Pros and Cons of living in Sun City Georgetown (Howe: rental, mover)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by JPS1

Everything that I have said can be supported by verifiable data. All of it is available to the people living in Sun City or contemplating living in Sun City who will take the time to look it up.

A quick look at your posts (you know people can do that just by clicking on your name, right?) verifies that all of your posts on C-D are about Sun City, and a quick look at an assortment of them turns up that they are primarily, if not exclusively, negative. That that is the only thing you talk about on here does really look like a vendetta, as stated by another poster who noticed the same thing. Which is fine, it's just obvious.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by JPS1

Who are we? Are you speaking for yourself and using an inappropriate pronoun, or are you speaking for others?

Well, at least 3 have mentioned it, including two who pretty much never agree on anything else at all.

[BijouBaby]

Originally Posted by JPS1

Who are we? Are you speaking for yourself and using an inappropriate pronoun, or are you speaking for others?

That's the Royal We, as in "We are not amused."

[JPS1]

This is a thread about the pros and cons of living in Sun City, TX. It is not just the pros. Believe it or not, it also includes the cons. And there are plenty of them. At least for people who know how to dig below the surface, which is not a skill found among most of the people who live in Sun City. Most of them don't know how to read a financial statement let alone interpret it. It is in the HOA's financial statements that one finds many of the cons of Sun City.

What else would you expect me to post to a discussion about the pros and cons of Sun City, TX?

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by JPS1

This is a thread about the pros and cons of living in Sun City, TX. It is not just the pros. Believe it or not, it also includes the cons. And there are plenty of them. At least for people who know how to dig below the surface, which is not a skill found among most of the people who live in Sun City. Most of them don't know how to read a financial statement let alone interpret it. It is in the HOA's financial statements that one finds many of the cons of Sun City.

What else would you expect me to post to a discussion about the pros and cons of Sun City, TX?

JPS1 - real estate brokers and sales agents only want to see and promote positive comments about housing so take their comments with a grain of salt. Their livelihood depends upon promoting a false, uhh, positive image about real estate especially those "master planned communities".* It's in the best interest of the vendors and the real estate folks to churn property.

You are told how great it is as a prospective purchaser - then when you find out it isn't so great you are told: i) "if you don't like it, move" (how beneficial to the management company and real estate agents who will make more money again off of your move) and ii) "you knew it when you moved here" (which of course you did not if the real estate professionals and management company were successful). Aside from all the other problems you've pointed out about Sun City, watch what happens when you try looking for non-HOA property generally.



*the residents aren't the beneficiaries of the "master plan"

[riaelise]

Actually, I don't have an issue with JPS1's posts. They provide definite "cons" to go with all of "pros". Nothing beats input from actual neighbors. As I stated somewhere in this thread, my mom is relocating from New York City to the northern suburbs in October. We did visit Sun City, as well as other non-age restricted communities. There are definite things to like about Sun City. There's a sense of serenity that you feel the moment you drive into the community. There's so much to do for active seniors. Georgetown is a visually beautiful place to live and Sun City uses the local beauty to its advantage. And then there's the sense of community. We were embraced by prospective neighbors even though we were just looking. Sun City is definitely in consideration but both my mom and I do not like the cookie-cutter style, boxey homes that Pulte is churning out. The older homes look far better but my mom is leaning towards new construction, I'm afraid. The lack of trees in the new builds and fencing is a negative as well. I don't mind HOAs, but if I'm to understand the golf membership isn't free so I don't see why people should be paying for a membership and have their dues support it as well. (I admit that I don't really know the particulars with that).

While we won't base housing decisions by one person's view on the internet, it does give you some food for thought.

[austin-steve]

There are pros and cons to everything, including everyplace we can choose to live. I think though that when one individual wants to hold forth with repeated denunciations of the neighborhood in which he lives, it comes across as simply having an ax to grind.

It's one thing to add your thoughts and opinion to the mix, as part of a discussion. It's another to think you're entitled to raise your hand and repeat the same thing over and over and over again, trying to beat it into people's heads. That's not persuasive, and it dilutes whatever credibility and consideration might have been given to earlier comments. It perhaps does the opposite of the message that was intended to be shared.

Sun City is the perfect answer for many of its inhabitants. It draws residents from all 50 states, who choose to come to Texas. Most are glad they made the decision. Some probably regret it, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes life doesn't work out as we had hoped. We can harbor anger and resentment about it, blame others, or we can adjust, make a new choice if that's an option, and move on.

Steve

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Well, at least 3 have mentioned it, including two who pretty much never agree on anything else at all.

That's pretty funny !

[BijouBaby]

I definitely agree that everyone has a right to say what's on their mind about Sun City. I do get that and think its a good thing to express your point of view.

That said (and I am NOT a realtor nor care much about real estate in general), I've lived here for over a year and truly I don't see anything that someone needs to "fear" about the community. All highways and very heavily traveled roads surrounding it, very unfortunately, are going to have accidents happen, even fatal accidents. I lived in Cedar Park previously and there were so many accidents happening on 1431, 183, Parmer... it's just going to happen with sometimes very congested highways, freeways, ect. It's a relief to get to Georgetown/Sun City on my commute to/from home to Austin. 1431 was truly a nightmare to travel at rush times, as was Parmer. And in Cedar Park, for the 10 years I lived there, it was a never-ending zone of construction with those huge trucks hauling limestone from the surrounding quarries, flinging rocks and dust out of the beds. IMO, they were worse to travel with/around than what I encounter on I-35 every day.

I have enjoyed living in Sun City. there is the HOA fee of 90-ish per month. Not much more than the Cedar Park neighborhood HOA fee which gave NOTHING in return. In SC, I get a beautiful place to live, very well maintained, very serene, great neighbors, lots of nature all around, lots to do if I take advantage of that. The house floorplan is okay. Could perhaps get more for my money than elsewhere, but the environment makes it worth it, the house construction is very solid. It's an earlier built Del Webb house, not Pulte, so that's good. A very well built house that I'm happy with.

All things considered is a big step up from the house in Cedar Park of roughly equal value just because of the beautiful, secure environment, peace and quiet, and generally a very pleasant place to live.

That's my take. I'm not pushing for Sun City, I have no interest in promoting it. Everyone has different needs, so to each their own. I just don't like to see people hating on it, when really, it's just a nice retirement community - take it or leave it. No hassles. There's the HOA fee, but I think it's very reasonable for what you get in return.

My .02 worth....

[JPS1]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Sun City is the perfect answer for many of its inhabitants. It draws residents from all 50 states, who choose to come to Texas. Most are glad they made the decision.
Steve

Many have chosen to move on. In fact 53.3 per cent of the people that have moved to Sun City have moved on. That works out to an average turnover rate of 5.55 per cent per year. This can be verified if you can get the HOA's records.

Thinking about buying a new car? You can get objective reviews on cars from Edmonds.com or a variety of other objective sources.

Thinking about buying into Sun City. Or real estate in general. Forget about finding any objective reviews of the pros and cons of living in the community. Or the real estate industry in general.

This site is the only place that I know of where a potential buyer, as well as the current residents, can get both sides of the story. It is important that they know the pros and cons of living in Sun City.

Every post that I have logged can be fact checked. Everyone!