Category: Active adult communities
Last weekend's newsletter was all about trying to find communities that could be considered competitors to The Villages - the huge and very popular active adult community south of Ocala, FL. We had so many interesting emails with comments about that article we decided to publish them here - and give you the chance to respond in the Comments section below.
In the first installment of the series we provided a sample of east coast competition, a future installment will cover the west coast. Our apologies to the many fine communities we couldn't
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Published on October 12, 2010
Comments 1
Category: Active adult communities
September 7, 2010 -- You have moved into your dream active adult community and are enjoying retirement. Then one day a letter arrives from the Home Owners Association (HOA). But it's not an invitation to a welcome aboard party, it's a letter telling you that your 58 pound Australian Shepherd is a few pounds over the line.... of the community limit of 30 pounds. The letter's bottom line: either Tonka goes, or you go.
Home Owners Associations, often called Community Associations or Condominium Associations, are one of the unanticipated features of living in an active community, development, or condo. Well run associations are indispensable to the peaceful enjoyment of your new community. They set the rules that make communal
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Published on September 7, 2010
Comments 9
Category: Active adult communities
July 20, 2010 — There was one very big surprise on the annual list of the best active adult and 55+ communities which was just published by Topretirements.com. It wasn’t that Arizona, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, California, or South Carolina had plenty of representation on the list. The big surprise…
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Published on July 20, 2010
Comments 1
Category: Active adult communities
July 13, 2010 -- It's no secret that many Home Owner Associations (HOA's - also known as Community Associations) are seriously concerned about the rise in their members who are in arrears on their association dues. Now some HOA's are fighting back, often with the gloves off.
As background, arrears on community dues come in several forms. Many developments have some units that have been abandoned or foreclosed upon, so dues are usually not paid on those units. In many other cases the owners have just decided for one reason or another to stop paying. Both situations put the associations at risk, as fewer and fewer members are available to pay the community expenses. In some communities well over 50% of the homes are behind in their dues. If the situation becomes dire enough it can lead to the association itself going into default on its loans or bills, resulting in foreclosure and
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Published on July 12, 2010
Comments 5
Category: Active adult communities
Editors Note: One of our Topretirements members was kind enough to write this travelogue of his and his wife's recent "Stay and Play" or "Discovery" Package experience. We thought it was so interesting that it would make a good article. Wes and Ida used a weekend getaway package to explore Deaton Creek in Hoschton, Georgia (a small town northwest of Atlanta along I 85). Please note that we are not endorsing Deaton Creek, we are just passing along their experience. We applaud Wes and Ida's decision to check out a community in this way; there is no better way to get an opinion about a community than to live in it for a few days. Most active adult communities offer various Discovery packages. You can use the Advanced Search at Topretirements to find many of them. But if you don't see one, ask!
We enjoyed a wonderful weekend getaway at Del Webb's Village at Deaton Creek (DC)
this 4th of July
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Published on July 12, 2010
Comments 8
Category: Active adult communities
Update - June, 2014. Since we published this article much has happened in the Fairfield Harbour community. The community is much further along toward resolution of the issues. To that end we have provided here a 2014 update from Larry Knapp, President of the Fairfield Harbor Property Owners Association. To avoid a continuing to and fro on this issue will not permit additional comments at this time, either here or in our Forum.
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From Larry Knapp:
A Fairfield Harbour Update
June 15, 2014 -- Almost four years to the day, the article “When Bad Things Happen to Good
Communities – Fairfield Harbor” was posted. The article fairly portrayed the events
that led to some very “bad things” happening to our community. With recent lawsuits
now settled, it’s time for an update.
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Published on June 25, 2010
Comments 0
Category: Active adult communities
June 1 - Conducting your due diligence before you bought into a development used to be a lot simpler. Not that it was always easy, but at least the basics were fairly straightforward:
- Research the reputation and track record of the developer
- Check to see if reserve (sinking) funds are adequate
- Examine Home Owners (Community) Association rules and finances to see if
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Published on June 1, 2010
Comments 6
Category: Active adult communities
Updated May, 2020 (originally published in 2010). Given the tough economic times ahead in 2020 and 2021 and the problems that might ensue with developers and homeowners caught in a bind, this seems like a good time to revisit the topic.
This article is Part 3 in our series about Home Owners Associations (HOA's). Part 1 was called "Meet the New Boss - Your HOA", and Part 2 was "What You Need to Know about Your Home Owners Association". Both of those generated numerous interesting comments which are worth reading. We are grateful to Joe West, CEO of the Community Associations Network, for his assistance in preparing this series.
Home Owners Associations (also called Community Associations or condo associations) and their homeowners face a
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Published on March 2, 2010
Comments 42
Category: Active adult communities
The growing problem of delinquencies is a very serious problem that is starting to affect almost every Home Owners Association (HOA) in the country. And unfortunately, the problem gets worse every day.
At the Kensington of Royal Palm Beach condominiums on Florida's east coast, 70 percent of the owners are in arrears on their association fees. Many other associations have delinquencies in the 40-50% range. These fees typically pay for insurance, maintenance, landscaping, some taxes, staff, and energy. Clearly when not everyone pays their dues, which represent an equitable sharing of costs among all the owners, financial problems will ensue. Usually that means the remaining owners in the community association
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Published on January 25, 2010
Comments 3
Category: Active adult communities
Stay and Play Packages are a great option as you contemplate retirement. You, and perhaps your significant other, might be obsessing about how to find your best place to retire, and what you might do once you get to the state of retirement. The process is fun for many folks, but an intimidating hassle for others. Wherever you come out on this spectrum, this article, in which we will discuss Fly and Stay packages, will be a help.
Stay and Play Packages
Stay and Play packages (also called Discover and Stay, Weekend Getaway, etc.) are the fun and low risk way to check out various best places to retire. You can usually purchase them at low cost from active adult communities, or you can make up your own for the towns you might be considering. The offers are so attractive that you just shouldn't pass them up (but hurry, the high season is starting
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Published on January 18, 2010
Comments 5
