First - some background. In mid-2004, after Cap had been retired for six months, we began thinking about having a retirement home in Florida, either for the winter, or as a primary residence. In December, 2004, we went to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and also spent some time looking at various developments in the Central Florida region.
We have a good friend who has wintered in Mount Dora for almost ten years and she highly recommended that we consider the City of Mount Dora as a location for a home. After looking at several Pringle Development locations, we liked the descriptions of their planned Lakes of Mount Dora community, and their willingness do allow both semi-custom and full custom design of a home at a minimal design cost. At that time, the cost added for the design work was only $3,000.
After a week back at home, we called to select a lot in the pre-construction phase and sent in a $1,000 deposit. Three months later, in March, 2005, we again vacationed at Disney World in Florida and took time to go to Mount Dora to sign a contract with Pringle Development. Our contract allowed for a two year deferral of home construction and provided for three days with a designer on a CAD system to design our home.
Since we wanted to prepare our existing home in SouthEast Michigan, near Ann Arbor, for sale, we didn't schedule our time with Pringle's designer until more than a year later, in April 2005. However, we had a year to think about home design, learn about Pringle's design process, and talk with other people who had been through the building experience in Central Florida. It was a busy year.
The next post will provide more information about the preparation for design that we did.
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