What's the latest at Sun Anthem? (Las Vegas: for sale, real estate, to rent)

NiteMan · 06-22-2007, 04:44 AM

Been out there a couple times. Seems like a nice place to retire. Any thoughts, experience, crime facts, quality of homes, problems, reality under the marketing glitz? Are they really going to sell 250 houses over this summer and finish out Sun Anthem in a few months?

yellowsnow · 06-22-2007, 11:20 AM

It's pretty. It seems to be relatively safe. They probably will sell out if the prices are right. I think they will be discounting! A lot of people love it or they wouldn't have bought there! It all depends on if you are suited to that lifestyle. I would recommend you spend as much time there as possible. It's not the right choice for everyone and it's better to find out before you buy.

lvkewlkid · 06-22-2007, 01:06 PM

if you never want to see outside of Anthem again, I guess it is fine, once you get into Anthem, it always takes a half-hour to get where you need to go, and there is getting to be some more traffic as well. They probably will sell it out, as the neighborhood is nice, but my ears pop going up the mountain, it has really nice amenities, like plenty of pools. When they were first building Anthem, we were wondering, why would anyone want to live so far out away from everything, but I guess people like that and traffic on Eastern. They have their own volunteer security force and they got rid of the guard-gate, because it turned out that Sun City Anthem Pkwy needed to be used for their other neighborhoods as well. In the immediate area, there's lots of unsupervised kids.

NiteMan · 06-23-2007, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

It's pretty. It seems to be relatively safe. They probably will sell out if the prices are right. I think they will be discounting! A lot of people love it or they wouldn't have bought there! It all depends on if you are suited to that lifestyle. I would recommend you spend as much time there as possible. It's not the right choice for everyone and it's better to find out before you buy.

What do you mean its not the right choice for everyone? Can you explain a little more on what you mean by that? The lifestyle advertised is that of retired folks who have time now to enjoy themselves, make new friends, participate in the activities in that large impressive community center with computer, photography, billiard and poker tables, arts, ceramics, sewing, etc. clubs plus the exercise facility, olympic size pool, etc - all included in the $100 month home owners fee.

It seems almost too good to be true hence the posting here about what it is really like. It is that lifestyle that you are buying. While it is a little far, its still close enough for a foray into Vegas proper for an occasional casino buffet at like the Bellagio or Sunday brunch at Arizona Charlies or the many other choices for dining out. But perhaps the people aren't that friendly? Are folks there very conservative, watching the fair and balanced FOX News reporting most of the day? (didn't see that on the monitors in the exercise facility :>) Maybe diversity isn't valued?

It's difficult to really know a place just walking through. Guess one way to find out is to rent a place but if they are really going to sell out this summer, there isn't enough time to rent and hang out to find out. My biggest problem is my wife would like for once to move into a new home - if it weren't for that, I could take my time and don't care if they sell out or not and just buy a home when it comes up for sale. Also once all the homes are sold, if real estate continues to be soft and its a buyers market, may be able to get a better price than when prices are artificially controlled by Pulte and Del Webb.

lvkewlkid · 06-23-2007, 12:05 PM

Basically, if you want a Sunday Brunch at Arizona Charlies or occasionally buffet at the Bellagio, it could take you at least an hour to get to either place. There's so much traffic inside the Anthem community, plus the stupid loop road, and there's so much traffic on Eastern. I remember 10 years ago, when they kept on widening Eastern, now there is no more space to widen, yet they keep on building up on the mountain...I imagine the traffic will get worse, until the build the roads from Inspirada or you drive the mess of what is Volunteer Blvd...Anthem is a self-contained community and those who live there obviously want that because it is so difficult to get anywhere else.

Is there a particular reason you like Sun City Anthem? What about one of the other Sun Citys, even though most of them are far out, it would be a lot easier to get out of those than the one in Anthem.

The lifestyle is true, I do know some people who went to our old synogogue in NJ that live there and they like it. They like everything that's recreational and how quiet it is. They also never get out. If you live near the main road, it won't be quiet, and if you live in the Western part of Sun City, you may hear the construction from Inspirada, Anthem Highlands, and Madeira Canyon.

Yellowsnow is saying that its not the right choice for everyone because it is so inconvenient, the HOA is very strong (and from the looks of it, Yellowsnow doesn't like HOAs, lol...), I also find it interesting that there is no 24 hour pharmacy in Anthem and the Albertsons isn't open 24 hours either. Just the VONS is, but its not entirely within Anthem...

yellowsnow · 06-23-2007, 03:10 PM

The kid is right, I'm not a big fan of HOA's. I am a big fan of real life and real people. I looked at the over 55 places because that's originally where my H wanted to live and he is old enough to get in. We changed our minds after spending some time looking.

The kid is right about the distance thing. It's a long way to anywhere and everywhere. What really made us walk away was the artificial sort of Stepford quality of life. So homogenous, a whole little society of old white people with golf carts. It just made me feel old. Older than I am. And a lot older than I am inside! It made me realize I want to be part of life, not isolated and insulated from it. Next, I had to think about what the future would be. As the general age goes up, some properties would change hands and younger people would move in. But a lot of the original owners would still be there and there wouldn't be as much activity as there is today. I thought it was depressing. And surreal.

But that's just me! There are lots of folks who love these communities. If it's right for you, I would encourage you to look at some of the others as well. They all seem to be safe and well kept. The people who love these places think they are absolutely the best.

Buzz123 · 06-23-2007, 08:28 PM

The thing about the Sun Cities though is that even though the prices are higher, they will hold their value. I sometimes kick myself for not buying at the original (in Las Vegas) Sun City in Summerlin when I see how it has remained nice, and I look at the price of homes now as opposed to when they were first built. I feel the same way about all of Summerlin, but like Jellosnow, I didn't care for the "Stepford" quality. Ya live 'n learn.

NiteMan · 06-24-2007, 01:08 AM

Stepford - one word provides such insight! That's kind of what I was worried about. Anti-septic, homogenious, boring. But things also can depend on what you do and make of it.

Yellowstone - my wife agrees with you too - she thinks living there could get depressing, people look old, friends you make pass away, etc.

But the truth is we are getting old too.

For LV cool kid, we haven't looked at other Active 55 places. My wife would like to buy and move into a new house and Summerlin's sold out. The one at Stallon Mountain I heard is near a sewerage treatment plant? Also the recreation facility is a lot smaller than the one at Anthem. It is very disheartening however to hear it would take an hour to go out to lunch - you are then disposed towards staying in Anthem and then become even more insulated within its environs

SonOfHender · 06-24-2007, 03:29 AM

I live in SCA, I am only 50, (I HOPE I don't look old or am about to pass away!), we are not a homogeneous couple, my ears don't pop going up the mountain, I was at Arizona Charlie's day before yesterday and it took 30 minutes to get there, not an hour. I love it, I work daily in the McCarran area, I have no problems with traffic other than at the typical "rush hours" that plague any area, and then I just zip along E-W surface streets instead of the freeway.
Best move I ever made.

NiteMan · 06-24-2007, 12:26 PM

hurray - another point of view and from someone who lives there! SonofHender - I take it SCA is Sun City Anthem. I timed it myself - from Anthem model homes to Orleans on Tropicana took me about 20+ minutes - however, this was not during rush hour traffic. Also most of the new homes being sold are further back than the model homes. From what lvkewlkid said about the traffic inside Anthem it seemed like it would take that hour to go somewhere.

Some questions:

1. Are people friendly there? Or is it like California where few people even know their neighbors?

2. What about the recreation centers and the clubs? The main one is huge and impressive with rows of pool tables, poker tables and rooms for computer club, sewing, ceramics, etc. I was told they had a second community center but I never saw it - it's smaller than the main one and I the understand they are building a 3rd one too. Are these more window dressing or do people actually actively use them? I didn't see that many people there the times I went through. Do you find that you use them?

The restaurant seemed nice albeit a little pricey. Wouldn't be able to do it for everyday eating out - it's priced no worse than other nice places but certainly higher than casino offerings - which can be a bargain as long as you have the control to stay away from the tables on our way in and out.

3. Do they have an onsite doctor or nurse on staff?

4. How strict are they in enforcing ordinances? You'd want some oversight to prevent outrageous behavior but you don't want to have something overbearing all the time where it becomes unpleasant

5. Do you think they will sell out the remainder of over 250 homes by the end of this summer or is that marketing hype to generate sales?

6. Last - are you on the program where your cost for utilities is protected to no more than a certain amount - they told me it was because they were built so energy efficient, it wouldn't be more than like $50 per month for example, for certain models, $60 or $75 for others. Given summers are HOT and winters can be cold, this was very attractive and another reason to consider living there.

Thanks for your answers. I'm thinking about buying there - walkthrough is impressive, my wife would like a new home but wasn't sure the lifestyle they advertise is actually real or just a front and not real - like a couple people said Stepford like.