Gene

Many of the long time residents are now empty nesters and entering retirement age. They are stepping down from their large homes but want to stay local, as they like living in Sandy Springs.  We visited one new community, City Walk Heights in Sandy Springs,  recently and the manager tells us many of the new owners are locals stepping down from their large homes but still want a quality home in Sandy Springs. We we quite impressed with the location, next to the new City Heights shopping area off Hammond Drive. The community has town homes and condos.  We looked at a town home with an elevator. The condo we viewed was one level. All had high 10 foot ceiling, hardwood floors, open kitchens and we very sound proof.

If you haven’t been to Del Webb at Lake Oconee lately, we have a lot of news to share with you. As the nation’s only Del Webb community with direct lake access, Del Webb at Lake Oconee’s amenities are underway, homeowners have moved in and the lifestyle is in full swing!Amenity Update

Construction began last month on the Club at Lake Oconee, the $9 million amenity complex. Scheduled to open this December, the Club at Lake Oconee includes a 21,000 square foot amenity center with an indoor pool, fitness center, ballroom, billiards room, arts-and-crafts room, tennis pavilion with six clay tennis courts, bocce ball, croquet court, pickle-ball courts, grandchildren’s park and a resort-style outdoor pool.Also, development is in full swing on the Lakeside Pavilion which is expected to be open in time for boating season this May! From the community docks, to grills and an outdoor fireplace, it will be here for your year-round use. The Lakeside Pavilion will also offer unique opportunities for onsite boat and RV storage.Lifestyle Update

The first homeowners have moved in and have already started enjoying the Del Webb lifestyle! JT, Del Webb at Lake Oconee’s full-time Lifestyle Director, has put together some amazing activities and has worked with the residents to start over 10 active clubs. Some of the most popular include the walking club, travel club and ladies club. Don’t miss out on any of the exciting activities and new friendships at Del Webb at Lake Oconee. It’s the perfect time to check out all that has happened since grand opening last summer.Call 706-454-5430 today and schedule an appointment to all see the progress for yourself! 

 They say in compiling “ lists could easily become dominated by Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Florida because of their rapid job growth and moderate living costs.”  Yes those are some prime states for traditional retirement.  Looking down the list, there are plenty of large cities.  But here are some of the smaller towns/cities they list. Harrisburg Landcastor PA, Leesburg and Winchester VA, Fayetteville Arkansas. Raleigh - Durham NC is really not a small city, but is listed (there are a lot of small towns around that area.). The lovely Sarasota Florida is listed. Louisville KY and Knoxville TN. Madison Wisconsin is listed as well as Medford Oregon.

On a recent 15 day cruise to Hawaii we had 4 days at sea going and 4 days at sea returning.  This gave us a lot of relax time to talk with wonderful people we met living in Active Adult Communities in California and Arizona. These were mostly Del Webb Communities. They could talk for hours about the positives. When we finally asked them about the negatives, it took them a long time to come up with anything.  That is a good sign!

1. Number one complain was the Homeowners Association.  The HOA were to restrictive, or too noisy, too petty. I know in any subdivision that has a HOA they came become like little dictatorships and really piss people off. When you add all the additional restrictions an age qualified community must have, then all the more to deal with. Also mentioned was neighbors reporting neighbors for violations. Even some taking to doing their own inspections vigilante style.

2. Several residents of the communities originally built by Del Webb in CA and AZ felt the new homes built in their communties after Del Webb sold out to Pulute were not up the the same standands of quality.

The following comments were related to us from a third part.

3. One 50ish couple from Atlanta didn’t like the Hilton Head Active Adult Community they bought in, so decide to sell and move back to Atlanta.  They feel the residents were too old for them. One article we read said: Be sure to find out the average age in the community. Older developments tend to have older residents, which, for many youth-seeking boomers, might just be a deal breaker.

4. A couple of people did not like The Villages in Central Florida. It may be been too large for them.

There is always the stories of people moving across the country to live in a new community but later deciding they wanted to move back to be close to their long time friends and relatives.  I don’t think that is a negative of the community itself.

Some people that have never lived in an Active Adult Community say they would not live in this type community because all the residents would be older and they like the diversity.  I don’t take that as a negative of the community, just one person’s view. The next person may think it is wonderful opportunity to meet new friends and socialize during the day with people who don’t have to be at work.

I would like to know if you have negatives about Active Adult Communities.  If so please click on the title to this post and reply with your comments.

What about the other Active Adult home builders, like Pulte Del Webb, Centex Corp., DR Horton Inc., Lennar Corp. and Toll Brothers Inc. I would think they would all be solid, but I though that about Levitt also.

On delightful couple was living in one of the original Del Webb communities in Phoenix.(Interestingly, another couple from CA said they were living in the original Del Webb community. I don’t know which one was correct.) 

Anyway we spend three and a half hours at the dinner table listening to them and asking questions about how they liked living in their Del Webb active adult community in Phoenix. They just loved it. They were very social able people and loved life. She took tap dancing classes and they both went on about all the activities they participated in at the community.  They told us about a new game like tennis but played in half the court with paddles. I wish I could remember the name of it but it started in Washington state and now it is very popular in their community in Arizona. They did not know that I work with Retirement Media Inc. They just knew we were 59 years old and looking at options. They could not have been more positive.

It is interesting to know that they really like living in their active adult community.  I have been to several model park and community openings this year and felt the excitement created by a new community, but wondered what it would be like when the community was settled in and the marketing people had moved on to another opening. It was not only this couple living in Phoenix but two other couples living in California adult communities, that were so positive about their experiences.

However these couples living in what they considered to be the original Del Webb communities before Pulte, all said there communities were better than the ones being build today. When I told them about the new Del Webb / Pulte communities we had visited, they were surprised at the amenities and the features of the new homes.  According to them the new homes being built in their existing communities did not measure up in quality to the original homes.

But almost all positives from the people we spoke with about their experiences living in over 55 active adult communities, mostly Del Webb communities. At the end I asked each one but what about the negatives of active adult communities. They had to think hard to even come up with anything, but next post, I will comment on the negatives of active adult communities. 

It was also nice to talk with such positive engaging people, some in to their eighties. We can only be so lucky to be doing as good at that age.  

Robert