Your thoughts on Celebration, Florida please (Orlando, Kissimmee: sales, leasing, HOA)

[TeresaNJ]

What is it like to live there? I'm interested in the pros and cons. All info is appreciated.

[luvthatmouse]

Celebration:
is very pretty
has lots of pools, parks and trails
has lots of community clubs/sports/activities
is close to the Disney, Universal and Sea World parks
is Close to I-4, 417 and Osceola Parkway
is within walking/biking distance to several restaurants, a hotel, a post office, several coffee houses, pubs, library, golf course, tennis courts, pet store, banks, Ace Hardware, etc.

It is also:
very expensive (homes, electric, taxes, etc.)
On the edge of a crappy, crime infested, transient area (192)
mostly vacation and second homes
not a great place to educate your children (bad high school reputation)

[Parrotrosie]

If I am not mistaken, is it not also somewhat of a tourist attraction in and of itself? So you may have some folks wandering through just to see the town that Disney built...please correct me if I am wrong...that was just some tidbit I had picked up along my search... I don't think I would like that where I was living.

[Wilshire81182]

Originally Posted by luvthatmouse

Celebration:
is very pretty
has lots of pools, parks and trails
has lots of community clubs/sports/activities
is close to the Disney, Universal and Sea World parks
is Close to I-4, 417 and Osceola Parkway
is within walking/biking distance to several restaurants, a hotel, a post office, several coffee houses, pubs, library, golf course, tennis courts, pet store, banks, Ace Hardware, etc.

It is also:
very expensive (homes, electric, taxes, etc.)
On the edge of a crappy, crime infested, transient area (192)
mostly vacation and second homes
not a great place to educate your children (bad high school reputation)

I agree with all of this. I had a friend in town recently who was looking at places to buy should he move so we were looking around Celebration. It is stil very attractive and convenient to Disney. I made sure we showed him how close it is to 192/Kissimmee and some worse off parts of Kissimmee so he could see how pockety it is down there. Celebration if more isolated is a beautiful place to be. I would not say do not move there just because of the proximity to Kissimmee, but just keep in mind that you have to go to Publix and Target in Kissimmee so you will probably be there a lot.

[AONE]

it is an area with extensive HOA regulations... very foot traffic friendly. housing is expensive for wehat you get but I know of a few deals better than the norm. I don't find the quality of the homes to be too great either.

[TeresaNJ]

Hmmm, thanks for the replies. Here's the issue. My hubby is in medical sales and we've lived in NJ almost our whole lives. Over the past ten years we've visited the central Florida area many, many times, mainly Disney, and are DVC members. We always talked about wanting to move to Florida.

Three years ago my husband had the opportunity to change his territory to include Florida and the southeast, from the mid-Atlantic area. He jumped at the chance. We had three months to find somewhere to live and move. In our past travels down there we researched many areas of central Florida. Stupidly, in my opinion, we ended up leasing a home in Bellalago in Kissimmee. I'm a nurse, so was working at two hospitals per diem, Celebration, and Osceola Regional. After a few months I landed a job at Disney as a DVC sales associate.

Can I tell you I HATED living in Bellalago!!! Number one, it took us forever to get anywhere, number two, it is pretty, but 2/3 of the homes were empty and trash was moving in because the rental rates dropped so low, number three, I felt like I was in a foreign country. I started to despise Florida, hate Disney, etc. I wanted to go home, NJ. I felt like there was no culture where we were living, LOL. I was so use to living amongst so many different cultures here in NJ and I felt isolated and lonely there.

We ended up moving back home to NJ after a year due to my mother's health problems. Now after being back in NJ for a year and a half, my hubby is really missing Florida, he never wanted to move back, and we now have the opportunity to have a place down there, as well as keep our home up here. I told him I would only go if I could live in Celebration, as I NEED to feel like I live in a real town, rather than a place like Bellalago where I felt like I was in a prison.

I like the fact that I can walk downtown, be in pretty surroundings, be close to Disney, and see trees that aren't just palms. We aren't ready to commit to buying down there, and there are tons of rental homes now, so it is very tempting.

I just want to make sure we don't make a wrong decision like we did the last time. Forgot to add that husband's territory still includes Florida.

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by TeresaNJ

Hmmm, thanks for the replies. Here's the issue. My hubby is in medical sales and we've lived in NJ almost our whole lives. Over the past ten years we've visited the central Florida area many, many times, mainly Disney, and are DVC members. We always talked about wanting to move to Florida.

Three years ago my husband had the opportunity to change his territory to include Florida and the southeast, from the mid-Atlantic area. He jumped at the chance. We had three months to find somewhere to live and move. In our past travels down there we researched many areas of central Florida. Stupidly, in my opinion, we ended up leasing a home in Bellalago in Kissimmee. I'm a nurse, so was working at two hospitals per diem, Celebration, and Osceola Regional. After a few months I landed a job at Disney as a DVC sales associate.

Can I tell you I HATED living in Bellalago!!! Number one, it took us forever to get anywhere, number two, it is pretty, but 2/3 of the homes were empty and trash was moving in because the rental rates dropped so low, number three, I felt like I was in a foreign country. I started to despise Florida, hate Disney, etc. I wanted to go home, NJ. I felt like there was no culture where we were living, LOL. I was so use to living amongst so many different cultures here in NJ and I felt isolated and lonely there.

We ended up moving back home to NJ after a year due to my mother's health problems. Now after being back in NJ for a year and a half, my hubby is really missing Florida, he never wanted to move back, and we now have the opportunity to have a place down there, as well as keep our home up here. I told him I would only go if I could live in Celebration, as I NEED to feel like I live in a real town, rather than a place like Bellalago where I felt like I was in a prison.

I like the fact that I can walk downtown, be in pretty surroundings, be close to Disney, and see trees that aren't just palms. We aren't ready to commit to buying down there, and there are tons of rental homes now, so it is very tempting.

I just want to make sure we don't make a wrong decision like we did the last time. Forgot to add that husband's territory still includes Florida.

If you want walkable communities with a urban feel your best bet is to move to communities like Winter Park, the College Park area of Orlando, or Downtown Orlando. Communities like Celebration to me are fake and will never have a true community feel.

[annerk]

We looked at Celebration and didn't like it at all. It seemed plastic, we prefer organic. The association rules were absurd (and I like living in a HOA with common sense rules). The schools aren't as good as they are made out to be. You can get a LOT more home in as nice or nicer of a neighborhood elsewhere.

One thing we really didn't like about Celebration was all the "looky-loo's" driving around gawking at the area. I don't want tourists or other transients in my neighborhood.

[cfIfan]

As a ealtor specializing in the area and as an owner of 2 properties in Celebration, it is a very nice area. You do have to weigh 2 sides of the coin. The schools contrary to popular belief are actually good, but the figures are actually not an actual representation of them because of certain practices used, which is why you should contact the school directly. It is a very clean, pretty nice area. However this does come at a price. High taxes, HOA dues and home prices which are on average 1.5-2 times the price of comparable priced homes outside of Celebration. But this is the price you pay for living in the town Disney built.

[burnw005]

We moved down five years ago from Mass., and were very excited at first, but unfortunately things changed. Little did we know that behind that pretty facade of the white fence and porches, the home we paid way too much for was built by persons that obviously did not have any skills in their trade. We have a sad joke that when day laborers showed up to work, one was assigned the job of electrician and the other plumber, and that has caused us a huge expense correcting. Many of my neighbors echo that feeling. All the wood around the windows and doors rotted, and the A/C needed to be replaced. Oh well, here we be.
I would discourage anyone from moving to this town. Its fine to visit, but not to live, and certainly not to raise children. Mine are grown and off on their own, but I would never have had them go to these public schools.
No culture, history, or sense of place. Yes, if you don't like it why don't you leave....not to worry, that is in the works.
Sorry to sound so negative, just being honest.