Reunion is an incredible community located just outside of the Walt Disney World theme parks in the Orlando area suburb of Kissimmee, FL.   Reunion offers a wide variety of floor plans and styles to fit a lot of budgets including townhomes from the high $300's up to large up-scale estate homes valued over $9 million.   The three L's of real estate are Location Location Location and Reunion has LOCATION in all caps!   The homes are nestled among rolling hills of its three championship golf courses designed by PGA legends Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.  Many of the premium homes line the course in tasteful ways while still maintaing privacy and allowing golfers to not be too close to the homes. (I for one always get a little psyched out as a golfer when properties are too close to the fairways and greens).  Reunion definitely scores high for its proximity to area attractions.  We tested the distance from our phones while touring properties on a Saturday afternoon and it was only 17 minutes to Magic Kingdom Park.  Disney fireworks would be visible from many locations throughout Reunion which earns high scores on our Magical Homes indicators. Reunion is also just 43 minutes to downtown Orlando and the Amway Center.  To the west, Raymond James Stadium is only an hour and 20 minutes away for Tampa Bay Bucaneers games and Reunion would be a great place to stay during Spring Training as you could get to a number of games within 2 hours. There are an amazing number of amenities and features available to residents and vacationers including a 5 acre water park with a lazy river, sand volleyball, outdoor bar/cantina, kids play areas and more.  One negative is that the parking lot for the water park is a bit of a hike.  Not cool Reunion. Another negative with regard to parking seems to be relatively small driveways even for the high end properties.  Some of the larger homes have 7 or more bedrooms and room for very few vehicles to park with narrow streets so parking on the side of the road looks difficult as well. Many of the properties that we have shown to clients in Reunion have themed rooms with Disney, Harry Potter and Florida theming.  They are very tastefully done and help to sprinkle the pixie dust on any stay.   Reunion is one of the highest scoring Magical Homes locations.   Short-term rentals are allowed and made easy by the wide spread use of the properties for such investments.  There are a number of big name property management companies that operate in Reunion to assist investors maximize returns.   As we analyzed the data for STR, we observed listings for 3 bedroom townhomes and condos up to 12 Bedroom homes.  We had a great conversation with a Super Host who owns and operates several premium homes in the short-term rental market who let us know that his occupancy is consistently over 80%!  That took a few years to build up and establish the reputation and reviews, but he did let us know that new owners tend to start at around 60% occupancy.  We advise clients that the Disney area short-term rental market is strong and can be considered more than coastal properties because of the demand.  With over 70 million annual visitors to the theme Disney World and Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando theme parks and the untold millions of conference attendees, golfers and snow birds, the opportunity is rich.  We'd love to show you some Magical homes.  Give us a call or email if you plan to be in the area.  

Read More

On a scale of 1 to MAGICAL, we take a number of factors into consideration.  Lynda is a huge fan of the Disney theme parks and these Magical Factors have influenced our own personal housing decisions for several years.  We focus a lot of our attention on real estate that meet these criteria.  So, according to Jim and Lynda, the top factors that make a property magical are: Within a 35 minute drive to one of the Disney World theme parks in Orlando (Buena Vista), FL The property has its own private pool or a resort like community pool available to residents and guests. You can see (and sometimes hear!) the daily fireworks from the Disney theme parks. No HOA is a huge plus! But if there is an HOA, to be considered Magical, both the monthly fees and the restrictions imposed must be reasonable.  This can take many forms because a high HOA monthly fee may be reasonable if it includes a number of amenities, services and utilities. Allow for Short Term Rental of the property when not in use by the owner. The community is friendly to visitors but also keeps a level of quiet enjoyment late at night (after the parks close). There is more than one way to access Disney World and Universal Studios from the property. Traffic can be a challenge at times.  But when there are a combination of back roads, highways and toll roads available, you can usually make the right choices for avoiding congestion. A good ratio of Bedrooms to Bathrooms. (We have 5 kids.  We need more than 2 bathrooms in a 4+ bedroom house ok!?)

Read More