[Pauly UK]

Hi all I want to begin by saying that this site was a HUGE HUGE help to me throughout the whole process of my deciding when and were to purchase my new property in Florida and so I thought i would post my 'findings and opinions' from an overseas purchasers perspective to help others who may be in a similar situation and seeking some further comments.... Thank you all again.

SO.. after months of long days and late evenings of trailing through legislation, google street maps, MLS listings and of course this forum I drafted up a list of around 60 potential properties to visit and headed out to Central Florida. One of the areas under question was Poinciana. I had originally been impressed with the awesome houses but been warned off of the area by a number of realtors (who turned out to be part time!!!) and of course comments and threads from this forum. There was in fact one realtor who I have now forged a great friendship with who bucked the trend and recently bought in Poinciana himself and painted a slightly different picture.

I was of course still sceptical but with an open mind I spent a weekend daytime driving all over Villages 1 right through to 7 and was surprised to see how friendy the place was. I shall concentrate mainly on Village 7, People waving from their driveways, people smiling as they cut their lawns and greeted us and even one guy who had freshly moved into a bank repo who took the time to show us around, have a long chat with us, share his experiences of the area (he was not new to Poinciana) and supply us with cold drinks!! Hardly the crime-ridden gang-infested place many had painted it out to be! On my way out I saw a large hispanic gathering in one garden (looked like a kids birthday party) and once again I was greeted with smiles and hello's.

So I chose a few nights and early hours of the morning to visit the area, just to see for myself once again. All I found was quiet streets, and the odd car pulling in or out of their driveways. No gangs of people hanging around street corners or cars pulling handbrake turns or the like.

The only thing I found to be true was indeed the forclosure rate. There were a fair number of properties that had been repossessed and of course this was sad, but not one that i looked at had been broken into, defaced or showed signs of damage (and these were MY property searches, not the ones provided by a realtor).

I have to admit that there were areas where I did get a 'vibe' that I didnt quite feel as comfortable in than village 7 (Village 1 and 3 being two of them) but then again there was nothing mega-specific that I witnessed to prove any of that feeling... it was just how I felt.

I spend a couple of weeks day and night analysing Village 7 and when I finally spoke to a number of residents and the realtor who had just purchased there the general train of thought seemed to be the same... The crimes and troubles were at their worst back in 2007-2008 and hadnt even then really stretched to Villages 6 or 7. Now there were more police patrols, funded partly by the HOA/APV and there was a real sense of community returning to the area. The streets were taken care of and on the whole Poinciana was not nearly as bad as some people (mainly in Davenport, top of Kissimmee etc) made it out to be. I was amazed at the amount of realtors who told me there was bad 'gang activity and drugs' in Poinciana that when questioned admitted that they had NEVER actually even been to the place!!!! Incredible.

I visited a store right in the midst of the Poinc. and was it filled with 'hispanic gangs', non-english speaking people and bad atmosphere? NO it wasnt. There was a good mix of creed and races and a friendly atmosphere. I am responsible for many of the South of Englands nightclub and bar security over here and so I know a thing or two about feeling a 'bad vibe' in a place and over here I felt none of that.

Now I am not so naive as to think that all is fluffy and perfect in the area, far from it. Also I know that two weeks is an incredibly short period of time, hence why I spoke to locals. But I can say that during my time there, and from all the people I spoke to (and that included a police officer) and from my experiences of crime and living here in London/Essex area that Poinciana (certainly Villages 6 and 7) AINT THAT BAD!

I live in a nice area here in England and If there were houses here as spectacular as some of the forclosures in Poinciana that had been empty for so long they would ALL have been broken into! People dont wave and chat to complete strangers when approached over here... and to me violent crime is someone in a bar sticking a glass in someones face. NOTHING like the apparent "trouble" that people told me would be evident on every street corner in Poinciana.

In actual fact I thought Orlando rated much higher as a crime target and had a much unfriendlier vibe than Poinciana. Oh yeah and guess what....? Top villages do have to suffer the one road in and one road out propblems BUT from Village 7 you can take the longer route out the bottom and up through Haines and get to the main hub of central FL MUCH quicker, even in rush hour times.

SO... what did I do about it? I let the property go that i had been accepted on in Davenport and took a slightly higher risk and purchased a gorgeous 2800+sq/ft property in Village 7 Poinciana. Why? Because i believe in the place....because I think that there is a lot of potential there for around 5 years upwards time......

............oh yes... and because I would happily live in that house/area myself if I ever moved to Florida!

[oisurf]

I just want to congradulate you on your purchase and thank you for supporting our local community. I am a resident of village 7 and enjoy the lifestyle living in the area affords me. I do wish more commercial retail space would be built out in the area to provide upscale shopping. Maybe thats something we can expect in the future.

Did you get a chance to drive out to Winter Haven and see how close Village 7 is to the Largest Legoland in the World!! It's slated to open in 2011, I'm sure we will all be rewarded with higher property values in the coming year.

[Pauly UK]

Yes I did travel out to Winter havn although didnt know where the legoland site was to be.... Good news all round then eh?

Bought a rather large house by all accounts... over 2800sq/ft two story (naples style). All in under $100k so cant be bad eh?

[ferret111]

Legoland is going to be located at the old Cypress Gardens on Cypress Gardens Boulevard.

[**NoodLes**]

Anything besides Orlando is okay, Kissimmee and Poinciana are much better places to live than craplando. If you like customer service job hell, than it's the place to be with $8/hr jobs anybody teenager can get.

[Pauly UK]

Oisurf, which part of Village 7 are you? My property is in Neighbourhood 5 Village 7 (still cant make any sense of the divisions! ha ha)

[oisurf]

I'm also in Village 7 / Neighborhood 5... Bering / Griffin Road (It very well could be neighborhood 4)

[Steve908]

Hi, I am from the UK and we bought a house around the Drum Court/Drive area of Village 7 a while ago and have been renting it out. In the next couple of years we plan to take the house back and live in it ourselves for a few months at a time.
I was worried when I started to read the comments about the awful crime rates and gangs etc. Can anyone let me know what the above area is like and should I have any more need to worry about the place than say, Four Corners or Poinciana center ?? some people are making it sound like 3rd world world ghetto. PAULY UK your post made me feel a lot better I have to say. Anyone know what neighborhood the above address would be please ?

[Pauly UK]

Well mine is in Lakeview area, and I can confirm that village 7 neighbourhood 5 when I was out there (and spent a fair bit of time there, but granted I didnt live there!!) the place was really nice, people taking care of their properties, peaceful and quiet, no trash strewn all over the place, people waving hello from their driveways, people willing to stop and chat to me, certainly no gangs (in fact I witnessed a schoolbus with teenagers being dropped off and they all started waving... in the UK they'd be sticking their fingers up!)

The place is definatley somewhere I'd like to live........ that is if the U.S. ever decide to ease up and stop making it so darn near impossible for us Brits to move to the place! lol


OISURF, I'll have to look you up next time I am out there buddy and say Hi!

[Steve908]

Just looked at some of my paperwork and where I am is neighbourhood 4. PAULY UK you could always get a visa which will give you 6 months max at a time. We have one and our plan is to go over for 3,4 or 5 months at a time, come back for for 2 or 3 months then repeat the process.