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When I decided to move into a gated community, it was not out of fear, as the perception was formerly stated. I moved into the house less than a year ago and enjoy the quiet and peaceful environment. Most of my neighbors moved here from large cities mostly "The Bay" area. I'm from Los Angeles. The neighbors around me, are all active in the community and participate in city activities. It is not true that we live behind gates and don't venture out. The truth is these people are hard working professionals that got tired of the "rat race" and want a bit of peace while at home. Venturing out. Most of our youngsters do stay behind the gates and I personally don't worry as much of the trouble they are getting into. I have to say, that when they attended the fair and when they are in town, they are frequently approached by young boys who want to start a fight. Since my boys are over 18, it would be silly for them to fight 15, 16, 17 year olds. I, as well as the neighbors around me, are active participants in community decisions and development. Where are those who oppose our living behind the gate when it comes to voting on city decisions?
Nothing says "Hi Neighbor" like a gate and a guard. Nothing isolates one from the community they chose to call home like a gate and a guard. Nothing telegraphs a message of "us vs. them" like a guard and a gate.
My parents live in a gated community in Greenville, SC, and holy smokes, talk about uppity isolation. I have no problem with them, but they're not for me at this stage in my life.
I live in a super cool gated community...it's not at all cookie cutter...that's what i liked about it...it was built in the very early seventies and is very wooded and all the houses are different but most are contemporary and on nice big wooded lots...it's got a golf course and a marina and it's just really cool...and varries greatly in price range so you don't have to have a lot of monny or sacrafice style and orriginality to live in ALL gated communities......just so ya know .
My SIL lives in a large one and they love it. Everyone driving by is either a neighbor or visitor so there isn't much street traffic. They've got two manned guardhouses and one absolutely cannot get in unless they're an approved visitor. It's okay and I don't think I'd be opposed to living in it.
There are a few smaller ones around us that are simply gated (no guardhouse) where residents punch in a code and the gate swings open. Several of our kids friends live in them but they don't have to worry about their friends not stopping by because they live behind gates - every teenager in town knows the combinations to all the gates! LOL! I was taking our daughter to a friends house once and we pulled up to the gate, but I didn't know the combination. My daughter recited it immediately and, when asked how she knew, said, "Everybody knows." So much for added security!
We have friends who live in another guard/gated one and, interestingly, they were burglarized! They're not fool-proof.
Question! Would you live in a gated community? -Why Or Why Not?!
I live in a gated community - a guard gated community in fact.
There are a number of reasons we like this arrangement:
Limiting access to the community by the "lookielous"
Additional security - visitors are known
Much quieter streets / community
Additionally, our streets are not "public" / city streets. They are private. We pay to maintain them. As such, we need no permission to "close them" for the 3 community block parties we have each year.
Gated communities don't offend me, just like I'm not offended by apartment buildings with doormen or office buildings with a front desk.
But I'm not made of money, and gated communities are expensive for their residents. All roads in gated communities are considered private roads. The state will not maintain, clean, or repair them.
There are many in our smallish neighborhood that would like to gate our area and privatize the streets. It wouldn't bother me. The city requires 100% approval by the residents and all street maintenance would become the responsibility of the homeowners. We'll never get 100% approval, however, and gate locations would be a problem with corner houses so it'll never happen. Crime around us has increased in the last year (nothing violent in nature - breaking into cars, etc.) and the gating discussion comes up occasionally.
"The only down fall is HOA (Home Owners Association) fees are VERY HIGH! ($6,500 per Quarter(3 months)."
OMG!
My HOA fees are $52 for the entire year. All that money is needed to maintain the private roads? Makes ya think...
(But I'm not putting the place down. The poster also said he loves living there, that's what really matters.)
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