DeBary

Surrounding six small lakes, including Lake Marie, Lake Marie Estates offers a little more than 650 homes in the bedroom community of DeBary. Most home inventory was constructed in the mid-1960s, but it is central to the city, near multiple parks, golf courses, and other essential amenities. “We see a lot of the overflow of people from the Orlando area because homes tend to be more affordable here,” says Chuck Shaver, a Realtor and broker associate with Keller Williams Heritage Realty, who has called Central Florida home for almost 40 years. “It has a small-town feel. Plenty of local amenities exist, but it is a good location in the Orlando metro.” Tight streets are lined with palm trees that give off the Florida vibe. Most homes are either stucco or brick ranch homes with hipped roofs that adorn moderate-sized lots with fenced-in backyards. Some homes back up to small lakes, which gives the potential for water-front property and slightly higher flood risks than the rest of the neighborhood. Lake Marie Estates has a minimal flood factor but has an Active Sound Score of 75 out of 100. Prices range from $236,000 to $384,000, with the median price falling just over $290,000. “The homes are older but solid and have started to be modernized. The market is picking up over the last few weeks,” Shaver says. While not on the coast, hurricanes that hit the cost affect DeBary with high winds and potential flooding. Children are zoned for Volusia County Schools, which serves more than 60,000 students, ranks as B on Niche and the site grades it as the third-best district in the Orlando area. Students will attend Debary Elementary, which scores a B-plus, then the B-minus rated River Springs Middle School and finish at University High School. University High opened in 2010 and grades a B. The high school offers three academies – biomed, finance and game and simulation to help students specialize in their education. In a bedroom community, residents can get around the Orlando Metro on the SunRail, a 61-mile commuter rail system encompassing Central Florida. The lone stop in DeBary is about 4 miles from the neighborhood. Residents can also use the Votran, Volusia County’s public bus service. Lake Marie Estates has four nearby lines: Votran 23, 31, 32 and 33. Neighbors can use United States Route 17-92 or drive down Saxon Boulevard to reach Interstate 4, which runs east to west across Florida. “We don’t get as much traffic as those souths of the St. John’s River Bridge, and living in the neighborhood, and the city of Debary is just a convenient location in Central Florida,” Shaver says. Residents will barely have to leave the house to pick up weekly groceries as there is a Winn-Dixie in the DeBary Commons on the neighborhood's eastern edge. One of the oldest locally owned businesses in town, the DeBary Nursery specializes in native horticulture and has been a community staple since 1970. For a bite to eat, Nonna Maria’s Pizzeria is in the DeBary Commons and serves pizza by the slice and other Italian classics. Just across West Highbanks Road is the Salted Goat, which opened in 2023 and partners with local farms to provide diners with fresh and locally sourced ingredients. Across the street from DeBary Elementary, Eagles Nest Park is a small neighborhood park where children can play on a playground, or visitors can shoot some hoops on the paved half-court. DeBary’s Parks and Recreation Department uses Rob Sullivan Park for its softball and baseball fields. Its playground features large canopy umbrellas to shade the equipment from the summer sun. The city became Florida’s 12th Trail Town, offering more than 600 miles of paved trails from three major state pathways – the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop, Coast-to-Coast Trail and the Heart of Florida Loop. Golfers can use multiple nearby courses, including the private DeBary County Club or the semi-private Glenn Abbey Golf Course, a par 72. Lake Marie Estates is less than 2 miles from the Gateway Center for the Arts (GCA), a community cultural arts center. The center offers multiple classes in various disciplines, from dance to youth theater and multimedia. GCA also has community events, including comedy shows, game nights and local concerts. The city hosts multiple events, and one of the biggest is the Freedom Fest Fourth of July celebration, which has live music, numerous vendors and a place for kids. About 4 miles south of Lake Marie Estates, the Main Street development will bring a new downtown area to DeBary. The development, which broke ground in January 2024, is across from the city’s SunRail Station and is on the Central Florida Trail system. The mixed-use facility will be completed in two phases, with phase one being the addition of townhouses and live-work units on the east side and phase two being the retail on the first floor and apartments above them. The entire project will take until 2027 to complete. "It's a small town, but it's growing," says Monica Houseworth, a Realtor with Discom Realty, Inc., and local resident. "Not only will this project will include the new downtown, but also retailers like Publix."

The golf course community of DeBary Plantation centers around a semiprivate country club. Contemporary and traditional-style homes sit on cul-de-sac streets surrounding the DeBary Country Club, which has an 18-hole golf course regularly used as a qualifying site for the U.S. Open. Locals include retirees, young families and snowbirds who live on meticulously maintained streets managed by the homeowner’s association. Modern houses built with stucco can be seen on the neighborhood’s well-paved roadways. Homes sit behind pristine sidewalks, and front lawns have palm trees and well-kept shrubbery. Prices range from $323,000 to $887,000, and the DeBary Plantation Community Association charges a $660 annual assessment. Golf is one of the neighborhood’s main draws. The DeBary Country Club offers several different tiers of membership, including a $435 per month full golf package and a $110 per month social membership with unlimited pool and fitness center access. But club membership is separate from the HOA, and optional. All residents have access to the neighborhood’s community park, which has a playground and basketball court, and bikers will appreciate the easy access to the Spring-to-Spring Trail, a quiet, woodsy biking area for jogging, walking and cycling. DeBary Plantation sits along U.S. Route 17, a major east coast thoroughfare running between Florida and Virginia. It’s also about 5 minutes away from Interstate 4, a major Florida highway that runs north to Daytona Beach and south to Orlando. DeBary, which sits about 40 minutes north of Orlando, is a bedroom community for the city, Lake Mary or Maitland. It’s also somewhere people move when they want a quieter lifestyle. “We get a lot of people moving out of Orlando who want to be away from the hustle and bustle,” Chuck Shaver, Realtor with Keller Williams Heritage Realty, says. “It’s quieter up here and significantly less traffic.” Densely populated parts of Florida are known for having tons of strip malls. DeBary Plantation has several shopping centers 5-10 minutes away. Outdoor malls in nearby Orange City have chain restaurants like Chili’s and Olive Garden, retailers like Target and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and grocery stores like Publix, the dominant supermarket chain in Florida. Walmart Supercenter is also there, and next to the stores is AdventHealth Fish Memorial Hospital. Locals can get margaritas and tacos for dinner at Pepe’s Cantina and start their days with omelets at DeBary Diner. O’Leary’s Irish Pub has live music on the weekends and serves burgers and wings daily. Kids in DeBary Plantation can attend public school through Volusia County Schools. The school district has a B rating from Niche and about 63,000 students. Neighborhood children are assigned to DeBary Elementary School (rated B-plus), River Springs Middle School (rated B-minus) and University High School (rated B). The high school offers several career and technical education academies for students in disciplines like gaming and simulation, finance and agriculture science.

“Plantation Estates has a small-town feel, and people know their neighbors,” says Realtor Carolyn Evans, who lived in the neighborhood for over 30 years. “It’s a pretty outdoorsy community since Lake Monroe is nearby. The St. John’s River is to the west, and you have boat ramps to get down to the water, too.” This welcoming neighborhood has been around since the 1950s when development efforts sought to accommodate Debary’s population boom. This community continues to be desirable because of its natural setting and proximity to big cities, and its population has grown to over 3,000. In the eastern portion of the neighborhood, Bill Keller Park is a 19-acre green space with plenty of room for outdoor sports. Residents can burn calories on three basketball courts, three baseball diamonds and two tennis courts, or they can sit on a bench and watch for owls in the trees. Afterward, they can head south for fishing at Gemini Springs Park, where they’ll find 210 acres adjacent to Lake Monroe. Bikers ride the paved trail to the water, while hikers trek to one of the natural springs or stay the night at the campground. “They’ve got an award-winning disc golf course over there that’s really nice, and people fish down at the lake,” says Realtor Carolyn Evans. “The city just bought 170 acres for a new park along the St. John’s River, too, so people will have that soon.” On the neighborhood's east side, Interstate 4 allows Debary commuters easy access to surrounding metropolitan areas. Orlando is about 25 miles south, and Daytona Beach is about 35 miles north. With the recent addition of a SunRail station in town, commuters can get to Orlando in under an hour. Homes in Plantation Estates are a historical record of the neighborhood. Part of the first building wave, original 1950s ranch-styles remain a hallmark, and most have been remodeled to match their modern-day neighbors – that is, ranches built as recently as 2023. Waves of builds in the 1980s and 1990s add another layer of detail, as their stone and plaster facades differ with each property. Two-bedrooms that need some work will go between $160,000 and $240,000, and updated three-bedrooms will be in the $290,000 to $370,000 range. These prices depend on renovation level and year built, and properties that border water features might have an increased tag, too. Students can start at Enterprise Elementary and can progress to River Springs Middle, both rated B-minus by Niche. They’ll likely advance to University High, which receives a B from Niche and offers international study in biomedical, finance, simulation and digital design. These schools aren’t walkable from the neighborhood, but students can commute by bus or car. Residents are close to Charles R. Beall Boulevard restaurants just west of the neighborhood. If they want to watch the game, they might pull up a chair at Bulldog Pub, a dog-friendly bar with some of the best wings in town. If they’d rather eat healthier, Da Kine Poke has bowls of traditional Hawaiian goodness, and Allstar Nutrition has shakes with specialty flavors like apple pie and turtle cheesecake. After their meal, foodies might stop into nearby Publix for groceries or shop two miles north to West Volusia Towne Center. There, they can browse department stores like Kohl’s, Bath & Body Works and Petco. Though there aren’t many city-wide events, Debary’s institutions have no shortage of things to do. Debary Golf and Country Club has dinners year-round, and the Debary Public Library has weekly movie nights. Gateway Center for the Arts organizes Debary Farmer’s Market a couple of miles north, where residents can shop for local produce every Saturday.

Just 27.5 miles north of Orlando’s bustling metropolis is Glen Abbey, a quiet suburb of Debary. The neighborhood encompasses several subdivisions, some within gated communities and some located directly on the green of the Glen Abbey Golf Club. “I was doing a lot of business in this community, and I just fell in love with it,” says Susan Ekalo, broker and owner of Debary Realty. “At the time, my husband and I were looking to raise a family in a place that was an established neighborhood. The other larger lots are really spread out, and there’s little connection between neighbors.” Glen Abbey is a smaller, connected community centered around its premier golfing lifestyle. Glen Abbey features long winding streets with several cul-de-sacs branching off main roads. Narrow sidewalks shaded by verdant mature trees lead residents through a neighborhood lined with homes sitting atop sprawling green lawns spanning 0.25 to 1 acre in size. New traditional and Spanish Revival-style houses with rounded archways and stucco exteriors dot the streets. Most homes here feature inground pools, ideal for enjoying the subtropical climate. Glen Abbey is filled with legacy owners, but when homes are on the market, they move quickly to close. “The market is booming, and nothing sits for long,” Ekalo says. Prices vary with acreage, as homes with less than half an acre sell for between $400,000 to $550,000, with the average price falling around $500,000. Homes with half an acre or more tend to go for $500,000 to $650,000, with the average cost hovering around $600,000. Students in Glen Abbey attend schools within the Volusia County Public Schools District. Students can begin their education at Debary Elementary School before graduating from River Springs Middle School, which respectively received a B-plus and a B-minus on Niche. Students can continue their education at University High School, which scored a B on the site. University High offers a Career Technical Education program, allowing students to tailor their education to a field of interest. Glen Abbey Golf Club is a staple for community recreation. Located on North Pine Meadow Drive, this 18-hole course is just steps from some residents' front doors. “The course is beautifully laid out and really open,” says Ekalo. “I think it’s a little challenging, but that makes it fun.” The club also offers a driving range. Just 3 miles south of the neighborhood is Gemini Springs Park on Spring-to-Spring Trail. This 210-acre green space features nature trails, two natural springs, campsites, a dog park and a playground. Residents can participate in weekly poker tournaments at the Orange City Racing and Card Club. Fire on the Bayou is a Cajun restaurant offering Southern-style seafood in a building covered wall to wall with murals inspired by New Orleans art. Residents can also stop by Fiesta Grande Mexican Grill for South American cuisine. The Crown Centre Plaza offers a range of shopping options, including popular big box stores like Publix Supermarket and Lowe's Home Improvement. Bordered by U.S. Route 17 to the west and with proximity to Interstate 4 to the east, Glen Abbey easily connects to larger surrounding cities like Orlando, which is 27.5 miles south. Though public transportation is not available directly within the neighborhood, there are several bus stops serviced by Volusia County's Public Transit System lining Enterprise Road and U.S. Route 17. For domestic travel, The DeLand Municipal Airport is 16.5 miles north of Glen Abbey, while the Orlando Sanford International Airport, located 16.4 miles southeast, provides international travel.