55+ Communities (Dover, Middletown: high income, water bill, hydrant)

[Mary2014]

Charlie,
I am taking you up on your advise to ask questions. First one is what is the difference between quick reply and post reply on this forum? Is there a way to reply to a specific post or is it sort of a daisy chain of your post ending up at the bottom of the list? If the latter, I want to be sure to identify if I am responding to a specific individual in my posts.

I do have a question for elizamary(since she lives in DE) with reference to earlier posts about the cost of water in DE. In my PA location we presently get a monthly public water bill for water which includes a monthly $15 customer charge for water access and about $7 per thousand gallons of water used each month. Since I am very careful about water usage (1,000 to ,1500 gallons per month) my monthly water cost runs about $23. Elizamary, the next time your water bill comes in would you be kind enough to compare the access rate per month and the usage rate per 1,000 gallons to give us an idea of the water costs in DE?

Also, because my public water and sewer rates are from two different companies I get a seperate bill quarterly for public sewer in the amount of $110 ( or about $37 per month) regardless of the volume of my water usage. I know in some states the public sewer bill is calculated based on your water usage and not a flat fee. Can you tell me how your DE location handles the billing of public sewer? Is it included as part of your water bill and based on water usage or is it a flat fee?

We also get charged a yearly fire hydrant fee of $24 per year because we are within so many fee of a fire hydrant. Is there a similar type of charge in DE?

And last but not least trash collection presently runs me $15 per month for once a week pickup and one day a month bulk trash pickup. I consider that very resonable. I am not sure how the cost of trash pickup is handled in 55+ communities. Is it part of your monthly fees or do you pay a seperate trash collection bill?

Mary2014

[Gone-2-Beach]

Originally Posted by Mary2014

Charlie,I am taking you up on your advise to ask questions. First one is what is the difference between quick reply and post reply on this forum? Is there a way to reply to a specific post or is it sort of a daisy chain of your post ending up at the bottom of the list? If the latter, I want to be sure to identify if I am responding to a specific individual in my posts.

If you click on Quote, you can post specific information that refers to the particular message to which you are responding.

Your post will always appear "next" in the list of messages in a particular thread.

I don't know if there is a functional difference between "quick reply" and "post reply". I always use "quick reply".

[Gone-2-Beach]

Originally Posted by Mary2014

Charlie,I do have a question for elizamary(since she lives in DE) with reference to earlier posts about the cost of water in DE.

The cost of water will vary as there are different water companies servicing different parts of Delaware. For Tidewater Utilities, they just received a rate increase. I am not 100% sure, but based on my own calculations, it looks like the usage cost will be $6.5356 per 1,000 gallons. I am waiting to find confirmation of my own math as I could be wrong. (If anyone can confirm, that would be terrific. Thanks.)

In their press release of September 10, 2009, "a residential customer with a 5/8" water meter and water consumption of 15,000 gallons is billed $149.27"

[Mary2014]

Charlie,
Thanks for the info on the water rates. I do understand they will vary by water company, but, I would like to know the breakout between access rate and cost per 1000 gallons. I only consume about 5,500 gallons per year. What really increases my cost it the monthly access rate that keeps going up. Instead of an increase to the cost per gallon (thus encouraging conservation) they increase the monthly access rate that does not encourage conservation.

Sewer rates in some areas are based off of your water usage. Since in my area the public water company and the public sewer company do not talk to each other I am stuck with another high flat rate for sewer. Just wondering if the same is true in DE.

Mary2014

[from PA]

Sewer is billed quarterly and payable to Kent county @70.55 . Trash is included with county taxes.

[cant wait to retire]

We just got back from a long, wet weekend in Williamsburg, VA with our camping club. We drove by several 55+ communities that we could tell were WAY too expensive for us so we didn't even bother to trek through the rain to see the models. We did tour Colonial Heritage (a Lennar community) and it is very nice. They, too, have just built several smaller models to meet customers' needs and budgets. The smallest home started at around $239,000 w/o a basement and add on another 30K for a basement. Does come with a 2-car garage. The HOA is $230/mo. which does NOT include ANY lawn maintenance or snow removal other than streets! They have a huge and very elegant 25,000 sq. ft. clubhouse w/restaurant and lots of space plus a free standing health club that is open 24/7 to residents. A beautiful 18 hole golf course winds its way through the community. When it's all built out the community will be very large. The "buy in" for the HOA is approx. $2,790. So while nice, the community was still way too expensive for us. Also we are not excited about living in a "tourist area." That's what turned us away from Lancaster Co. Plus VA taxes are higher and they have that hateful car tax. But it was good to see and compare a community in another nearby state. Surprisingly Lennar has abandonded their building philosophy of everything being pre-planned and pre-chosen for a specific unit. The sales rep. said that did not work at Colonial Heritage. They also have a number of investor owned properties, i.e. rental units. While I was spending extra time in the camper during the weekend, I decided to "re-visit" The Austin model at Champion's Club and decided I liked it better than The Charleston. It's also $25,000 less. So we're going to get a quote from Ed for an Austin the way we want it including the possibility of building it on a basement.

[elizamary]

Hi Can't wait......we also checked out the williamsburg area. Has always been a favorite spot but like you.....we found it way too expensive.
Checking out other states is good. We did that too.

Don't forget to check out which states tax your pension along with other nitty gritty details.

Jamestown is going to be my final resting place. I love the area along the james river. So I may have my final retirement in Va after all. LOL

Sorry this weekend was such a washout and camping no less. ohhhhhhhh

[susieC]

Hey Can't Wait...I just looked at the Americana Series at CC...they look really great...I know they start at $199K but the prices are not listed for each...we liked the Charleston (wish it had a third bedroom). Can you tell me what the HOA fees are? Tks.

[Gone-2-Beach]

Originally Posted by susieC

Hey Can't Wait...I just looked at the Americana Series at CC...they look really great...I know they start at $199K but the prices are not listed for each...we liked the Charleston (wish it had a third bedroom). Can you tell me what the HOA fees are? Tks.

HOA fees are $190/month at Champion's Club. I thought the Americana series homes were nice, but a little too small for us. I'm looking forward to seeing the Augusta model again when I'm in town. I liked the Broadmoor layout also, but I really don't like the entrance to the house. I don't like those kinds of enclosed openings.

[little eggplant]

I agree with you, Charley, on not liking the entrance to the Broadmoor, either, but I do like the fact that their guest room and bath are on the opposite side of the house from the master- a little more privacy when company is in town! Also that model's kitchen has a window which I prefer over the Augusta's internal kitchen (no window). I like fresh air in my kitchen!!