Hi All

Our property is actually at the original CP north of I4 but was built by Lexon who we think are the best because they add some extra touches to make the properties stand out from the standard Florida home.

We bought through Terry's Vacation Villas and after signing the initial contract with Lexon, all we had to do then was turn up for the closing.  Terry handled everything else including putting us in touch with a mortgage broker and insurance agent.

T.V.V. have been looking after our property for 3 years and we get the most fantastic comments back from our guests about the quality, cleanliness etc. and that is down to the quality and diligence of the team.  If you do buy and manage through Terry we urge you to listen to his advice.  Some realtors and MCs promise the earth and then owners get dissapointed when the villa isn't booked up every week in the first year.  Terry will persuade you to spend some extra dollars on upgrading finishes, fittings and furniture but you will reap the rewards in the long term.  It takes time to build up bookings but we are now getting repeat bookings and referrals and that is because our guests are knocked out by the standard of Lexon developments and TVV care of the property.

Hi, Just came across this website and thought I would add my own message.  

We bought our home from Terry Teaman at Terrys Vacation Villas a few years ago.  I cannot express enough what a fantastic experience it was dealing with Terry and his company.  Nothing was too much trouble and the sale and subsequent closure went without a hitch.  Our villa was all and more than we had expected and the service we received was exceptional. 

Terry Teaman's company is also our management company, and again I cannot praise them enough for the wonderful care they take with our home.  Being 4,000 miles away here in the UK it is always a worry, but the excellent feedback we get from our guests on the excellent condition of our place leaves me in no doubt that everyone working for Terry is doing a great job - from the cleaners to the pool guy.  Whenever we walk into our home from a long flight it never ceases to amaze me at the superb condition and cleaniness of our home - I can't thank Terry and his team enough for all their efforts. 

I can highly recommend Terry as a realtor and as a management company and would not hesitate a bit to pass on his details to anyone thinking of buying their own home in Florida.

Please feel free to contact me via this website if you would like any further  information.

I posted a message earlier about wanting information on the community. 

I wanted to ask if anyone else has any homes in the community for long term rental. We want a year lease.

If anyone else has a home they are looking to rent long term instead of short term, please reply to me.

Nothing is set in stone on the other property as of yet.

Thanks,

Kristin

Hello All...

I am currently living in Baltimore Maryland and am planning on relocating to Orlando Florida in July. I have found a home on Eola Way that is for sale but am going to rent it for 1 year before making a final committment to buying. I also have a house in Baltimore to sell first. We are a young famiy with 2 girls and live on a "FIXED" budget. We have wanted to move to warmer weather for quite some time now, but the thought of leaving Maryland is a bit scary considering we have lived here our whole lives.

I am going through a realtor and do not know the owner directly. I am nervous about moving to a house with only seeing pictures on the internet- and not knowing alot about the community.

I found this website and thought it might be the perfect way to get some "inside information" on Calabay Parc. If anyone can answer and of these questions or give me places to go for answers, I'd love to hear from you.

1. It is my understanding that most of these homes were purchased for VACATION HOMES or rental properties. Are there any owners out there that would know if they have full time residents there?I have 2 daughters ( 6-13) and wonder if they will have any friends in the community.

2. I am looking for any information on the HOA rules- I come from a home that does not have a HOA and am clueless what rules might effect us.

3. ANY comments - GOOD OR BAD on the community would be appreciated considering I have not seen the area in person.

4. How far away are stores/general places of interest- Mall? Walmart? Grocery Stores? Movies? etc..

5. When will the clubhouse be done- is that including in the HOA fees or is it something extra you have to pay for?

I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting anything you can offer me!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

KRISTIN

Hi there

This is my first post on this forum.

I closed on my property last july, but i have not had the chance to visit it yet, i am going in 3 weeks.

Can anyone tell me if the clubhouse has been completed yet???

I was guttered to hear the story about the break in , im very sorry, was this recently? Are all he security gates looked now? I would worry about the workmen, sound to dodgy if they were going after the fridge freezer

lee

Hi,

I am attempting to close at Calabay Parc and am having trouble with the valuers.

They are stating that the value of my property is well below that of the sale price.

Is anybody else having or had similar problems.

Many thanks,

Maurice.

Hi everyone,

we are looking to buy a property at Calabay Parc, can anyone suggest a good U.K mortgage lender ?

Thanks,

Tracy.

I am looking to buy my first vacation home in Florida and Calabay Parc looks to be one of the best new developments at the moment. Can anybody tell me how the demand for rental bookings are going and what they think of he overall quality of the development and construcution please?

I hear alot in the UK press about the US housing makret being on the verge of melt down, what do others think about this and has anybody seen any capital growth in their homes on Calabay since taking ownership?

I'll hopefully meet some of you some day if I decide to buy on Calabay..

Regards and thanks for your comments... Paul

Hi Fred

I am so sorry to hear about that. Our alarm went off a few weeks back and the police were round in minutes - that is something i guess. I hope you get your trust back and enjoy your home.

Also a fellow neighbour has just come back and they said they saw several police patrols going round checking so lets hope that deters any would be thieves.

Richard

Hi Fred,

I'm really sorry to hear about your break-in.  I don't suppose your villa is on Cherokee?  I had heard of a similar burglary on Cherokee that sounded remarkably similar to yours.

Will your insurance cover your loss? 

Nuala

sorry, closing date should have read 15th May, still a little jumpy.

Fred Douglass

Hi Everyone,

                       We closed on our property on the 15th June, we went out for the closing and then stayed two weeks in the new villa and we were absolutley delighted with everything. We spent most of the time buying things to put those personal touches to the second home and really enjoyed ourselves, Lexon and Hudsons had done a great job.                                                         

Unfortunately a week after we left, the villa was broken into and the new flat screen Tv's DVD's & Playstation we had installed were gone, also they had moved the double fridge freezer to the front door in preparation to remove that ?, it would seem that thieves feel that they have enough time to move this kind of appliance with regard to the security on Tower Lakes.

We did not at the time have a monitored alarm system on the property (we do now) as we were not aware of any problems to date. I have no idea what the response times for police are etc., hopefully I will never need to find out.

In one sense we were lucky that apart from the damage to the main entrance door swhere the thieves entered and $3500 worth of equiment, it would seem nothing else has been touched, perhaps they were disturbed in the act, who knows.

Although we are obviously insured, like most of yourselves we have waited over two years for our second home to be finished and it was worth it, but as you can imagine we were and still are absolutely gutted at what has happened and it has tainted things a little for now.

The note is not for sympathy but a heads up to our present neighbours and to future neighbors, take care and keep you home safe, we would not wish our initial despair and frustration felt by anyone.

Whether this was and is an isolated incident I don't know, perhaps the HOA will give some feedback to our Management Rep.or yourselves.

Take care and enjoy what we believe will be a great development.

Fred Douglass

Hi,

Is anybody out at the Lakes or planning to go soon ?

Cheers,

Jay

ALL MEMBERS OF THIS FORUM

Apart from Gail and Gary Beattie, Jon Shields and Sally & Steve are there any other Tower Lake owners on this site?  If so can you e-mail me on  martin@towerlakevillaflorida.com so that I can make an initial contact with you.

I am trying to contact as many TL owwners as possible.  It will certainly help when it comes to the HOA etc and helping each other on local issues and problems that might arise.

Regards

Martin Ford

Message for Gail & Gary Beattie

Can you please e-mail me your e-mail address so that I can send you some photos.

Martin Ford

martin@towerlakevillaflorida.com

 Hi to All and Happy Easter !!

Its been roughly 3months now since we posted any new material, due to the fact that we had no further news to report.

However we're now into April and how things have changed!

We received an email from Keith in early February stating that our permit was expected to be returned at any time from Haines City Building Dept (a phrase commonly heard when chasing news on the start of your home) and that pre construction would follow, effectively confirming the commencement of the foundations and slab. Sure enough, one week later we received a copy of our permit via email and Keith confirmed that they would begin work imminently.

By 3rd March all external walls to the ground floor were up and the 1st Floor timber stucture was also up with roof trusses in place ready for ply boarding.......We were all simply amazed !! After a wait of 27 long months our patience was duly rewarded, it had taken no longer than 3 weeks and our former pile of sand that once occupied Lot No: 238 had now rapidly evolved into what was surely going to be our dream vacation home that would be ready in the following 12-16 weeks.

Since then, several close friends of ours who own homes at West Haven off Ronald Reagan Parkway have been out and taken lots more shots which included the footprint of the pool being formed, windows and doors have been installed, the internal walls have been dry lined and the external walls are ready to receive the Stucco finish (Rendered for painting). 

We are flying out on April 26th for a week, during which we will obviously visit the site to see it with our own eyes and take more snaps of the latest progress, and hopefully get a better idea of the anticipated completion date so that plans can be made to agree a closing date .

If anyone plans to be there between April 26th-May 3rd and would like to meet up for a chat or join myself or Jon for a beer, then post up your intentions and we'll try and make some plans.Alternatively, if anyone would like photos taken of their homes in progress then please let us know as we'd been only too happy to take some pics and email them to you or post them on EOW on our return.

Shaun A & Jon S

Hi All,

Haven't been on here for ages ... simply because we've heard nothing bout our house (though pretty comfortable with that) I am buying purely as a personal holiday home for myself and my semi elderly parents (65ish) to stay in over the holiday breaks etc...

Things seem to be moving on a bit and moving round to my plot (old ref. 210, new ref 306 ... address 226 Minniehaha Circle)

We bought a Marabou 2 style of house .. has anybody seen one in the flesh? Do they look OK .. they seem everything we want from photo's & virtual tours we've seen.

Ian - if you read this (31/03/07) have a great holiday ... let us know how things are out there ... and upload as many photos as you can!

Now we've got many more "ToweLakers" on here ... I will be on all the time ... Great to hear from you all.

Gazzab (aka Gary & Gail)

Hi

We used Hudsons to furnish our villa. The standard package was of a very good quality, no complaints whatsoever. Make sure an inventory is done, though as there were a few shortages!!

Peter 

Did anybody use HudsonInteriors for their Villa furniture package?

Did you go for any upgrades or leave the package as standard ?

Thanks.

Jon

I do recommend you go onto the bookafloridavilla site and check out the lot numbers and put yours on there.  It's really good.

Jon

Our new lot no. is 217 (Old lot no. 137).

We too have been told that ours should be back from permitting next week.  Looks like they are telling everyone that!  But it would be nice wouldn't it?  Claudia says it depends which ones come back, it's pot luck I think??!!

Sally and Steve

Hi Jon

What is your new lot no?

Sally and Steve

Hi  Ciaran

Our Plot is 244 old 227 and the address is 178 minniehaha circle.  It is located at the end of your road in the internal corner, not far from you.

Have you been out there to see what is happening?

Welcome to the www.bookafloridavilla.com by the way.

Martin

Jon

Hi. Have you joined the 'www.bookafloridavilla.com' forum yet.  Its a great site as Sally will tell you, she is a member and so are a lot of other Tower Lake Owners.  There is another dedicated site/forum for Tower Lakers also if you need the address I can give it to you.

Martin

Ciaran

How strange is that?  They seem to be building randomly all over the site.  We were told that ours should be next, being the first of phase ll but they seem to be skirting around ours all the time.  Still at least hopefully the place wont look like a building site when ours is done, but it would be nice to go over there in the summer. We were told by someone that they should expect their place to take between 4 -5 months for a cypress which is similar.Apparently they are building quickly at the moment.

sally and steve

Hi

Is that the new 185 or the old 185?

Sally

Just received word today from Lexon Homes that construction has commenced on my place - 'the foundation has been poured and construction is continuing.' they say.

From experience, does anyone have an idea of the time it takes to build a Tamarind?? I'm in Lot #185

Kharissa

I have sent you a private e-mail.  I hope you receive it.  Can you give me your details privately as well, thanks.  It is a good idea to help each other out on the lettings front as it is very difficult to get bookings at the moment.

Martin F

Hi  we own a villa which is in phase 1 of Tower Lake and completed in July this year after about 2 and a half years!!  We have our first renters going in on Friday which is exciting, but also a little scary!  Getting bookings has proven to be quite difficult and so as a way of us Towerlakers helping eachother out, we've set up a Tower Lake website (address easy to guess - I guess I'm not allowed to post it on this forum).  We have several members already and have a members area with access to eachothers details so that if we get a booking which we cannot fill we can pass it on.  We are building on it all the time.  If you would like to join please direct message me with your email address.  I actually found this site by accident when trying to see if ours was on google.  I guess because Tower Lake is on the boards???  Anyone else on phase 1?  I'm guessing this is pretty much finished now.  We've not been out to see our villa yet, we're off out at the end of April  for 2 weeks which we're really looking forward to.  I can't believe other people are going to be staying in it before us!!

Kharissa

Hi everyone

We had hoped to be in our new Villa by April by no such luck. We are over again from 7 April to 21 April 2007. Has anyone got a house for rental which would suit 4 adults and 3 chuldren.

Thanks

Ian

Hi All,

We are off to Florida on the 7th November to finally collect the keys to our villa it has taken just under 3 years to finally complete & we have had loads of problems!!!!, if anyone would like us to take any pictures please let us know.

Thanks

Sophie

Are there any other Tower Lake owners out there on this forum? if so can you contact me?

Martn

Are there any fellow Tower Lake-Calabay Parc owners out there?

Martin