55+ Communities

[cant wait to retire]

Hi...we're back from our first "exploration" trip of DE. Like Little Egplant (great descriptions of the communties!) we spent quite a bit of time at Champion's Club and Noble's Pond. My husband, who is not nealy as "sold" on a 55+ community, did not like Noble's Pond at all. He has a lot of engineering and construction experience and totally tore apart the construction at Noble's Pond (I thought the models were beautifully decorated). I'm a Realtor w/25 years of experience but NO experience in factory manufactured homes. My husband's other big concern at Noble's Pond (in addition to what he considered to be very shoddy construction) was the size of the community building. He felt that the heating and cooling costs of that huge building would become a big expense on the HOA in the future. Noble's Pond was having a big open house weekend and some of the current residents were going to hold their houses open Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I really wanted to go inside homes that folks already live in and talk with the homeowners but we came on home this AM as we'd already been gone for 10 days. Our first 24 hours in DE were very discouraging to me! North Dover seemed very old and run down and very strip mall-ish. I'm going to have to check on crime stats because we drove through some pretty tough looking neighborhoods in Dover. The terrain of the area is SOooooo flat (and I'm from Kansas so I know flat topo!) and I'm worried that the summers will be really hot. I'd hoped to retire in a cooler climate (like PA). However when we got to Champion's Club I got really excited! They have a new series of smaller, less expensive homes (the Americana series). They don't have any models of these homes yet but they do have one spec home of the Charleston model and Debbie, our very helpful sales rep., made an appt. for us to see a Savannah model on Friday. However, I am most interested in their Austin model and they don't have any up yet but several are under contract. So we'll got back over when they have an Austin up and going. We loved the clubhouse and met several of the very nice residents. One couple invited us in to see their house and we stayed two hours. They do have a basement (yes, they are costly and might put us over our budget too) but my husband fell in love with a basement because he's going to move with too much of his junk collection! We're "running the numbers" of out retirement income and trying to estimate expenses. Property taxes are practically non-existent (not over $1,000/year) in DE; unbelievable for us MD homeowners. Every person that my husband met at Champions he's ask why they moved to DE and every single person responded "the taxes." We stayed at the Dover AFB FamCamp in our 5th wheel camper and it was only $15/night. The FamCamp is right on the runway. Amazing even being that close that after three days we were barely bothered by the jet noise. My husband used to be a pilot so he was loving watching the planes take off and land. We went through the Dover AFB Exchange and Commissary and realize that we have been missing out on a big veterans' benefit by not shopping at the Andrews AFB commissary (it's about a 45 min. drive and we've just never bothered to go there very often). We were also thrilled to find the local congregation of our Church only 10 min. from Champions! This is very important to us as we are often back and forth to the Church several times a week and we currently are 30 minutes away from our Church. And Dover AFB is only about 5 min. from Champions so we could easily buy all our food and necessities at the AFB. I have a former client who built a house in Harrington, DE last year and we went down to see it (it's a fairly large house in a regular neighborhood; not age restricted). I found Harrington to be extremely depressing! We also drove through several factory manufactured communities in the Dover area and my husband was most obnoxious in his attempts to get away from them almost immediately after arriving! We went through the models at Barclay Farm and it was like stepping back into the 80's. The models were very dated and the formaldahyde (sp?) notices posted in the homes were not very inviting. We own a RV so we're obviously not concerned about formaldehyde (sp?) but my husband said they smelled and looked like trailers and that we could just buy a park model for half the price and put it in a beautiful location. He was crabby most of the three days but did like the Champion's Club almost as much as I did. One of the guys told him you can play at the golf course for $28 for 18 holes and that includes a golf cart. Our original plan was to move in 2012 (when I'm 63; my husband is already retired) but I got so excited about Champions I'm trying to figure out if we can afford to move in the spring of 2011 instead of 2012. Like Little Eggplant said....."lots to think about" and so much stuff to sell and get rid of before we can move! I'm a very organized, goal-directed person who has moved dozens of times but I'm overwhelmed with sizing down from 3000 sq. ft (w/two - 2-car garages plus 2 sheds) into 1300 sq. ft. with a 1 1 /2 car garage and maybe no basement! Lots and lots of yard sales are in my future I'm afraid! We quickly realized that DE is MUCH less expensive than PA but not nearly as beautiful!

[cant wait to retire]

Hi SerenityWriter - do you live in Southern Maryland? We live in Mechanicsville.

[Charley]

Originally Posted by cant wait to retire

Hi...we're back from our first "exploration" trip of DE.

An excellent report. Thank you so much for the great detail.

Once again, it appears that Champions Club is more "in play" right now than many of the others. If you return for more exploration, I'd love to hear your opinions on Roesville, particularly as it compares to Champions Club. Those two ... and Southern Meadows (still hanging in there) seem to be the three in which my wife and I are most interested.

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by cant wait to retire

ed! We quickly realized that DE is MUCH less expensive than PA but not nearly as beautiful!

Can't wait...........thanks for the great report. YOu are so right........taxes is the main reason. We were from Pa and I do agree DE is not a beautiful as DE but more affordable for retire folks.
Once you get here.........you will love it though. We are not far from the beaches and always find plenty to do.

[Charley]

Originally Posted by elizamary

Can't wait...........thanks for the great report. YOu are so right........taxes is the main reason. We were from Pa and I do agree DE is not a beautiful as DE but more affordable for retire folks.
Once you get here.........you will love it though. We are not far from the beaches and always find plenty to do.

Taxes is a major consideration for me. My county was just determined to be the fifth highest taxed county in the country! If we were to choose Roesville, for example, we'd be going from paying FIVE digits in annual taxes, to THREE. That's a major change!

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by Charley

Taxes is a major consideration for me. My county was just determined to be the fifth highest taxed county in the country! If we were to choose Roesville, for example, we'd be going from paying FIVE digits in annual taxes, to THREE. That's a major change!

Oh I know Charley. coming from New York this is a piece of cake.
I think the cost of living is awful in New York and New Jersey. Jersey may be worst than New York.
Beautiful state New york is though. Upstate NY is breath taking. We just come back over the Tappen Zee Bridge. What a view!!!

[Charley]

Originally Posted by elizamary

Upstate NY is breath taking. We just come back over the Tappen Zee Bridge. What a view!!!

Beautiful view, but awful bridge. They started talking in 1995 about it having to be replaced. It's now 2009 and they are STILL talking. In the meantime, the bridge is costing millions a year to maintain and construction/repair is now a daily event tying up thousands of commuters every day.

I live about ten miles from the bridge. Next time you're passing through ...

... and now, back to our 55+ community conversations. (Gotta stay on topic, you know.)

When my wife and I visit in December, we're making our list of the things to see and we will have to take another look at Champions Club. It does seem to be the one getting the best reviews right now. I wonder if that would be true if Roesville had their clubhouse and pool???

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by Charley

Beautiful view, but awful bridge. They started talking in 1995 about it having to be replaced. It's now 2009 and they are STILL talking. In the meantime, the bridge is costing millions a year to maintain and construction/repair is now a daily event tying up thousands of commuters every day.

I live about ten miles from the bridge. Next time you're passing through ...

... and now, back to our 55+ community conversations. (Gotta stay on topic, you know.)

When my wife and I visit in December, we're making our list of the things to see and we will have to take another look at Champions Club. It does seem to be the one getting the best reviews right now. I wonder if that would be true if Roesville had their clubhouse and pool???

Everytime we go up.......there is always constuction along 87/287. Does it ever stop?
10 mins huh. I will remember that.
Yep......topic

Got to check out all communities again and again. Never know what you may have missed and they do look different when you visit again.
I know my opinion changed after visiting the same communities over and over.
The problem with us as I said before.....I wanted to retire. So to be able to retire and live the way we wanted.......money was a big factor.
But we wanted it all........Nice new home with 2 car garage, pool, gym and activities.
We got exactly what we wanted and couldn't be happier.
And I wish the same for you and all other posters looking to retire to DE.
Believe me.........you won't be sorry.
So don't leave any stone unturned.......check and re check then follow you heart.

[susieC]

Hey guys, just got back from my 6th trip to DE...I posted an update on the List of other 55 communities thread if you're interested. Just love this site!!!!

[Charley]

Susie - great report.

The information being posted here about 55+ communities in Delaware is really quite a treasure to those still "looking around". Eastridge sounds interesting, but having a pool is pretty important to my wife and I. I hope we end up using it as much as we desire having it!