We moved to Spring Arbor, a 55 plus community, built by McKee (same builder who put up Champions Club and Spring Mill), on Jan 1st. Our latest status report: There are about 110 occupied homes, 10 or so have deposits, and I'm not sure how many are under contract. They are constructing about 8-10 homes right now, some on order and I'm sure a couple are spec. We now have one home owner on the board since we exceeded 100 homes, the threshold for such things in this size of development with McKee.
McKee is an excellent builder. Mick is supt of everything and is based in PA. Jeff is construction supt and he is everybody's main contact here and at CC for issues related to construction. He is a gem. (Yes, we do have a management company but Jeff still solves the problems.) I defy you to find one homeowner here who isn't happy they moved here. We are very happy!
The largest contingent of residents here are from NJ. Then, it's a tossup with MD, NY, and even other parts of DE. Everybody seems to be here for two reasons: low cost of living and reasonable trips to see grandkids, etc. Nobody wants to move although many of us are going south for much of the winters.
A few recommendations if you are moving here: Don't buy upgrades you can buy later from independent contractors - ex, patios. Some things you should buy immediately like bathrooms, or plumbing for bathrooms, all wiring, etc. Make sure you get separate wiring for fans and fan lights with two switches and try to get fans in any upstairs areas, living room, sunroom, master bedroom. Get a central humidifier - best thing we added so far.
Expect to learn how to collaborate as a member of a community. You will not be an independent land owner with separate rights from the rest of us. Get used to it. People who play nice are treated well. Obnoxious others who try to tell the rest of us how to do things generally get talked to privately by a couple of our retired ceo's that live here. We have more talent in this development than I've seen in awhile and I've worked in universities for forty years. It's a trip! You have to know stuff before you pipe up because, for sure, somebody else in the room knows at least as much as you do.
As a result of our group's knowledge, skills and tenacity, we have in the past month forced McKee's hand on a number of things that they wanted to do and we disagreed with them in an articulate and forceful manner so they backed off, at least for now. We love McKee but they are like your brother-in-law - they aren't always right.
Anyhow, if you have questions about Spring Arbor, send them to me directly:
drnorman123@gmail.com. If I don't know the answer, I'll find somebody who does and I'll post the info here. I'm not a resident long enough to know much about DE so I'll stay out of that for awhile.