Meritage Homes in Oviedo (Winter Garden, Live Oak: sales, apartment, foreclosure)

[Sam.Morgan]

Hi there. We live in Oviedo, and wanted to upgrade to Live Oak or Oviedo Forest. Both these sub-divisions have been taken over by Meritage Homes (from Engle Homes). Their prices are very favorable ($344,000 for 5100sq.ft). That's about $67/sq. ft.!!!. I have never seen prices like that in Oviedo, even before the property boom!!!.

I have always been cautious about deals that are too good to be true, and this is what this sounds like (my brother-in-law has been in construction for 23 years and says at this price they would be out of business tomorrow!).

So can anyone pls tell me what the deal with this may be. I am sure they will be making their money somewhere. Where would this be? and would this be "not such a good deal" afterall.

Even foreclosure properties in Oviedo are selling for more than this!. The only thing this price reflects to me is cheap material and lots of cutting corners.

Pls help with our decision. Thank you.

Sam

[homebuildermom]

We are building in Live Oak with Meritage. So far so good. Don't let the base price fool you though! Our base price was $264,900 but with all of our upgrades (we limited ourselves to 20K of upgrades: tile throughout on an angle, granite countertops, 42 inch cabinets, extended lanai, etc) 20k sounds like a lot, but we really had to monitor ourselves or we could have easily done 50k in upgrades! After the upgrades and the pool it is now at $330,000. We talked with some homeowners out in Winter Garden who have been in their Meritage homes for about a year and they LOVE them. No issues at all. We're excited about moving into such a great neighborhood as live oak with a brand new house that has everything we want. Good luck!

[rocky509]

Mertiage Homes are junk. I built with Engle and live in Live Oak. It is pretty disturbing that you can build this no class no style homes for 67 per foot. Mertiage has absolutely no creativity and thier houses look like apratments. If you don't believe me take a stroll through. They all look the same and I can't believe that the new owners are not as upset as everyone who built with Engle. Meriatge has done nothing but bring down the property value and class to our beautiful neighborhood. I hope the sales staff made thier money!!! What a joke.....

[Parrotrosie]

Here is another link to an article discussing Meritage and their lots being built in Live Oak, with some opinions following...sounds like they just are not up to the quality of the Engle homes that preceded them, but you can decide for yourself

Meritage Homes Acquires 14 Home Sites at Live Oak Reserve in Oviedo - [domain blocked due to spam]

They certainly look out of place, I have driven past them, and they look like giant , bland , behemoths, in the Live Oak subdivision...

[LXSMOM]

I have been a resident of Live Oak for a little over a year. We purchased a home here just before Engle went out of business. This neighborhood was considered one of the more prestigious Oviedo subdivisions, but Meritage has since ruined that. The homes that Meritage builds are constructed so quickly that I can't fathom how they could be built without numerous mistakes. The home designs lack style and resemble an apartment building more than a house. Detail is severely lacking as well as the individuality Engle homes portrayed. The pride my family once had in our neighborhood has been diminished by unstylish and unattractive homes. What a shame...