Many, most homes today are designed with front-entry garages. And I personally hate them! They detract from the beauty of a home, dominating the visual scene.

More than just an architectural eyesore, front-entry garages create the opportunity for all sorts of unpleasant views. How often have you looked into an open garage to see car repairs in progress, unpacked moving boxes stacked to the rafters, piles of trash, garbage cans, messy do-it-yourself projects in process, or bags of dog food and piles of old clothes scattered about. Hardly appealing to the neighbors.

We all live with a certain degree of clutter and messiness.  But with the right garage orientation you can dramatically limit its public exposure!

Valenica at Abacoa front elevation without garage views!

Homes have private alleys with rear-entry garages!

It’s called the Grand Vizcaya.

It’s the largest model of all the homes sold in Valencia at Abacoa. Designed by Frankel Paone, it’s far more than grand. It’s grandeur with a capital EUR! European in style. Palatial in scope. And this one has a marvelous address.

Because 118 Valencia resides on a large corner lot with no home behind, and just a wide green royal palm lined median in front.

5 Bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 3 car garage & unending space!

As if this 4483 square foot home isn’t spacious enough, cathedral and recessed ceilings exponentially increase that feeling of light and air. As does the openness of kitchen leading onto family room leading out to patio & glorious freeform pool … all enclosed with a high privacy wall.

There are 4 bedrooms, three with adjacent baths, a large balcony and new wood floors upstairs. A massive living room (with a REAL wood-burning fireplace and huge window), formal dining room, breakfast nook/kitchen/family room downstairs … along with a master suite that leads directly to the pool through French doors, for a French dip.

As with most Italian-inspired palazzos, living is art.

Priced at $1,295,000, this home offers every feature you seek in an estate home… beginning with its stately exterior. And there’s more … far more. But we’re not giving anything else away. This one needs to be seen, needs to be felt, to be truly appreciated.

 

Clearly if John had Donne his homework, and visited this charming Divosta Abacoa neighborhood rimmed by lush green golf courses and lazy little lakes, he would have known just how beautiful that concept can be.

In The Island, well-established trees line the streets. Three, four and five bedroom homes are amply endowed with big welcoming front porches and portachaches. Houses on the outside back up to rather spectacular views of the golf course & lakes.  And even though the street names ring of Barbados and Bermuda…the architecture is far more Cape Cod than Caribbean. But don’t worry.  The net effect is pure charm.

It’s a family environment. Contiguous to the best of Abacoa, but slightly removed as its name implies. Quiet, lush and lovely. And the prices are surprising for all Divosta built in to these delightful homes. Finished in 2001 or thereabouts, still fresh enough to feel new, and incredibly well kept up…these houses will hold more than their value for many years to come. They’ll hold people who know you can live happily in an island of tranquility and still feel comfortably connected