Need help!! Moving to Williamsburg

[tjs68]

Not haviing seen a reference to Colonial Heritage in this thread, I ask if anyone has any comments on this development?

[Mr Williamsburg]

It is one of only two age restricted (55+) developments in the Williamsburg/ James City County area. I have personally sold numerous homes there, All of my clients are happy they bought there. It's not for everyone, smaller lots, homes are close together, very similar in design. Lots of parties among the homeowners.Great deals on new construction. Everything is standard, granite, upgraded appliances, cabinets. Resale will be difficult until new prices increase. When finished there will be 1600 + homes. At one time there were plans for 3+ acre estates in the back.Great Golf Course, very challenging. Great indoor and outdoor pool, exercise facility. Their HOA fees have now increased to $215 a month which doesn't include lawn maintenance. They don't have an activities director anymore. My neighbor was the social/ activities director. She was laid off in December. I don't believe they have any plans to replace her. ( for budget reasons)
Do you have specific questions that you would like answered ?

[alcurl]

Originally Posted by kcrossley

Wow! That's a huge spread. What do you know about Stonehouse?

We had a lot at Stonehouse for a couple of years, and sold it when they kept sticking their fingers in my wallet!! Restrictions and building are very tight and they nickel and dime you to death. I had to pay $75/quarter for a 25' private road that wasn't built for a year after I bought the lot. Personally, I don't want anything to do with "homeowner's associations". Everyone wants to be the boss.

[dvcgal]

After living in Williamsburg for 5+ years now, the area has really grown on me. New Town, in my opinion, is great. Before New Town came along we had a tiny movie theater that we never went to because it was in the Food Lion shopping center off Rt 5 and was always dark and creepy looking, and we did not have a descent burger joint or a place just to walk around and breath fresh air in the evening. With any night life comes some 'crime' and I use the term loosely because there is very little crime in Williamsburg, including the New Town area. As far as the kids unsupervised haning out at New Town are concerned, they are just kids. If I had to admit to half the stupid things I did at 13, 14, and 15 I would have to write a novel! The problem is children grow up into adults and adults tend to forget the way they were and the way they acted when they were that age. Now, I'm not sure about the drugs and I'm not about to start that fight, but let me assure you all of one thing: if there are drugs circulated at New Town, they were being circulated previous to New Town! Read up on all of the "pharm" parties that take place in rural areas such as New Kent and Toano! And like one person mentioned on here, the 'Pimp and Ho Party' that took place in Ford's Colony under some parental supervision! Trust me, New Town is not the enemy nor the source from where this stuff is originating! All things considered, Williamsburg is extremely safe and has a very low crime rate compared to other cities in the Hampton Roads areas.

[mlamlt]

hi, we just moved from the southtowns (south of the merimac tunnel) back to NY...we lived in VA for 4 years. We are planning on moving the Wellington area of Florida as soon as the opportunity arises. We traveled from the southtowns to Newport News everyday for work at Northrop Grumman. The trip from Williamsburg is not too bad, but the trip back can be very bad...64 goes from 4 lanes to 2 lanes and the traffic in all of hampton roads area is very discouraging. Maybe I was just too used to people not tailgating, or cutting you off with only inches to spare before hitting you, or just plain driving as if they don't care too much about anyone else on the roads but themselves. Williamsburg is a great area, i am speaking only through a friend of mine that was born in the southtowns but lived many, many yrs in williamsburg. She has bought some more property up there and is building a house on it and moving back there. There is alot for the kids to do she says, and she really liked it there. The real estate taxes are lower than many other places...but the personal property taxes will kill you if you own alot of "toys" or new vehicles. We have a dodge dually 1 ton...and the personal property taxes were over a $1000.00 a yr. just for the truck. i just wanted to tell you about that, we didn't realize this and we ended up paying just as much in taxes as living here in NY which has no personal property taxes. I hope this wasn't too negative, just thought you might want to hear some of the real information that you might not have gotten otherwise. There are many really great things to do in the area and I would be happy to talk to you about more if you want...good luck with your move.

[TBDBITL]

Ok, let me get this straight. If I own two cars (not owned by the bank), I have to pay property tax on those vehicles?

I certainly hope this is not the case. Seems silly.