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Old 02-18-2010, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Vero Beach, Fl
2,976 posts, read 13,334,839 times
Reputation: 2265

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My husband and I are beginning to look at Del Webb communities. I am not sure it is a right fit for us, but would be grateful to hear your opinions, experiences, thoughts about these communities. Any input would be great.

Since we live in Florida, we are considering commmunities out of this state.

Thank you! I appreciate your thoughts and recommendations.
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Old 02-18-2010, 03:00 PM
 
4,096 posts, read 11,418,829 times
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Beware of buying into communities being built. Our friends bought into the Indianapolis Del Webb. While DW did build the community building, the economy put a halt to sales and as a result building. Prices have actually fallen and it appears it will be decades to be finished, if ever. The population size right now does not support a lot of the activities the residents looked forward to and the location is way way out of town. So it is very inconvenient to get out of the community.

I would buy into a finished or very close to being finished community and pay particular attention to location. Visit frequently and talk to the residents.
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Old 02-19-2010, 12:47 PM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,248,279 times
Reputation: 2326
We looked at several DW locations and decided against the whole idea of planned communities with their attendant additional costs. The fee structure is based on assumptions that everything (full build out and everyone pays their fees on time), I thought it to be unrealistic and not worth the risk. We opted to stay in a regular neighborhood and find that a DW community would be irrelevant to our retirement lifestyle. We travel quite a bit and will continue to do so until its time for the rockers.

Last edited by Pilgrim21784; 02-19-2010 at 12:56 PM..
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Old 02-19-2010, 07:03 PM
 
31,672 posts, read 40,881,756 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilgrim21784 View Post
We looked at several DW locations and decided against the whole idea of planned communities with their attendant additional costs. The fee structure is based on assumptions that everything (full build out and everyone pays their fees on time), I thought it to be unrealistic and not worth the risk. We opted to stay in a regular neighborhood and find that a DW community would be irrelevant to our retirement lifestyle. We travel quite a bit and will continue to do so until its time for the rockers.
That is it in a nutshell.
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Old 02-19-2010, 08:17 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,593,177 times
Reputation: 9975
Del Webb is no longer the Del Webb of old, it is a sub division of Pulte. I doubt they care as much as Del Webb did
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Old 02-21-2010, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Bay Area
51 posts, read 201,819 times
Reputation: 52
Well I'm sorry to disagree with the responders so far, but I ACTUALLY LIVE in a Del Webb community, and we love it. We're in CA, at the Sun City Shadow Hills in Indio. We're in the Coachella Valley, about 20 miles from Palm Springs.

We moved here for several reasons. It's a gated community, there is an 18 hole and a 9 hole (soon to also be 18) golf course, tennis courts, two swimming pools (indoor and outdoor), a gym the size of a 24 hr Nautilus, bocce ball courts, putting greens, you name it. Aerobics and Pilates classes. Art instruction, dance instruction, I can't even begin to think of all that is offered. There is a list of perhaps 100 different clubs. I'm not much of a joiner but my wife is, she participates in the Ladies Putters, the Ladies 9 Holers, a couple of Bunco groups, the Ladies Golf Club.

We went to Casino night just last night, put on by the Entertainment Club. The Oak Ridge Boys put on two concerts in our community center on Valentines Day. The Health Club is in the middle of a Fitness Challenge.

If you want something to do here, all you have to do is look. If you don't want to particpate, you don't have to. Some folks tell us the HOA fee is high but coming from the SF Bay Area, it's less than we were used to paying up there.

Oh, we're still building. Phase 1 was completed in 2005, Phase II (where we live) is just completing the last few houses now, and Phase III (the final phase) kicked off last summer and is actively being built now. Of course the economy being what it is these days, DW / Pulte isn't building on speculation, they have to have a deposit on a house before they'll start construction. Some do fall out before building is complete, and to be honest those end up being the best bargains in the community as Pulte doesn't want to hold them.
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Old 02-23-2010, 05:30 AM
 
Location: Las Vegas
14,229 posts, read 29,902,516 times
Reputation: 27684
I looked at a few over 55 places and I wasn't comfortable there. And so many of these places have golf as the main attraction and I don't play golf. I like the open space golf courses provide but I don't want to pay for a course I won't use.

So living in a regular neighborhood was a better choice for me.
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Old 02-23-2010, 01:32 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,483,446 times
Reputation: 18301
I now people taht live in them and love it. Others that are not has happy but none hate it;it just wasn't what they thought.But like they said alot of neighborhoods are aloy worse and they can now change some much.I guess that is the reason we will see more and more HOAs and gated communtites coming.
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Old 02-24-2010, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Oxygen Ln. AZ
9,319 posts, read 18,678,474 times
Reputation: 5764
We would like to find a spot without HOA's or gates. Just a little plot of dirt to build a small home with a workshop on to do our classic cars in peace. We love AZ and would rather stay here, but we will keep looking for that dirt in other states as well. Sigh.
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Old 02-24-2010, 04:53 PM
 
9,470 posts, read 9,312,471 times
Reputation: 8175
What worries me about the 55+ communities is the number of snowbirds who will leave in the summer. A full-timer could end up on a street with hardly any neighbors for months. That would be a strange sensation.
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