Views on Lake Monticello, VA as a place to retire

[RetiredNY]

My wife and I have been searching for a retirement area for 2 years. We have narrowed the search to sounthern PA or the foot hills in VA. This search has brought us to Lake Monticello a couple of weeks ago. Ir is a gated active adult community outside of Charlettsville. Our tour of the property was conducted y a local Real Estate company. We were shown the ground and were able to visit several for sale homes. What we did not get from our visit was a sense of what life is really like at Lake Monticello from prople with experience with the area. Looking for any help I can get.

Thanks,

Rich

[pastor-pj]

We have lived here at Lake Monticello for a year, after 12 years in very rural Buckingham County, VA - we are originally from Delaware.

We find it to be a great community - it is not a "planned retirement community" but rather a lake and golf course community that was built 20+ years ago and marketed to folks in NY and NJ as a retirement/vacation community. Now there is a good mix of seniors, recently retired folks and young families. The houses are all custom built, and very different from one another.

It is not a "fenced" gated community - just limited road access to those who register as residents, vendors or guests.

We have our own {real] police force, trash removal, snow removal and road maintenance included in the yearly homeowner fees. There are some restrictions on building and home decorating, but nothing onerous in my opinion.

Lots of community activities, clubs, opportunities to volunteer, recreation (lake, tennis, boating, golf, social groups and events at the club house, including a fall festival, summer picnics, etc. There is no organized pressure to do any of these things - they are simply available to those who want to enjoy them.

Wonderful conveniences - access to medical services, hospitals, our own rescue squad and fire department, shopping in Richmond and Charlottesville, The University of Virginia which offers courses for seniors, etc.

The homeowner association web site is http://lmoavoice.org

We love it here! [

[RetiredNY]

Pastor-pj

Thank you for your response of Oct 14. I wanted to respond earlier but hurricane Sandy had other ideas. We were very fortunate that we live away from the coastline of Long Island. Power was out for 10 days. No damage to property or house.

The two storms (hurricane and snow) gave Pat and I time to reflect and wonder how the Lake made out? Are portable generators allowed at the Lake during times of power outages? If so what type(s). In our village there were a total of 411 trees that came down during the hurricane and additional trees during the snow storm. Individual portable generators ran 18 hours a day to supply electric for refrigerators, heat and some lights. We were fortunate to have a neighbor offer us a hook-up.

Looking forward to your response.

Rich