Where is the best location for a villa?

If you are searching for an off priority condo, pool house, or villa near Disney? You are probably using a site such as VRBO or Home Away. A quick search will show thousands of choices located all over the region in towns you have probably never heard of. How can you tell what a good location is? I am going to give you advice based on my experience.

What I have provided is a map of the west side of Kissimmee, just past Celebration. You'll notice I4 is to the east, and Rt. 27 is to the west. Rt. 192 connects I4 to Rt 27. I have circled the area below Rt. 192. This is the area, in my opinion, you should be looking.

This area was built to be a vacation rental area, so, you aren't going to find someone who converted an old house and is trying to rent it out. The neighborhoods are filled with vacation rentals. If you stay east of Rt 429, you can be from driveway to walking into Animal Kingdom in about 15 minutes (a little longer if you are west of Rt. 429).

This area used to be a giant orange grove. Then, one day, a farmer who is very rich now, started a vacation home business. He would allow people, mostly in the UK, to build a vacation home by picking items out of a catalog. They would pick from standard home configurations, decide how they wanted it laid out, the pool, what kind of furniture, etc. Once the house was built, the construction company would fly the owners to the US to see their vacation home. That is the way thousands of these homes were built during the real estate boom of the 2000's. And they sit, waiting for you to come rent it.

This area has thousands of properties in countless configurations and prices. For the most part, they are all privately owned, and the owners pay a management company to look after the property. The owners may only have one property or several. The management company will look after dozens, if not hundreds of properties. Since the owners are usually out of state, or, out of country, the management company handles everything from check in to check out, cleaning, repairs, and maintenance. Not all the properties are good and not all the houses are in good shape, so, buyer be ware. Do a really good job following up and checking on the owner. My recommendation isn't a recommendation on the owners or conditions of the property, it is a recommendation on the location.

Rt. 192, or just north on Rt 27,  is filled with every store and restaurant you can imagine. Target, Walmart, Publix, Walgreens, and CVS to name a few. And I can't think of a restaurant chain that isn't here.

There you have it. Happy house hunting!