Our Retirement Community Visit, Phoenix-Phase III (Tucson, Sun City: leases, home, water heater)

[cmw0829]

Hi Gene - congratulations on finally finding your home! It IS a lovely place.

But...we will miss having your wife join us here at Sun City Grand but Festival has a great group of quilters - they visited us last year for a trunk show and they are very accomplished - and nice people too!

Bet you can't wait!

[gbpakrfan]

Gene,

Okay...now what am I going to if I can't look forward to reading your house-hunting posts?

Seriously, it was great getting to know you through your adventures posted on the board and through our private messages.

I'm happy you found your piece of paradise, even if it is way the hell out there.
Festival, huh? Before I'd ever live in Festival, being the Seinfeld fan that I am, they'd have to change the name to Festivus.

I'd be careful if I were you, though. Living on Cat Baleu Drive (or however they spell it) you might end up with Jane Fonda as a neighbor. Knowing your political leanings, you might not want to go to her place to borrow a cup of sugar. On the bright side, maybe Lee Marvin will move in across the street. Except, I believe he's no longer with us...so probably not happening.

Okay, I feel myself rambling, so I'll stop now. Maybe our paths will cross if you ever get lost on the mega freeway system and somehow find yourself in our neck of the woods...way the hell out here in Florence.

[MotleyCrew]

Great choice. Nothing better than the smell of a new home lol. Glad you enjoy the scenic drive. We lived in Vistancia for the first 8 years of our life in AZ and did not mind the 20 min drive to get to big box stores at all. We saw so many cool things on the way to and from. It is lovely there and congrats.

[MalteseJane]

Congratulations Gene and Welcome to Sun City Festival.

[DavidBilly]

Your getting it early if May is the(real) finish date.
We signed in August and our home will be done in April.
We were promised earlier and after we signed the president told us there is a delay due to labor shortage(like you said).
We are in a different subdivision but comparable.
Congrats on your new home, now the work begins...downsizing and moving!

[CostumeLady]

Congratulations to you and your wife, Gene! We are looking forward to coming back to visit SSF and a few others next year. Let us know how everything turns out with your new home.

[GeneR]

Alas, the end of the long search has come, the house is ours and there's but one major hurdle to jump. On Friday, April 29th we became homeowners in Sun City Festival. We arrived last Tuesday and checked into the Festival vacation villas where we remain this morning. Thank you Festival sales for making these units available to us over these past few years as we searched for a new home. Not only did we search the options here at Festival but as this thread indicates we looked long and hard at other area 55+ communities while using this as a home base. I'm going to drill down a bit on staying at the villas.

Our first experience was two years ago in June. We feared once we were checked in it would be a constant stream of sales pressure trying to convince us Festival was THE place to be. It was nothing like that. We were handed the keys to the unit, keys to a golf car and given maps and community information then told to "enjoy your stay". Whether or not we met with a sales person was completely up to us. We strongly recommend these facilities for several reasons. They are very comfortable and they're less expensive than most hotels. Not to mention access to all the amenities of the community. As mentioned, we used Festival as a home base while we searched homes in Sun City, Sun City West, Corte Bella, Sun City Grand and a few other area communities.

Back to a final hurdle: THE MOVE. While here we've been on the dead run. Not only was there the closing (signing of the real estate papers) but we searched out a local credit union (we much prefer these over banks), swapping out our driver's licenses from MN to AZ, attending our daughters ASU orientation, meeting with our chosen landscaper, finding the nearest Krispy Kreme (whoops, a little too much honesty here) and registering our existence with the Buckeye post office. I think we're almost done with the details. We return to MN tomorrow and will spend the next 5 weeks sorting through and packing up our stuff. The move will take place mid-June. After receiving bids from 3 major moving companies we have chosen a DIY method. Crews have been hired at both ends for the loading and unloading, a U-Haul truck with a car trailer is rented and I'll do the driving myself. Cost savings for this method is about 5 Large.

Having gone through this experience I'm now thinking about consolidating the adventure in a single (?) written form which others might find useful. This is still under consideration. The realtor team we'/ve used for the past year or so is encouraging me to get an AZ real estate license (I held that and a broker's license in MN for a while) and be their go-to guy here in Festival. That may or may not happen but I do enjoy sharing the experience of deciding on a retirement home so perhaps it might be a good fit.

I have found that rereading my entries on these forums has been an excellent way for us to stay focused on what we wanted, what we experienced at the many communities we investigated and which of the communities might best fill our needs. However, it is not just what we've experienced and written but the entries from all the others who participate here. I'm repeating myself here but it must be said: these forums have been an invaluable asset in this search and I'm grateful for them.

[AZgarden]

Welcome Gene and Gene's wife ! What an adventure it's been and reading about it has been valuable. I truly hope your travel from MN to Buckeye is very ordinary and routine and you enjoy your new home immensely. Welcome to Arizona !

[jjpike]

GeneR, congrats on settling on a new community and environment. Your posts have been very informative for people like me, that are having similar life changing decisions to make. It's refreshing to hear real stories about real people making retirement decisions. Finding a place to live in retirement, has been the most stressful part of my retirement planning. Belive it or not, couples don't always agree on when, where and how to retire. Thank you for sharing your clear, non-promotional, practical advice on Arizona retirement living. I hope you continue to post your experiences. Thanks!

[DavidBilly]

Congrats on your new home, we close on ours in 3 weeks. We cant wait.