[Not a Gator]

Is it better to live on the beach or in town? Found a nice little place for sale in Park Place. Is that a good area? It seems from the sales history that it may be declining?

[lcjc]

Hi! Although I am in Kentucky, I grew up in Daytona, Ormond is the next town over. Park Place is in an area that is hit or miss, if I remember correctly. It does have some nice homes though. Not too sure about which schools it is zoned for, if you have kids you may want to check them out. If it is in the Holly Hill zone, the schools may not be to your liking. I went to school in and used to teach in Volusia County, Holly Hill Middle was never really that great. The elementary may be better since the principal used to be a teacher I worked with my first year out of college, she was pretty awesome and I am sure could shape up any school she is in charge of.

On beach side, affordable houses are very small and old and everything is harder to insure. If you can manage it though, living on beach side is an interesting lifestyle!

Have you tried the Trails or Tymber Creek developments in Ormond? They are off of rt. 40 which is Granada Blvd. There are very nice homes/town homes with access to community pools, etc., that are under 200K. If schools/amenities and quick access to 95/US1 are important to you that is a better area. I could be wrong about Park Place, a lot of improvements have been taking place in that general area, there is a new Publix and some other things just put in on Ridgewood/US1 about 3-4 years ago. Try renting/leasing for a while so you can be sure you're in the right place for your needs.

Sales prices are dropping, things went crazy a few years ago and now people are desperate to sell houses that they paid too much for so you may be able to get a great deal! Check out foreclosures if you can find out info on those. Good luck!

[lpug]

Although I realize the previous posts are old, I wanted to put in my 2 cents about Park Place. I, too, now live in Kentucky, but lived in Park Place for one year.

It is a great location. The development is very quiet and has a feeling of wooded seclusion, even though it is only minutes from all the major shopping in Ormond Beach. It has a well-maintained community pool and the population is about 1/2 part-time residents and 1/2 full-time. Probably about 10% have kids. It is relatively close to Holly Hill, but still in the desireable town of Ormond Beach.

When you ask about condos in Ormond, everyone mentions the Trails, which are great, too, but Park Place is wonderful and usually sells for about 10-15% less.

I hope this helps someone!

[EscAlaMike]

I'm an Ormond Beach native. Park Place is very nice. I have family that lives in there. Pretty much everything off of Hand Avenue east of Nova Road is nice. Don't let the falling prices in that neighborhood make you think the area is "declining". It's just coming back to reality.