55+ Communities (Dover: motels, clubhouses, business)

[Gone-2-Beach]

Sorry Jeff. I thought those were two pieces of information that would be of use to you. I know about the project here in NY first hand as it's in my county. Didn't mean to sound harsh at all.

Please don't let my comments turn you off the board. There are terrific people here who provide good information in the spirit of helping others. Lots of good information.

Originally Posted by Jeff Borne

And yes, it was because of a tax benefit - but who cares and I am sure you benefited as well.

Benefited? I hold no financial stakes in K. Hov. or any other companies. (I don't even own stock.)

[rdlr]

Jeff,
Hovnanian has many blossoming subdivisions in Delaware: Stonewater Creek, Millsboro; Village at Herring Creek, Lewes; Nassau Grove, Lewes; Herring Creek on Rehoboth Bay, Lewes, and another one on Rt. 24 west of Millsboro (that name escapes me).Then there's Roesville, an age restricted community near Felton. They've been busy here. And, with Springtime here, it's nice to see activity in new subdivisions throughout Delaware. Today I saw more dump trucks hauling dirt and stone than I've seen in awhile.....a Good Sign!

[Jeff Borne]

Originally Posted by Charley

Sorry Jeff. I thought those were two pieces of information that would be of use to you. I know about the project here in NY first hand as it's in my county. Didn't mean to sound harsh at all.

Please don't let my comments turn you off the board. There are terrific people here who provide good information in the spirit of helping others. Lots of good information.



Benefited? I hold no financial stakes in K. Hov. or any other companies. (I don't even own stock.)

I was not referring to stake in K.Hov - I was referencing that everyone in general has benefited from some type of 'tax benefit'.

[Gone-2-Beach]

Originally Posted by Jeff Borne

I was not referring to stake in K.Hov - I was referencing that everyone in general has benefited from some type of 'tax benefit'.

Aaahh thanks for the clarification.

I'm pretty much a "standard deduction" kinda guy.

[SerenityWriter]

Good morning, all,

It looks like there was some conversation recently concerning KHovnanian as a builder and then a list of KHovnanian locations. That list included Roesville, which is being built by JSHovnanian, a separate and different company from KHovnanian. If I remember correctly, the companies are owned by cousins, so there is some family connection, but no financial connection.

We looked at homes from both builders in a couple of states and both seem to do a good job. We felt that while the houses were about equal between both builders, KHovnanian seemed to do a better job with developing the amenities and the neighborhood -- just our opinion based on looking at more than 50 communities in four years from many builders.

For complete transparency, we bought in a KHovnanian community in NJ, but it was the community, the location, the nearness to family, and not the builder, that sold us.

Someone asked about price reductions that had to be done by those of us who have already sold or are on the market right now. Three years ago, our house was on the market for $350K. We listed it in November of 2009 for $290K, had no activity, lowered to $275K, got a little activity, lowered to $260K and had good action and got a contract at that price. We are still waiting for the buyer's appraisal to come in. I guess if it comes in low, we will have to meet the appraised price. Closing is set for 3/26.

There are 11 homes for sale in my neighborhood (about 600 total homes). At $260K, we are third from the bottom on price. Half of the ones above us have an extra bedroom or a bigger garage, so a higher price is understandable. The other half above us in price are equal to our house or smaller or are foreclosures in terrible condition. All of those have been on the market for a long time.

Although we could have sold the house for more money a few years ago during the bubble, we would have paid more for the house we bought. In fact, the house we bought had a base price $90K higher three years ago. We might have made $80K or $90K more on the sale of our house, but we would have spent it on the new house. For us, it seems to have worked out to be a wash, as some like to say. We got less for the current house, but paid less for the new house, almost to the dollar.

If you are closing on the new house before moving out of the old house, check with your property insurance company. Our company did not want to insure the new home while no one was living in it. I had to move up the chain through two supervisory levels before I got someone who understood the situation. This is with a major, well-known company that is widely advertised. I never envisioned that being a problem. We finally got them to agree to cover the contents and the house for three months while we live in a hotel at the old location (wife is a teacher and has to work out her contract). We won over the insurer's reluctance when we proved to them it was a gated community with guards on the gate 24 hours a day.

Measure your windows carefully before buying blinds or shades if that is what you intend to do. I know that sounds basic, but most ready made shades are in 23, 34, 35, and 36 inch widths, which correspond to standard window sizes. The windows may be standard, but we found the openings to be less than standard. We have a number of 35 inch wide windows and some 23 inch wide windows in bay windows and a couple of 71 inch windows. The 35 inch openings actually range from 34 1/2 inches to 35 1/8 inches finished size. Apparently the drywallers were less than perfect. What we found was that the drywall mud got slightly thicker at the top of the window openings. While the bottom opening might actually be 35 inches wide, the top might be as little as 34 1/2 or 34 3/4. As we have found, the shade or blind will still fit in that space, but the header will not. Some of the off-the-shelf roman shades that we bought actually have headers that can be trimmed without affecting the shade itself, so that is what we will do. The cellular shades are on backorder, so we have not been able to see whether or not we can trim the header there.

Off-the-shelf shades and blinds are running us about $800 on sale at Penney's, which has a much wider selection than Lowes or Home Depot. The same size shades and blinds at those locations or any of the blind specialty companies, all cut exactly to fit in the actual openings, ran over $3,500. That's not high end blinds and shades from the custom companies, that's just standard shades and blinds. A $70 retail, $35 on sale, off-the-shelf roman shade we bought at Penneys that will need a little trimming of the header to make it fit, would have cost over $200 for the same exact shade custom cut. The markups are incredible.

Finally, please try if at all possible to put your car in the garage at the new house before making a decision to buy. We found that most new garages are actually smaller than what you might be used to in your current home. Our new house has a one-car garage and our Prius doesn't leave a lot of extra room in there. The doors open right to the walls and there is only five feet of room left at the end of the garage for storage. I haven't tried putting the Mercury Sable in there yet, but I'm not sure there would be any room left. The garages look large in the models, but when you actually get a car in there, you might be surprised.

Frank

[cant wait to retire]

Thanks SO much, Frank, all of your comments are very helpful. Especially appreciate you sharing your experience with your homeowners insurance. Who would've thought??????

[rdlr]

I'm surprised that, it's a surprise. Around here, vacant houses are uninsurable, OR, if they are, only some carriers will take the property. Even at that, there's a whole laundry list of items the carrier will not cover on a vacant house. For instance, we had a second home we sold last year that was vacant for a year, while it was on the market. A pipe broke during the winter, and water ruined the hardwood flooring, and that was not covered by the company. A storm door blew open, shattered the glass, and broke the hinges - not covered. Vandalism would not be covered, we were told. The only thing they would pay would be "a percentage" if the house burned to the ground, and that was all pending investigations, and proper smoke alarms in place. It was the most expensive insurance we ever bought.

[Mary2014]

All,

I just did a search in "Hilton Garden Inn" in DE and there appears to be a newly opened Hilton Garden Inn located in Dover. Anyone know approximately when it opened? How long it took to be built?

The Vineyards at Nassua Valley in Lewes, DE is supposed to have a Hilton Garden Inn built as part of the 82 acre development. Depending upon the economy, construction may be started sometime this year or it may be delayed. I was just wondering how "new" the hotel is in Dover and how long it actually took before it opened for business. Has anyone stayed at this hotel when visiting Champions Club? If so what is your impression of the quality of the hotel and cost to stay there?

Mary

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by Mary2014

All,
I just did a search in "Hilton Garden Inn" in DE and there appears to be a newly opened Hilton Garden Inn located in Dover. Anyone know approximately when it opened? How long it took to be built?
Mary

Mary, if you do a search of the Holiday Inn Express, then the Hilton Garden Inn in Dover, you will see it is the same place. That Holiday Inn Express is located in North Dover, and faces the MacDonalds. It's about a block past the Welcome To Dover brick wall, in the southbound lane. Or, when you come off Rte. 1 at the Scarborough Rd. Exit, you'll see it in the southbound lane behind the MacDonalds. It could have been renamed from the Holiday Inn, or upgraded, but that particular hotel was built probably 3-4 years ago or so.

BTW, there are plenty of other very nice hotels closer to CC.

[Hey Jude, na na na na]

Hi all! I just wanted to let you know that I received a call from Debbie at Champion's Club today. She wanted to let me know that they've rescheduled their Smart Buyer seminar. It will be held on Saturday, March 27th at 10:30am. For some of us who might wish to go, that means heading down on Friday evening. Mary2014, that makes your Hilton Garden/Dover query especially pertinent -- at least, for me. And rdlr, any chance you'd please share those 'other very nice hotels closer to CC'?

Charley, if I'm remembering correctly, you & your wife plan to go down to CC at the end of the month. Don't know whether this could be useful to you but it's something to consider if the timing is right and you think you might need to sell soon. For me, it's at least worth hearing more about. I'm not quite ready, but close and I want to be as prepared as I can be. (A reason I appreciate this forum so much!) As I understand it, we have to agree to a sales price so, if an offer winds up being for less than we'd hoped, we don't have to take it and we can either get our $ back or ask for an extension from McKee.

Serenity, I read your latest post and wondered just how prepared the best-prepared of us really is! Good stuff there and a reminder that there's SO much that goes into the prospect of moving. Thanks. (Can't wait... I feel for you after your final staging efforts and wish I were that far along. Not a prospect I relish.)

Elizamary, I was delighted to 'see' you again! Was afraid you'd more-or-less 'signed-off' the forum. In fact, I sent you a DM only to learn later that you didn't take DMs. Anyway, I hope you're well and will stay in touch.

Anyone wishing to attend the Smart Buyer seminar can call 877-698-5602. They're open daily from 10a-5p. Not sure right now whether I'll be able to go, but maybe I'll see you there.