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  #16  
Old 03-29-2013, 02:08 PM
Cantwaittoarrive Cantwaittoarrive is offline
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Good Luck Old Dave
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Old 03-29-2013, 03:35 PM
StarbuckSammy StarbuckSammy is offline
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I would also like to hear what swayed you to Del Webb's Sun City Texas. Give us your thoughts...thanks
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Old 03-29-2013, 04:32 PM
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Best of Luck to you Old Dave. Keep on posting!
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Old 03-29-2013, 04:43 PM
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Thank you all so much for such kind wishes. I must say you have really touched me. I had not intended to post anything further, but several people have asked about Sun City Texas, so I will respond to that.

My reasons for not coming to Florida and TV in specific are many, but they are really mostly things we have all discussed many times here, so I see no point in rehashing them. And certainly something that might be a big stumbling block for me, might not be an issue at all for someone else, so I'll just point out the postives we saw.

1. Sun City is located just a couple of miles outside of Georgetown Texas (40,000 population. Although it is legally a part of the city and has full city services.) Georgetown is a lovely university town with an extremely strong arts community. It has every service you would need. In fact just outside the gates of Sun City you'll find one of the best grocery stores I've ever seen, HEB and other important stores.) About 5 miles further south is Round Rock Texas (100,000). Round Rock is also strong in the arts and has huge shopping areas including an IKEA and COSTCO, which pretty much made my wife's mind up. Then another few miles is Austin, the state capital and fastest growing city in the US for the past 4 years. It is a mecca for hipsters, or so my son tells me, lol, whatever they are. Great city. So, bottom line, the area has all the shopping and services you need, that you really don't see outside the campus at TV. Also there are 3 major hospitals within 5 miles of Sun City and numerous clinics, rehabs, and I saw 3 funeral homes. They seem well prepared.

2. Sun City itself is beautiful. Certainly no palm trees, which I miss, but rolling, heavily wooded hills. Almost all houses have trees or some green area behind them. The original builders went out of their way to save old growth trees wherever they could.

3. The Del Webb brand, while it has had some ups and downs, is certainly well thought of in most circles. I didn't understand until this visit that developments labeled Del Webb are 1-3,000 size with limited amenities. The ones labeled Sun City are 7-10,000 with a huge emphasis on amenities. We were told by one of the original builders that when they started in the early 1990s golf was listed as the most wanted amenity. It is now number 8 and falling. Walking is number one and there are more trails to walk than you can shake a stick at. Golf carts are welcome anywhere on the streets there, but sidewalks are reserved for people only. All major buildings have separate golf cart parking lots, and you can still double in regular spots.

We set out to find some places that could approach the wonderful activities we found in the villages. This Sun City has 6,000 roofs, aiming for 7,500. They have 3 huge indoor pools, 2 outdoor pools. 3 golf courses (you pay to play) Two really large and well equipmented fitness centers with indoor running tracks which are totally free to all residents. They have an enourmous wood shop. 3 activity centers with multiple purpose rooms. They have a large ballroom. My wife was most impressed with the art center. They have separate permanent studios for: 2D art, ceramics (poured), clay (thrown), stained glass, photography and a huge fabrics building with about 30 sewing machines. There were a couple others but I cannot remember what. My wife is an art teacher, so this was really a selling point.

4. The houses were well built. They were not the best I've seen. That would probably go to the Robson Ranch property north of Dallas, but they were good quality. They were noticeably better built that what we saw in TV. Keep in mind though we want a preowned house. We aren't interested into new, but want mature trees, etc. I know that would make us an exception in TV. A nice two bedroom of 1,550 sq. feet is about $175,000.

5. The list of clubs, special interest groups, planned activities were very long indeed. Of course TV has more, but when I started doing the numbers per capita, it seemed Sun City actually offered more choices. Also, while all facilities were busy, none seemed over crowded. Each one had a flow chart that showed the busiest and slowest times of day for each activity to guide your schedule. One of the nice things is that two indoor pools are in one building. One is used only for classes, the other only for free swimming with 4 lanes for laps, the two for walkers or other excersices. (The grandkids can swim, with you, from 1-3pm each day in one designated pool.) One really cool thing was the computer club. $8 per year. They have nearly 90% of the place as members. If you have a computer problem you can report on their web site, and someone (a volunteer) will come to you house within 48 and attempt to fix it, for free!!

I have to digress for a second. My wife came back and said, "Hey I found out they have a free pick-up service!" I thought, oh cool a taxi. Nope. If you fall and can't get up, you can 911. The city provided service comes out and helps you for free, whenever you need it. Hope I don't need it, but I do fall over.

6. The total HOA fee is less than $100 per month. There are no other fees or bonds on new houses. The HOA, or CA-Community Association here has a sliding scale for its governance. It started with total developer control and is moving toward all resident control which will happen at build out in 3-5 years.
Prices for classes are similar to TV. If it is a structured class with a teacher you pay more. If it is a SIG, Special Interest Group which is essentially an informal club, you might toss in $2 for snacks. Their actual clubs are chartered and have bylaws and an annual cost which seems to be very low.

7. Sun City is very strict about renting out your home. The minimum is 3 months. So you have a much more stable population and don't seem to have many tourists staying there. We're told there are snowbirds, but it doesn't effect things much.

In the end we found it to have weather temp averages not very much different than Florida. Just a few degrees cooler in Winter, although it was warmer every day there than in TV the week we visited. It is hotter in the summer, but low humidity, we're told. Again it hit 113 last summer here in Kansas so it takes a lot to impress us.

The people were tremendously friendly. No only did everyone we meet make us feel welcome, but almost to a person said, "we sure hope you move here." We saw lots of nice people in TV, but my wife said she was made to feel like an outsider in the classes she attended in TV. In the classes she attended in Sun City she said she felt like she was home. She drug me to free swimming one day. We were greeted by a lady in the pool who said to my wife, "oh hi, you're from Kansas." They'd been in a class together the day before.

I'm not surprised at this. Texas feels much like home to us. Florida was a long ways away both geographically and in other more personal ways to us.
Texas, I"m sure, feels foreign to others. Although Texas is known for its friendliness. And nutty Presidents. (OK, one parting political shot! I apologize)

I hope this helps, If you want to know something further, I'll check back on my account a few times. While I appreciate being encouraged to keep posting, I'll likely not do it very often. I've got to get my head around trying to uproot and move, which scares the hell out of me.

My best wishes to you all,

Dave
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  #20  
Old 03-29-2013, 04:56 PM
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Dave, Sun City certainly sounds good. I hope you enjoy it there. However, I need you here. It's always nice to have a one or two like-minded folks around. However, I'm with Gracie, stick with the TOTV. You're one of us regardless of where you live. Take care and blessings on you and yours.
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  #21  
Old 03-29-2013, 06:40 PM
mrfixit mrfixit is offline
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OLD DAVE.....
keep in touch..we really enjoy your posts.

Sun City (Georgetown) IS an awesome area.....and...
so close to cultural mecca...major university...friendly people.
Texas is Famous for high quality ..low cost housing.
TOP city for jobs in U.S.A..... AUSTIN....less than 40 miles from Sun City.


IF I was a betting person......I would bet on that area leading the
entire U.S.A. in Growth...Jobs...Opportunity....for years to come.

Much of our family has come to The Villages to look....
.....MOST are leaning toward your chosen area.....Just look at the
huge number of corporations that are moving/expanding there.

#1 reason... the entire family can move there (3 generations )
and ALL can find many things highly desireable.

Live long and prosper.
  #22  
Old 03-29-2013, 07:21 PM
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Good choice Dave. I am a Texas born and bred girl. We too looked at Sun City Georgetown. You will love it there. We also loved Robson Ranch as it is near our family but in the end we chose TV. Keep us posted on how it goes for you. God bless Texas! And Dave!
  #23  
Old 03-29-2013, 07:24 PM
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BTW Dave, I hope you will be there for the blue bonnets. You are in the heart of bluebonnet country and it is indeed a site to behold in the spring!
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Old 03-29-2013, 09:09 PM
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Hey old friend,

Best of luck to you and your family. Keep in touch

When they Succeed from the Union your already home.

Yeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaa!
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Old 03-29-2013, 09:32 PM
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Best of luck in all you do Dave. Sounds like a fantastic area and I'm sure you and your wife will be very happy.
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Old 03-29-2013, 10:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon View Post
Old Dave, I would love to hear about Sun city TX and why yyou chose Sun City.
DITTO. I was just thinking the same thing. We'd all like to hear why you chose Sun City , Texas.

When watching those House Hunters shows, the Texas homes in general are always huge and nicely done.........very modern and quite reasonable in price for what you get.........these are not retirement homes I'm talking about, but we are always impressed with the homes in Texas.

Best of luck on your journey.......as they say, "Home is where the heart is".
  #27  
Old 03-29-2013, 11:22 PM
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Old Dave, May you and your wife enjoy your new home in Sun City, Texas. I have been to Houston quite a few times traveling for my job, but I have not ventured into the Austin area. You will be Deep in the Heart of Texas!
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Old 03-29-2013, 11:39 PM
mommieswamie mommieswamie is offline
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Default Very Sad but I Understand

Thank you for being so helpful and supportative to me and so many others on this forum. Texas sounds like a good choice. I wish you happiness in retirement!
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Old 03-30-2013, 06:30 AM
tainsley tainsley is offline
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Sure sounds wonderful! I think a majority of us were afraid to uproot and start over again! I wish you and your wife much happiness in your new adventures!
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Old 03-30-2013, 07:42 AM
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Pulte has messed up the Del Webb brand. There is a reason, Ladies and Gentlemen why, after 20 years a lot of their projects usually only 7-9000 homes, have not yet reached build out after almost 20 years. New homes are not selling. Dave is not buying new and few others are. Del Webb developments I know sell 125 new homes a year. We do it in 5 days. Morse runs circles around Del Webb and any other over 55 community in the world. I bought here in 2007 and can get what I paid if I sold yet a home I still own and rent in a Sun City is $100,000-125,000 less than it was in 2007. . I can go into details about how they let clubs monopolize facilities like Tennis and Pickleball, accessability of things like indoor pools which have become a fee earner for water aerobics etc., allowing grandchildren only a few hours at a time at the pools, which also get roped off for the lap swimmers club etc., cost of golf, but won't because it is still a very beautiful place to live and some love it. BUT, it is not The Villages, none of them are, none have the magic of the Villages and the genius of the Morse Family to guide retirees through this wonderful period of our lives. We are indeed very lucky and fortunate to have found this paradise. Can anyone really say that there us anything but top notch quality in the rec centers,or places like LSL? I have a block CYV and it is like a fortress, the best insulated home I ever owned. I lived, as a snowbird, in a beautiful 2,000 s/f home on a wooded lot Sun City, for ten years, came down here with no intention of buying and left owning a beautiful, magical villa on a golf course with a spectacular view. Never looked back. There is no place, like this place anywhere near this place.
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