Sun City Carolina Lakes (SCCL) (real estate, countertops, new home)

[jp9nine9]

Are there many pre-owned homes ,is it better to buy from a private seller or to purchase new ?
We are coming to our place in Lincolnton in January for a few months so we will have time to visit SCCL. thanks jp

[Kathie13]

Hi: Sorry if this is a partial duplicate. Just registered and during previous partial post, lost all I had written, so not sure if it disappeared or showed up unfinished.

Husband & I considering SCCL and would love some info:
1) tax advantages SC vs. NC
2) Carolina Commons - stores that are there
3) closeness to SCCL of stores: walmart, costco or sam's (wholesale clubs), mall, what supermarket there? General info. on stores around and approximate mileage to them.
4) your age (if u don't mind)we want to be sure there are enough of our age around (56 yrs.)
5) your home chosen and thoughts possitive vs. negative.
6) ease of getting around. Hubby going to work around Arco Corporate Drive area, CLT. Traffic problems in going/coming from work and generally to CLT?
7) had you checked any other active adult communities in SC and why did you choose SCCL
8) Light Rail info. and opinion of it?

Guess that is a good start. Appreciate all your efforts in answers we get. Any general info. you want to provide on SCCL/area around/SC in general possitive or negative welcomed and appreciated.
Kathie

[jp9nine9]

The sitr below has great information about taxes.

Retirement Living - Taxes by State: New York - Wyoming

[rothbear]

Originally Posted by jp9nine9

Are there many pre-owned homes ,is it better to buy from a private seller or to purchase new ?
We are coming to our place in Lincolnton in January for a few months so we will have time to visit SCCL. thanks jp

All depends on your time frame and how much input you want on the items inside. Here are my opinions of the pros and cons.

Resell Homes -- Pros: You can move into them quicker and a lot of time they have items installed that you would have to pay for later (curtains/blinds, irrigation system, ceiling fans, already painted inside, landscaping). Plus it also gives you a chance to get into one of the areas that are already built out and have no more houses being built in them. (We call them neighborhoods or pods). There also may be some upgrades already installed that you would pay for later. Cons: You take what is in the inside as far as colors of rugs/countertops/appliances/paint, etc., builder warranty is expired for the most part, and you don't really get to know the "guts" of the house while it is being built. You may not get as good of a deal because the seller doesn't really have as much "wiggle" room as the builder.

New Homes -- Pros: You get to pick your lot location and the model of home that you want built, the exterior colors and what they call "elevation", which means how fancy you get on the outside. You get to pick, or upgrade, inside amenities and colors, plus get get a brand new home pretty much to your specifications (as much as you can get from Pulte, anyway). Builder tends to have more wiggle room on the price or upgrade options. Cons: But it takes approximately 5-6 months to get it built, plus there are several meetings with the construction people along the way which, although not mandatory, I would strongly recommend you attend so if you live at distance this could be a problem. Even though it is new, there are things you will probably want to add which will be extra money. We bought new and have probably put in another $10k over the course of 1.5 years just doing upgrades inside and out. And these weren't major items!

[rothbear]

Hope this helps you............

Originally Posted by Kathie13

Husband & I considering SCCL and would love some info:
1) tax advantages SC vs. NC -- Someone linked below to this info
2) Carolina Commons - stores that are there -- Harris Teeter supermarket, UPS store, nail salon, pet store, CVS, Wendy's, BB&T bank, large medical building, spirits (liquor) store, AAA insurance, a hair salon (I think)........and couple more misc ones, but I have never been in them so I can't remember.
3) closeness to SCCL of stores: walmart, costco or sam's (wholesale clubs), mall, what supermarket there? General info. on stores around and approximate mileage to them. -- There are a lots of things near. Within 5-6 or so miles in a couple directions you have 2 Lowe's Home Improvement, another Harris Teeter, a Lowe's Foods, a Food Lion, several sub and pizza shops and other fast food, several restaurants, several gas stations, various misc. small shops. The closest large mall (Carolina Place Mall) is about 9-10 miles away by the local known shortcut. It is also located right in the middle of a huge retail area, including BJ's and Sam's Club, tons of furniture stores, Home Depot, ToysRUs and much, much more. Not too far up from there is South Boulevard where there is a lot more retail area. Blakeney retail area is about 10 miles in another direction and includes the closest Target and bunches of other stuff. Rock Hill Galleria is about 16 miles away. The other side of Fort Mill is currently the nicest WalMart (Tega Cay actually) plus a lot of other retail stores and restaurants., probably about 16 or so miles, BUT they are in the middle of building a WalMart just 5 miles up the road, which will open late next year. There is a HUGE upscale mall (SouthPark) probably about 1/2 hour up the road. In other words, lots of shoppinig areas easily within decent driving distance.
4) your age (if u don't mind)we want to be sure there are enough of our age around (56 yrs.) -- I am 57 and hubby is 58. There are lots of "50 somethings" around. Neighbors on both sides of me are in the same age range. Plus there are a lot of "olders" that are just as active and fun as we are. My neighbor 2 doors up is in her late 70s and is still pretty spry.
5) your home chosen and thoughts possitive vs. negative. -- We have a Surrey Crest. It is pretty much the middle of all the houses. It really just comes down to your own personal preference and financial situation. My kitchen and the main entrance is what sold us on this model (in our price range). Also depends on what upgrades you want (there are tons of them available). We chose a basic outside because we wanted to put more money into the inside stuff. The one thing that Pulte has done is pull out a ton of stuff that was standard to be able to lower the base price a lot. For instance, granite was standard when we bought, but now laminate is standard and you can upgrade to Corian or double upgrade to granite. So you can really decide whether you want a larger house with fewer upgrades, or a smaller house with more upgrades.
6) ease of getting around. Hubby going to work around Arco Corporate Drive area, CLT. Traffic problems in going/coming from work and generally to CLT? -- I'm not really sure where Arco is, but I can tell you that the upper end of 521 and all of I-77 and I-485 can get really traffic bound during rush hour. I-77 and I-485 is pretty much solid between 4:45 and 6pm at night. It is totally ridiculous. Last time I drove down from PA I hit Charlotte at 4:30 and it took me about 1.5 hours to get from northern Charlotte area on I-77 to home, total of maybe 30 miles. Because the upper end of 521 is in the Ballantyne area (which gets ridiculously tied up) it is pretty nasty during that time, but does gradually thin out after the SC line. The one thing is that he would just have to try different ways and see what works best for him.
7) had you checked any other active adult communities in SC and why did you choose SCCL -- We looked at Gold Hill but they were all resales and anything in our price range was too small. We also looked at Sun Valley (Ryan Homes) in Indian Trail, NC but discovered it was not age restricted and that was our main qualification. We also looked at a place up in Hickory but they were villas and we weren't interested in those.
8) Light Rail info. and opinion of it? -- I can't really tell you about this as I haven't used it. Closest station is up on South Boulevard, probably about 1/2 hour drive.

[jp9nine9]

Thanks rothbear

[staywarm2]

SCCL
We recently visited SCCL. We liked the amenities center a lot and especially liked the new home model, Crestwood Meadow. However, we were disappointed in the quantity of "plain Jane" houses with only plain vinyl siding exteriors. I thought it made the area look cheap. The Manor houses mostly had some brick or stone decor and they looked much nicer.

I'm also concerned that the lowered price of the "base" house will draw a lot more snow birds and that there will be fewer year-round residents.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more shopping much closer to SCCL. I guess in time more stores will move in, but we're looking for convenience now.

[jp9nine9]

We are looking there and will be snow birds that will be away July August and September.
Also RV'ing .. It might be good to be in a development with limited access for security when we travel.

[rothbear]

Originally Posted by staywarm2

SCCL
We recently visited SCCL. We liked the amenities center a lot and especially liked the new home model, Crestwood Meadow. However, we were disappointed in the quantity of "plain Jane" houses with only plain vinyl siding exteriors. I thought it made the area look cheap. The Manor houses mostly had some brick or stone decor and they looked much nicer.

I'm also concerned that the lowered price of the "base" house will draw a lot more snow birds and that there will be fewer year-round residents.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more shopping much closer to SCCL. I guess in time more stores will move in, but we're looking for convenience now.

Wow, I'm sorry you feel that way. Especially since MY house is only vinyl sided. The reason? We had a limited budget of what we could afford to spend due to the fact we hadn't (and still haven't) sold our other house yet in PA. And when it does sell, it will be for less than this one cost because we are selling in rural PA and not someplace that is an expensive city. We made the decision that we wanted to spend more money on the inside for things for our comfort and enjoyment, such as a sunroom and nicer kitchen cabinets, and not a lot on the outside for other people to enjoy, but not us. We have all kinds of people here, every one of us having pride in our homes and just because we all can't afford the fancy, dancy Manor homes with full brick front, doesn't mean we are cheap or don't deserve to have a home here in SCCL. I'm so very glad that my neighbors don't share your opinion and they accept me for who I am and not what I can afford. I wish you luck to find that highly upscale community that you feel would be better suited to your lifestyle. You might want to try Lake Norman.

Originally Posted by jp9nine9

We are looking there and will be snow birds that will be away July August and September.
Also RV'ing .. It might be good to be in a development with limited access for security when we travel.

There are quite a few people who still have homes in FL and go there for the winter. In fact the neighbor behind me and one across from me have already left for the winter. Another neighbor across the street usually leaves in December, but she is renting to someone right now (they discovered they had Chinese drywall) so she won't be doing that. We all watch each others houses when away. It's nice.

However, I have some not so good news about your second statement. Yes, we have a "guard" at the gates, but we are NOT a limited access community due to the fact that our streets are county owned. At least the ones that have transitioned are owned by the county, and eventually they all will be county owned. So the law says that they can't keep anyone out who wants to come in. The "guard" is actually just a greeter and doesn't have the authority to stop anyone at all. Supposedly there is a sheriff car at night, but I haven't been out late enough to notice if they are still around. I suppose that would deter someone from coming in, but if they are bold enough and don't "set off" any mental alarms of the person at the gate, they can still lie and get in the gate. We do have community watch programs but have had some thefts lately. Frankly, I wish we were gated (and was under your same impression until it was too late to discover otherwise), but we are told it would cost too much. I don't understand that because it's not like the streets get salted or plowed!

[rothbear]

Originally Posted by jp9nine9

The sitr below has great information about taxes.

Retirement Living - Taxes by State: New York - Wyoming

One thing I want to mention about the property taxes here that you won't find out in a general discussion. Yearly we are assessed two extra taxes that doesn't appear for other people.

First, each home (along with 2 other newer communities in the area) pays an extra $190/year to subsidize the local Fire/EMS/Emergency services. Currently that amount is maxed to what was originally approved, and although we are hoping it will eventually go down when more houses are sold, we all know there is no such thing as taxes decreasing. Not everybody gets hit with it, only three specific communities.

And second, each home also pays a special assessment fee for "infrastructure". This year it is $372. Basically, Pulte took out a $20 million/30 year bond and all the residents are assessed for it. I have yet to have someone explain to me what "infrastructure" they are talking about as I figured the cost of the house included the development of the properties, but I do know that it is also paying for the new Del Webb library. So when you read about Pulte building the library, keep in mind the we, the property owners, are actually paying for it, and NOT Pulte. I think Pulte "might" have donated the land, but they are definately not paying for the building of it.

Both these items were things that Pulte bargained with the county in order for the county to let them build.