Value of Guard Gated Communities? (Anaheim, Fullerton: house, unemployment, high school)

[Floritar]

Many gated communities have marked and unmarked patrol cars driving around 24 hours a day, I hardly think that is a false sense of security, they actually nock on my door if I leave my garage open. It really is a nice option to live in one, why such negativity, they are not harming anyone, not to mention many of the residents do not attend the public schools and put less of a burden on the school district,

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Floritar

Many gated communities have marked and unmarked patrol cars driving around 24 hours a day, I hardly think that is a false sense of security, they actually nock on my door if I leave my garage open. It really is a nice option to live in one, why such negativity, they are not harming anyone, not to mention many of the residents do not attend the public schools and put less of a burden on the school district,

Each is to his own, I guess, and I am one to say don't knock it unless you've tried it.

General information about guarded gates:
I've lived behind a guarded gate for 15 years and there are two of them in my development, not one. I mentioned in another thread, just today, that gates do not stop crime, but they do keep thieves with big trucks out. (The 'thieves with big trucks phrase' is not a joke. Our homes and many properties are quite large and all have dual glass on windows. In the winter time, when windows are shut, residents spending a lot of time in the backs of homes have absolutely no clue as to what is happening at a neighbor's house). Guarded gates also keep out Jehovah Witnesses, etc.

Unless it is a little neighbor kid selling chocolates for his class, I pretty much know who is ringing my bell before I answer it. My front door has a lot of beveled glass in it. I don't think I'd have this type of door in a neighborhood without a guard. Children are free to ride their bikes on our street without fear of being run over. We hike all over our development--it's pretty quiet and peaceful here.

We also have cameras that take photos of each and every license that passes through the gates. There are two lanes, one for residents, one for guests/service personnel. The arm of the residential gate ONLY goes up if the license plate is recognized in the system.....if so, the car continues and further up the lane, the big gate swings open.... The first arm, either lane, only allows one car to pass through. If a second car tries, the arm will come down and damage the vehicle. Even though this has been well-publicized, some people have had to learn this the hard way.

Our system, even in our homes, is computerized. If a guest has not been cleared by the resident, the guard will call to see if the resident is home and then the guest or worker is allowed to proceed. A regular visitor, such as a pool cleaner, housekeeper, gardener, is put on a special list that is in the computer. The resident states which days the service people are allowed onto the property. A camera takes a pic of all licenses, not just the vehicles in the residential lane. If a guard allows somebody to go through without checking, they will not be employed for very long at our location.

When we have parties, it's not an issue. Simply put, it is called 'planning in advance'. A guest list is either entered through a home computer or handed over to a guard. No party crashers are allowed, period, end of statement. If a guest arrives who isn't on a list, the guard makes a call to the residence.

All of this takes getting used to and it is not cheap. This may be a low crime area, but it is not crime free.

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Floritar

Many gated communities have marked and unmarked patrol cars driving around 24 hours a day, I hardly think that is a false sense of security, they actually nock on my door if I leave my garage open. It really is a nice option to live in one, why such negativity, they are not harming anyone, not to mention many of the residents do not attend the public schools and put less of a burden on the school district,

And yes, our guards drive around at various times, never the same time twice in a row.........

And yes, being behind gates means that you keep up your own streets...street lights, etc. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is not an inexpensive venture.....

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I vote that they're just useless, pretentious, and annoying. They aren't going to keep out bad guys, and it just makes it difficult for guests and pizza deliveries. Not to mention, the stupid key pads are usually malfunctioning.

We don't have key pads.....we have human guards. Pizzas and guests don't have any problems getting into my development, especially if the resident follows the rules.

And we have cameras in other areas besides the guard gates, too, so we haven't had any 'bad guys' for quite awhile.

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

I have a sister that lives in a "guard-at-the-gate" community in Newport Beach. There are two lanes into the gate. One is for visitors and the guard stops you. The second is for residents. A ton of visitors just go into the resident's lane. The guards give you a nice friendly wave as you drive right in behind the person who really does live there. I've never seen them close the gates on anyone.

Silly to pay for that extra "security". IMO.

Only the residents can change this.

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Charles

Why are there so many nasty comments directed at people who live behind gates in Orange County on this thread?

The majority does not or has not ever lived behind a gate, Charles.....so it's easy to judge from the outside looking in.

There are pros and cons......and I do agree with a few cons.....sometimes key pads are broken, entry becomes a chore, etc.

My development is extremely private. It would not be this way if we didn't have manned gates.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Wurzig

The majority does not or has not ever lived behind a gate, Charles.....so it's easy to judge from the outside looking in.

There are pros and cons......and I do agree with a few cons.....sometimes key pads are broken, entry becomes a chore, etc.

My development is extremely private. It would not be this way if we didn't have manned gates.

When using a tool such as redfin to search for homes, a person will find several similar homes (price, year built, bedrooms, etc) with some behind a gate and some outside a gate. Unless a gate is a must have (or a must not have), a person's choice for a home will probably be determined by many other factors first. That is, a gate or no gate is probably not in the top ten priorities for a home buyer - especially in nice regions such as south Orange County. Same thinking for a backyard swimming pool. If it's there, fine. Probably not worth paying extra for - especially if the HOA has a community pool.

As far as the extra cost, hypothetically, I'd probably prefer a unmanned gate for say an $10 extra month versus a manned gate for an extra $50/month - if those are realistic numbers.

[Morphous01]

I briefly lived in a gated community and like what the other posters said, the gates cut down on traffic. But at the same time, if you live in a nice area (which I have), without the gates, there is not a lot of traffic anyway so I don't see the point of adding a gate with only makes it more of an inconvenience to yourself and your guest.

Now gates with a live guard in the shack I think are necessary if you happen to be a celebrity. I use to live across the street from "The Country" and I can only imagine what kind of priceless artifacts that are in some of the homes I could see from my bedroom window in that place.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Wurzig

Each is to his own, I guess, and I am one to say don't knock it unless you've tried it.

General information about guarded gates:
I've lived behind a guarded gate for 15 years and there are two of them in my development, not one. I mentioned in another thread, just today, that gates do not stop crime, but they do keep thieves with big trucks out. (The 'thieves with big trucks phrase' is not a joke. Our homes and many properties are quite large and all have dual glass on windows. In the winter time, when windows are shut, residents spending a lot of time in the backs of homes have absolutely no clue as to what is happening at a neighbor's house). Guarded gates also keep out Jehovah Witnesses, etc.

Unless it is a little neighbor kid selling chocolates for his class, I pretty much know who is ringing my bell before I answer it. My front door has a lot of beveled glass in it. I don't think I'd have this type of door in a neighborhood without a guard. Children are free to ride their bikes on our street without fear of being run over. We hike all over our development--it's pretty quiet and peaceful here.

We also have cameras that take photos of each and every license that passes through the gates. There are two lanes, one for residents, one for guests/service personnel. The arm of the residential gate ONLY goes up if the license plate is recognized in the system.....if so, the car continues and further up the lane, the big gate swings open.... The first arm, either lane, only allows one car to pass through. If a second car tries, the arm will come down and damage the vehicle. Even though this has been well-publicized, some people have had to learn this the hard way.

Our system, even in our homes, is computerized. If a guest has not been cleared by the resident, the guard will call to see if the resident is home and then the guest or worker is allowed to proceed. A regular visitor, such as a pool cleaner, housekeeper, gardener, is put on a special list that is in the computer. The resident states which days the service people are allowed onto the property. A camera takes a pic of all licenses, not just the vehicles in the residential lane. If a guard allows somebody to go through without checking, they will not be employed for very long at our location.

When we have parties, it's not an issue. Simply put, it is called 'planning in advance'. A guest list is either entered through a home computer or handed over to a guard. No party crashers are allowed, period, end of statement. If a guest arrives who isn't on a list, the guard makes a call to the residence.

All of this takes getting used to and it is not cheap. This may be a low crime area, but it is not crime free.

Yea, if you go to various hotels in Vegas they know who you are before you get out the car to have fun due to all the surveillance that can read license plates.

[Axiom]

The first weeks after moving out of a guard gated area (to an equally nice neighborhood just a few miles away) I remember being shocked at the number of flyers, donation bags, etc. that were left on our doorstep. That was probably the biggest change I noticed.

I really like that I don't need to remember to enter guests, deliveries, etc. anymore. Yea! Thank goodness the community we lived in didn't start charging residents extra for forgetting to submit that info until just before we moved out. I would have constantly been shelling out $$ when we first moved in.

We still occasionally had missionary types knock on our door, even behind the gates. We've had a bit more of that in our non-gated area, but it's not like it's a huge problem. I haven't noticed any difference in traffic, but both our houses were/are at the end of quiet cul-de-sacs, so not surprising.

Of course every gated community is different. I think there's generally more control, traffic and otherwise, in smaller communities. I've never understood the Coto thing. As large as it is; with approx 4,000 housing units, not all of which are upscale by any means... how much control is there really?

Don't most folks who live near gated communities have access anyway; by knowing the code, being on someone's permanent list, etc.

Personally I prefer not living behind gates. But I know one of my best friends loves it and would never live anywhere else. To each their own... it's an individual decision.