55 + Communities - Garages? Basements? (Middletown, Smyrna: sales, HOA, condos)

[ClassicVWs]

Hey everyone, going to retire in a few years and have all plans on moving to Delaware. Mid state to the south and not to close to the water. Still have flooding shock from living in Jersey.

My question is we would consider a 55 + community but I need atleast a 2 car garage, I have a couple show cars. And do any of them have basements as I also play the drums and need a sound proof room. If not we will have to buy a house.

[nuts2uiam]

Sorry I am confused, are you wanting a house with a basement in a 55+ or a townhome or condo?

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by nuts2uiam

Sorry I am confused, are you wanting a house with a basement in a 55+ or a townhome or condo?

Nuts....sounds like they think 55+ communities in Delaware are limited to townhouses or condos. That makes 2 of us being confused

[NJBoy3]

Also looking to leave New Jersey. Been looking in Delaware for a few years now.

A 55 community is an attempt to keep buy in and maintenance costs at an absolute minimum. A basement can add 15K easily. Another garage can add 5K easily and take up additional land, $$... Thus you generally don't see these in 55s.

Also water is an issue in Delaware much as in southern New Jersey, maybe more so. Not a lot of basements mid to lower state.

With your desires I would not rule out central PA. Maybe not a 55. Plenty of nice little houses outside of the HOA environment in PA that are going to give you what you want. But it is going to take you time to weed out the areas with crazy taxes.

[rothbear]

As Nuts and rdlr stated, there are other options for 55+ other than condos. I really don't think you will find what you need in a condo, but you will have better luck in a single family. Although you do need to make sure it is built properly due to the high water table, there are some places that have basements available. Off the top of my head I know that Champion's Club offers basements as an option. There is also one a bit further north (maybe around Middletown??) that offers basements as friends of a friend of ours backed out from a place here in Noble's Pond because they wanted a basement instead of a crawl space. Longacre Village had basements as well, but it would have to be a resale as they aren't building any new single family homes. But be aware that a basement is a rather expensive option, so be forewarned about that.

All the single family homes that we saw were 2 car garages. Plus some of the places offer options to increase the size of the garage. Again I know that Champion's Club offers various bump outs to the garages, or at least they did when we were looking. You would just have to speak with the sales people to see what was available.

I think that the soundproofing would be something you had to do after you closed. I don't think anyone offers that.

[rdlr]

A 55+ community often overlooked, is the Village of Eastridge, with a Smyrna address, and off Brenford Road. They have basements, and the water table is not as high as in others. It's a booming community, lots of new construction going on.