there...

It's an award-winning community with a strong sales pace ...

[tskirk]

I live in the Sullivan Ranch community. We moved in two years ago in Febuary. This was our dream home. When we moved in we were told that Centex would build an Equien Center out side the gates of the community. This is that land that the sales office in on. NOW centex is trying to get out of building the Equin Center. The only reason I moved into Sullivan Ranch was so my horses would be close to us. Now I have paid $400,000. For a LIE. Just because it was in my sales paper work, the salesman we bought the home from sold us on the horses and the pasture areas and in the comminuty bylaws about the Equien Center and horse pastures are stated, Centex can change there mind and NOT sale you what you bought. I hope this helps you and anyone else. Also the front property is zoned for an Equien Center.