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Old 06-15-2015, 06:01 PM
 
254 posts, read 337,925 times
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GENE,

I just posted a new tread regarding DW pricing from an agent. Is this possible at Festival?


"Here's how the Sanctuary would normally tab out for pricing,

$210,990 - $10,000 incentive = $200,990 - $4,220 (For cash buyers or toward closing costs) = $196,770 + $60,000 average upgrades = $256,770 + $13,000 average Lot premium = $269,770 + landscape

We love our dogs here - three is max - no weight or breed requirement. We're building a new dog park within the next 16 months approx.

Festival is VERY safe. I have walked at 11pm here ...........and I've walked at 4am in the dark by myself and feel totally comfortable. I moved here after a divorce 9 years ago. There is SO MUCH support from friendly folks here that your wife would have NO PROBLEM living here without you - and vise versa."

IS THIS THE NORM DOWN THERE WHEN BUYING A NEW HOME TO HAVE SUCH ADD ON'S TO ADVERTISED HOME PRICE?

APPRECIATE ANY RESPONSES........
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Old 06-15-2015, 08:09 PM
 
Location: Texas
2,847 posts, read 2,486,266 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneR View Post
In one week my wife and I will begin a 10 day visit to AZ to again visit communities in both the Phoenix and Tucson areas. We have booked 3-night stays at Sun City Festival (we also will spend a great deal of time in the original Sun City, Sun City West and SC Grand), Quail Creek (also looking at communities within Green Valley Recreation) and Sun City Anthem@Merrill Ranch.

I will update our experiences in the Phoenix area here and our visits to the Green Valley area on a thread in the Tucson Forum of these pages. That thread has a similar title.

I invite comments and suggestions as we prepare for our visit which starts Thursday, June 18th.

We have talked before. I have visited Sun City Festival on a couple of occasions.

I think you will find it to be exceptional, grounds, clubhouse, layout.

A little far out from stuff, as I remember about 13 miles to anything, including stores and hospitals.

This would be on the very top of our list in the valley.
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Old 06-15-2015, 08:48 PM
 
Location: prescott az
6,954 posts, read 11,992,883 times
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I think it is Gene. My daughter works for Maracay Homes and she tells me of people spending $100,000 after the initial price of the home, in order to get what they want. I visited the 55+ community in Estrella and went through the models and everything was upgraded. They looked beautiful but I asked about what was spent to get that particular home and I was shocked.
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Old 06-15-2015, 11:04 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,914 posts, read 43,214,175 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhxBarb View Post
I think it is Gene. My daughter works for Maracay Homes and she tells me of people spending $100,000 after the initial price of the home, in order to get what they want. I visited the 55+ community in Estrella and went through the models and everything was upgraded. They looked beautiful but I asked about what was spent to get that particular home and I was shocked.
Just to clarify the discussion, that was anjcohen asking Gene that question about the upgrades, not Gene asking the question. But, as you and others have noted, that kind of price hike for upgrades is not at all uncommon. If Gene has figures for Festival, I would not be surprised if they are similar.
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Old 06-16-2015, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Oxygen Ln. AZ
9,319 posts, read 18,687,420 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anjcohen View Post
GENE,

I just posted a new tread regarding DW pricing from an agent. Is this possible at Festival?


"Here's how the Sanctuary would normally tab out for pricing,

$210,990 - $10,000 incentive = $200,990 - $4,220 (For cash buyers or toward closing costs) = $196,770 + $60,000 average upgrades = $256,770 + $13,000 average Lot premium = $269,770 + landscape

We love our dogs here - three is max - no weight or breed requirement. We're building a new dog park within the next 16 months approx.

Festival is VERY safe. I have walked at 11pm here ...........and I've walked at 4am in the dark by myself and feel totally comfortable. I moved here after a divorce 9 years ago. There is SO MUCH support from friendly folks here that your wife would have NO PROBLEM living here without you - and vise versa."

IS THIS THE NORM DOWN THERE WHEN BUYING A NEW HOME TO HAVE SUCH ADD ON'S TO ADVERTISED HOME PRICE?

APPRECIATE ANY RESPONSES........
Yes. Most of the new 55+ developments have a basic model then charge lots to do the upgrades. My daughter worked at Trilogy/Vistancia for years and they charged huge dollars for upgrades.
When we bought our Shea home in 04, we only bought the structural upgrades that would be too expensive to do after the fact...low E windows, expanded garage. The granite counters we did later. Landscape you can change over time. But that is the norm here...
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Old 06-16-2015, 04:51 PM
 
Location: Buckeye
550 posts, read 1,117,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MotleyCrew View Post
Yes. Most of the new 55+ developments have a basic model then charge lots to do the upgrades. My daughter worked at Trilogy/Vistancia for years and they charged huge dollars for upgrades.
When we bought our Shea home in 04, we only bought the structural upgrades that would be too expensive to do after the fact...low E windows, expanded garage. The granite counters we did later. Landscape you can change over time. But that is the norm here...
Unless they changed with the new homes, but with the home we bought at Sun City Festival the granite counter top came with the house. Unless you wanted another color than what they proposed, you did not need an upgrade. We did not take the landscaping through Pulte/Del Webb. But made a mistake using their landscaping company of the time. We thought that since they knew all the HOA rules it would be easier. We were very disappointed with them (price and design). They are not working here anymore and for good reason.
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Old 06-19-2015, 07:35 AM
 
Location: Buckeye
604 posts, read 928,731 times
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Default First Stop-Sun City-the Original 55+ Community

We arrived in Sun City about 10 in the morning Thursday, June 18th. Way ahead of our scheduled tour offered weekly by volunteers, so off we went looking around the craft area of Bell Center. Bell is but one of seven Recreation Centers in Sun City. Pretty impressive craft work of all kinds by the residents. What I noticed however, was the condition of the facilities.

About a year ago we visited several communities including Sun City Oro Valley. It is in a beautiful setting and, like the original Sun City, it is older. While the residents and our tour guide at SC Oro Valley were very friendly we were not impressed by the few facilities we saw. Like the community itself the facilities seemed older. The design showed its age with low ceilings, smaller windows. I say all this because, prior to our visit to the original Sun City this is sort of what I expected to see. I was wrong.

Bell Center in the original Sun City is massive, in exceptional condition and not at all like an "old" Sun City (at least what I thought I knew about "old"). There's one building for this, another for that. There is the swimming pool, the walking pool (drained for maintenance at the time of our visit) which is very impressive, the metal shop, the wood shop, the recreation center building which houses the state of the art bowling lanes, the billiard room (it has a SNOOKER pool table which I LOVE), the recently installed state-of-the-art dart games and a cafe.

With still more time left before the scheduled tour we drove the few minutes over to Lakeview Center. Great design around a centrally located swimming pool (how great did that look with temperatures around 105 degrees that morning!). Time for an honesty check: we went to Lakeview to stop at the corporate office and pick up our 3-day VIP passes which allow us free and full use of all SC facilities. Even though we were impressed with what we had seen we were thinking "this may not be the place" for us. The residents did not seem our age, but older. We had seen several residents using canes or walkers. We just don't know if we want to join a community of residents who seemed "old". More on this in a moment. Time to return to Bell Center for our tour.

We joined about 10 other people on a guided tour of the Bell Center which is when we saw all the facilities I wrote about above. Wow! It is really something.

After the walk around tour (it was probably over 110 degrees at this time and our guide Paul was very sensitive to this) we climbed aboard the small air-conditioned bus. Our tour took us through shopping plazas, rec centers (we did not get out due to the heat), through the length and width of the development and residential neighborhoods. It's a great overview of much of what this community offers in about an hour.

Earlier I mentioned we had decided, before the tour, that this community might not be for us. Well, during the tour, seeing one rec center, one neighborhood, one shopping plaza, one golf course after another my wife whispered to me "we're moving here". Uh, okay.

Now, that may not be a final decision, but when you see Sun City with it's outstanding and numerous facilities, knowing there is an affordable housing option no matter what you need, every imaginable club or organization, it's hard to pass this by. Did I mention the extremely low taxes and fees?! This community is no doubt the best buy in the nation. Case closed. Argument Over. Nothing further to discuss. Done.

We're returning today with our realtor team (man and wife) who live in Sun City. We want to see some houses in our price range just to see what you get. We're not buying until sometime between January and June of 2016. Looking online is one thing, seeing it in person is another.

Are we moving here? I dunno. There is one major drawback; it is a 'city'. It is in the Phoenix metro area and there is traffic. Not the stop and go I've lived with in other major metro areas but it is heavy on some streets such as Bell. We just don't know if we want to be in a place where there are stop lights, traffic, city buses, taxis and all that. But cities come with benefits such as every kind of shopping you could want, restaurants, sporting events. As an aside, if you need to buy anything, buy it in Sun City. Their sales tax is extremely low compared to the surrounding metro area.

Finally, I'll sum up our initial visit and tour of Sun City. It is more than even I had expected. Yes, it's now 55 years old (hey, the whole community can now live in Sun City with it's 55 year old requirement) but it does not seem old. This community spends millions and millions of dollars updating and upgrading facilities. They pay cash for this upgrading. Sun City is extremely well run financially speaking. Sun City closes those facilities that don't get the use (they can track use by their up to date computer systems and the members cards which are swiped at each facility) and opening new ones. They're adding facilities such as indoor (and out of the heat!) pickle ball courts. This community is first rate and I would strongly recommend seeing it for yourself.

I know those that stop by this forum might be more familiar with the original Sun City than I am, but folks, this place is unbelievable. Read everything you can about it and you still don't get the whole picture. It is even more than I imagined. One last thing: every single person on our tour was no older than I and my wife. There is truly a "next generation" thing happening here.

Last edited by GeneR; 06-19-2015 at 07:55 AM..
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Old 06-20-2015, 07:33 AM
 
Location: Buckeye
604 posts, read 928,731 times
Reputation: 1395
Default Day Two-Using Realtors

"I don't do repairs and repairmen don't do radio. That's our agreement". Back in the day when I was a big shot radio correspondent I used to make that comment whenever I was pressed to do repair work around the house. It was my way of saying "if you want something done right, hire a professional". That's why, as we investigate retirement communities, we've sought the assistance of a team of real estate professionals. (I want to stop right now and offer a little advice: say the word "Realtor". How do you pronounce that word? Do you say rea-lat-or as if the spelling were reelator? Or do you pronounce it correctly as it is spelled real-tor?) Now about using a realtor.

I'm an information junkie and I am pretty good at research. There was a time I held a Minnesota real estate broker's license so I have some knowledge about the business. However, now my wife and I are searching for a home in Arizona. We have enlisted the services of Arizona Professionals who live and work in the communities of our interest. We've found what we believe is a great man and wife real estate team to give us direction in the Sun Cities area. We spent the day with them yesterday.

Our realtors selected homes to show based on criteria we had given them. We saw some nice properties. As the day proceeded our professionals were listening to our comments about these homes and they began sort of an ad-lib tour. They were taking in our information as we toured and thinking of other houses and/or communities we should see, places or properties we had not considered before. A good realtor (remember real-tor, not ree-lat-or!) is worth their weight in gold.

As my earlier posts indicated we're staying for about 4 days at Sun City Festival. We were here a year ago also. We've not yet had a sit-down with the Del Webb sales agent to get the latest so I'll forgo any comment on this community until after that is concluded. Yesterday we were in Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand and the big surprise to me, Corte Bella.

I've already raved about Sun City so no need for a repeat here. We saw some homes, some really nice, some not so nice. Sun City West has it's attractions and it is also very nice in both real estate offerings and amenities. Sun City Grand is gorgeous, the homes newer and is, in my opinion, a great buy. But I want to get to Corte Bella.

As I looked at listings on line in various communities I dropped into Corte Bella but never seriously looked. It bills itself as "Corte Bella Golf Club" or "Corte Bella Country Club". I don't golf, may never golf, therefore, why look at Corte Bella. Plus, while some folks like the idea of being part of a Country Club it's not my thing. To me that's another way of saying "stuffy" or "stuck up". Okay, so now you've seen my preconceived prejudices and notions about Corte Bella. Either I don't know what I really like or I was wrong. Take your pick.

Our realtor team has sold dozens and dozens of homes in all of these communities, Corte Bella included. So during our discussions they started thinking of some listings they and others have in this community on the north side of Sun City West. Let's have a look.

Corte Bella is a gated community. Immediately on entrance I started comparing it to the grandeur of Sun City Grand. The landscaping is lush, water features beautiful, homes are gorgeous and appear rather expensive. The lots are smaller than those of Sun City and Sun City West as are all lots in communities newer than those pioneer places. But my, the landscaping is mature and stunning. The community was Del Webb's 4th. It came after Sun City, Sun City West and Sun City Grand. Each step is a bit more modern, in my opinion more physically attractive. Corte Bella was developed in the early to mid 2000's during the real estate boom and pre-bust. Apparently there are many homeowners here who got hit bad. As in other communities prices tumbled turning dreams into nightmares. This loss is now a buyer's gain. DW's next project would be our current location-Festival.

We visited a couple of Corte Bella homes and they were gorgeous. Priced in the just-above-midpoint of the $200k's. I really, really like the looks of this community. HOA fee is on the high side at about $150 plus there's a another quarterly fee of $54 for capital improvement. Taxes are average to lower for a newer community. I figure the combination would run somewhere around $300 to $350 depending on the home. A bit on the high side for me but given the community, may be worth every penny. Now about that golf club.

The golf club is private. It is not owned by the hoa and therefore is not paid for by the hoa. It is it's own entity and is self supporting. This is a big plus for me, a non golfer, since I don't golf, I don't want to pay for someone else's hobby.

There's a fitness center (top rate), studio for aerobics and dance, and spa. When i say spa I mean SPA. I hesitate to call the dressing areas "locker rooms" even though they do have lockers. These areas are like a fine spa with soft lighting, luxurious furnishings, very private showers. Wow! Then out to the pool. There's a resort style and lap pool combined into one. Smaller than the pools you'll find at newer DW communities but still very nice. There are fenced Tennis and Pickleball courts (apparently there's a bit of a war between these two as Pickleball becomes more popular there's a push to convert space from tennis).

After driving around and visiting homes in Corte Bella we headed back to our realtor's home where we left our car. They live on one of the two lakes in Sun City (by the way, their home is gorgeous with a gorgeous view-I think they're selling if you're interested). While I love Sun City, the perfectly kept neighborhoods and homes looked a bit simple compared to what we had just seen.

We have now put Corte Bella on our short, and getting shorter, list of possible communities. Today, we're taking a two-hour drive over to Anthem@Merrill Ranch where we're meeting with a realtor (are you saying real-tor now?!) for a quick tour of some homes then returning to Festival for the another day. We'll meet with the Festival sales agent Sunday morning. I'll review and update our adventures here.

Last edited by GeneR; 06-20-2015 at 07:46 AM..
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Old 06-20-2015, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Minnesota
110 posts, read 152,244 times
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You are doing the leg work for a lot of us. Keep it up!
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Old 06-20-2015, 08:42 AM
 
254 posts, read 337,925 times
Reputation: 572
Great job Gene! My wife and I are following your lead as we appear to have the same taste. We will be heading down end of year to investigate ourselves but thanks to your leg work we will now have the ability to narrow our visit down to a few places!

Just have two question:
1. How far is Merrill Ranch from a couple of hospitals as my wife would like to continue working part time as a MRI Tech.??

2. Have you looked at Pebble Creek by any chance?

Best,
Anj
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