Most Affordable vs Most Expensive Vero Beach Neighborhoods

Vero Beach Florida has homes from the mid 350,000 range to bazillions 10 million plus plus plus. Today, I'm going to break down best buys in different price sectors and stick with me because we're going to get to a sector that's going to be of interest to you. First thing we're going to talk about is affordability. If you want to talk about affordability, underrated community in my opinion in the 350 450 range is known as the Sebastian Highlands. Now, I know you're going to say, "Sal, you just talked about Vero Beach.

That's in Sebastian." Wrong. It's tucked in just inside Vero, very close to Sebastian, but it's actually in Indian River County within Vero Beach. Sebastian Highlands is quite a large community known for affordability, big lots, no HOA, and a good vibe. It's also a location play tucked right inside the Sebastian area close to get to a county road to get to I-95 if you need to commute, quite close to Sebastian High School, and a bunch of schools in the area. So, it is poised to be an easy location play to get to a lot of different places.

And the houses are all over the ranch. Many of them are single story. Some of them still on septic, although sewer is coming. Some of them are dirt roads in the back, and some of them even have peacocks around them. So, Sebastian Highlands is something you should consider if you want to be 350 450, and there's even some new builds. On Sally Daley, get in touch through our contact form. I have relationships with a couple of brokers that are working quietly with builders that are going in and doing rifle shots one-offs all throughout the neighborhood.

It's a community that's worth your consideration. So, if you're watching this and you're thinking, "Sally, Sally, I know I need to be in Vero. That's where I want to be. You don't need to sell me." Stick with me. I work with luxury buyers all day, every day, to help them figure out the right neighborhood. I promise we're going to get there. Stick with me. Next tier would be more middle, say, four to six to 650. There are a lot of those communities. One is an older community known as The Woodlands.

It's off of 43rd and 1st Street on the mainland. Larger lots, many of them frame, built in the '90s. Super nice environment, wooded as the name implies, The Woodlands. Woodlands, depending on whether or not it's renovated, like anything, is going to be anywhere 450 to 699. And it's a big yes for a lot of people who just like the location. Easy to get if you're commuting south. 43rd, as a reminder, goes all the way to the Indrio Road entry to I-95, close to a lot of things. Opposite end of the spectrum, if you say, "Well, I'd like to spend that, Sally.

That That's my price point." Yes, great. But, I think I'd rather have a newer house, maybe concrete block, and maybe I'd rather have a gated community. Very different buy box, still lots of options. One representative, again, I know there are others. Feel free to write me and say, "You blew it. You didn't talk about my neighborhood." There's lots of others, but it representative example would be a community known as Summer Lake and Summer Lake North. Northern part of the county, northwest versus southwest, which is where The Woodlands is. These are newer homes.

Basically, the amenity here is newer home, HOA, gated, not a lot of bells and whistles. But, most of the homes are newer. They're of a more updated architecture style and floor plan where it's a little more West Indies meets transitional, more open concept, large kitchen island like the house I'm in right now at 425 Holly. And it is something that is very appealing to a lot of buyers that want relatively new, nominal HOA, but you still have a gated entry for that sense of security. So, what's the difference between the two?

Age of the structures. Many of the Woodlands are frame, larger lots. The lots in Summer Lake, frankly, are a little more diminutive, but you still own them, fee simple. You own the land and all the dirt on it. It's a community that's worthy of your consideration among many. Now, tier number three. We're going up the food chain here. 800, 900,000, 700 to 900,000, say, the Lakes at Waterway and Riverwind. What is the notable difference between that and say Summer Lake that I just talked about? Location. These are materially closer to the barrier island, which means less time to get to the beach or the river or Ocean Drive if you want to go to the farmers market on Saturday.

So, location drives price. The land is valued more, it makes the homes more expensive. Let's talk about Riverwind first. Riverwind is a community along a stretch of road known as Indian River Boulevard, which parallels US 1 on the mainland and A1A on the barrier. So, think of it right in the middle. It was designed to take through traffic off of US 1 back in the '80s. As a result, the northern quadrant is home to a lot of very, very desirable neighborhoods. Lilly's Cay, Grand Harbor, Riverwind, Bridgepoint, as a just off the island alternative for people that don't want to be on the barrier island or don't want to pay the premium that it takes to be on the barrier island.

You can get into Riverwind for high sixes, high sevens, high eight hundreds. Some of them push over a million. The handful that have been built newer that like a 2012, 2015 homes that are larger and it's a great way to be just off the barrier island, but you need to understand it may need some reinvestment to get it to where you want it to be or certainly to get your insurance more affordable. You may need to do the roof and just be mindful of that as you go into negotiation. The other neighborhood that's slightly newer is the Lakes at Waterway and it is across US1 up a beautiful causeway.

It has amenities that will make you feel like you're in a resort. The pool is dreamy. There's pickleball. There's lots of amenities. There is a fitness center that is unbelievably fantastic and a really friendly vibe. And within this community you've got Lakes about, you've got Villas which is a share wall, and you have single family homes that the size of which would if you picked them up and put them on Indian River Boulevard or on the barrier island would be materially more. And if you're worried about how would I make friends if I moved to Vero Beach Sally, I don't know anybody.

Lakes at Waterway is always something I suggest because it's really a vibe. So, whether you're talking about Riverwind or the Lakes at Waterway, they are two great examples of what I would say 7 to 900,000 are communities worthy of your consideration. Now we're going to jump onto the barrier island. There are a couple of communities very much worth your consideration. The Island Club and Island Club Riverside and the Bermuda Club. Why do I say that? Well, they're first of all they're very popular. Island Club and Island Club Riverside are two sections contained really within the same association, largely built by Beazer Homes.

Very popular. They were our first zero lot line community. Right now, depending on which section you're talking about, the oceanside section, which is really not on the oceanside, but it's closer to the ocean. Everything's west of A1A. Depending on your price point, you know, it can be 699 to 799 to 850, depending on the age, whether or not roof has been done. So, there are some very good buys there if you understand what you're looking for and do your homework and find out what's the age of the roof, etc. Go north a little bit, you've got two communities worthy of your consideration.

One is called the Bermuda Club, which has more of a West Indies kind of a transitional look, where the homes can be 750 to 900. And there's another one called The Seasons, which is our only community built by M&R Homes, and homes there can be 899 if they're original, 19, you know, 2004 and have been renovated, up to I'm bringing one to market at 1.2 million, that's fantastic. It's got pool, a casita, it's been renovated, and it's quite dreamy. And Bermuda Club has access to the beach as well as day dock on the river.

There's some really nice amenity sets. So, if you say, "Sally, I want to be, you know, eight, seven to eight to a million to a million two, and I don't want to have to deal with any yard work." Those are all worthy of your consideration. Now, we're going to talk about the lion's share of homes on the barrier island. The lion's share of our homes will be from one to two million, frankly. And again, I'm not suggesting that's a small amount of money, it's not, relative to being on the barrier island in Palm Beach or Jupiter Island or even frankly on the mainland in West Palm Beach, this is a fraction.

There are several communities, again, there's many, but representative of your consideration largely would be the southern barrier island, the middle barrier island known as Central Beach, and the northern barrier island, there's a couple communities known as Indian Trails and Marbrisa. So, let's break it down and talk about them. The southern end of the barrier island tends to be older homes on larger lots where if there's an association such as the community called Sand Point where I reside, the amenity is not necessarily a clubhouse with fitness, the amenity is in our case a gated entry being located east of A1A with a private dune crossover to get to the beach.

So, the lots tend to be bigger, the association tend to offer amenities which is proximity east of A1A or west of A1A with access to either the ocean or the river. And if there's sister communities like Sand Point East, Sand Point West, all the Castaways which are hugely popular, many of them also have the ability to use each other's assets like we can use the river access to Sand Point West and Sand Point East, Sand Point West can use our beach access. So, the southern part of the barrier island tend to be where a lot of full-time owners reside.

If you go north and you go to Central Beach which we've talked about Central Beach a lot, Central Beach on the south side of Beach Lawn Boulevard, it's if you imagine a bifurcated four distinct neighborhoods, one side Azalea, Bougainvillea, Camellia, Easter Lily, all of them have flower names on on the south side. The north side, it's all trees. So, as long as you know your alphabet and whether your trees or flowers you can find your way. The one commonality is no association, which a lot of people love. And again, you're embedded and walkable to a golf cart kind of car optional lifestyle where you can get where you want to go.

Central Beach is going to be anywhere from 1 to 2 million. The house that I'm in right now, 425 Holly. Shout out to this house, it's fantastic. 2.2 million. It's brand new, it's only a couple years old. Hardly used at all. Great used car. Central Beach is going through a renaissance where you could have some older homes around three brand new houses. Like these are three brand new houses. Across the way, you've got neighborhoods that have had renovations. So depends on the composition of the block and where you are. Cross over and go north, go beyond a very large country club community known as John's Island.

And if you go north, there's a couple communities that are going to be between 1 and 2 million known as River Club. The older houses, probably the 2004 to 2018 houses will be under two. The newer houses will be will be more than that, frankly. And communities known as Indian Trails and Marbrisa. Indian Trails and Marbrisa sit side by side. They have a very different look. Indian Trails looks more low country meets Carolina meets West Key West. A lot of front porches, a lot of live oaks, great amenities. They have a beautiful river access with a marina, which is great, as does Marbrisa.

They both have beach accesses. Marbrisa is going to be very, very Mediterranean in its vibe versus the Key West Carolina low country of Indian Trails. Both very, very well regarded, both very popular and worth your consideration if that's your buy box somewhere between 1 and 2 million. Okay, Sal, give it to me. What's our top tier? Drum roll. Well, it depends what's important to you. Broadly, anything directly on the river or has navigable water behind it or on the ocean or ocean views is going to be our top tier. Independent of that, communities like Old Riomar, Palm Island Plantation, Riomar Bay, John's Island, Windsor are going to be our top tier.

All great and all desirable for other reasons. We've talked about Old Riomar before. Old Riomar's kind of like our Beverly Hills, drapey live oaks, walkable, bikeable to everything, elegant, lovely shell path roads. A fixer's going to be, you know, mid to high twos to 9 and 10 million dollars. John's Island is a large country club community where golf cottages with no garage, if they're renovated, can be 3 million all day long up to single family homes double digits just for a piece of dirt. Houses on the ocean that are on acre might be 12 million and need quite a lot of renovation.

Windsor is on the northern part of the barrier island and it is more of a self-contained community, meaning it has its own post office, its own art gallery, very sophisticated architecture, meant to be its own self-contained community. Prices in Windsor are going to be anywhere from 4 million up. There's a new section called the North Village that just opened up where the lots are being sold and they start at 1.2 and folks are building because they want new builds. On the ocean, those houses are going to be, you know, 12 to 20 million dollars and they're all going to be on acres.

Riomar, Riomar Bay are going to be waterfront where a fixer's going to be around 2 and 1/2 to 3 million. New homes can be, you know, 10 to 12 to a record-breaking 20 million back in the day And there's a point lot coming on that everyone's looking at and we know it's coming that's had extensive renovation that's going to be coming on for around 17 that everybody's excited about. The Moorings down in the anchor where I just had my record-breaking sale in Cutlass Cove, brand new home, sensational sold for $9 million.

Fixers are going to be 28 deep water. Everybody's navigating what to do and how to get there and what do I want to put into my house? Do I want to knock it down or not? So, no matter where your price point is, there are peers available for you that I can help you decipher. What's important is understanding where your priorities are and how that interacts with budget because everybody generally speaking has only so much money they want to spend and together we can help figure out which perspective and which priority is right for you and make sure that you understand communities worth your consideration.

If you want to figure it out, call me, reach us through our contact form and together we can figure it out. I'm Sally Daley, The Daley Group at Douglas Elliman. Until next time, take care.