Cost of Living in Celebration (Orlando, Kissimmee: job, homes, costs)

[luvthatmouse]

Originally Posted by A2Mich

BTW, many of the houses in Celebration, with all of their "character and chram" are built like the same cheaply built homes scattered around Orlando. To live in Celebration, you are paying for location and for the snobbery factor...you are not getting a well-built home for your money. How do I know? I used to work for a large air conditioning contractor that installed the A/C systems in most of the new homes, depending on the builder.....believe me, the overpriced homes in Celebration are NOT worth the premium price tag you will be paying....

Yes, it really depends on the home/builder. You have to do your research before buying in Florida (or anywhere for that kind of investment.) My parents neighbors home is for sale in Celebration and he followed the building every step of the way. It has very thick insulation, a 50 year roof, an insulated garage with support beams, etc.. Some are crap. Most of the huge homes on Eastlawn are sinking into the lake behind them because it was fill land that Disney should have never built on. These are 3 million plus homes.

[cfIfan]

You will find that the majority of the homes in Celebration are of the old timber frame construction and not concrete block. Some of the builders did change to concrete block towards the end (meaning around 2002) so i suspect Artisan Park is Concrete block, i know Siena is, but all the houses in North Village and downtown are of the timber frame type. I would have to check other areas of Celebration.

[A2Mich]

Most of the homes in Artisan Park are concrete block, but have seen some, one home in particular, that had a large second floor loft, found out how badly it was framed. I went to put a small hole in the wall to run a wire, and found about a 6 foot length with no studs.....If I remember the builder was St. Joe/Lynn Winney.....nice homes to look at, but built cheaply....

[cfIfan]

true, its ashame bcause when i think of the UK and europe, when we think of concrete block, the entire height of the house is concrete including the second floor. Here the only concreate is on the first floor and the second floor is still timber frame

[dcabrer1]

Originally Posted by A2Mich

BTW, many of the houses in Celebration, with all of their "character and chram" are built like the same cheaply built homes scattered around Orlando. To live in Celebration, you are paying for location and for the snobbery factor...you are not getting a well-built home for your money. How do I know? I used to work for a large air conditioning contractor that installed the A/C systems in most of the new homes, depending on the builder.....believe me, the overpriced homes in Celebration are NOT worth the premium price tag you will be paying....

There are parts in Florida you pay, for the price u pay in celebration, in a high class/high quality location for half of the price. E.G Lakewood Ranch, Trinity, S Fort Myers, Naples. Its not worth the money to live in Celebration

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by imacman

Hello all,

We are thinking of moving to Florida in the next 12 months, and are trying to get a good cost of living comparison with the UK. If we sell-up and move to Florida we could bring along approximately $300,000 using $200,00 as a deposit for a house, $50,000 on 2 cars and $50,000 to leave in the bank.

Each time we visit Orlando we fall in love with Celebration and have already viewed a couple of houses in the $500,000 region. With a $300,000 Mortgage, monthly payments would be around $1800 but we can't get any estimated figures for other living costs.

I have listed our costs in the UK we currently put up with and hopefully someone can give us an idea of the equivalent in Florida. We live in a 4 bedroom detached Victorian house just outside London, myself & wife plus two young kids.

Uk monthly living costs :

Mortgage : $4100
Council Tax : $300
Gas & Electric : $360
Water : $120
Telephone : $44
House insurance $180
Mortgage insurance $140
Food shopping : $800
Cable TV $145
Petrol (car) $240
Car insurance $160

As you can see the cost of living in the UK is sky high at the moment with everything going up all the time. Our bills are around $6500 per month not including any credit card payments, car finance, holidays etc. Our actual monthly spending is nearer $9000 all in.

(I hope some of you are still with me and not bored by all this information)

I know a USA mortgage based on the above information would be around $1800/month (less than half ours) but I know house insurance and taxes are high in Florida ? Also, I've read about extra costs associated with living in Celebration.

I would be so grateful for any help especially from anyone living in Celebration. I've not mentioned work visas or what work I would be doing, I'll leave that for another topic.

Thanks in advance

Forget Celebration and try Avalon park or Baldwin park. They still have the new small town feel but IMO are better then Celebration.

Celebration is right in the middle of traffic and tourist central you Will never get a break plus all the tourists drive in celebration and gawk at the homes and walk in the yards throwing trash and all.

[xgemaxmwahx]

Hiya, We moved to orlando from manchester 4years ago. Celebration is expensive. The economy here is bad right now, yes its a great time to buy homes etc but mortgages, food, gas is all rising. Monthly bills here are around:
Cable: $130
Electric: $120
Water: $100
etc. which aint that bad compared to England but once your living here and earning american dollars it all adds up. Living in celebration will prob make you struggle for money in a few years. Maybe look around different areas. Celebration has alot of tourists... Are you looking for somewhere with tourists or just a home? HOw are you moving over here? Business transfer?
We bought a business to get our E2 visa. Helped alot of brits move over here and settle from helping to buy cars/furniture/best deals/homes/places to go etc. Its a very stressful time to move to a different country and not know when people are ripping you off.

[burnw005]

I could not agree more with the posting by A2Mich. I have lived in Celebration for five years, and each year since moving into our 'David Weekley' home, we have dished out thousands repairing inferior construction. First, the A/C was leaking the first year, and each A/C contractor we contacted show up, promised the world, walked away with a nice check for their service, and never saw them again. I finally found a real honest person, who replace the entire unit. This is true of just about all trades services we used in this town. Then we had to replace ALL of the trim and roof flashing because the product used to build the house rotted to pieces. The upstairs tub leaked because the plumbing contractor 'forgot' to include a collar when installing, so the water went everwhere but down the drain. So the point of this posting is to stress the need to beware if you even contemplate buying in this town. We are so looking to leave, but the real estate prices have fallen so drastically in the past six months we would lose even more. What a nightmare!

[burnw005]

After posting a few minutes ago, I just wanted to add a few points to the gent looking to move here. As the tone of my point may indicate, we are not happy living in this town. Don't be fooled by the nice white fences and pretty lawns. Driving around you will notice, nobody actually sits on those porches, as a matter of fact, we walk around the South Village neighborhood every night and never see a human being walking around...lots fo armadillo and deer, but no humans. The few neighbors we actually see, will quickly turn and walk the other way to avoid talking. Both that action and the ones who have absolutely no respect for the privacy or property of others, is yet another reason we are so desperate to leave this town. We advise you to look elsewhere, maybe in North Carolina, and if you want to visit stay at a Hampton Inn away from Disney property. Good luck.

[Alphaman]

I wouldn`t live in celebration if someone gave me a house, That place reminds me of the Truman show.