Exploring Bella Lago with Josh Hurdel & Christina Kuban

Episode Overview:
Jim sits down with Josh Hurdel and Christina Kuban from Bella Lago, a thriving DR Horton community in Parrish, Florida. With nearly 80% of the 1,080 planned homes already completed, Bella Lago offers a unique lifestyle, an array of amenities, and a prime location in Eastern Manatee County. Learn why Josh and Christina, who live in the community themselves, call Bella Lago home.

About Bella Lago:

• Development Size: 1,080 single-family homes (approximately 300 homes remaining).
• Location: Conveniently situated in Parrish, central to Tampa, Sarasota, and Bradenton.
• Completion Timeline: Estimated 2 years to finish the remaining homes.

Living Options:

• Floor Plans: 15 options ranging from 1,500–3,300 sq. ft.
• Price Range: $330,000–$570,000.
• Features: Two-car and three-car garages available, as well as multi-generational home designs.
• Two Series of Homes:
  • Express Series: Turnkey homes with included features for quick move-in.
  • Tradition Series: Upgraded finishes and design options.

Community Amenities:

• Amenity Centers:
  • Two outdoor pools (one heated) with pavilions.
  • 24-hour fitness center.
  • Tot lot (playground) and dog park.
• HOA Fees: $100–$132/month, covering common area maintenance and irrigation for front and side yards.

What Sets Bella Lago Apart?

• Breathtaking Views: Nearly every home offers a water or conservation view.
• Central Location:
  • 30–40 minutes to Tampa and Sarasota Airports.
  • Close to Moxon Wallow corridor, North River Ranch, and Creekside Commons shopping center.
• Nearby Developments:
  • New Publix shopping center with restaurants, gym, nail salon, and more.
  • Two new hospitals (HCA and BayCare) within minutes.
  • Future lagoon community and county park with walking trails and picnic areas.

Support for Homebuyers:

• DR Horton Warranty Program:
  • 10 Years: Structural coverage.
  • 2 Years: HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems.
  • 1 Year: Manufacturer and hardware defects.
• Vertical Integration: Mortgage, title, and insurance services through DR Horton affiliates for streamlined transactions and potential discounts.

Who’s Moving In?

• A mix of families, retirees, first-time buyers, and multi-generational households.
• Residents enjoy continuity and community focus, with six-month minimum rental policies ensuring a neighborhood feel.

Why Choose Bella Lago?

• Active Lifestyle: Weekly social events for adults and kids.
• Pet-Friendly: No breed restrictions and a welcoming dog park.
• Community Spirit: Many residents refer friends and family to live in Bella Lago.

A Personal Note from Jim:

Hey there, I’m Jim Ahearn, your go-to real estate guide and host of Jim Sells The Suncoast podcast! 🎙️✨ Dreaming of Florida life? I’ve got you covered! As your dedicated buyer's agent, I’ll handle everything from walk-throughs to closing, making your home-buying journey as smooth as a Florida breeze.

Whether you're local or tuning in from afar, I’ll bring the Suncoast to you with virtual tours and expert advice. Let’s chat about your dream home and I'll connect you with all the right people to make it happen.

Ready to move to paradise? Drop me a line – I can’t wait to help! 🌴🏡

Transcript

Jim: 0:53

All right. Good morning. And today I am excited to welcome Josh and Christina from Bella Lago, DR Horton community. Josh, he's been in sales 11 years in the banking and in real estate for one. Christina has been 10 years in real estate. She's got four years at DR Horton and Josh has one. So welcome.

Josh: 1:12

Thanks for having us today. Yeah.

Jim: 1:14

Oh, my pleasure. My pleasure. So tell me a little bit about overall about Bella Lago. What's going on? Over here in the Eastern side of Manatee County.

Josh: 1:24

You want to start? All right. Bella Lago is a DR Horton community here located in Parrish. We are, we've been building in here for approximately four to five years now. We have all single family homes and there's a lot up and coming in this part of Parrish right now.

Jim: 1:40

And

Josh: 1:41

a lot to dig into today that we'll mention what's coming in our area, in our community. In this community specifically with DR Horton, we have all single family homes and when we're finished, complete building in here, it'll be a total of 1, 080 homes.

Jim: 1:56

Oh, wow. I didn't realize it was that big. About how far along are you now? Do you know?

Christina: 2:03

We are about 80 percent done. We have about 300 homes left to go.

Jim: 2:07

Okay. So what do you think sets this development apart in terms of lifestyle and community compared to others in the area? Yeah.

Josh: 2:14

I would say our people, our location and our amenities. It's a great community. It's very diverse. Christina and myself, we actually both live here in the community as well. And we both live here. That's a pretty good

Jim: 2:26

Testament. To the community when you guys actually live there too.

Josh: 2:29

Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the people here are awesome. And we, have first look at that. And the, the events that the community puts on for the kids, for the adults, there's usually something for everyone. There's a lot of weekly events that the HOA will put on the social community through the HOA. They'll put on for Bible studies at the amenity center, poker night, card

Christina: 2:53

making.

Josh: 2:53

Yeah,

Christina: 2:54

They have everything.

Jim: 2:55

Yeah. Yeah. Nice. A big active community. And then you mentioned briefly to the location in parish where that area is growing and in your 30, 40 minutes from the beaches. 30, 40 minutes from either Tampa or Sarasota Airport. You've got the Moxon Wallow corridor that's growing and you're still only 20 or 30 minutes from Lakewood Ranch. So really close to everything.

Josh: 3:19

Yeah, and I think that's why we chose here and a lot of our homeowners choose this area is because this part of Parish is central to the main hubs in the city. So you're the same distance from Bella Lago to Tampa as you are to Sarasota. and the same goes for Braden's in the same piece. So you are very central to all of them.

Jim: 3:38

Fantastic. So tell me a little bit about the the living options available there. We've talked about single family homes, what size? Are we catering to and what price points are we looking at?

Josh: 3:48

We have about 15 different floor plans here in our community. So there's really something from everyone for everyone. We, our square footage in here ranges from around 1500 square feet up to about 3300 square feet. And price point, what'd you say?

Christina: 4:05

Price point, we're 330s to about 570s. Okay, so it covers

Jim: 4:11

a little bit of whatever budget you have and then looking at, the smallest three bedroom.

Christina: 4:16

Yes 1500 square feet two car garage, right? And then we go up to the 3300 with the two car garage, but then we also have some three car garage options and a Multi generational home as well.

Jim: 4:29

Okay, nice I think that's a big deal coming in to play in florida in particular

Josh: 4:35

In addition to that we have two different series of homes in this community, too What we call our express series homes, which are more turnkey ready to move into Everything's included in the home and then our tradition series homes where the feet the finishes and the features in the home vary a bit as well,

Jim: 4:52

okay, and then The first one I forget what you called it. We're setting that up. That's Inventory home really ready to go Which you probably have a different timeline. So depending on your timeline. Hey, we need to move in 30 days. Great. We got you covered.

Josh: 5:06

Yeah, that's a great point too. We with DR Horton and especially in our division of DR Horton we're really rocking and rolling in, in our build time. So we do have homes that in all stages, some that are ready, some of that are just breaking ground and some, everything in between there,

Jim: 5:22

I think that's an important point. I've, I remember I've built a home years ago and that was one of those, if you able to sit aside and wait. That could be a big issue. Yeah, absolutely. Perfect. We talked about the starting prices. What else is there going on in the areas when we look at the amenities and when we look at the other costs associated with the house as far as HOA and CDDs and then what are you getting from that from the as far as a an amenity and a lifestyle.

Josh: 5:54

It's a great question. You want to take that? So

Christina: 5:55

as far as amenities go in our community, we have a 24 hour gym, which is absolutely amazing. We have a main amenity center with an outdoor clubhouse that has a heated pool. So heated winter months, you can still go out there. We have a tot lot, we have a dog park, and then we have a second amenity center with another outdoor. Pavilion and then another pool as well. That pool is not heated.

Jim: 6:21

Okay. So tell me, Tot Lot, I'm assuming, is that a playground area for kids? Is it next to the dog park, you can put one in each one and then watch them

Christina: 6:30

go?

Jim: 6:31

That's the way to do it. And you know what I think too, is people move down here, the heated pool, once you've been here and your blood thins out, That's the only way to go.

Christina: 6:41

Absolutely

Jim: 6:42

Are there plans for any future minis or is that already all built out ready to go?

Christina: 6:47

That's all built out, ready to go.

Josh: 6:49

Our newest mini second one Christina mentioned just opened earlier this year, so all of our s have already been completed and are ready to go for the residents while they

Jim: 6:59

move.

Josh: 7:00

They don't have the newer

Jim: 7:03

communities currently. Okay. And the HOA, how much is the HOA.

Christina: 7:09

It ranges anywhere between 100 a month to about 132 a month.

Jim: 7:14

Oh, that's not bad. Not bad at all. And what is included in that As far as that, is there any, is it maintenance free? Is it, maintenance light?

Josh: 7:23

So that includes access to both of the amenity centers. Irrigation is included in the front and the sides of the home as well. So there are sprinkler systems already in there. And then common area upkeep maintenance of the community to make it looking nice, keep it looking nice for everyone as they come through.

Jim: 7:39

Okay. But then you're responsible for your yard care, lawn maintenance, upkeep, that kind of stuff.

Josh: 7:44

That's right.

Jim: 7:45

Okay. We talked about it being over 1000 units, with the full set acreage sizes and what percentage is like green area. What are we looking at with that?

Josh: 7:56

I don't know an exact percentage or an acreage. However, almost all of our community, all of our home sites in this development are either on a water view or a conservation view. So about 98 to 99 percent of our home sites are going to have a conservation or water view with the exception of a few that are on the corner and they might back up to the side of the right, Okay.

Jim: 8:19

What is the ideal buyer or resident? What what demographic are we looking for? People moving into Florida is this people in Florida moving, laterally or, that first time homebuyer move into that next step.

Christina: 8:32

I definitely think it's a little bit of everything right now. It's people moving down, it's people moving over, it's people retiring to downsize, it's families growing and needing a bigger space. So we're A one stop shop for everybody.

Jim: 8:46

Yeah. And I think when you talked about the size and the size of the homes, the price point of the homes, and in fact you have multi-generational homes.

Christina: 8:53

you

Jim: 8:53

do cater to everybody, what is the timeline for construction? If you are, really back and you're starting from scratch and you're not necessarily customizing your home, but maybe you're personalizing it,

Josh: 9:06

so from the ground up right now, once we break ground, our average build time in this community is about six months. Okay. To being ready to move into the home at that point. Now with DR Horton in our division, we don't do any customizations on our home. So when the home's completed, you can move in which speeds up the build time a little bit and makes the homes a little bit more cost efficient for our buyers as

Jim: 9:29

well. But then once you're in, you can, you could repaint or do whatever you got to do inside to make it yours and personalize it to a degree. Okay. What about landscaping outside? Same thing? Is it a set plan? And that's how it goes in. And what can they do to customize that?

Josh: 9:45

I've seen a lot of different customizations in the landscaping in here. People have gotten really creative. As I mentioned, I live here in the community as well, so I've driven around our community just to get different ideas. The homeowner can plant pretty much any Florida native tree or plant in the community once they move in. So you're going to see a lot of palm trees being added, the Florida lifestyle You'll see a lot of that on our different home sites. People have gotten creative with the pavers, with the curving around their landscaping the uplighting, so you can do all of the, all of that after you move into the

Christina: 10:18

home.

Jim: 10:18

Okay. And while we're talking about that, what about pools? Can you put pools in? Is there room for a pool?

Christina: 10:23

Yeah. Is

Jim: 10:24

that an option as we're building? Or is that a

Christina: 10:26

post build? All of our floor plans can pretty much fit a pool. Our largest single story. Is gonna fit a much smaller pool. It's definitely not going to be olympic size by any means But you can usually fit something on it. But yes people a lot of people in the neighborhood have added pools so far

Jim: 10:43

Okay, I think that's a big deal in florida Obviously when it's warm in the summer makes a nice easy jump in and you're good to go Yeah, so how does the developer support homeowners after the sale

Josh: 10:59

That's a good question. Can you clarify a little bit more?

Jim: 11:01

Sure. Looking at what kind of warranties are involved, what kind of follow up, obviously you guys are there at the office to deal with it. It's not a, Hey, you bought the house. Have a good time. A lot of, when they walk in and see you guys there and they're smiling and they know you and you know them. That goes a long way towards solving any issue or being able to point them in the right direction.

Josh: 11:21

It's a good question. And to your point, Jim, we don't once they sign for the closing, see you later, you're on your own and have a great day. We are still with them every step of the way through the purchasing process. And then afterwards they do get a warranty. One of the benefits of that, purchasing with new construction. With our warranty in Deer Horton, they get a 10 year warranty on a major structural the foundation structure of the home. The two year warranty they get is on all the systems in the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and then the one year is Any hardware or manufacturer defects or anything like that is all going to be included. The only thing that's not included in that one year is going to be more of the cosmetic items, which they would address before they closed on the home.

Jim: 12:05

Okay. And what kind of roof is are we putting in there? Obviously it's been a tough year as hurricanes go. But what kind of roofing style is in the, it comes with the home.

Christina: 12:15

You know this now, right?

Jim: 12:17

Yeah.

Josh: 12:17

It's going to be a hip roof. We do a three tab, a Florida rated shingle or an architectural shingle, depending on the series of the home.

Jim: 12:25

Okay. And then I'm going to step back a little bit and talk about vertical integration. When you talked about one stop shop, what do you have as far as, a mortgage company, title insurance, Can all of that be purchased at one stop?

Christina: 12:40

Yes. So we have D. H. I. M. which is our lending team with D. R. Horton. And then we also have D. H. I. Title, which is our title company.

Josh: 12:48

Okay.

Christina: 12:49

We also have D. R. Horton insurance. So you can get insurance through us. What else?

Josh: 12:55

Yeah, there's a lot of affiliates. Those are definitely the main ones. But everything can be integrated and there's benefit to using all of the other agencies under DR Horton as well, right? You think about the process and it's a lot of moving parts when you're purchasing a new home. So in order for all of that stuff to be integrated under one umbrella and one team, it makes the process go a lot more smooth. And there's also usually more discounts involved for the buyer for using our short term team and services.

Jim: 13:24

Yep. And those will vary depending on the month, time of year, what's left. We'll put a link in the show notes that anybody wants to reach out, they can reach out. So you can see, are we doing discounts on mortgage rates or buy downs or, whatever's going on at that particular time.

Josh: 13:38

Absolutely.

Jim: 13:40

So let's talk a little bit about the area. We're out there in parish. I know North river ranch is up the road. You've got mocks and wallow growing. What kind of institutions or shopping centers? What else is going on out in that area that's going to be there for that homeowner?

Josh: 13:55

Great questions. There is a lot. So what we usually tell and to your point, we are right in the heart of the North River District here. Actually the North River Ranch community abuts to Bella Lago. And engulfs our community as well, so they are a quick access to North River Ranch and everything that's coming in that in their development to the mocks and wallow corridor. You mentioned earlier. That's where a lot of the development is happening right now in in parish. And also along the 301 corridor in Parrish, there's more shopping centers. Creekside Commons is a new mall with lots of restaurants, retail, shopping for residents and consumers too. But more specifically in our area, Just all I mean within a five mile radius of Bella Lago, there's going to be four Publix grocery stores The brand new one was just open about six months ago right outside of the community It's a quick golf cart ride there

Jim: 14:50

right

Josh: 14:51

new Publix shopping center Neal communities They just announced there's going to be a pizza shop a breakfast cafe a bank a gym Yep, a gym, there's going to be spa, nail salon, and a lot of other things in that shopping center specifically there too. Also, directly south of our community, there's going to be a new hospital. There's going to be two hospitals on the Moxon Mala Corridor, an HCA and a BayCare hospital. Those have been announced for a little while now too, but you're going to see a new lagoon community that'll be open to the public as well. So that's about a five to 10 minute ride down Moxon Wallow road.

Christina: 15:27

And there's a bunch of restaurants and stuff coming around that area as well, right around that lagoon.

Jim: 15:32

I think one of the things that Manatee County is doing too, is getting, taking care of the roads now. Before the homes get built rather than the other way around with the construction of mocks and wallow and all those things, I think they're targeting at least some of those sections will be opening by the middle or second half of 25. So

Josh: 15:50

we see

Jim: 15:50

it every day right now

Josh: 15:52

through it. So for a homeowner that's looking to purchase in the future soon, they'll be past that, that patch right now. But some parts of Maxwell, yes. Expanding up to six lines even. And in there, we're gonna have that. You mentioned the county infrastructure. They're bringing new parks and new schools to the community to there's a new county park that's opening pretty soon. It's gonna have an amphitheater walking trails picnic areas, open play fields. So all that's coming. There's also gonna be in parish town center where they're gonna have some new shops and restaurants in a main street area with all of that as well.

Jim: 16:29

Yeah. And then you're really not far from Fort hammer where they're building the park hammer something which is going in and then Lake Manatee and the state park out there.

Christina: 16:41

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim: 16:42

Very central to everything. So are there any specific guidelines or restrictions for homeowners when we're talking about pets, dogs or rentals?

Christina: 16:51

With rentals, it has to be at least a six month rental. So no short term rentals, no Airbnbs, things like that. As far as dogs go or breed restrictions, we do not have any.

Jim: 17:02

Okay. And I think homeowners like that when there's going to be continuity in the neighborhood, not transients for. Yeah, a weekend or a month. So that's a good thing. I think. Yeah. What are we seeing in, in your community as far as the local real estate market? How is the pricing going? How is that being impacted? And what do you see as far as a trend in that neighborhood?

Josh: 17:26

I would say overall In this area and in our community, prices are trending up now. There's always going to be some dips, depending on market and rates right now. And and, this as well, Jim, typically as rates increase, price of homes will decrease and vice versa. So we're in a. I would say more of a middle steady market right now and trying to get through the holidays in our community, specifically, since we do have so many options, traffic really hasn't been an issue for us in here, we're still getting people through the door. There's always going to be buyers looking to move in.

Jim: 18:05

Yeah, absolutely. And he said, you said it was about 300 homes left to go or so. What do you, is that a, Two year, three year plan, roughly.

Christina: 18:14

About a two year plan or less. Can

Jim: 18:19

you share any stories or testimonials from current residents that talk about their positive experience or interactions that you've had with them?

Josh: 18:28

Oh I mean, we have our Google reviews page. There's some really great things in there. Christina and I do, the best job we can to help our buyers get to closing. And then after that, So we have had a lot of instances where, the homeowner is extremely happy. This is their first home or this is their last home and everything. And so we do get a lot of messages, a lot of emails. And after the home buyer closes, they take a survey and, directly with Christina and I, we have not scored anything less than. In our surveys than what was expected.

Jim: 19:04

Yeah, nice. And I was thinking about the, that customer that comes in, that as soon as they walk in, you guys are like, Hey, they've got that great experience and they come back and it's fun just to reminisce and share with them.

Christina: 19:16

It's definitely fun. It's also fun to see. Now that we've been here for about four years, now we're seeing. moms and dads purchased because they're right in here or vice versa or an aunt is moving down and coming to see us. So it's good to see families grow within our community as well. And everybody's referring everybody in here.

Jim: 19:35

Excellent. Do you guys have any last words for anybody listening about Bella Lago and coming out to see you guys?

Josh: 19:44

So for homebuyers and realtors here in our community, we like to have a lot of fun with DR Horton. We usually have a lot of events happening outside of the HOA for the residents and more so for our prospective homebuyers and for the realtors that work in DR Horton as well. So we love our realtors. We're always paying our realtors as well. We take care of that for the home buyers. So that's, a burden off of their chest too. But we do events where we, we'll give away bonus cards or we'll host your lunch for your office and your team. And then we'll even do events for our home buyers as well, where we sometimes give them, gifts and treats and welcome them into the community. So we'll always post those things to our social media pages and keep people in the loop with that.

Jim: 20:30

Fantastic. Guys, I want to thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. I hope everybody has been able to learn something about Bella Lago and come out and see Josh and Christina. Thank you.

Christina: 20:40

Thank you so much for having us.

Jim: 20:42

Thanks, Jim. We appreciate you.