After living here for three and a half years we finally bought a house this week! Guess that means we’re staying! Haha! When we first moved here buying a house was bananas in Central Florida. Things have calmed down and the right house was up at the right time for us. If you’ve been thinking about buying a house here or moving to Florida, here’s our experience, I hope it helps! Oh! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Buying A House In Florida Now vs Then
We moved here in 2022 and the housing market here was pretty nuts. Houses would go up for sale and be pending or sold in days. Cash was definitely king and for us, using a VA loan we would have never been able to buy in that market. Not to mention that prices were really crazy. Houses that were listed at $250-$300 thousand when we first started looking at moving were now $500-$600 thousand.
Fast forward to now, houses are staying on the market much longer and while prices are not back down to where I wish they were, they have come down. I am actually glad we rented for as long as we did here. It gave us a chance to really see what part of Winter Garden we spent more time in. With houses not flying off the market we had time to really look around and not feel like something we liked would be gone before we could make an offer.
Our Wonderful Realtor
There are TONS of realtors here in Central Florida and I am sure lots of them are great. But we truly had the BEST realtor! Before we moved in 2022 I reached out to a couple of realtors just to get a feel for the market and area. I was very upfront with all of them that we weren’t ready to buy yet but wanted to get information to start planning. Most responded, some didn’t which was understandable. But Paul Baker with ReMax, Hot Property was on a whole other level. He answered all of my questions and gave me resources to be able to poke around and look for things on my own. When we got moved, even though he knew we wouldn’t be buying anytime soon, he and his partner, Nicole took me out to lunch to welcome us here to Central Florida!
They gave me a lot of great insights on things to think about and look for in areas and neighborhoods that I would have never thought of. For the last three years Paul and Nicole have checked in with us occasionally just to see how we were doing and if we had any questions. Never pushy, always just genuinely checking in and keeping the connection with us. It was a no brainer that we would go with them when it was finally time to start seriously looking.
We explained to them what we were looking for and the area we wanted to be in and away we went! No matter how many listings we sent to him or asked about he was ready to show them and be honest about the area and house. Paul and Nicole truly held our hands through the entire process. Honestly they still are, Paul helped us find out mailbox yesterday! Haha! I cannot say enough great things about these two and recommend them so so highly if you need a realtor to buy a house in Florida!
Buying & Closing On A House In Florida
As I mentioned we used a VA loan but I am sure it’s a similar process as any other mortgage. Honestly, getting a mortgage feels like a life colposcopy! Hahahaha! They poke and prod through every aspect of your life over and over, so uncomfortable. But worth it in the end right? They even verified my employment AGAIN the morning of closing. But in the grand scheme of things it was actually a pretty smooth process.
The mortgage and closing company were very helpful and kept us very informed along the way. We closed on Tuesday and sipped some champagne in the closing office. Then we went straight to the house to start moving. I know in a lot places there are all kinds of people that have to be at closing. Here it was just us and the closing agent. Our realtor came just to hang out, it was very low key. We never even met the sellers.
Where We Bought A House In Florida
We landed in the Horizon West area of Winter Garden. Most of what we do is on this side of town. Thatchers football, our church, closer to Disney that we obviously spend a lot of time at. It made sense to be closer to those things. We do love downtown Winter Garden but don’t spend time there for all the weekly things. There are so many great neighborhoods here but we ended up in the Watermark community and love it! The nice thing about all of these Horizon West neighborhoods is they are close to everything you need and have resort style amenities. I can’t wait to go have a pool day! The community clubhouse even has a rooftop viewing deck to watch Magic Kingdom fireworks! We are also walking distance from one of our favorite places to eat and watch football, New York Beer Project! Go Bills!
Conclusion
Although closing on a house the week of Thanksgiving and jumping right into moving has been a little crazy, we are so excited! Buying a house may not be a big deal to some but it is a huge accomplishment for us. And to be able to buy such a beautiful house in a great neighborhood is just icing on the cake. We are not all the way moved in yet but of course I had to get Mickey the house immediately!
Now the work begins of making it our home and preparing the old place for a new family. This Thanksgiving I am extra grateful for all our blessings and hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends. We are lucky enough to have amazing friends hosting us today since we couldn’t be with family. If you are thinking about buying a house in Florida, I may not be an expert but I’ll always answer any questions if I can! I hope you all have an extra magical day, so thankful for you reading along!
