I've posted quite a bit on C-D about Alegria and recently finished serving 3-1/2 years on the HOA board there. The community is fully built out now, so new homes are no longer available, but we have a continuous stream of resales that hit the market. I think time on market is a function of several things:
- As you said, the 55+ age restriction on buying in Alegria definitely limits the number of prospective home buyers.
- Because we're a 55+ community, people thinking about buying here are also looking at other 55+ communities in the area, with Pulte's new Del Webb Mirehaven community being the primary "competition" for where such folks may decide to buy. Some folks favor being able to buy a new home over an older home, so Mirehaven has an edge in this regard.
- Not sure just how many homes are for sale in Alegria right now, but over the last 12-18 months I think the number has been in the range of 10-15 (out of 376 homes total in the community). This is a lot more than my wife and I expected when we moved here given that Alegria is a retirement community. We plan on this being our last home and thought most residents would feel similarly. But even at age 55+, Americans are a lot more mobile these days and a steady stream of our residents continue to decide to move on. For a variety of reasons - health concerns, following their kids/grand kids, deciding they would rather live in a warmer climate, etc. - more Alegria residents than we expected continue to leave the community.
This means that Alegria homes which have been on the market for a while are competing against other Alegria homes just arriving on the market. As any realtor will tell you, the longer a home sits on the market, the harder it is to sell it. Potential purchasers and sometimes realtors as well have a bias against a home that's been on the market for a longer period, the typical thinking is that there must be something wrong with it if it hasn't sold.
- Some of the Alegria homes on the market have been overpriced. I also know of at least one that had a "difficult" seller, who I think contributed to the home staying on the market a very long time. Given there were other choices, sellers passed on these.
- When Pulte was selling new homes here, they charged lot premiums (up to as much as $40k) for view lots. Folks that paid these premiums and are now trying to sell one of those homes understandably want to try to recoup their purchase prices. But potential purchasers may not be as interested in having a view and certainly may not be willing to pay a premium over other available homes to buy one of these view homes. So these homes, if priced higher, may stay on the resale market longer.
Here's a couple of other threads about Alegria:
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Retirement Communities in New Mexico. See my post #3.
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Home from visit. See my post #8.
In addition, following is a PM discussion I had in June 2015 regarding Alegria vs Mirehaven costs:
- One more quick question for you. I've been checking more info about Mirehaven and Alegria. I noticed Mirehaven will have a PID. That doesn't sound too appealing to me. I didn't notice the PID on some of the Alegria listings. Do you have a PID? If so, how much additional on taxes and for how long? How long will the Mirehaven community have to pay the PID? One listing I saw at Mirehaven $269,000 had a $4555 property tax. Needless to say, that's a downer. Thanks.[/quote]
I don't know anything about the Mirehaven PID, didn't know they had one. We do not have a PID. We're also in Sandoval County while Mirehaven is in Bernalillo County, which has higher property tax rates.
Our property is assessed at $270,000 by the county, so is nearly identical to the property you referenced. Our 2014 property tax payment was $2,616.
The basis value for our tax payment is one-third of the assessed fair market value or $90,000. This is because most local tax revenue comes from a county gross receipts tax, which is about 7%. (Bernalillo County also has a GRT of about 7%.) You can check out the Sandoval tax assessor's website -
Sandoval County - TAX RATES - for more detail on how the mill levy rate is computed as well as info on available exemptions.
As I have noted in my public posts, I believe Alegria is a better choice than Mirehaven or other 55+ communities in the ABQ area, although I'm admittedly biased because of how much my wife and I love living in Alegria. Feel free to PM me if you have other questions you would like to ask about Alegria.
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