Alegria Active Over 55 Community Bernalillo NM (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho: fit in, sale, renters)

[PAW418]

We do not have any specific info on the community, but it looked great.
We have just moved to New Mexico & have looked at the Alegria community. Anyone living there have any insight to the area? Planned increase in the dues? What the new owner, Pulte, has in mind? We like the Sandia Pueblo style model. Anyone selling one or know of anyone selling one in that community? PAW418

[rwjoyak]

Originally Posted by SJFUR

Also, Del Webb has taken over and doing $1mill + of improvements.

I'm curious; what are the $1M+ improvements? We're about to sign a contract to buy a new house in Alegria (sorry, not interested in the Carlsbad model) and are interested in any news/gossip about the coummunity.

[Santa Fe]

You might find this interesting.

Del Webb-The Dead Beat Dad of Builders? : thepinkflamingo.info

[SJFUR]

We would like to sell the Carlsbad home in the Alegria community. I believe there is a tax credit if COE by March or April. Sell direct and save commissions. Looking to list in January with Realtor.

[SJFUR]

Just saw your question. The best thing to do is call over there and get the list of improvements. A lot deals with the common area clubhouse and expansion, making better use, etc.

[tthomps1]

For SWROSE: My I ask your reasons for selling? My wife and I are strongly considering Alegria as a retirement community, and we'd like to find out as much as possible about it from folks who already live there. It seems perfectly positioned for our needs, but we're concerned about the sales staff's unwillingness to consider nearly all the minor changes in construction we ahve asked about. Thanks for your help.

[Poncho_NM]

Originally Posted by tthomps1

It seems perfectly positioned for our needs, but we're concerned about the sales staff's unwillingness to consider nearly all the minor changes in construction we ahve asked about.

Do not allow sales staff to dictate your life. Having worked in construction many years ago and having owned several homes which I remodeled. Sometimes minor changes can get expensive. The Salesperson does not know what the manufacturer makes, what they can deliver and what it is going to cost.

If it's that much of an issue, ask the builder directly, or buy elsewhere, or have a custom home built etc...

We have looked at some of the homes about 6 months ago. They appear to have some good deals on already completed homes. Very nice homes. We live a few miles South of the development, we were just looking. We wanted something with larger lots.


Rich

[tthomps1]

Poncho, Thanks for your note. We've got the resources, both pro-level DIY skills and financial, to do what we want in a new home. It just seems wasteful to rip out a brand-new installation in order to do what we want. For example, leave the master bath and kitchen roughed-in only. The guest bath qualifies the house for a CO, and a microwave qualifies the kitchen. I didn't even need them to reduce the price to reflect their saved material costs. "Nope, can't do that," was the response. <sigh>

[rwjoyak]

Originally Posted by tthomps1

My wife and I are strongly considering Alegria as a retirement community, and we'd like to find out as much as possible about it from folks who already live there. It seems perfectly positioned for our needs, but we're concerned about the sales staff's unwillingness to consider nearly all the minor changes in construction we ahve asked about. Thanks for your help.

Already commented on the issue of minor changes in the Bernallilo, We Made It thread. Also check out Bernalillo for another posting I previously did on Alegria.

Although we're not physically living at Alegria yet (our house is under construction) we spend a lot of time there. We started paying our HOA fee early so we could have access to everything and start making friends before we moved in. I work out just about every day at the clubhouse, and my wife and I go over to participate in lots of activities.

We're now about 2 months from move-in and have been participating in Alegria activities for the 5 months since we moved to the area (living in a rental 3 miles away while our home is being built). So far the community has been everything we hoped it would be - great people and good times. The Del Webb activities director (the same person that was doing this for Centex), who is the company rep you will have the most interaction with if you locate at Alegria, is also great.

Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

[rwjoyak]

Originally Posted by tthomps1

It just seems wasteful to rip out a brand-new installation in order to do what we want. For example, leave the master bath and kitchen roughed-in only.

I agree but Del Webb's view is that since they're not requiring much of a sales deposit they don't want to be left with a partially finishing home if someone decides not to close on their house.

What the construction super told us is that everything in the full house package has to be delivered to the job site but depending on what changes you want he will work with you as much as he can to make small ones that don't involve a lot of extra work. We've been able to make some minor changes that way; e.g, involving shelving, positioning of fixtures and electrical switches, a couple of small wall framing changes, etc.

You might also want to check out the new portal - Home Page - that Del Webb recently put up for Alegria. There's a section that's just for residents but the rest is open to anyone.