Gotta love the gang at 55places. This unique website with thousands of age restricted communities listed has done another story on Sun City. This one appropriately celebrates Sun City reaching the 55 year old milestone. You can read it here...please feel to leave your comments. It would be especially cool to see some of our new owners share their thoughts on why they elected to buy there.
I know this will be hard for you to believe but what came out in the piece was just touch short of what I wrote. They sent me a questionnaire about Sun City and of course I got carried away. Here's the full text for those longing for more: - How long have you lived in Sun City? We bought our home in 1999 when we were 51. It was one of the smartest things we did with money in that we rented the house out during the winters, updated it a little each year, used our visits out here as a tax write-off and most importantly found out just how much we loved Sun City. - What made you choose Sun City over any other active adult community? My folks lived here, but we looked at Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Tucson and Sun City Summerlin in Las Vegas. Every one of them were newer and nicer, but none had as many amenities for so little cost. The more we visited my folks, the more we came to understand just how special Sun City was. It was like the difference between picking up a new pair of jeans, or slipping into a pair you’ve had for years. The new ones always looked better, the old ones felt better, more comfortable. - What is your roll with the HOA/community? There’s a dozen things that makes Sun City unique, but the biggest thing is the infrastructure. As a “self-governed” community we have to run ourselves; an obligation that comes with ownership that is like no other age restricted community in the country. Sun City West is the closest thing to us, but the transition to a hybrid, where single-entity governance is different from what we have in Sun City. The best way to explain it is to use the 12 years I have lived in Sun City: My first two years were at the Sun City Visitor Center, both as a volunteer and on their board. From there I was elected to a three year term at the Sun City Home Owners Association (SCHOA). It was struggling at the time and several of us rebuilt it from the ground up. They too are unique in that membership is voluntary and the back then it was $15 per year (now it’s $20). Compliance with the CC&R’s is mandatory. As I was completing my time there, Sun City was coming up on the 50th anniversary and my wife and I both joined the committee. I did all of the writing for it and we both worked the year-long events. I was also asked to be on the board for the Sun Cities Area Historical Society where I spent three years, my last two as president. During that time we renamed it the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum, added a website complete with museum style software with a searchable data base and hired our first employee (working part-time). Upon completion of my term, I ran for the Rec Centers of Sun City (RCSC) board of directors. While there I became president of the Sun City Foundation (concurrent with my three years on the RCSC board). Between those things, my wife and I did Meals on Wheels and served as an officer for a couple of the 130 clubs we have in Sun City. While that sounds like a lot, I have yet to be a part of the POSSE, The Pride and at least a dozen more community organizations. Suffice to say, while I may volunteer more than some, Sun City doesn’t function without the residents becoming involved. Our infrastructure is beyond anything you’ll find in the country and exactly why we have begun marketing it to people who like the idea of giving back. - How has Sun City changed, if it has, since you've moved in? Great question Stephanie and one that may surprise you: As much as we are evolving, we are working hard to hold on to our values, the ones that were built into the community from the very beginning. I laugh when I see senior communities advertise they “aren’t their grandparents retirement community.” Frankly, why wouldn’t they want to be? Seriously, what’s better than what Del Webb’s Sun City offered from it’s very start: “ A new way of life.” These days we like to call it “a better way of life.” We aren’t new, we’re the oldest out there, but for every buyer, we offer both a new way and a better way to live. Clearly, it’s different from where ever they moved from. We’re still small-town like, even with 40,000 plus residents. We pride ourselves on maintaining that sense of community. That said, we are moving forward. In 1999, the RCSC board of directors passed what is known as a Preservation and Improvement Fund (PIF). It’s a point of sale amount on every home sold in Sun City. In 1999 it was $750, in October of this year it will go to $3500. The money can only be used for projects of more than $750,000 and a lifespan of at least 15 years. It was the defining moment in Sun City’s history. It has allowed us to rebuild, renovate and update our amenities at an incredible pace. While the dollar amount is minimal, we have been averaging more than 2000 home sales per year (we like to say it equates to 6-7 home sales each and every day of the year). If you think of it in cumulative dollars, from its inception to now, we have collected and spent in excess of $100 million dollars and in the next ten years, it will be an easy 100 million dollars more. That is essential to Sun City’s future, because boomers expect to see first class facilities, upgraded golf courses and great entertainment. We are doing it all and yet our annual lot assessment fees are only $462 per household. Visitor’s to Sun City are always amazed. When they see things like the new Pickleball Pavilion (eight courts under roof) along with a dozen more around it, sparkling new buildings that replace the outdated older rec centers, golf courses that are adding outdoor patio space as well as becoming water and energy efficient they are stunned. Driving through the community, they’ll note fourteen locations with solar panels, and inevitably comment on how innovative a move it was a we look to our future. They’ll see all new electronic signage, continually reminding people of what and how much is going on around the community. Perhaps the biggest surprise is when they hear everything we have done and will be doing is paid in cash. We have no debt and in all likelihood, we never will. - How has it most changed since it opened? I suspect the most notable change in Sun City is what residents are doing to their homes. In the early years, most buyers were quite content with what the Del E Webb Development Corporation (DEVCO) was building. Once Sun City was built out (1978), occasional do it yourselfer’s would add on a room, patio or some other minor changes to their property. Since about 2000, home remodeling projects have run the gamut. We’ve had a handful tear the house down to a single wall or two with a complete rebuild, to folks dramatically changing the outside appearance, to maintaining the front of the house and simply adding a massive addition across the back. Buyers love to put their stamp on the home they bought, and there’s no better place to do it than in the original Sun City. The bone’s of the homes are really solid and when contractors are working on them, it’s never unusual to hear the comments on the quality of how they were built. Throw in how easy and inexpensive it is to stucco an older home and one quickly begins understand why and how Sun City is being remade on the residential side. And of course our lot sizes are larger than most other age restricted communities and as boomers are moving here, many are adding more garage space for their abundance of toys. Continued below.
- How much did it cost to purchase a home when Sun City opened? The original 5 model homes started at $8500 (2 bedroom, 1 bath, 860 square feet), with the largest (3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1400+ square) coming in just under $15,000. Sun City’s initial target market was low to moderate income retirees. Sales exploded the first 3 years, but by 1964 Sun City was in trouble (they only sold 387 homes in Sun City AZ). They had opened identical communities in California and Florida and both were less than successful. Del Webb asked John Meeker to take over the project and he literally saved Sun City. He quickly came to understand everyone loved a bargain. He added the Play and Stay program that brought potential buyers to see the community up close and personal. His stamp can be seen as he kept expanding home size, the quality of amenities and creating a sense of community. He spent enormous sums of money to do these things, but in the end it paid off. From 1968-1978 they averaged 2000 home sales per year. He integrated at least a half a dozen “modes of living” throughout the community. He loved to say he had $200,000 lake homes across from $50,000 condo’s. It’s still one of the quality’s that makes Sun City so endearing to this day…there’s something for every budget. Some of those early 1 bedroom, 1 bath 900 square garden court apartments can be purchased for $50,000. For those wanting more, there’s a total rebuild on Dawn Lake bumping up around the $500,000 mark. The beauty of it is in either case you get exactly the same amenity package at exactly the same cost, $462 per household. - Was Sun City expected to become what it is today? Sun City was often called “the great social experiment.” Virtually every magazine of note in the 60’s did a story on this curiosity in the desert. Calvin Trillin wrote a 40 plus page summary in the New Yorker after living in the community for a short period of time. In essence he said he didn’t feel it would work out because people would get bored with playing their life away. Little did he expect the community would evolve; finding there was more to life than laying by the pool or chasing that little white ball around. The experts said Sun City would never survive…that is should not be built; that is was a mistake trying to take seniors away from the family unit. Little did anyone comprehend what a pivotal role Sun City would play in changing what the word retirement would mean in the years to come. For anyone who has studied the history of Sun City, they will have come to understand, the experts were almost right. They never factored in human nature; the resolve of the men and women who worked for Del Webb and the “pioneers” who bought homes in the community. They could have given up, but they didn’t. It’s exactly why 55 years after the fact, Sun City residents continue to give back and be a part of the process. We know the value and the values built into Sun City are important enough to keep fighting to preserve them. What’s so encouraging is to see those shopping for their “perfect retirement community,” still consider Sun City Arizona as one of their choices. And the better we can define it for them, the more inclined they are to move it to the top of their list.
That was an interesting read. I do so like to hear about Sun City & its past. In my 8 years here I have yet to hear someone say they don't like SC. That is except the snowbirds who leave because they don't like the heat. Summers are actually my favorite time of year. Less traffic, church not crowded, and you can get a parking place at Frys!
As I read BPearson's post above (the response to 55Places questionnaire) I am reminded of how my wife and I felt on the Sun City bus tour last June. While we had some misgivings about whether or not this community would be our "perfect retirement community" (see final paragraph in BPearson's post above) my wife turned to me during the tour and said "we're moving here". Well, we see some other places that we like too, but we've not made the move yet. Who knows, we may be part of that continuing legacy that has become "that curiosity in the desert".
Hey Rusco: I have to come clean...I lied. I'd love to have you move to Sun City and hate seeing you go elsewhere. Nothing wrong with those other places, I just find people who like being part of an online community are naturals to belong to the incredible one we have here. I know I beat people to death with the fact we are different, but it's because we are. Everyone has great amenities. The newer places have spectacular homes, but tend to be more sterile. They don't have the history nor the infrastructure. While that would mean little to some folks, the more intuitive, the more introspective, the more likely those things would matter to people who take the time and do their homework. I know that sounds like a really big generalization, so think about it like this: Why would anyone find Sun City more enticing than a gorgeous community like Grand or Festival? I'll answer for you, and then you guys feel free to correct me. It isn't just the value of Sun City; sure we have more amentias at the least cost, but that's just a small part of our bigger picture. And therein lies the answer, we have a bigger picture where most others don't. The values of our community built from nothing are truly intriguing for folks who want more than laying by the pool, playing golf or doing any number of the other more hedonistic lifestyle drivers. I've written it a hundred times, Sun City is a sum total of our parts, and virtually no one else has the moving parts we do. It doesn't make them bad, just different. For people who like to think, analyze and then act, that's the piece of Sun City that keeps drawing them in, making them want to be part of it. We're not for everyone, but for a lot of people, Sun City appeals to them on levels other communities will never have. And what's really cool is no matter how much you read about us, there's always another story to be told, another organization to join and endless opportunities for you to help write the next chapter we know as Sun City.
Looks more like a nickel's worth to me Emily. Geez you're wordy layful:. So I stopped by 55Places this morning and there was a piece up about the hottest selling age restricted communities around the country. To my shock Sun City was somewhere between 10th and 20th. The opening paragraph claimed they used criteria that was based on sales from January till the end of June (first 6 months). Being a bit anal or is it anal-retentive (goodness, don't look up the differences in those two), I decided to question their methodology. I've met the owners and have nothing but respect for them and the site they run...but (or is it butt?). Sorry, my mind does wander and wonder all too often; I tend to enjoy the play on words more than most. In any event, I shot them our stats with nearly 1200 homes sold in the first 6 months, which equates to more than 6 homes sold each and every day so far this year. I have a hard time picturing any other community having those kinds of numbers, but hell, I've been wrong before (just ask the bride). The site has an administrator that checks posts before they put them up. I went back a bit ago and my post wasn't up, and even more surprising was the article was gone. The guys are really good about answering questions, especially when their criteria is subjective. In this case it was objective criteria, and apparently they elected to reconsider. Interesting.
We are still considering SCG. Could you please share some of your research on the construction issues (links?) We talked to several SCG residents who said to limit our home search to houses West of 303. Those were built by Pulte and had "post-tension" slabs which were supposed to resist cracking better. Any info would be appreciated.
Here's a link to an old article and the settlement Huntley. As you can see, there were still a boatload of ongoing lawsuits from folks who didn't join in on the class action and I have no idea what became of those. If memory serves me, most of the issues came during the boom when homes were flying off the market and they started hiring every contractor that was upright and breathing. Standards slipped a bit and caused the problems that plagued part of the community. Seems the earlier homes were fine. We have several friends living there and they love it. It wouldn't be for me, there's just too many rules. Before you buy, ask your Realtor for a copy of the CC&R's. They are indeed plentiful. While it keeps everyone's property looking uniform, it tends to create that cookie-cutter look. Too bad, because the homes are gorgeous inside. I'd also encourage you to get copies of their financials; try and get them back to the point Pulte completed build-out. That will give you a more clear picture on how much Pulte subsidized the community till they sold out and the true yearly cost of maintenance since then. It will also give you a pretty good idea what to expect for increases as you go forward.
Just got an email from one of the owners of 55 Places. They reposted the article and clarified the order of listing wasn't based on total sales within a community. 55 Places generates revenue from the agents having signed on as their "Real Estate experts" who get leads from people using the website. Apparently this list of the top 50 was based on those leads that led to sales in said communities.
