55+ Communities (Magnolia: apartment, rentals, car insurance)

[Charley]

I've had no trouble getting any of the information I've asked for and I've been able to see whatever I've wanted to see. I was even given the "Land Lease: agreement and the regulations from the state of Delaware for my review. It's a lot of reading that I hope to accomplish in the next week or so.

Essentially anything I've wanted to see, or know about has been accomplished. The builders, the agents and the employees of the companies have been very gracious and helpful.

The market is in the tank right now and the sub-prime lending crisis is helpful to make it the mess that it is. As with all cyclical trends, this too shall pass.

Charley

[Charley]

We saw eight 55+ communities in Kent County. Four were land lease and four were fee simple (you own the land). This post discusses the four fee simple communities.

[1] Fieldstone Village

Located in Dover on Route 13, Fieldstone will be a community of about 100 manufactured homes. The models were pretty nice and the rooms were of good size. There will be a small retail center on the campus before you get to the homes.

When the manager said that the homeowner dues would be $25 a month and the land lease at $1 a year, that led to a few other questions that cause me concern. I asked about lawn maintenance. The manager stated that originally, they were going to leave that to the homeowner. I told him that would be where most of us would say goodbye. The last thing I plan to do in my retirement home is mow the lawn! He said that they quickly came to realize the importance of being maintenance-free and will be adding lawn maintenance to their plans. Then I asked him about putting fences on the property (a trick question) and he told me that as long as they were no higher than four feet, they would be allowed. Ding! Ding! Ding! Wrong answer! If I put up a fence, that prohibits a lawn company from coming in and doing an entire block at one time.

It's pretty clear that they haven't thought this one out. I asked about snow removal and he said "Well, it doesn't snow much here".

Fieldstone Village will not be making my final list.

[2] Longacre Village

Longacre is south of Camden on Route 13 and also has an entrance on Peachtree Drive, which you will see shortly might be a problem. Longacre is a joint venture of four builders, building about 240 homes. There are four separate sets of models from the four different builders. We saw two of them. They are well-built, spacious and well-designed. Even the interior unit in the three-unit attached home was very conceived. The use of windows in front and back and high ceilings on first floor allow lots of light into the house and it does not seem closed in, which you might worry about in interior units.

I mentioned in a previous message the "huge clubhouse". I was wrong. It's not a clubhouse. It's essentially a strip mall on the side of the property. It's pretty big and could easily house a dozen retail stores, maybe more. Therein lies the problem. There's not much shopping in the immediate area and with the retail stores open to the general public, there will be much traffic flowing through the community to get to the stores, including from the back entrance on Peachtree. I think the traffic will be an issue and as a result, Longacre will probably not make the final cut.

[3] Jonathan's Landing

When we arrived at Jonathan's Landing, we quickly realized that everything surrounds the golf course. Golf is clearly a priority at Jonathan's Landing, and it's not a priority for me. I play golf, but not very often, and am not interested in living in a golf community. My wife doesn't play, and doesn't seem interested in learning.

We did not see the models, but based on experience of seeing Springmill, also built by McKee, the homes are probably beautiful.

[4] Spring Meadow

Spring Meadow is located in Smyrna, also off Route 13. The models are a little on the smaller side, but beautifully done and the construction looks sound. We wandered around and looked at the homes in varying stages of completeness and each one looked well built.

There are already people living there and we spent some time with a few of them. The clubhouse is not ready yet, so they were using one of the model homes for their line dancing activity. They invited us to participate, but we declined, although I did do a nice two-step to the door ... lol. The residents were extremely friendly and we discussed much, including traffic, health care, road conditions, land lease communities, the management at Spring Meadow and more. It was at this meeting where I learned about the people who had been living up at Springmill who left to come to Spring Meadow because the traffic in Middletown had grown significantly.

Given our particular needs, the way each home is designed does not exactly meet every need, but each one gets real close in a different way. Spring Meadow will make our final list. It's a place that we can see ourselves living and we can work around some of the issues in each house. For example, in one model, everything is fine, except that both dressers will not fit into the master bedroom ... but my armoire will easily fit into the walk-in closet, so that solves the "problem".

My next post will discuss the four land-lease communities. I'm trying to break it up so that the messages are not too long to read.

I'm open to any questions.

Charley

[MPBsr]

Sorry to hear about Jonathans Landing. I was really hoping to hear your insite about them as we were down there last year to look with another couple.

For us, golf is a big thing and having one in our backyard would be great.

Unfort, so far I can't convince my wife to move to DE.

[Charley]

I think if you base it on the way they built at Springmill, the homes themselves are absolutely gorgeous and the community always looks clean and crisp. If you're into golf, this might be exactly the right place for you.

As far as moving to Delaware, there is no doubt that my wife and I are BOTH very impressed with all we have seen and read, and as you can probably tell, we've done a lot of both.

I'm not sure where you are coming from, but Delaware as a destination appears to be a very good idea. Do you have any thoughts as to why your wife is reluctant to consider Delaware?

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by CMTAD

We saw eight 55+ communities in Kent County. Four were land lease and four were fee simple (you own the land). This post discusses the four fee simple communities.

[
My next post will discuss the four land-lease communities. I'm trying to break it up so that the messages are not too long to read.

I'm open to any questions.

Charley

Hi Charley..........Glad you made it home safe and sound.

Interesting and informative. I'm sure people who are in the market will find this extremely helpful.

Good Idea breaking up the post. Seems like there are a few new ones right around here within the last year or so. We didnt' know they even exsited.
I'm sure there will be more to come. With the drought, the farms that are left are loosing money and will probably sell to a developer like ones in the past.

[Charley]

> With the drought, the farms that are left are losing money and
> will probably sell to a developer like ones in the past

... and that is a concern. As new developments continue to pop up, there will be an impact on traffic and on the needs to improve the infrastructure. More schools, more roads, more hospitals, more police stations, which eventually leads to more taxes. Now if Delaware is a smart state (and so far, it looks like they are doing it right) they will add business and industrial concerns along with the growth in residences, which helps to stabilize the tax impact. Where I live, they have always been smart in adding "ratables" along with the significant growth of the community so that taxes had been very stable up until last year, when a painful tax challenge case by our utillity company set the entire tax structure on it's ear!

I have a sense that Delaware will get this one right. Dover just approved an eight-month moratorium on building applications in order to give them time to revise their master plans. That's a smart move.

[peeweeaz]

MPBsr,

You could always divorce her (just kidding)

Charley,
You're just a veritable font of information. Many thanks for the info. I realize you've spent a lot of time providing us with very useful info on the housing market in Delaware, and I don't want to overburden you, but if you think about it the next time you post, throw in some housing and property tax prices. Thanks in advance.

[Charley]

The prices are all over the board depending on the size of house you buy, and whether it's land lease or not.

Most communities have websites with lots of price information. What they lack is TAX information, so here's what I know so far: LL is land lease, FS is fee simple (home ownership)

Springmill in Middletown - FS - $1800 to $2200.
Spring Arbor in Middletown - FS - taxes not yet set.
Wild Meadows in Dover - LL - $500 to $800.
Nobles Pond in Dover - LL - $800 to $1200.
Southern Meadow in Magnolia - LL - $200 to $400
Longacre Village south of Camden - FS - $1400 to $1700
Fieldstone Village in Dover - LL - around $500.
Spring Meadow in Smyrna - FS - $1100 to $1500.
Providence of Heritage Shores - Bridgeville - FS - $2000 to $2400

Hope that helps.

Charley

[bubbyannj]

We were in Delaware last weekend looking at 55+ they were nice, but we decided not to move there.
Reasons: They tax your pension, the taxes are low,but the service fees on the property still exist , so a property can have 1000.00 taxes but the serv fee can amout to 3500.00 which leaves you with a 4500.00 per year bill. We are from Pa. so that is high for us, NY made be different. Everything was an option at Independence, and at Jonathan's landing there just wasn't the wow factor for me,even though their incentive package was good. We are now looking at Maryland in Ocean Pines. We are very confused as to were to go, so we will keep looking until something hits. We saw a place in Egg Harbor Township that we loved but the taxes were outrageous. The electric and gas in Delaware are about the same as everywhere else. GOOD LUCK

[peeweeaz]

Charley,

Thanks for all the pricing info. When it comes to land-lease, I believe Elizamary did quite a bit of research prior to choosing Southern Meadows.
Therefore, I would think anyone thinking of a manufactured home would take a serious look at Southern Meadows. I also think we would be hard pressed to find the quality and price (house and lease) that she did. Of course, Magnolia is a small, country-like setting which might not agree with some folks.