Disney Employees Start Relocation From California to Florida; Entertainment Company Moves to ‘Business-Friendly Climate’ State
Months after the entertainment company Walt Disney announced that they would be moving from California to Florida, some of their 2,000 employees were already eyeing up the housing market close to Orlando.
Disney Employees Move to Florida
Based on the report, the chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Josh D'Amaro, announced in July that it would move an estimated 2,000 employees from California to Florida because of its business-friendly climate. D'Amaro added that the expansion in the state would make more sense because of the lacking of state income tax, among other business issues.
According to Fox Business, Real Estate owner Deanna Armel shared with WKMG that the Disney employees were looking at homes and already trickling in the area. Armel said that she's working with a Disney relocation right now for those eyeing to buy properties in the Winter Garden area.
Real Estate Prices In Florida Goes Up
The jobs would be located at a new Disney campus being built in Lake Nona, which is a community in the city of Orlando. The move was set to take place for more than 18 months, starting in July.
Moreover, Armel said that Central Florida is currently seeing historic lows of available houses for sale, making the moves more difficult. Based on the latest housing report by the Orlando Regional Realtor's Association, the housing market in the city of Orlando in the month of September dropped by 39% compared to last year.
The Real Estate owner Armel added that it was not only the 2,000 employees who would be moving but also the 2,000 employees with their families and extended families. She added that she also kind of panicked because they did not have enough inventory.
Armel said that more buyers coming in meant it was more challenging to win bids for buyers. That is why they were trying to help.
Meanwhile, based on the report of WKMG, the median price of a Florida home was at $318,000, far below that of California's $951,000.
Furthermore, another area realtor, Sean Faulk of Forever Magic Realty, said that he was also working with at least 20 other Disney employees looking to move.
Faulk said that Disney employees were already contacting him. Even as crazy as the housing market is in the state, the realtor said that the employees were still willing to put their money because it was still a lot less expensive than their housing market in California.
Faulk added that the price did change the scale of things. He said that there were a lot of people from California, even if they do not pay the property off, there was so much equity in their home that they could pay cash for a house in Florida which made their market even more competitive and drove the prices up.
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Written by: Jess Smith
WATCH: California Disney workers begin moving to Lake Nona -WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando