Brier Creek Country Club - Regency Collection VERSUS Carolina Arbors (for sale, 2015)

[Billman]

Good evening All. I am interested in hearing from those of you who either live in one of these housing areas or who have analyzed each for pros and cons. Which one is better and why would you say so?
Brier Creek Country Club - Regency Collection VERSUS Carolina Arbors

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by Billman

Good evening All. I am interested in hearing from those of you who either live in one of these housing areas or who have analyzed each for pros and cons. Which one is better and why would you say so?
Brier Creek Country Club - Regency Collection VERSUS Carolina Arbors

I've looked at the floorplans and prices. The house plans at Brier Creek are far better, but also more expensive. I think the builder quality is also better.

However, I think Carolina Arbors will eventually have better amenities like an indoor swimming pool.

[ljd1010]

We've looked at both too. I agree with the previous poster - the homes in Brier Creek are better quality but come with a higher pricetag. I know there are a lot of retirees there because of the one level homes but it is not age restricted.

Del Webb is more of a lifestyle and the people who choose to live there do it more so for the 34000 sf club house, indoor/outdoor pools, gym, activitives and sense of community with others 55 years of age and up.

[Billman]

Some great feedback. Thank you both.

[Jkgourmet]

We looked at Carolina Preserves and Regency in March of 2012. We signed a contract in Regency in April, 2012 and moved into our home there in late January, 2013. Since the similarities to Carolina Arbors and Preserves are obvious, I'll give you an idea of how we would compare the Arbors to Regency.

* Regency has better floor plans and construction quality (as others have stated).
* Regency MAY have a higher price tag, but note that more upgrades are included in that base price. If you start
adding a lot of the included items into the CA property, I'd expect that the prices would be pretty comparable.
* Regency generally has larger lots than CA. Regency has some lots that do not have a premium whereas I
believe that all lots currently available at CA have a premium.
* Pulte's willingness to do any customizing of floor plans or upgrades is non-existent. Their favorite word is "No."
Toll easily agrees to changes and semi-custom work, but charges a hefty price for that flexibility.
* Both communities include maintenance of your outdoor landscaping in their basic monthly HOA fee. However, if
you add a fence at CA, the maitenance crew will not enter that fence so you have to talk care of the yard
yourself. Regency crews will enter the yard, and you are required to put up a gate in your fence project for this
purpose. (For reference, the monthly HOA at Regency and CP was about the same - $200/month. HOWEVER,
CP's monthly HOA includes all the facilites at the clubhouse, which Regency charges extra for with a variety of
plans.)
* CA's amenities will not be completed for at least 2 years. They will include an indoor pool, exercise room and
many game rooms, and many club activities. The cost is included in the monthly HOA fee. Regency amenities are
through the Brier Creek Country Club and require an additional cost. BCCC includes an outdoor family oriented
pool, a few game rooms, golf course and tennis courts. There are some club activities through the Country Club,
and Regency residents have formed a few of their own clubs. BCCC also has a bar and restaurant that offers
excellent food and drinks at very reasonable prices. BCCC has a community wide social event in the ballroom
about once/month with entertainment and a buffet (both of which are usually very good).
* Regency has 147 homes. CA will have over 1200. (both are approximate numbers based on my memory.)
* CA will have dog park. Regency and BCCC do not.
* Regency is not age restricted, but (as far as I know), only one couple with small children live here. CA is age
restricted (no one under 19 are allowed to be permanent residents).
* I strongly suspect that a higher percentage of Regency residents are still working (full time, part time or from
home) when compared to residents of the Preserves - and I would expect that residents of CA will be more
similar to the residents of the Preserves.

Had CA been up and running, with club houses completed, when we were looking, we probably would have seriously considered it. After two visits to CP, we easily chose Regency. Primary factors (for us) were location (hated the away from everything location of CP/Amberly), floor plans and quality construction, use of the bar and restaurant, and larger lots.

BTW, I believe there are only 6 lots left in Regency (all smaller lots), and two spec homes under construction. Then, it's done. There will be no expansion of Regency or BCCC as Toll is out of land.

[vh5150]

But of course Toll wants to buy the land just north of Regency. Still may happen at some point.

[Jkgourmet]

Originally Posted by vh5150

But of course Toll wants to buy the land just north of Regency. Still may happen at some point.

Toll has given up on that property. The Pages will not sell and Toll's $2million option to buy expired several years ago. The lots they were reserving for potential models for that land are for sale - one has been sold, maybe both. And I believe they are working on changing the end of Jordanus Rd so that it looks like a proper dead end, instead of looking like a potential future entrance/exit.

I hear they are concentrating their efforts in other areas, which may include the other side of Page Rd or Globe Rd - but it will not be part of BCCC.

[Billman]

Jkgourmet,

Outstanding comparison! Thank you very much. Now, if I can just get information on pricing for various activities at the country club...and which are free for usage and which you have to pay and how much you have to pay for each...

[Jkgourmet]

That should be very easy through the membership department - they are quite open about this information. 919-206-4600.

Here's what I can tell you (and this may apply only to Regency residents. I cannot say if it is the same for all the communities within the country club - be sure you stipulate this when you speak with membership).

At Regency, nothing offered at the country club is included in your HOA fees. That HOA fee does pay for your landscaping maintenance. Del Webb includes most of the activities and amenities at the clubhouse in the monthly HOA fee. This is a major difference between the two - and if you are going to use that pool, tennis and clubhouse, there is a real cost savings to the Del Webb arrangement. But, no golf is available at DW.

We paid $1000 for a dining membership for the country club. This allows us to attend any social function where food is served, and to use Deke's Grille (bar and restaurant). The average cost for the social functions (which typically include a large and good buffet and some kind of show, in the ballroom) is $30/pp. Holiday brunches and events are typically more expensive and elaborate. As said, the meals and alcohol at Deke's are quite good and (IMHO) very reasonably priced.

We could have purchased a Social membership, which included the above, plus the pool. That was about $80/month per household. Higher levels includes tennis, golf, the exercise room (which is getting a bunch of new equipment in the next few months, and is never crowded), access to the spa and sauna. There were about 3 levels that we could choose from. Since we were not interested in golf, nor in the pool (which is family oriented) or tennis, we didn't pay much attention to all of that. To us, the IMPORTANT thing was that we could just pay the $1K once (not annually) to get what we wanted without having to pay for all the stuff we didn't.

Most of the exercise classes, lessons (tennis, golf, swimming) and spa services are extra cost items. There are wine tastings and special dinners, etc. - maybe 9-10 per year - all at an additional cost. None have seemed overpriced to us. The wine tastings that included hor d'uerves were, in fact, a bargain.

BCCC has a bunch of clubs that we could attend. Regency has developed a few clubs of their own already, and I would expect a few more as people get settled in. But there is no way the clubhouse activities will ever reach what will be offered in a Del Webb community. In fact, most of the clubs meet in people's homes.

One other comparison I thought of after my prior post. Time to build the house with CP was 4-5 months. Time to build at Regency was 7-9 months.

[Jkgourmet]

Now that we've actually visited the models at Carolina Arbors, I thought I'd update this thread.

The floor plans at CA are WAY better than what they had at CP. We could have been happy with several of the one story models (we have zero interest in stairs).

Included upgrades were minimal (as compared to what Toll was offering in 2012). And the answer NO was still pervasive whenever we asked about any changes.

The clubhouse is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2015, but current residents still pay $200/month for the HOA. That would annoy the crap out of me!