Are "higher end" homes easy to move in Heathrow? (Orlando: for sale, real estate)

[aneftp]

I'm looking at a couple of homes in Heathrow. I'm coming from the Washington DC area so homes "look" affordable compared to homes in the DC area.

The homes I've been looking into are around 700-800K in Heathrow. I know some Heathrow homes sell for a lot more and some sell for a little bit less. Homes in Heathrow at these price ranges are probably equivalent to homes in the better DC neighborhood that cost around 1.2-1.5 million.

These are very nice homes and I know I'm paying a premium to be in Heathrow.

My only concern is the ability to unload these homes in the future (3-5 years) if I decide to move again.

How long do these homes sit on the market these days? What percentage of the Orlando population can afford these homes in Heathrow? I know the "investor" areas were in poorer or "up and coming" neighborhoods and those homes dropped in value a lot recently. Heathrow seems to have had a lot less investor activity because the homes were priced higher to began with.

The reason I say this is because wages seem very low in Orlando, Fl compared to the cost of living. Plus the job market isn't the greatest in Florida. In Washington DC, every family I know makes at least 6 figures and the job market there will always be strong be of government and government contracting jobs so even though housing is depressed in both areas, that market will rebound a lot quicker than the FL market.

[cfIfan]

withot knowing more about the homes it is difficult to assist you. There are other areas comparable to Heathrow but it depends on the type of house, for example there were houses in the Winter Garden which were selling for $800-900,000 now going for $300-400,000.

You also need to consider that wages tend to be lower here in Florida so if you are buying for investment here you would be best serves looking at lower priced properties. For example i have 4/5 beds 2.5 baths 3100 sq ft homes brand new for $289,990 in a fantastic area. When the market picks up whenever that will be these types of homes were selling in the boom for over $600,000.

If you wish to send me the details on the homes i would be happy to take a look for you and give you my opinion. I will DM you with my email addy

[aneftp]

Thanks for the advice. The homes in heathrow (mainly my wife) were looking at were all in gated communities. I know one was on Saint Edmunds? and the other I think was in Cherry Ridge or something like that.

I'm planning to be here for a while but you never know what the future holds.

My concerns are the resell ability. In the Washington DC, I think around 30% of potential homebuyers can afford to buy into a 500-800K home. Probably 15% of people can afford homes in the 1-1.5 million range. In Orlando since wages are seem so much lower, I think these percentages are much lower and thus my concerns.

Not really looking to make a profit. At least in this day and age. Not really looking for an investment property. Trying to find a home to live in for a while. I know that the housing boom the first part of the decade was crazy and traditionally home values on appreciated by 1-4% each year and counting property taxes/insurance/maintenance you shouldn't really expect to make a profit from a home.

[ohiominnie]

I don't know much about the area, but go to ZipRealty Real Estate -- Homes for sale and local real estate agents and search for that area. All of the homes list how many days they have been on the market. That's a handy feature.

Good luck.

[GregTraub]

I wouldn't say many homes are "easy" to move in this market, and I wish I could say what the market will be like in 3-5 years. The buyers I work with I make sure are looking to live in a home for the long term and usually I recommend planning to stay a minimum of 5 years to give them a better probability of being able to sell for more than they bought even if the market slides a little further from today. In Lake Mary I know from experience the market for the 400K-500K priced homes is doing pretty well with the best homes selling quickly. In the 600K+ zone the ability to "move" a home quickly slows, but then again that price range hasn't slid as much as others (generally speaking) and have been holding their value better. If you think you'll be living in the area for only 3 years, I'd say you may be better off waiting to buy, there are a few good executive rental homes in the area.

There are currently 31 homes for sale over 600K in the Heathrow neighborhood (only 16 under 1M though), with 8 sales since March of this year (only 1 over 1M) and 2 pending sales. Excluding the 1M+ price range those aren't bad sales numbers. (I'd have to do some more data mining to give you a stonger answer though)

Yes here in Orlando once you get up into the higher price ranges the market for your home starts shrinking dramatically, however we're talking about Lake Mary not Orlando. Lake Mary has a much higher concentration of well paying professional employment and does not depend on tourism or Disney. You will find many more affluent families in this area just evidenced by the plethura of million dollar neighborhoods like Heathrow, Alaqua Lakes, many smaller neighborhoods all along markham Rd and Lake Mary Blvd, then more in and around the Wekiva area in Longwood.

If looking to find area incomes you can get some good stats here on city data, as well as Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed . Heathrow's specific Zip is 32746. Keep in mind when looking at median incomes though, you are not buying a median price home either. Within a specific neighborhood you will usually see a certain strata above or below the median. So looking at area general income levels in only useful to a limited extent.

[hb703]

a year and 1/2 ago. I still follow the housing market closely...seen the value of our house decline. Bad for me, but good for you. There are many, many bargains. Also, as I've learned this is an extremely transient area (much like DC). People move in and out of here all the time. It continues to do well economically. There are a ton of mid-level, as well as high-level, executives types around Lake Mary and Longwood, especially west of I-4. I'm surprised you think houses are less expensive here. I found it to be completely the opposite. The price/sq ft is so much higher and the lots are tiny. HOA fees are enormous. Heathrow is great. If you don't have kids, I would not recommend looking in Cherry Ridge - they all it "KidRidge" ;-)
Overall it was a good move for us - we really love it here.