Why Realtors Should Write Community Reviews on Across the Fence

I was at a conference about a year ago and spoke with a realtor about the concept behind Across the Fence asked if she would write a review about a community that she was well versed about.  Her reaction was, “Why should I do this?’  I explained that if she sold homes in a particular community, people looking for information online about that community would find it helpful to know a few things about the place that might not be readily available through a standard listing.  The more information about a community there is, the more interest there will be, all leading to more possible sales for you.

Most people know that the power of online reviews cannot be disputed.  Depending on which research report you read, anywhere between 60-90% of people consult online reviews before making purchasing decisions.

If you have a listing in a gated, active adult, equestrian, or other type of private community and want prospective customers to seriously consider it for their next property purchase, write a review on Across the Fence and tell them why.   When filling out the review form, you have an opportunity to identify yourself as a realtor so readers know the viewpoint you bring.  Use your real name or website address as your screen name if you like.  For each new review submitted, Across the Fence sends the reviewer a $5 Starbucks eGift card to the email address used during registration.   Your input is valuable and welcome on Across the Fence!

Kings Point: A Documentary About the Less Than Happy Side of Living In an Active Adult Community

An image from Kings Point

There is a new movie that’s come out generating a lot of buzz about what it’s really like to live in an active adult community.  It’s a documentary that was filmed by the granddaughter of a resident of Kings Point, an active adult community in Delray Beach, Florida.  The documentary has been getting rave reviews and winning awards at various film festivals around the country.

The movie interviews several residents of Kings Point and asks them what it’s like to live there, revealing a difficult side of living in an active adult community.  For example, the health of residents seems to have an impact on their social life, along with the lopsided numbers of women in the communities competing for the company of the smaller numbers of eligible men.  While the seniors who gravitate to active adult communities expected to have a vibrant social life with their contemporaries, some of the residents have said that they did not consider their neighbors to be more than acquaintances because their real friends were the ones they left behind before moving to Kings Point.

Regardless of how people feel about active adult communities, it’s probably worth watching just to get a view of what it might be like to live in an active adult community for a very long time.  Here’s a link to the movie’s website:   http://www.kingspointmovie.com/

Religious Communities on Across the Fence

It took a lot of pizza to build Ave Maria!!

The newest category of private community to be added to Across the Fence are religious communities.  We’ve been able to identify a handful of communities that were created with the idea of giving people the opportunity to live in an area that highlight the values and beliefs of specific religious.

Ave Maria is one such community that was created by the founder of Domino’s Pizza, Tom Monaghan.  The town is centered around Ave Maria University, which was the first Catholic university to be built in 40 years.  While the town is open to people of all faiths, one of the centerpieces of Ave Maria is an architecturally significant Catholic church.  Originally, Monaghan intended Ave Maria to be place devoid of contraceptives and pornography.  The laws of the land have since dictated what can actually be banned from Ave Maria.  Like many private and gated communities, Ave Maria has not been without its hard times and public stumbles.  However, it has managed to create a desirable community in what was once swampland in Southwest Florida.

For more religious communities, check out Across the Fence and select Religious in the Target Demographic box.

What I Wish I Would Have Known Before Moving To A Master Planned Community

This post was contributed by guest blogger College Football Fan:

One word says it all....

After spending multiple years in a planned community our experiences and observations have made us better able to judge the wisdom or folly in having purchased a home in the community.  To be fair, the planned community we live in is very pretty, safe and there are many friendly property owners.  A later blog will describe some of the more positive attributes of our property ownership in the planned community.  The current blog will attempt to provide some first –hand, original information we wish we would have known or paid attention to before purchasing property in our current planned community.  The items are not listed in order of importance.  In hindsight, would the additional knowledge made a difference in purchasing or not purchasing in our current location?  The answer is probably yes.

1. I wish we would have had the foresight to see the astronomical increase in home insurance costs for homes on or near the east coast of the United States.    A home does not have to be on the coast to be considered a coastal county – just near the coast.  A family will have to pay three-to-five times the insurance premium as compared to what they would pay for a similar home in a non-coastal county.  Furthermore, depending on the insurance company, there may be a “hurricane deductible” in the event there is a hurricane.  The “hurricane deductible” more than likely will mean that the homeowner will be paying more out of his/her pocket than the regular deductible found in home policies.  Also, if the planned community is not within six miles of a fire station one will be in the worst protection category and consequently the premium will be extremely high.  Do not buy property in the community if the property is more than six miles from a fire station unless you are willing to pay a very high home insurance premium.
2. I wish we would have paid more attention to the lack of stores and businesses near our planned community.  The lack of shopping, health care facilities, cultural locations, etc. is an inconvenience.  One has to have a round trip of anywhere from sixty miles to 160 miles to complete various visitations.  Many of the community residents do not mind such travel.
3. I wish we would have paid more attention to the poor quality of the “fitness center” and the “library” on the planned community.  The pitiful fitness center has equipment rusting, few machines, no scheduled maintenance, cobwebs are present, and a general noticeable lack of care provided to the center.  If four people use the fitness center at the same time it is crowded.  The “library” is merely a collection of fiction paperback and hardcover books stored on some bookshelves.  There are no chairs, computers, magazine subscriptions or anything one might recognize in a “library.”  It is a “library” in name only.
4.  I wish we would have had the foresight to know that the planned community was going to set aside time for some property owners to rent the swimming pool for private use at the exclusion of other property owners who use the pool.  The excluded property owners continue to pay the full fee for the use of the pool.
5. I wish we would have known that the planned community management would close the hot tub four months every year to save money. The warmth of the hot tub in the winter months feels wonderful.  Now it is closed.  Even though the hot tub is closed the planned community still assesses the property owner as though the hot tub were not closed.
6. I wish we would have had the foresight to know that the planned community management would be unresponsive to questions and concerns.  Homeowners have commented that legitimate inquiries have been ignored by responsible planned community personnel.
7. I wish we would have had the foresight and skepticism regarding “promises” or “future plans” for future buildings and services in property literature or voiced by development salesperson.  Unless facilities or services are already established, they probably will not be provided without more money out of the property owner’s pocket in the form of an additional assessment.  After the planned community has been established for a period of time and new buildings or services are needed, there will be such a diversity of opinion on the need and costs that it may be next to impossible form a consensus to expand and improve the community.  At least, that has been the experience in our current planned community.

All above explanations are this writer’s experiences, observations and impressions.  Others who live in the planned community would take exception to the descriptions while others would say that I was correct and would probably suggest other items to add to the list.  Again, there are many worthwhile attributes to our planned community and they will be described later.

Read This Before Reading Another Best Places to Retire List

Boise? Really???

Every week someone is publishing another “Best Places to Retire” list giving advice on where boomers might consider for retirement.  However, these lists usually use different sets of criteria when compiling their lists, and these criteria may not be the ones that are most important to you.  A recent article in the Dallas Morning News talks about some of the things to keep in mind when perusing these lists:

1.  Keep in mind the factors that are most relevant to you and the criteria used to create the list.  Remember the earlier blog psot about retirees choosing cold weather locations over typical warm weather destinations?  What’s most important to you when considering a retirement destination – walkability? access to cultural sights?  proximity to family?

2.  Affordability.  Look at all of the costs associated with the retirement destination, not just income tax.  Consider property tax and sales tax rates and also look at whether or not you can afford the location should a spouse die.

3.  Access to services.  This was covered in a previous blog post on Across the Fence.  Are you OK with driving 20 minutes for a gallon of milk?

4.  Proximity to family.  Is being close to loved ones high on your list?  Then maybe the golf course communities several states away might lose their appeal when you wind up traveling every holiday season.

Read the full article here:

How to choose the best location for retirement | Dallas-Fort Worth Personal Finance News – Business News for Dallas, Texas – The Dallas Morning News.

Write a Review and We’ll Email You a $5 Walmart Gift Card

The New Way to Spend Thanksgiving

Getting ready for Black Friday? For each review we publish on Across the Fence, we’ll email you a $5 Walmart e-gift card. Tell people what you think about the private communities you’ve visited or the one where you live! Offer good through Nov. 30, 2012.

Political Signs On Your Lawn in a Private Community

I'm voting for him, and her, and him, and them, and her, and him.........

The United States recently completed an election in which strong feelings were displayed by members of all political parties.  An important way to display one’s political feelings is by placing political signs in a home or somewhere on the property.  If a person lives in a planned community there could be restrictions which deal with placing political signs, or any signs for that matter, on the property.

If a display of political expression on one’s planned community property is important to a property owner, the time to determine the right to display political signs is before the property is purchased.  When the paperwork is signed to buy property in a planned community, the accompanying Home Owner Association (HOA) documents detailing the restrictions will determine if one can or cannot post political signs on the property.  The attitude of the planned community developers/HOA people is that once an individual signs the property documents he/she is aware of any and all restrictions regarding displaying political signs and the property owner has no right to complain.  However, as a purchaser of property in a planned community, this writer found the information regarding what one can and can’t do is supplied later in the purchasing process and usually after one has made a commitment to purchase property.   It is as though the planned community does not want one to know too much about the restrictions and guidelines so as not to spoil having any property sold.

Restrictions for displaying political propaganda on one’s property range from a strict prohibition of political signs to allowing political signs on the property.  However, if one is permitted to display signs there may be limitations such as the number of signs that can be displayed, the size of the sign and the quality of the signs.  All signs may be required to be of commercial construction.  Further stipulations to be followed in planned communities include how early the signs can be displayed and when the signs have to be taken down.  For example, one community may allow for the display of political signs up to forty-five days before the election and must be removed not later than seven days after the election.  Different communities will have different times lines dealing with the display of political signs.

Some people love to display political signs.  If there are prohibitions on placing such signs on your residential property, one can place their affection for a political candidate on a car.  This writer is pleased for the prohibition of political signs on a property within the planned community.  Such signs in a community make it look “tacky” and have the ability to create ill-feelings among neighbors.

Co-housing – Another Type of a Planned Community

Which way to the co-housing community?

The New York Times ran an article several weeks ago describing a situation at a community in Bremerton, WA that is described at a co-housing community.  Co-housing shares a number of characteristics similiar to any planned community, with the biggest differences being that it is a pedestrian-oriented community where residents take an active part in the community’s initial design.  Additionally, residents prepare and share any number of meals together in a common kitchen area and perform most of the community’s upkeep themselves.  There is a Co-Housing Association of the United States which provides information about co-housing communities and counts about 110 co-housing communities in the country.  Interestingly enough, co-housing is growing in popularity for seniors who wish to live independently, but need the safety and security that comes with being part of a tight knit community.

This specific case centered around a community formally called Meadow Wood that originally started as an orthodox Christian c-housing community, but then evolved on paper into a less stringently religious community in order to attract condo buyers and preserve property values.  However, there were charges of bias against residents who did not participate in the full extent of the religious activities and a Fair Housing Discrimination suit ensued leading to the events described in the article.

The bottom line is that anyone considering co-housing needs to think very carefully before entering into a living arrangement that depends on the high level of cooperation and sharing promoted by c0-housing.  It won’t be for everyone.

Read more about the Meadow Wood story by clicking on the link below:

When Visions of a Christian Community Collide – NYTimes.com.

How Would You Like to Get an HOA Bill for $109,000?

WHAT THE...!!!!

The Orlando Sentinel published an article recently about the Bella Collina development in Lake County, FL and the astounding bills property owners are getting as a result of the recent purchase of the development.  Here’s an excerpt:

“A company led by Washington Redskins co-owner Dwight C. Schar bought Bella Collina from beleaguered real-estate developer Bobby Ginn in June. Now Schar’s group has begun selectively issuing collection notices to individual property owners for back payments that total as much as $109,000 per lot, which in some cases exceeds the lot’s current market value.”

Just something to think about the next time you get your HOA bill!  Read the full article here:

Mansions for sale: Indebted Bella Collina mansions for sale in Lake County – Orlando Sentinel.

More Retirees Seeking Out Small Towns in Cooler Climates

Ahhh - this is living!!!

The Washington Post recently ran an article highlighting a shifting change in attitudes by retirees towards towns that don’t fit the traditional idea of a retirement destination.  Instead of flocking to the generally thought of places at retirement such as Florida or the Southwest, retirees are heading towards places like Camden, Maine; Asheville, North Carolina; Ruidoso, New Mexico; Durango, Colorado; the San Juan Islands in Washington’s Puget Sound; St. George, Utah; Medford, Oregon; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Kalispell, Montana; and towns along lakes Superior and Michigan in northern Michigan.

The reasons they’re citing are things like wanting to live in places that are walkable, have fewer people, or experience a change of the seasons.  Across the Fence lists communities in many of the new areas mentioned in the article on our site.  Look around and see if you might find someplace new to consider for retirement!

Cooler climates, small towns become popular retirement destinations for baby boomers – The Washington Post.