Deland, Deltona, Debary, Florida – what is it with these “D’s”? I recently had someone from out of town indicate that they didn’t know the difference between the three “D’s”. So, today I’ll be helping you to understand the differences between Deland, Deltona, and Debary, here on the outskirts of Orlando.

Geography

First, let’s understand the geography of each of these cities. Let’s start down south around Orlando and head up I-4 for about 30 minutes. Upon crossing Lake Monroe at exit 108, on the east side is Deltona and on the west side is Debary. Deland is then about 10 miles due north of this point. So, it’s kind of like a little triangle with Orange City in the middle of these three “D”s. They’re all about 2Bary5 or 30 minutes west of New Smyrna and Daytona Beaches and about an hour and a half east southeast of Ocala.

Similarities

These three cities all have similar costs of housing, although towards the end of this post, I’ll be addressing the most affordable housing in this entire area. The overall cost of living is similar and it’s typically the same group of people that live in these cities. Those working in Orlando all commute to these cities on a regular basis and they’re all, for the most part, blue-collar cities. So we’ve addressed some of the similarities, but how are they different?

Deltona Difference

Well since we started with Deltona before, let’s continue with Deltona, the southeast of these three cities. It’s important to note that Deltona is one gigantic residential neighborhood of around 97,000 people and has the highest population density of these three “D’s”. It was built out in the 60’s by these two guys, the Mackle brothers, who built vacation homes for snowbirds, so there are a lot of these older homes. However, there are even more homes built in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and they’re still being built today.

There aren’t many homeowner’s associations here in Deltona. It’s pretty much just home after home along small winding streets without any huge variance in cost of these homes. So you won’t see too many million dollar homes, but you won’t see too many run down shacks, either. The new construction in Deltona is primarily just individual lots being bought up and built on by smallish investors, so there are quite a few options for new construction if you don’t want to be in an HOA.

Because of Deltona’s apparent lack of street planning, I still need a GPS to get around Deltona after all these years. Aside from a few grocery stores, a Walmart, and a Lowes, there isn’t much else in Deltona. As of the production of this video, the median sales price of a home in Deltona was right around $310,000, which is quite a bit less than its neighbors to the south heading back towards Orlando.

Before we get to the 2^nd “D”, if you have real estate needs anywhere here in Central Florida, simply pick up the phone and give us a call.

DeBary

Next, let’s look at Debary. Debary is west of Deltona on the other side of I-4. Debary DOESN’T have all those winding streets and Debary just has a different feel than Deltona. Some would say that Debary has a small town feel to it. The streets are generally planned out and run more like a typical city.

While Debary does have a bunch of older homes like Deltona, it’s the homeowner’s associations that differentiate Debary, many of which were built out in the 2000’s. The homeowner’s associations like the Debary Plantation, Riviera Bella, and now Rivington are entirely different than anything you’ll find over in Deltona. Debary is the smallest of the three “D’s”, too, having just around 23,000 residents.

Golfing is a bigger deal in Debary, too. Although there are golf courses in Deltona and Deland, Debary just seems to be more of a golf community, you can even drive a golf cart around Debary. The Debary Plantation and the Debary Golf and Country Club sort of set the tone for Debary. Towards the end of this video, I’ll include a link to another video that I did some time ago on the Debary Plantation. This, along with Glen Abbey and Rivington, where there’s a bunch of new construction going on, is why I believe the median sale price here in Debary is now up over $400,000, a good bit higher than Deltona and even Deland, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Aside from Golfing, there isn’t much to do in Debary. There is the St. John’s River, which flows from down in south Florida all the way up and out of Jacksonville, but that’s about it. Like Deltona, Debary is just a bedroom community with many commuters that head down to Orlando for work.

DeLand

Next, let’s look at the third “D”, Deland. Although I consider Deland to be the big brother of these three cities, Deland’s population is somewhere around 39,000 people, just over a third of the population of Deltona. Deland is quite different from Deltona and Debary in that it has a very nice downtown district, once voted as the best Mainstreet in America. Downtown Deland has all sorts of restaurants, bars, and shopping along with Stetson University. Deland is more than just a downtown district though. They’ve also got an airport, shopping, and much more commercial activity than Debary or Deltona.

The median sale price of a home in Deland is right around $355,000. Although some consider Deland to be nicer than Deltona and Debary due to the commercial presence and communities like Victoria Park and The Reserve at Victoria, Deland also has some lower income housing that Deltona and Debary just don’t have. Like Debary, Deland has several neighborhoods that are quite distinguishable from other areas, and it seems like there’s always a new construction community being built. I’d be remiss if I didn’t address Deland’s historical homes, which is a big differentiator between Deland and Deltona and Debary. Although Debary does have a small selection of historical homes, Deland has quite a few, most of which are near the downtown area. I’m unaware of any historical type homes in Deltona at all.

Another difference between Deland and Debary and Deltona is that Deland extends out into Lake County. As such, if you’re looking for a little land between you and your neighbor, or if you’re interested in manufactured housing, which is sometimes more affordable, the Lake County side of Deland could be a good option.

Of course, what I’ve mentioned about Deltona, Debary, and Deland is just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got numerous videos on our YouTube channel with all sorts of details on these three “D”s, so check them out.

Published on December 19. 2023 / no comments.