To be sure, Celebration still has amongst the highest real estate values, about twice Florida's median value. Yet the foreclosure rate of one of every 20 residents is twice that of the state's.
Long know as being a model of New Urbanism, the 1996 town built by the Walt Disney Co. outside of Disney World, 25 miles south of Orlando, recently received a lot of publicity for the first murder recorded in the town and a foreclosure-related suicide in the same week. Less known is that the town is experience a significantly greater foreclosure rate than the rest of the state:
"Celebration foreclosures are happening at a faster pace in part because property owners in financial trouble are walking away from vacation homes in the town, where real estate sells for about 30 percent more than surrounding communities, said Michael Olenick, chief executive officer of mortgage-data firm Legalprise Inc."
"The harsh reality is, bad things happen in Celebration too, both in real estate and in life," he added in this Bloomberg News article.
FULL STORY: Celebration, Florida, sees foreclosures rise
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