How do you narrow down a community before visiting in person? (Lewes: HOA, townhomes)

[elliedeee]

Thanks EED! My community is out there somewhere. I just have to find it.

Nuts, The C of C sent me the street map and some other goodies. Thank you for your offer to mail it to me if they didn't.


Just about every community I research in Lewes claims they're close to the beaches.. and then I look at the map.

Sometimes they fib.

[DelawareLiz]

Elliedee--Yes, they do fib sometimes. My idea of "living at the beach" is that you can walk to the beach from your house. I live two miles as the crow flies from the beach and three miles to drive there given we have to drive around Whites Creek. I don't claim to live AT the beach--I tell people I live near the beach or the inland bays. Technically, we COULD walk but I don't consider six miles round-trip in heavy traffic as a normal walk to the beach.

Some summer people in my area live in Millville, Clarksville, Roxana, etc. and say they "live at the beach" and they're five-seven miles from the beach. Umm, no......they don't live at the beach. Year-round locals jokingly refer to such people as having a "five miles from the beach house."

[Sunrise2Sunset]

Originally Posted by elliedeee

Yep, I'm already keeping my eye on the sold homes and what they're going for. I've found there are a lot of resales that aren't selling since I've been looking. I think thats because they're competing with brand new homes but won't lower their price enough to attract a buyer. But my research is giving me a decent idea of what is selling and the price range it's selling for so when I do get down there.. hopefully, I'll be armed with info and can make reasonable offers.

Hi Elliedeee - Please tell me how you find out what a home has sold for. Thanks much!

[elliedeee]

Originally Posted by Sunrise2Sunset

Hi Elliedeee - Please tell me how you find out what a home has sold for. Thanks much!

Zillow.com

I'm sure there are other ways but I just use Zillow. I get home sale notifications from Zillow so if I see a house I like, or a community i might be interested in I just add it to my Zillow Favorites.. then later on I'll go back and look at my favorites to see what sold or is still on the market. Zillow tells you how long it's been on the market, price drops, and it tells you the property tax and HOA fees.
It also tells you what the house was originally purchased for, when it went up for sale and for how much it sold for over the years.

Any interesting houses that my agent sends me I look at on Zillow and add them to my favorites so I can keep an eye on them.



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[Suzsilk]

Originally Posted by elliedeee

I see the homes for sale online.. read the remarks about what the HOA provides.. look at the taxes, read whether it's run by propane or electric, has a pool, clubhouse etc. and have narrowed down some communities that way but is there any way to find out what living there is really like based on an internet search?

I google the individual community names but the most I've come up with are links to their HOA sites which I'm not permitted to access because I'm not part of that community.

Or am I going to have to visit each one in person?

Hi Elliedeee

We were in your position a few years ago. I feel that house hunting is a combination of many resources. We "heard" about Delaware before even looking at homes from people who had moved here from our home state. When vacationing in Bethany, we used a rainy day to drop in to Model Homes in that area. We looked at several different communities, asked questions and gathered facts about the builder specifications, home prices, HOA fees, taxes (some towns have additional taxes), amount of property with the home, quality of local schools, number of full time residents, and proximity to hospitals, grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. Once we narrowed it down to a particular builder, we visited all the communities where they were building: not once, not twice but many times, always stopping to talk with people in the neighborhoods who used that builder. When we settled in on a community that took our breath away, we made our move and locked in a price and got the ball rolling. For us, believe it or not, it was a four year process but we never have regretted taking our time to find what is perfect for us.

Good luck!

[jjdeadhead]

I know this is simple but we (my bride and I are looking for a place to move to also) have found it to be helpful to Google Map the address. The map view can be changed to a "Earth" view where you can see density of the surrounding neighborhoods etc. We also then go to a "Street" view. You can get a better idea of the home's lot and travel the roads to view various neighborhoods, shopping etc. We do find it to be helpful.

[rdlr]

Each of the counties (3) in Delaware, has a website, with a wealth of information. You can "click away" in these sites, and find out how many subdivisions there are in each county, and most importantly.......how many subdivisions have been approved for new construction, and how far they are along in the planning. I keep up with these because of my work, but all of that information is available for everyone. They even have maps of the county with little dots, showing subdivisions and planned subdivisions. The "Planned/Approved Subdivisions" most people are not aware of, unless they view this map. Those maps also depict how many lots there are within any given subdivision, areas that are in flight paths, noise contour areas, or areas containing wetlands. It takes time, Yes.

[elliedeee]

Thanks! That's very helpful. I did some googling and frankly I was a little shocked at how many new developments are popping up. I knew the areas were getting built up but I didn't know the extent of it. It kind of makes me feel sad in a way about how built up it's getting.
Before the developers took over my little island we were mostly farmland and undeveloped areas. Now the only undeveloped areas are parkland. I hate seeing that happen there.


I'm just so confused right now.
I'm seriously rethinking HOA community living. I've read some of the restrictions in various communities and I'm not sure I'm cut out to live in a neighborhood with rules and regulations and paying for amenities that I'll probably never use. If I add it all up it's just like paying a larger property tax. It's not that I want to paint my house purple or have loud parties all night long, or let the weeds take over my lawn. We're just regular people who take care of our house now as do our neighbors. But I enjoy growing my own vegetables and I like the idea of having a pool as I have one now but what I failed to realize is that they close the community pool at a certain time. I think I'd rather have my own so I can quietly take my midnight swim.

But on the flip side, I like the idea of having planned community events.

Decisions.. decisions...

[rdlr]

ellie......
We're not "subdivision" type people, as we were farmers of hundreds of acres of land, prior to where we live now. When we left farming, we considered all the communities/subdivisions available, searched out many builders, looked at countless model homes, calculated how many miles from "here to there", and instead, chose a small rural town for our home, which better suits us. To each his/her own. We like our 1-page Monthly Newsletter, 3 cops walking the beat, our annual Town Pride Day, our Peach/Apple Festival, and 2 parades which pass by our big front porch. We watch the world go by....kids walking to school, neighbors doing their healthy walk, town police stopping by to say "hello", fire engines, and all that goes with small town living. We like walking to the post office, bank, butcher, town hall, 2 charming shabby chic shops, and park with a pond. We pay a guy to mow our small front yard ($15.00) per week, and we use the riding lawnmower for our manageable back yard. We've been here 32 years, and stumbled upon this 115 yr. old house, after building 3 new homes during our lifetime. We found our niche, and you will, too!

[elizabeth224]

Eliedee, you aren't alone. We have been looking for over a year. Just recently, while discussing HOA fees (which a a big concern for us) I asked when all of this began. It would be so nice if neighbors just took pride in their yards and we didn't have to be told what we can and can't do. I guess it comes from being in the same community for many years without HOA and for the most part it remains nice. The scary part is knowing that retirement income won't increase but HOA fees will. It's a dilemma.