GL Homes upgrade advice - Moving to Marbella Isles (Naples: HOA, mortgage)

[markjames68]

I do disagree with skipping the wall reinforcement IF you are likely to hang a big TV later. If the TV weighs under 50 lbs you don't need it but I have a 125 lb TV on an articulating mount and wouldn't ever risk hanging it without plywood backing. You can add it later but that means cutting a hole in the drywall, adding the backing, patching the drywall, redoing wall texture (if present) and repainting. However, a cost of $700 is highway robbery. My builder charged a lot less.

[relocatingtonaples]

I wanted to add one thing about the location of Marbella Isles versus Riverstone. In my opinion, Marbella Isles has the better location. Others may disagree, but here is my thinking.

Being right on Livingston and Airport Pulling roads will be much more convenient, not to mention being in the Barron Collier school district. The house we sold this summer was off of Livingston and we loved the location. Just loved it. You're close to much more shopping, restaurants, activities, churches, banks, etc.

We thought long and hard before choosing Riverstone over Marbella Isles. In the end we preferred the greater green space inside Riverstone. For us, that was the deciding factor. But Marbella Isles has had so much planting done inside it by the builder, it's amazing. In the space of weeks it transformed from bare land to this lush green enclave.

It was a tough choice. I don't regret it but occasionally part of me wishes you could pick up Riverstone and plop it on Livingston.

[movin1]

We can jump on 75 and be at Pine Ridge and Livingston in about 10 minutes from Riverstone. It isn't worth an extra $100K to us, but we don't have kids in school. I can see why folks would want to be closer if they do.

I think Riverstones location is great. Straight shot down Logan to Vanderbilt, Mercato, Whole Foods, some great restaurants, beaches etc. There is a lot north of Immokalee heading up to Bonita too.

Traffic on Pine Ridge is crazy. We have stopped going down to 5th Avenue as much as we did when we first moved here.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by movin1

We can jump on 75 and be at Pine Ridge and Livingston in about 10 minutes from Riverstone. It isn't worth an extra $100K to us, but we don't have kids in school. I can see why folks would want to be closer if they do.

I think Riverstones location is great. Straight shot down Logan to Vanderbilt, Mercato, Whole Foods, some great restaurants, beaches etc. There is a lot north of Immokalee heading up to Bonita too.

Traffic on Pine Ridge is crazy. We have stopped going down to 5th Avenue as much as we did when we first moved here.

Here's the thing. If you DO have kids in school, it's just as fine in Riverstone vs. closer in for many cases because you'd be zoned for Laurel Oak (elementary) and Gulf Coast (high) which are both highly rated.

I agree with the location (I live in Olde Cypress, so next door to Riverstone). A quick hop on I-75 and you can go where you need to go. Everything else is only 5 minutes closer out of season, 10 minutes in season depending on time of day.

[Learnedhand]

Thanks to everyone who replied. We are going in to our meeting with confidence thanks to your submissions.

As for location, I agree to a point. The difference is negligible to most places out of season (Waterside shops is the only destination I can think of where there is a major time difference). One thing we like is that Marbella has walking paths to two different high schools and an elementary school.

Another factor in our decision to build in Marbella is that the land value seems to be higher per square foot west of 75 in between Pine Ridge and Immokalee. If I recall correctly, the market was demanding 200-300 per square foot in that area. The land in the Baron Collier school district seems to have a relatively fixed supply of homes compared to the ever expanding Gulf Coast school district. Speaking of, does anyone know how the county is going to handle the massive inflow of kids once all of the new developments are built out? I'd imagine they'd have to build a new school or redistrict eventually.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Learnedhand

Thanks to everyone who replied. We are going in to our meeting with confidence thanks to your submissions.

As for location, I agree to a point. The difference is negligible to most places out of season (Waterside shops is the only destination I can think of where there is a major time difference). One thing we like is that Marbella has walking paths to two different high schools and an elementary school.

Another factor in our decision to build in Marbella is that the land value seems to be higher per square foot west of 75 in between Pine Ridge and Immokalee. If I recall correctly, the market was demanding 200-300 per square foot in that area. The land in the Baron Collier school district seems to have a relatively fixed supply of homes compared to the ever expanding Gulf Coast school district. Speaking of, does anyone know how the county is going to handle the massive inflow of kids once all of the new developments are built out? I'd imagine they'd have to build a new school or redistrict eventually.

Definitely land is higher in value west of 75. It's also higher in value west of 41. The closer to the gulf you go the more value it will likely have.

One thing to consider is that the same goes for insurance/flood premiums (although being a new development you'll likely be raised up on fill so you'll be Zone "X" for FEMA). Insurance is cheapest east of 75 and most expensive west of 41. I doubt in your case it'll make a substantial price difference, and you are certainly choosing from two very good developments!

[LeavingIllinos]

After following this forum for nearly 2 years my wife and I finally committed and bought at Stonecreek by GL Homes. Appreciate all the knowledge and opinions by everyone on this forum. Like 'movin1' it was time for us to leave Illinois (where RE taxes on $500k home averages $20k/yr) and it's political corruption(Wisconsin has a prison dedicated to our ex-Governor's ). We have our GL Homes options selection meeting next month and learned much about the options to include upfront and ones that would be less expensive to add after closing from this forum. However, I haven't seen any postings on accordian hurricane shutters. Has anyone skipped the GL Home option and had them installed after closing? If so what experience did you have?

[movin1]

We did not have them done by GL during construction and have not added them after. We talked to a lot of folks who have lived here for years and said they have never used them. We also did not do the "all hurricane glass" option.

I can't remember the price for hurricane glass or accordion shutters, but I offer this advice: take a look at the model homes with all hurricane glass and weigh the benefit vs cost. One thing we notice after living here for 1.5 years is the non-hurricane glass is much lighter weight and does not insulate sound nearly as well. We wish we had know this and had put in all hurricane windows, sliding glass doors etc. I would really like to not hear our neighbors kids and dogs as much as we do and heard (after the fact) that hurricane glass makes a big difference.

If you have hurricane glass everywhere, I don't think you need any shutters so it saves the cost of the ones you have to manually install (not to mention the time and effort it would take if you had to put them up). Not sure what GL charged for those funky things that you have to store in your garage. They take up a chunk of space.

Hope this helps.

[relocatingtonaples]

We have 100% hurricane windows and they are awesome! No shutters needed. And you're right, movin1, the sound insulation is fabulous. To me that's one of the best parts.

Hurricane windows are also a security benefit. A robber would need a sledge hammer to bust through. They are not easy to break.

And no, you don't need shutters. Although you can add shutters if you wish, but we didn't.

Hurricane windows were only a few thousand more than accordian shutters (maybe $3,500 off the top of my head???). They are about $12,000 or so more if you don't factor in the cost of accordian shutters.

Actual dollars depends on the model you pick and how many windows it has.

Definitely worth it.

[LeavingIllinos]

Thanks for the insight. I never gave the impact glass much thought due to price. But you bring up a good point on the quality and noise factor. Sounds like impact glass may be the way to go.