55+ Communities - Are you happy there? (supplement, friendly, depression, fighting)

[nancy thereader]

Wow, frank. ( a rep for you because frank d. is my Dad's name lol) It sounds wonderful there. I would love to know more about it. I am retiring in June, but I am also a single woman. How would an over 55 place be for me? Would I be uncomfortable there w/ only couples ?

[faithfulFrank]

Dear Nancy,
I am a bit new there, but our story of buying there is crazy. We basically visited there for about a week, staying with some friends of ours whom I work with up north here. They bought in The Plantation a few years before, and always raved about it.

We had no intention of ever thinking about retiring to florida, or buying there.
We just fell in love with it. The tax situation, the weather, the fact that Florida treats my pension nice, no state tax, etc,etc......won us over. I saw the house across the street from our friends, liked it, and before you know it, we bought it.

I do know there are many singles there, and many who are not "55+". I'm 49 and my wife is 50. Many there still work, many do not. When I'm there I do not feel like I'm in a nursing home.

I think the biggest difference is the strong sense of community there. I've lived up here in NY my whole life, yet I feel more at home down there then up here. My neighbors are awesome. It is hard to explain, but you just feel safe and cared for there. I know that if anything happened to me, my wife would be comfortable and cared for. There is always a lot to do, both in the community and in the area surrounding it.

There are many nice 55+ communities and it would be hard to make a bad choice. I think In was just lucky to know so little at the time, but to have chosen so wisely. I have gotten to know many other people in the neighboring 55+ communities....it's great. Within a few miles of each other we have many nice 55+ communities, like Arlington Ridge, Legacy, Lakes of Mt Dora, etc,etc.....

All this, and Orlando only about 30 minutes or so away.

In short, I am very happy with our choice of The Plantation.....but I want to also add that there are many other awesome 55+ communities in the area....it is hard to go wrong. There are minor differences in each of them, and one should consider things like HOA fees, CCD's, how well run they are, etc,etc....

Frank D.

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by faithfulFrank

Dear elizamary,
Yes, I do own the house and land....and bushes and trees and those darn weeds in the flowerbeds.....

Perhaps that is the bebefit of owning in a 55+ community that the developers turned completely over to the owners when it became "built out" a few years ago. Since we all own it, and it is governed by the owners, they (we) have control over the rates, etc. I do know that our community is very much "in the black" money-wise.

Some places cannot say that....good to check it out. We also have no CCD's to pay, like at The Villages. etc.

Frank D.

We were down in Feb and stayed next to Arlington Ridge. My cousin has a place.
And I'm very familiar with leesburg, Mt Dora and the villiages. We went up to the villages one night for ourdoor entertainment and a neat shopping experience with the vendors.
We visited Melbourne, Orlando, Leesburg and Sarasota. So we were all over Florida.
Both my husband and I were considering retiring to Florida about 3 years ago.
Cypress Lakes invited us down for a weekend. Very nice community. They all are.
with much thought, we decided Flordia was out as our permant residence. the weather, oh god the weather. So humid. This past Feb when we were down, it was humid the whole month along with being drizzily and rainy.
Also, the summers.........so hot for so long.
My family is up north and it would be quite a hike.
But you are correct, the homes are gorgeous and nicely priced. But for the reasons I explained, it wouldn't of fit in our life.

We have a few neighbors that moved back from Florida in my development because the insurance was so high and that is if they could get it. Of course, the lived on the coast.

[GLS]

Originally Posted by staywarm2

My husband and I are trying to decide if we'd like living in a 55+ community. (We are in our 60's.) Are those of you who are or have lived in such a retirement community happy that you moved there? What are the pros and cons of moving to such a community?

We just bought in a 55+ community in Sacramento one month ago. Since we use it as a second house/office near work, and since we are so new, I'm not sure my comments will be much help. The community is brand new with only 71 residents and an eventual build-out of about 650 families. The people we have met so far are extremely nice, but the administrative control remains squarely with the builder at this point. The Board of Directors has three seats appointed by the builder, another one for the Facilities Manager (an employee of a management firm hired by the builder), one for the landowner who sold to the builder, and one for one of us residents. Eventually as more people move in the residents will be allowed more Board representation, but for now the control is with the builder and the emphasis is on cost containment.

Our monthly HOA fees are $215/month, but this is with a two year subsidy from the builder. They say the actual cost with only 71 families would be about $750/month. They just opened a beautiful 22,000 square foot lodge, but access after hours to most of the amenities, except the fitness center are limited after 6pm. The pool is not heated yet because of cost.

My final concern springs from my nonconformist lifestyle. We attended the Annual Meeting last week and the builder's representative on the Board stated they were going to develop some "guidelines" about the outside appearance of people's porches. This scares me.

I don't want to be unfair. The place is beautiful and the people are nice. I will let you know more when I get some real-life experience living there.

[Tesaje]

Originally Posted by GLS

Our monthly HOA fees are $215/month, but this is with a two year subsidy from the builder. They say the actual cost with only 71 families would be about $750/month. They just opened a beautiful 22,000 square foot lodge, but access after hours to most of the amenities, except the fitness center are limited after 6pm. The pool is not heated yet because of cost.

My final concern springs from my nonconformist lifestyle. We attended the Annual Meeting last week and the builder's representative on the Board stated they were going to develop some "guidelines" about the outside appearance of people's porches. This scares me.

These are the things that make me think that these types of communities would not be a place I want to live unless I get really old and need a lot of help. I like the diversity of appearance older neighborhoods develop and I'm not pleased by the more uniform appearances of the new developments. While I don't like obnoxious loud neighbors with broken cars and washing machines in their front yards, I also don't like a too uniform appearance and the HOA dictating how everybody lives.

If the HOA tells me I can't have a pink and purple front door, it makes want to have one when my real preference is a pretty stained wood one.

[GLS]

Originally Posted by Tesaje

These are the things that make me think that these types of communities would not be a place I want to live unless I get really old and need a lot of help. I like the diversity of appearance older neighborhoods develop and I'm not pleased by the more uniform appearances of the new developments. While I don't like obnoxious loud neighbors with broken cars and washing machines in their front yards, I also don't like a too uniform appearance and the HOA dictating how everybody lives.

If the HOA tells me I can't have a pink and purple front door, it makes want to have one when my real preference is a pretty stained wood one.

I agree with you 100%, but I am not trying to be too critical until I settle in. I wonder if anyone else on this thread has satisfactorily worked through the CC&R vs individuality issue.

Actually, this place may be the perfect set-up for me since I am only there one or two nights per week. If the security works out to be good and the amenities at the lodge are made more accessible that will help. I don't want to sound condescending to my neighbors, but it is really an apartment substitute for me. I don't think I could live there full-time because I am used to maximum privacy. My current home is on five acres in the Sierra foothills, with a 300 acre ranch in front of me and a vineyard behind me.

PS: I will let you know if the "Guidelines" for porch decoration take a Nazi turn. In the interim, I have planted artificial flowers in my washing machine out front, and I clean the poop off the driveway since I am using LIVE flamingos in the yard.

[texdav]

That is exactly why when my wife and I move in about a year ;we don't want a HOA place. Too many restrictions .I also dislike the idea of a gated community. But it seems that in many places this is the coming thing especially gated communties.I know HOA are supposed to keep properties up to keep values up;but many of my friends say that it tends to attract people who don't paln on staying there more than five years and want the assurance of value.

[normie]

Originally Posted by texdav

That is exactly why when my wife and I move in about a year ;we don't want a HOA place. Too many restrictions.

Yes, finding out the restrictions is a smart move before you even consider looking at the house. Why fall in love with a house or a view only to find out you hate the community rules?

Personally, I like having a few HOA restrictions--as long as they aren't extreme. (Or, to put it another way, a few pages of restrictions is fine but a 50-page manual would be too much. )

IMO, I don't mind rules like "no junk cars on the lawn" or "parties must move inside after 11 p.m." or "no more than 4 unrelated people living in a house." I've lived in communities without any restrictions and my experience is that too many problems that can crop up... especially when several of the homes are rented out, which can happen when the economy is in a downturn.

But if you don't like retricted communities, that's cool. Every city has plenty of really nice rules-free neighborhoods.

Originally Posted by texdav

I also dislike the idea of a gated community. But it seems that in many places this is the coming thing especially gated communties.

Gated communities are nice from a security aspect. If the community is in an area with a lot of crime I would probably go for a gated community. But remember, residents of a gated community have to pay for their own roads. I like to keep my expenses low, so I did not choose a gated community.

Originally Posted by texdav

I know HOA are supposed to keep properties up to keep values up;but many of my friends say that it tends to attract people who don't paln on staying there more than five years and want the assurance of value.

?????

Interesting theory, but I don't buy it. I've owned quite a few homes in HOAs over my lifetime and I've never heard any of my neighbors say anything even remotely like this. I just moved from an HOA neighborhood after living there for 9 years--and we were still one of the newer neighbors when we left. Most of the neighbors were the original homeowners. Of course, that may just reflect the neighborhoods I choose to live in. The neighborhoods I've lived in are not any more or less transitional than the non-HOA neighborhoods down the road. I will agree, however, that HOAs tend to keep home values steady.

[normie]

Originally Posted by GLS

I agree with you 100%, but I am not trying to be too critical until I settle in. I wonder if anyone else on this thread has satisfactorily worked through the CC&R vs individuality issue.

If architectural conformity is your concern, seek a relatively large HOA with lower dues. Those HOAs don't have the sort of staff that would be required to enforce a bunch of petty rules. Really--think about it. They would have to hire people to walk up and down every neighborhood week after week, searching for infractions. If your HOA has small dues and a tiny staff they probably only care about major problems.

The best plan is to drive around the community and see for yourself if there is any "individuality." Many communities "look the other way" for small things like basketball hoops or the color of your front door. They only enforce the rule if it becomes something the neighbors complain about.

For example, in my old community they have a policy against putting artwork or stickers on your mailbox. This policy has never been enforced... yet. In other words, as long as people keep the artwork to things like sailboats, animals, flowers, geometric designs, etc. it's not enforced. One person even has a mailbox done up to look like a giant flamingo. No exactly my taste, but it's amusing and nobody has complained so it stays up. But if people start covering their mailboxes with political messages or racist designs or naked people in sexual positions, or something that might be offensive to the neighbors they will probably start enforcing the rule for everyone. Some people probably find that unfair, but frankly I think it keeps the peace.

[normie]

Originally Posted by normie

If your HOA has small dues and a tiny staff they probably only care about major problems.

One other thought about HOA rules:

Before you deliberately violate one, try to find out what the reason was behind the rule. Some rules that seem dumb actually have a point. For example, most HOAs really don't about your taste in landscaping. Plant pink flowers or white flowers or blue flowers--they don't care. But they might care if you plant something invasive or something with root issues (if you are planting next to the community sidewalk). You may not be aware that your landscaping plans alter the drainage for your neighbor's property... and that is something HOAs care about.

So why not save yourself a headache? All you have to do is subtly ask the HOA what the reason is behind certain rules.