Hi Folks,
My name is Jonalyn and I live in southeast Michigan, land of unsold houses. haha
I just happened to find this forum today and am pleased as punch. We had already made the decision to move to Summer Meadows as soon as we sell. (We dumped our plan to move to Florida after all the hurricanes drove up home insurance premiums through the roof.) Like you, Eliza, we found it by accident last May when we visited our son and family who live in a sub just down the road from you. I can't remember the name, but it's a couple miles on the left going toward Felton.
I also want to thank Charlie for all the great research he has posted! It's been invaluable and has also cemented our desires to move to SM.
The only problem is that since Eliza is telling everybody how great it is, there won't be any lots left when we finally get our house sold. Hahahaha...just kidding.
Somebody mentioned the $415 monthly rent/activity fee. Is that still the fee for the "preferred" lots (i.e., the ones along the edge with no back neighbors and the ones by the pond)? I assume the fee for the other lots is still $380 something, right?
Eliza, is the new Acacia model up and ready to look at? We are driving down to visit our kids in late October and plan to do another look/see. The Acacia is what we want to buy. Last July when we stopped in to see how things were going, we were able to see a new Acacia (already sold) being set up over by the pond. It was gorgeous inside, laminate floors, fireplace, crown molding, etc.
While we were there in July we asked Debbie about putting some $$ down to hold a lot until we could build. Unfortunately the rule is first to find the lot, put the $5K for deposit, then immediately start the process of ordering the home. Unfortunately we are not able to have two houses right now.
We know about NY taxes. Michigan isn't quite as bad, but they are up there. We used to live in Massena (up on the St. Lawrence), and even in farm/dairy country up there, taxes were high. We are looking forward to saving money in Delaware.
Hubby is retired AF and we love the idea of being so close to Dover AFB. He's also retired GM employee (see me for a discount on a new you-know-what LOL). We spend winters in Florida doing volunteer work, but one of these days we won't be traveling as much in the motorhome. So..living near one of our kids (the other lives in Binghamton, NY) sounds a whole lot better than living out in Michigan by ourselves.
I am looking forward to reading more posts in this forum. You all sound like a very friendly bunch. Maybe we'll be neighbors some day.
BTW, Eliza, has Marta come up with some fun activities yet? When you see her, tell her I remember how gorgeous her house is. Say hi to Miss Debbie, too, and that we'll drop in late next month.
Jonalyn from Michigan