Planned Communities in Sussex County (Lewes, Milton: lease, HOA, houses)

[eabd]

We are researching retiring in Sussex County from the Lower Hudson Valley. We like the ambience of Milton (looking at The Vines, Woodridge, Heritage Creek and Woodfield Preserve). We are also considering Batson Creek, Millville by the Sea, Pelican Point, Lighthouse Lakes and Lighthouse Crossing. Any info or advice is welcomed!

[NYers2DE]

Hi! My husband and I are also from the Hudson Valley. We moved to Lewes (West of Route 1) two years ago and love it here! Khov was our builder and for the most part we have no complaints. Milton is a wonderful area especially if you will be traveling back to NYC. The other locations are great too, but a bit further south and traffic will be an issue in the summer.

[lyndyb]

We currently live in Maryland and have spent the past 5 years doing leisurely window shopping of homes and communities to have a home built for our retirement. There are a lot of builders and many communities offering different amenities to choose from. Since what we're all looking for is such an individual thing, I would recommend exploring, talking to as many builders and looking at as many communities as you can, as that may help you formulate what it is you really want unless you already know. Sometimes the price of the houses or the amenities can be a factor and that is also an individual thing.


We have friends who live in Milton and others who live in Lewes. They're in very different communities - with one having no amenities and the other in an amenity-rich community - and both are very happy. So it would probably be helpful for those who have knowledge of the area to provide information or guidance if you specified what you're looking for or hoping to find - or what you wish to avoid. If you have specific things you're looking to find out, it might be best to ask, as I think that might make it easier for people to answer or help you. The great part is that there are so many great choices in Sussex County.

[eabd]

Thanks for the posts. We are going down to visit the above mentioned communities this week. We have a realtor friend who will be along for most of the visits. What I hope to pick up from posters are the things that aren't obvious on a one-time visit: the "personality" of a community, how limiting the HOA restrictions may be, quality of construction,... We will continue to do our homework, but this is hopefully another way to be more informed.

[NYers2DE]

Have fun with your search! Working with a realtor is a smart move. Our local realtor was a big help steering us away from the planned communities with a high percentage of part-timers/renters who come here to party hard.

[nuts2uiam]

I honestly can't help you with any of those communities, but I can suggest you search in the Delaware thread for each of the communities you named. I recall quite a few are in Heritage. Also, ask about the reserve fund (you may not get an answer). There are pitfalls in brand new communities and in older ones too. We looked at Red Mill Pond in our first look and see and by the time we were ready to buy the builder had pulled up stakes. Since then, another builder stepped up and the community is ok now but it was a tough time for a while.

[lyndyb]

A good realtor that is very familiar with the area should be able to guide you to those developments that best match what you're looking for. Of those developments you list, I'm familiar with only two of them - Pelican Point and Batson Creek. When we looked, both Ryan and Schell were in Pelican Point (we considered a lease back arrangement with Schell with their Bella model), but I believe Schell is no longer selling there. It is an attractive community, but didn't offer basements, which we wanted. I recall Batson Creek being an NV Homes development further toward Maryland and it didn't offer basements either and none of the floor plans offered what we were looking for.


I'm not familiar with Vines unless you mean The Vines of Sandhill. I believe several builders are in that development, but it was a little too far tucked away for us.


Preferences are so individual that it's tough to advise someone else without knowing what it is they're looking for - what they want and don't want in a development or floor plan.


One of the things that we did was to look at the websites of the various builders in advance of visiting their communities. We like to be able to see a house in model home form - or at least in the construction phase. We can identify what we MIGHT like on paper from a floor plan, but really need to walk it to know. Many builders will have one or two models in each development. If we saw a floor plan that we liked, we'd try to find the development the builder had a model home of that floor plan. If we really liked it, we could then look at the communities where they built it to see if any were a good fit from a location, amenity, etc. standpoint for us.


There are a wealth of builders and communities to choose from. Your realtor probably has some he/she recommends based on his/her knowledge of them and the area. Schell Brothers, Insight, Ryan, NV Homes, Capstone Homes, Fernmoor, K Hovnanian, Fernmoor and Lennar are just some of them. It's like anything else, finding the right combination of builder, floor plan, location, amenities/price, cost can be a challenge for some or you may be lucky and have a love at first sight experience.


Best of luck to you!!

[eabd]

Great point about the part-time residents. I wouldn't have thought about that, thanks

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by eabd

Great point about the part-time residents. I wouldn't have thought about that, thanks

The beach areas are now inundated with part time residents! ....NY, NJ, MD, PA, VA......just take note of all the out-of-state license plates, or check out Eastern Sussex County tax rolls.....thousands of properties deeded to out-of-staters.

Back in the 40's, 50's, 60's, we made trips down there from Kent County, built a bonfire along the water at Indian River, cooked breakfast, slept in a rag-tag tent, and stayed 2-3 days.....no admission, no crowds, just having fun fishing and enjoying the ocean. Such a stark difference from today's over-building on any scrap piece of land, crowds, traffic snarls, wild drivers, and money grabbers. We haven't been down there for "fun" for over 35 years, and just stay in Kent County. To each his own.

[i am layla]

part timers are not as much of a problem as weekly renters. check the developments you are interested in to determine if you will be living next to a new party every week.