Whitney Lake - John's Island - Any thoughts? (Charleston, Folly Beach: sales, real estate)

[iluvcisle]

We are considering retiring to the Charleston area. Want to live in a mixed-age community; no interest in a "retirement community". Am looking for a condo/townhome situation, since we'll be at the Jersey shore in our home there 5 months a year or so. After surfing, I found Whitney Lake on Johns Island. Does anyone know anything, good or bad, about this development? Schools are not an issue for us. Also, how far to downtown Charleston and the beaches from this area? Thanks for any info you can give

[DJShymansky]

Whitney Lake is a gorgeous project out on John's Island. It's still in the early stages, so the area doesn't have that "finished" look yet, but the townhomes are very nicely done, and the overall design is very "Charleston".

It's about midway between Maybank and Main actually, so it's still under 15-20 minutes to Folly Beach or downtown Charleston.

[Jim3310]

I'm currently working with two people from the Jersey Shore in the same situation as you.
Two questions; one from them & one from me.
Where on the shore & how much do you want to spend?

[Careful]

[SIZE=3]Whitney Lake is nice on the surface but has suffered many construction problems in the first phase. I have been there over a year and am still resolving mine. I suspect I had 50 phone calls just to resolve one issue. Everything is family owned so no one in charge can be fired for bad service and they give you plenty of that. I have had many broken promises. I would make the sales agent put everything they say in writing and have it notarized. I found her forgetful and lacking customer service skills. They are focused on the new houses leaving the current homeowners feeling neglected. They have delayed the pool again to 2009, (but did not want to tell us) so the only amenities are a lake with no access, green plants, and walk ways. All this for a regime of almost $300.00 a month. They will not allow an HOA, so there is no way to address any issues. They appear to have become better at building the houses but you would need to ask the new owners those questions. On the good side is the housing prices have dropped tens of thousands of dollars since the slowdown in the economy. You are close to the beaches and downtown. The man in charge of fixing the problems is kind and helpful but is constrained by management in what he can do. They have hired a management company now, and they do respond to my phone calls and actions have been taken on my request while other they say are scheduled. I need more time to see what transpires. So basically buyer bewares and if they had someone in charge who cared about the owners it would be better.[/SIZE]

[hlw395]

The guy who just posted above me is always harassing people at the community about silly stuff and has personally waited outside of people's houses to try to join in a "fight" over the slightest things, including tracking down my 11 year old child, telling him to say "tell your dad to call me about the plants" because one of his plants had died!

The REAL scoop on Whitey Lake - I live and love it. I'd be willing to talk on the phone or in person with anyone interested in living here and I'm not even affiliated with the community.

As far as bad service goes, I haven't found that to be the case, and as far as being "family-owned" goes, there are only 2 family members out of 40-50 employees, so it's kinda ridiculous to say it's a family company.

The amenities thing can kind of be troubling but they have already started construction on those. That did bother me a lot at first but now that they have begun construction im cool with it because once the amenities go in the price I'll be able to re-sell it for will be higher.

Hope this helps.

[Jim3310]

It does help. Thanks for the other side.
jim

[SCBeaches]

Where on Johns Island is Whitney Lakes....down Brownswood? There are so many new townhomes, subdivisions, and condo's going in everywhere, I can't keep track. Lots of them on River Rd.!!

[Jim3310]

It's off Murraywood. That runs between Brownsville & River Rds.
There are some resales there that may be worth looking at, I haven't been there in about 6 months.

I'll take another look soon.
jim

[yoyomama]

Looks like the guy who had all the problems might have been right. John Lisi, President of Whitney Lake, LLC just sent a letter to the prospective homeowners dated June 9, 2008 saying:

"Over the past few months we have been attempting to work with trade vendors and ourlenders to reach a voluntary workout agreement. This agreement would have resulted in the removal of the liens that have been placed on unclosed units and would have allowed us to move forward to close on these units. Unfortunately, this effort has not come to fruition and as a result we cannot proceed in completing units at this time.
We are exploring the possibility of a Chapter 11 Reorganization. Through this course of action, we would be afforded a “breathing space” ‘to organize a plan for payment of debts owed, once the plan is approved, to hopefully continue with our business operations. While we are working through this situation and evaluating our options, we have decided to close our trailer and sales office at Whitney Lake."

[Beach Dad]

Whitney Lake developer John Lisi came to Charleston several years ago after a successful career "up North" developing real estate. That's when I met him. He put together a super plan to develop Whitney Lake with upscale but affordable parks and amenities like no other development in the area. If you look at the finished first phase anyone can see he does things right. Before construction, he and his family held community meetings for over a year to discuss concerns of Johns Island residents.
Presale of Phase 1 units sold out almost overnight. Construction activities were slow to start because of permits mostly. When construction activities got a bit off track he hired a Vice President of Construction, and things got moving pretty well... until a few months ago when the subprime thing stopped sales of ALL realestate in the country. John is a trustworthy, dedicated professional who has much of his life involved in making Whitney Lake a great place to live and work. If there is a way out of this quagmire, John surely will find it, I believe. Give him some time to work it out.
Beach Dad