Gated living has its pros and cons

___

Published Date 3/23/2018

You may never have lived in one, but you’ve seen them. Gated communities — those neighborhoods that have walls around them, making them accessible only to residents and their guests. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live in one?

Behind those fancy gates or guarded entrances, gated communities have both their benefits as well as their detractors. So before considering picturing yourself living in one, you may want to consider what’s in store.

First of all, they’re private. Everyone you see driving around inside them are residents of their visitors, apart from a few service or delivery providers. That means you won’t get many doorbells rung by people you don’t know, apart from your neighbors selling Girl Scout Cookies or car wash certificates for school fundraisers. And if you are someone who is well-known, you can pretty much rest easy about the paparazzi catching you grabbing the morning paper in your robe.

Homeowners’ associations can be a deterrent to some, but may also offer you the kind of lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of inside a gated community. Instead of having a pool in your backyard, there may be one provided by the community itself, along with a kids’ playground, an off-leash dog park, hiking trails, jogging and bike paths, exercise facility, community clubhouse, golf course, and even tennis courts, — all included in your monthly HOA fee. While it sounds like a pain to have to pay for these perks, having them all close by may be the best of all worlds.

Paying those monthly fees also includes (in most cases) maintenance and landscaping of common areas, roads, sidewalks, curbs, and lighting, all of which makes your neighborhood look perennially manicured and aids in keeping up property values. Sometimes yard maintenance is even thrown in.

But you also are required to play by the rules, which may specify only certain types of colors of window coverings visible from the outside of your home, pre-approved paint colors (if the association doesn’t take care of your exterior paint), landscaping restrictions, and even how many hours per day you are permitted to have a car in your driveway or in front of your house. Garage/yard sales are often prohibited as well. The key here is to read the neighborhood’s C.C. & Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions) to see if you can live with what you are limited in doing to and around your home.

What is one person’s purgatory can be another person’s heaven, however. Gated communities can also be attractive to people who love the idea of their community always looking new, attractive and uncluttered. That family with three teenagers’ cars all over the street? They couldn’t live there. The guy who loves to grab a beer and put an old couch out on his front porch or keep a basketball goal on the front of his house? He won’t buy there.

If you love to entertain, you may find living in a gated community a bit of a challenge. Admittance to the neighborhood (especially if you have a human guard at the gate) and parking must be carefully planned and orchestrated. Some communities require that each guest be registered ahead of time or gate passes must be issued before the event.

But there is also the quiet, peaceful nature inherent in most gated communities as well. Cars don’t zip by your house. Barking dogs can be reported to your homeowner’s association and dealt with. People selling lawn services don’t ring your doorbell as you’re just sitting down to dinner.

It can feel exclusive as well as safer to live in the cocoon a gated community offers. The main thing is to go into a purchase like this with your eyes wide open.

Source: TBWS

All information furnished has been forwarded to you and is provided by thetbwsgroup only for informational purposes. Forecasting shall be considered as events which may be expected but not guaranteed. Neither the forwarding party and/or company nor thetbwsgroup assume any responsibility to any person who relies on information or forecasting contained in this report and disclaims all liability in respect to decisions or actions, or lack thereof based on any or all of the contents of this report.

http://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/

NMLS # 75605