New build info for Robson/ Del Webb (Tucson, Oro Valley: for sale, 2013)

[Retire2028]

Hi there. My wife and I are planning on retiring in 2028. We toured several communities last year and still have many more to look at. Our online search has narrowed it down to Robson or Del Webb. We like the size and upkeep of both developments. Reading through other threads I haven’t seen too much about the building experience. Is there talk down on lot fees? Price? Upgrades? Also is it a smooth process? We really like the idea of building over resale as we feel our immediate neighbors would also be new builds and more than likely be closer to our age. Has anyone experienced that to be true? Can anyone share their experiences?

[ArniBoy]

Originally Posted by Retire2028

Hi there. My wife and I are planning on retiring in 2028. We toured several communities last year and still have many more to look at. Our online search has narrowed it down to Robson or Del Webb. We like the size and upkeep of both developments. Reading through other threads I haven’t seen too much about the building experience. Is there talk down on lot fees? Price? Upgrades? Also is it a smooth process? We really like the idea of building over resale as we feel our immediate neighbors would also be new builds and more than likely be closer to our age. Has anyone experienced that to be true? Can anyone share their experiences?

...I like your countdown, I was blessed to be able to retired last March at 50, and remember having the retirement countdown clock on my work laptop in 2013. It will be here before you know it.

As far as your question, not sure if you have seen this thread (link), but there is some good information in there on the questions you are asking.

http:////www.city-data.com/forum/tuc...-robson-2.html

I thought this commentary was most relevant to your questions.

You would be making a mistake if you're eliminating Del Webb, or any other builder, based upon the comments made on this message board. Always perform your own due diligence based on LOCAL circumstances. Every single major homebuilder in the U.S. has their share of lawsuits over quality issues. Pulte/Del Webb, or for that matter Robson, in Arizona is NOT the same as Pulte/Del Webb or Robson in TX, CA, NV, etc. In other words, the quality of a new home is directly proportional to the quality and skill levels of the LOCAL contractors and individual trades who build the specific home. That said, I looked at every single new construction 55+ community in Arizona before settling on Del Webb RDL (FYI, looked each of the local Robson communities -- liked all but Quail Creek. The DW RDL location was superior relative to my needs). One year later and I could not be more pleased with that decision. Having previously bought six (6) new construction homes during a 20-year military career, I know that no new construction home is perfect -- that is an unachievable standard. However, I have found the Arizona Del Webb customer service folks to be highly responsive to the small number of workmanship issues that have arisen. That's MY experience and may/may not be reflective of the experience of others. Again, perform your own due diligence. Just my $0.02.

Good luck.

[Retire2028]

Thank you they were helpful threads. Just so many communities to choose from. We are taking most of the comments with a grain of salt. The ones I am more interested in seeing are location. We loved Robson ranch in Eloy when we visited be any shopping you wanted to do is 20 minutes away in casa grande. While the community is beautiful we have to look at it like this will be our forever home and that 20 minutes is going to be far when I’m 80. Lol. So I’m using this forum to eliminate some of the communities that might interest us based on location and convenience. We like Quail creek, pebble creek, and del Webb anthem at Merrill ranch. We toured the latter 2 in our trip last year and liked the confidence of shopping to them. We will probably search for a realtor before our next trip out there to get some more info on the purchase of new build v resale.

[mddd]

You might want to check out Saddlebrooke, north of Tucson and Oro Valley area.
Reasonable access to all Tucson activities, but a whole community in itself. Robson still has some lots left in the main Saddlebrooke. It has really nice terrain and huge range of ages and homes. I suspect new builds may be very limited by 2028. Multiple clubhouses, golf courses, restaurants and even a large Performing Arts Theater.

[Retire2028]

We will check it out. They have no more new builds there except for at the Preserve so i would imagine that in 7-8 years that would also be totally built out. We do like the fact that saddle brook ranch is so close. That way if we tire of the golf at one community we can go to another 15 minutes away and play at a reduced rate. We just planned a trip in September to visit and stay at Quail creek for 3 nights. Hoping to get a feel/vibe from the community. We will probably take the drive north to visit saddlebrook ranch on one of the days. After all we have 7 years to explore and make this decision. As of right now we are leaning toward building new. That may change as 2028 approaches. Time will tell.. I guess that’d depend on what is for sale in the community we choose at that time. If there is a house that has all our wants and needs it’ll be hard to not decide to purchase in lieu of building and waiting 6 months or more for completion. What we were looking for with this post was asking if it is people experience that when you build new is that the majority of the people in that new build neighborhood are there and don’t know anyone there and would be easier to make friends with as they will be in search of new friends at the same time as others in the neighborhood. We feel that if we buy a resale home there is the chance that most of the neighbor would/could be 15-20 years older than us and not as social as we’d like because they already have friends for the last 20 years in the neighborhood. I might be wrong. That is just our thoughts. Any input on that out there?

[mddd]

Plenty moving into resale and new builds. Selling so fast right now. Probably no brand new builds in main Saddlebrooke in 2028. But should be able to find choices in resale. Ranch will still be building at that time.
Age groups are really wide 45- and up , in Saddlebrooke, so not a problem. With all the clubs and the size of the main Saddlebrooke it is really really easy to find people to do things with. I think fitting in may be a little harder in a very small established community.
With more able to work remotely, the ages are starting to reflect a slightly lower trend. Pebble Creek is more in the city mix if you want to be super close to lots of stores?
For when you get a bit older, there is a large support group. Called Senior Village. Volunteers drive the super seniors on a number of trips to appointments.. We even organized our own vaccination center with the pharmacy and volunteers and did it all as a drive up in the community. No hassle.
Saddlebrooke is about 15-30 minutes to just about anything you need like doctors, hospitals, shopping centers in Oro Valley. Some things right in development including a pharmacy, bank, some doctors and major grocery some stores and more restaurants right outside edge of the community in Catalina AZ