Sun City and over 55 Places

[Dewey59]

Originally Posted by azgopher

SCG simply has standards. So you don't wake up with a metal dinosaur in your neighbors front yard, as you could in West. It promotes a nicer community and higher home values.

While that is certainly possible, it's unlikely. Some people would rather take that risk than have the HOA police at their door every other day counting how many flowers are in their yard. Everyone is different with different tastes and priorities. I just wanted to make sure that people were aware of the differences.

[Sno0909]

Originally Posted by Dewey59

While that is certainly possible, it's unlikely. Some people would rather take that risk than have the HOA police at their door every other day counting how many flowers are in their yard. Everyone is different with different tastes and priorities. I just wanted to make sure that people were aware of the differences.

There is also a difference in HOA styles. Not every HOA acts like the police measuring the length of your grass. Some are very hands-off and just try and keep everything orderly.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Sno0909

There is also a difference in HOA styles. Not every HOA acts like the police measuring the length of your grass. Some are very hands-off and just try and keep everything orderly.

thats EXACTLY how ours is!

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by Sno0909

There is also a difference in HOA styles. Not every HOA acts like the police measuring the length of your grass. Some are very hands-off and just try and keep everything orderly.

I agree...but...an HOA can change when someone new comes along. Been there, done that.

[ShariP]

We moved to SCW 1.5 years ago. (We are 58 & 60 years old.) We visited SC, SCW and SC Grand before we chose SCW. We really love the community, primarily because of all the activities/amenities/clubs. The set up at SCW is hard to grasp at first--SCW has CC&Rs with basic rules and fees to use the rec clubs and facilities. We don't find these rules hard to follow but some might (example--you can't park an RV more than 3-days in front of your house, etc.). SOME neighborhoods within SCW have an additional HOA that have more restrictions such as you can't rent your house out, can only plant certain trees, etc. We didn't want to be in any of these neighborhood-specific HOAs. Actually, there are dozens of these neighborhood-specific HOAs but most of the homes in SCW are not in them.

Most of SCW is not in the school tax area but we live in the part that does pay school taxes. We don't mind paying a few hundred $$ a year for school taxes--the kids have to get educated somehow! (We don't even have kids but have never minded paying school taxes for public education.)

I feel that SCW is the best of all worlds--there are older sections with more affordable homes and newer sections with more expensive newer homes. It's not as big as SC yet it has so many things to do. Grand didn't have enough amenities/clubs for us.

Regarding home size--a big house here is about 2,200 sq feet. I'd guess average size is 1,600. For most people moving from other areas this is a downsize but for us it was huge. Almost all the houses are single level (for old folks!)

[4khansen]

It is correct that there are school district taxes in Sun City Festival. I certainly got that wrong. I was just surprised at how much less property taxes were as a whole in Arizona compared to our similar size and cost house in Iowa. In Iowa right at $6,000 a year, here in Festival around $2,500. If you include the HOA fees it still is less than the taxes in our original location.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Sno0909

There is also a difference in HOA styles. Not every HOA acts like the police measuring the length of your grass. Some are very hands-off and just try and keep everything orderly.

I think the worst of the HOAs are the small ones where the owners run the show, do the inspections etc. This encourages neighborhood zealots with little better to do and nitpicking HOAs. In Sun City and many of the larger developments, the HOAs are run by professional management companies that tend to be more fair and less onerous, more big picture.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I think the worst of the HOAs are the small ones where the owners run the show, do the inspections etc. This encourages neighborhood zealots with little better to do and nitpicking HOAs. In Sun City and many of the larger developments, the HOAs are run by professional management companies that tend to be more fair and less onerous, more big picture.

I would agree with that.

I think the biggest problem is when someone new gets elected to an HOA and all hell breaks loose. Been there, done that, and I (for a variety of reasons) and a number of other residents felt we had to move out.

[Jimrob1]

No matter what senior community you choose anywhere America. Try to spend as much time visiting it before you buy. In fact rent in one if you can before buying. That way you have a much better way of knowing, if your actually cut out to live in one.