Independence Neighborhood-any input? (Orlando, Winter Garden, Longwood: short sales, foreclosures, condo)

[ThePolyPrincess]

Does anyone know anything about Independence? I know it's so new that there might be little to know-know, but what's the "scuttlebutt" on the ground over there??

[cfIfan]

This is the area i sent you the details on. We love it

[ThePolyPrincess]

THAT'S why the information I received from them looked so familiar!! Duh. Okay, I'm on board again. Thanks.

So it's brand spanking new and it appears that it will have affordable (to me) housing. Now is this in Widermere or Winter Garden?

And what do you love about it? I'm fairly patriotic so I love it's name and it's resemblance to the national mall. And it appears to be a stone's throw from The Mouse.

[cfIfan]

It is, its very close to the mouse, it doesnt have any other subdivisions very close to it, relatively quiet and nice and pretty. We are very happy here. Its actually zoned as in Winter Garden, but if you look at a map, it is actually more Windermere.

[luvthatmouse]

Originally Posted by ThePolyPrincess

Does anyone know anything about Independence? I know it's so new that there might be little to know-know, but what's the "scuttlebutt" on the ground over there??

When we first moved we looked at homes there. The prices were about the same as what we were looking at in Celebration, but Independence had no downtown and felt more isolated (in the middle of nowhere.) It is close to the back area of the Magic Kingdom (cast area.) It is pretty far from the main (real) area of Windemere.

[cfIfan]

You will find that the prices are more reasonable now. You will struggle to find a new home with 3 or 4 beds in celebration for mid $200,000s now. In Celebration your lucky to get a 2 bed condo for that price, plus taxes etc are extortionatly high in Celebration. I used to live there and have family who still have property there...lol

[bostontoorlando]

We are starting to narrow choices on homes to visit on our house hunt late this month. There are quite a few listings in a community called 'Independence' in WInter Garden, with some lakefront homes. Does anyone have any thoughts about this community? has it been hit hard by foreclosure? how would the commute be to downtown? Is it related to 'Celebration'?
thanks
BTO

[cfIfan]

Independence is one of the communities i specialize in and i would highly recommend it. It is different to Celebration in that it doesnt have a downtown area yet, although there is talk we will get a small one. Commute to downtown dependent on traffic is approx 30 min because of the great access we have to the 429/408 and turnpike.

Nicely built homes, all concrete block. Much lower in price in terms of Taxes and price of homes simply because you are not paying to live in the town Disney built.

There are still some very high priced homes, although i have managed to source low priced homes for my clients simply because i not only specialize in this community as well as many others in the area, but also because i live there aswell.

[jemelb]

cfIfan is right on...

Last time I checked Schools were rated A, and one day access to 429 through the subdivision(New Independence Pkwy) to 429. Even though 429 is really just minutes away anyways... In my opinion when that happens the prices will sky rocket...one day

[bostontoorlando]

Thanks to both of you- I had heard that there were many buyers backing out of deals on some of the higher priced home when they learned their address would be in Winter Garden rather than Windermere. I was interested in finding if this was a community that was healthy and growing or one where there were many foreclosures/short sales etc. We're going to have to sell low here (moving from a 2yr old 6000 sf+ home) so I'm hoping to buy low to offset this in Orlando. Glad to hear the commute is good. I take it that the west-east commute would be better than a north south commute to for instance Longwood or Lake Mary?
thanks