Somersett, near Reno? (Sparks, Wells: real estate market, rent, credit)

[fairyboredmother]

My family is considering moving to Reno from Humboldt County, CA. I'm looking around online and this development seems pretty nice: http://www.somersett.com/

Anyone have any experience? My husband will be working just south of the airport, is that commute realistic? My kids are entering school in the next year or so: any insight on the schools in this area?

I have to admit the idea of a big, shiny, new, soulless, gated community appeals to me after all the individuality and funkyness of Humboldt. Organic gets exhausting!

:-)

Thanks for any input!

[Jes]

We are moving to Sommerset this summer. Pulte built our home and it was done 6 weeks early , actually we would have been happy for it to close late as we are having trouble selling our home here in Alabama .Have built 4 times and Pulte far excells any previous experience,even had red carpet and banners on house on closing day.
As for the area ,we looked on the internet for a long time ,wanted to be closer to kids in Vegas ,Seattle and San Francisco .
Sommerset seemed a good area to us , close to interstate .The subdivision is well planned ,nice views and we liked it better than Sparks or South Reno.
The bigger Mall type stores are south of city but Walmart and the usual stuff close by.
Sorry I am not more help ,there was a guy renting in Sommerset on this site earlier in the year .The most negative individual but he has moved mack to Tennessee.

[renoguy]

I live just above Somersett and actually drive through it some times on my way home. To answer your first question about the commute, it depends. The distance is very close and no big deal. Depending on the time of day it can get congested. The morning commute in 80 to 395 isn’t too bad. Expect traffic to back up in the morning from Wells Ave through the interchange on to 395 south. Coming home can be more challenging if you use 395 to get to 80. 395 has very bad backups heading north in the afternoon into the early evening, pretty much from Moana Lane to McCarran. The Robb drive exit he’d take in the afternoon is poorly designed and gets backed up in the afternoon/early evening. However this commute is by far one of the better ones. The last thing about Somersett is be sure you don’t mind round-a-bouts. The further into the community you live the more you’ll drive through. Overall a nice looking part of town.

A little about Somersett. The community over all is not gated. There are several gated communities within the community but anyone can enter Somersett. The association just for living in Somersett is $150 per month. If you live in one of the sub gated communites you will pay in addition to the $150 per month. Somersett like much of Reno is currently in the throws of price adjustments due to the downturn in the real estate market. Pulte homes reduced the prices of the homes in their community about $70k across the board since last fall. I have two price sheets reflecting this difference. You might consider the Canyon Pines subdivision. The association fee is $49 per month and it seems like you’re in Somersett but you don’t pay as much. If you go to lakemont.com you can find the sub there. Remember, even though new homes have price lists everything is negotiable, especially in today’s market.

[2sleepy]

Somersett is a lovely area, it's managed by AMI which is a good homeowner's assn management firm. The area has been hit hard by falling prices lately, and some folks who bought at the top of the market are not in a good position right now. It tends to be windier in Somersett than in some other areas in Reno. The amenities that you get from your $150 a month are really pretty amazing and include swimming pools, tennis courts a huge clubhouse with cool stuff like a sauna room and and arts and crafts room.

[norby413]

"Anyone have any experience? My husband will be working just south of the airport, is that commute realistic? My kids are entering school in the next year or so: any insight on the schools in this area?"

Price range you had in mind?
Commute is no big deal. The only backups are during rush "hour" (really, just an hour) Is he working 9-5 kind of hours?
Were building right now in Canyon Pines (ready in Aug). Just above Sommerset. There are other nice gated type communities in the Caughlin Ranch area, about 5 minutes south of Sommerset.
Reno has some downside, but most people that move here love it. Everyplace has things to criticize. (People in Hawaii complain too!)

[renoguy]

Norby, did you get Lakemont to make you a deal? We were actually looking at living there but didn't win the lottery at the time (2003, funny now) and ended up getting a house not too far from there. We were going to get the Oak Haven. What model did you get?

[mimi2007]

Norby or Renoguy, what is your opinion of Lakemont Homes? Because of your posts, I looked up their website and see that they have very attractive homes. We will tour a couple of their communities when we come out in two weeks. Are they know for quality, etc? Thanks.

[renoguy]

Hi Mimi,

Architecturally Lakemont builds some of the nicest homes in Reno for the price. Their neighborhoods always turn out looking really nice. Granite ridge is their best looking in my opinion. They still have some left. Careful though, the association there is very controlling. I don't know what it's like in Canyon Pines. I'd be curious to hear from some one who lives there about the association.

With regard to quality I'd say they're no better or worse than any other. Most builders in Reno contract out subs and it's very common to see the same group of folks working on different builder's neighborhoods. For example the worst heater contractor in town is Caballero and unfortunately you'll see them doing the work on most new homes. The lowest bidder. Again, most builders use Root industries for their cabinets. Root is okay but expect white covered particle board inside with a wood face.

My only warning with Lakemont is their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. My wife and I almost bought a house from them along the river. When we needed to back out of the contract which we could at the time they were very hard to deal with from that point forward. It was like pulling teeth to get my deposit back. Some friends of mine that live in Granite Ridge had to hire a house inspector and threaten to sue them in order for them to make the last repairs before the one year was up. Believe it or not, I wouldn't necessarily let this stop me as most builder's customer service isn't that great once the home is done and you've signed on the line. I live in a Bailey & Dutton home whose customer service turned out to be pretty decent.

Good luck on your search. Lakemont has nice looking houses, I think you'll like what you see.

[mimi2007]

Thanks renoguy. Believe me, we are going to kick the tires in all of the developments we visit. Online, I liked the looks of a couple of the Granite Ridge models, but you never really know till you actually see them. I don't mind a Homeowner's Association 'cause a few rules do keep neighborhoods nice, but I wouldn't want them to be unreasonable. We have one in our neighborhood, but the neighbors are all pleasant and easygoing and deal with each other in a neighborly way instead of making issues out of things.

I called Sierra Canyon recently and came away a bit underwhelmed. Last time we came out, we toured models at Toscana. We liked one of the models alot, but the only two lots left (in our price range) were in pretty awful locations. Also, we stopped at the recreation center and everyone there was about 20 years older than us (and looked grumpy), so we felt it wasn't for us. We don't have to rush -- we may just rent for a year.

[norby413]

renoguy,
We signed up about 4 months ago. They had just lowered their prices 70grand, and we got them to give us 20k in upgrade credit. They are definitely trying to get some of that money back with their upgrade pricing! We decided to have some upgrades done after the house is built to save money. (A/C,Carpet) To give you an example, for a medium high carpet upgrade with best pad, they wanted 14 thousand! I can have the standard ripped out and equivalent carpet/pad put in for about 8. They wanted 7 grand for the dual A/C. When I looked up the model they would have installed, it was out of date and near bottom rung. Same price after the fact gets me top of the line.
Were paying their markup for granite,tile, etc, since I don't want the whole house torn up. Still, nice houses, nice area and they seem to be building it right.