Brand-new homes on one-acre lots, a town first drawn on a map in 1926, and neighborhoods that have been growing since the 1980s. Here's where people live in DeLand, and the story behind each place.
When each neighborhood began
When someone asks me where they should live in DeLand, I usually answer with a question: what does a good day look like for you? Some people want land and quiet. Some want to walk to the train. Some want a clubhouse and neighbors their own age.
DeLand has all of that. And almost every neighborhood here started out as something else first: a cattle ranch, a family's land, farm-zoned woods, a Spanish land grant. Here's what each one is, where it came from, and how to see what's for sale there right now.
Kelly Niles, REALTOR®
Brand-new homes, and you're the first owner. Each of these has its own page and a short video if you'd like the whole story.
Every homesite here is a full acre, under old oaks, on land that used to be the Heebner family's ranch. Cattle, fern and orange groves used to be here. Now Gallery Homes of DeLand is building just 29 homes on a quiet loop road.
Starting price from the builder's price sheet dated March 30, 2026. Prices change, so ask me for today's numbers.
Back in 1926, someone drew a whole little town on a map right beside DeLand's train depot. It never got built. Now it's finally happening, and it's close enough to walk to the SunRail station.
Move-in ready prices from the Starlight Homes website, checked October 5, 2026. They change often, so ask me for today's numbers.
Lakewood Park was built brand new between 2021 and 2024, and the builder's sold out now, so you'll find it with the established neighborhoods below. I'm adding more of DeLand's new communities here as I cover each one. And with every one, I'll give you more than stats and prices. I'll tell you the real story of the place you'd be calling home.
These are the neighborhoods people ask me about most. Each one has its own story, and you're one click from seeing what's for sale in any of them.
Most people know the Victorias are all one big community. Fewer know whose land it was. Before Victoria Park, this was Stewart family land, and in 1997 the Orlando Sentinel called the area "a nearly vacant corridor."
On July 5, 2000, the DeLand City Commission approved the first 517 homes. Thirteen days later, the Stewart family's deeds to the developer were recorded. More than a third of the land was set aside for sandhill cranes, scrub jays, gopher tortoises and wetlands, and there are preserve nature trails along the Beltway today. Victoria Hills Golf Club sits right next door.
Trails West is one of DeLand's older planned neighborhoods. The Ormond Beach company behind The Trails there laid it out in nine plats between 1980 and 1987.
Here's the part most people don't know. Some of it sits on an old Spanish land grant. The county still records those parcels as the "Domingo Reyes Grant," and in 2017 a state historical marker for it was approved.
Glenwood is older than most of DeLand. It was founded in 1872 as Spring Garden, and a lumber mill gave most of the town its work. In 1879, H. E. Hamlin found a seedling in his Glenwood orange grove. It became the Hamlin orange, for years the most widely grown orange in Florida. Grand Avenue still runs through under the live oaks, and so does the Spring-to-Spring Trail.
Glenwood Springs is a newer neighborhood with a similar name, at the corner of Greens Dairy Road and North Spring Garden Avenue. It was laid out in 2005 and 2007, has a park and pool by a pond with a fountain, and most of its homes were built by Gallery Homes, the same builder as Heebner Acres.
Until 2004, these 107 acres were zoned for farming. That fall, DeLand rezoned the land for homes, and the county's 2005 aerial photo still shows it as thick woods. The homes came in three phases, laid out between 2006 and 2010.
Even the name is horse country, and when you drive through, you'll see the streets are named for horse racing: Churchill Downs, Preakness, Breeders Cup, Homestretch. Across Blue Lake Avenue, the older Blue Lake Hills neighborhood has racing names too, like Man O War and War Admiral.
Lakewood Park is one of DeLand's newest neighborhoods, and it's already sold out. In 2018 this was scrub woods and a few small lakes. Dream Finders Homes built 433 homesites in three phases, wrapped around those same lakes, with ponds, wetland preserve and nature trails. The streets are named for national parks and natural places, like Grand Teton and Bear Lake.
One thing worth knowing: Lakewood Park has a CDD, a special district the City of DeLand created in 2020 to pay for the roads, ponds and common areas through a yearly assessment on each home.
Cross Creek is named for a book. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote Cross Creek in 1942, about her life in a tiny settlement in Alachua County, and her novel The Yearling won her the Pulitzer Prize. When this neighborhood was built in the 1990s, its streets were named for her: Marjorie Rawlings Drive and Kinnan Trail.
The main entrance is at Marjorie Rawlings Drive and Plymouth Avenue. On October 5, 2026, there wasn't a single Cross Creek home listed for sale, so if you'd love to live here, tell me and I'll keep watch for one.
DeLand's two big 55+ communities are both Kolter communities with "Cresswind" in the name, so they're easy to mix up. They're in different parts of town.
This is the gated 55+ neighborhood inside Victoria Park. Homes went up over about twenty years, first by Arvida, then Shea Homes, and most recently Kolter. The Club at Victoria Gardens is a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse with a ballroom, billiards, a cafe and a fitness center, and there's tennis, pickleball, bocce, trails and dozens of clubs.
Kolter's newer 55+ community sits on Lake Winnemissett, about five miles from downtown DeLand. It's a separate community from Victoria Gardens. They've been building since 2023, with about 600 homes planned in five phases, and there's a clubhouse, a fitness center, pickleball and tennis, a pool and spa, and walking trails.
Looking at a 55+ manufactured-home community instead? There are some around DeLand too, and I'd be happy to walk you through those.
It's one of the most-asked questions about buying new, and it's a fair one.
You don't have to have one. But here's the thing to know. The friendly sales agent in the model home works for the builder. Their job is to get the builder a good sale. My job is to look out for you.
And one tip before you go: many builders want your agent with you, or registered, on your very first visit. If you've already walked into a model on your own, call me anyway and I'll find out where you stand.
If you're wondering about any of these, you're not alone. Here's what I'd tell you over coffee.
Honestly, it depends on what you want your days to look like. If you want land and quiet, Heebner Acres has a full acre on every homesite. If you want to walk to the SunRail station, look at Pelham Square. If you'd like a big master-planned community with a golf club next door and nature trails, that's Victoria Park. For the 55+ crowd, there's Cresswind at Victoria Gardens and Cresswind DeLand. And if you'd rather have mature trees and a neighborhood that's been settled for decades, Trails West, Glenwood and Cross Creek are worth a look. Tell me what matters most to you and I'd be happy to show you a few that fit.
Most of the neighborhoods on this page have an HOA, and some, like Lakewood Park, also have a CDD with its own yearly assessment. Dues are different in every community and they change, so I won't guess at a number here. Ask me about the one you like and I'll get you the current numbers in writing, long before you make an offer.
In a lot of new construction sales, the builder pays the buyer's agent, so having me on your side often doesn't cost you anything extra. Every builder handles it a little differently, though. Since August 2024, you and I sign a simple written agreement before we start touring, so you'll know exactly how I'm paid before we ever walk into a model.
Sometimes. Builders often like to keep their base price where it is, but there can be room in other places, like help with closing costs, a better rate through their lender, or upgrades. Homes that are already built and ready to move into usually have the most room. It changes community to community and month to month, so call or text me and I'll find out what a builder is offering right now.
Yes. Cresswind at Victoria Gardens, the 55+ neighborhood inside Victoria Park, is a private, gated community, with a live attendant at the front gate during extended weekday hours and a virtual guard system the rest of the time. If you're looking for a gate but you're not 55 yet, ask me and I'll tell you what's available.
Call or text me. Tell me what a good day looks like for you, and I'd be happy to show you a few places in DeLand that fit, new or established.
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