I guess the saying is "it's all Greek to me," but in this case, Chinese is more appropriate. Yesterday I met 6 Chinese visitors (5 from the Mainland, 1 that had moved to the state of Virginia 24 years ago) at the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. We had a good time, albeit one where language was a bit of a barrier. The translator did a good job, given my propensity to ramble. They were here looking to try and understand how Sun City works in hopes of replicating it back home. This is at least the third group from China in the last year attempting to get their head around how Sun City came to be and more importantly how and why it worked. We got done at the museum and they asked me to show them one of the rec centers. They were staying at Sun City Trilogy before they left for home today, but our community was foreign to them (pun intended). All this talk of volunteers and no debt and massive amenities and continuing improvements had their head spinning. They followed me to Fairway and of course the first thing they saw was the solar. Impressive, especially when I explained how much it would save the community over the next 15 years. Once inside, it was even more spell-binding. The pool area, the workout rooms, the walking track, all of the clubs and just the overall feel of a center for everyone living here was overwhelming. I capped it off with the $450 per year cost and their question was "how does that cover it all?" Simple; our numbers, with 27,000 households, allows us the luxury of having significant resources to continue to function both effectively and efficiently. Add in the PIF and the constant influx of new money for future improvements and there is not a community that functions as well as Sun City. Suffice to say, they were impressed. The problem for them is like every other group that has looked/studied us eventually comes away with it can't be done. The dynamics of what Webb et al did back in the 60's and 70's was so far out there, those looking will never be able to repeat it. Every time I give tours like this, I appreciate even more what those who came before us did to get us where we are today. Nice!
Last year the Director of SC Visitor Center was invited to Korea to explain the workings of Sun City. Why are these people getting so interested?
Maybe because they have so many elderly in China and some of the ways are changing in which the families lived together for life. The younger gen might even have money to pay for their parents to live in a place that many Chinese would consider a luxury.
It is curious thing B, how that small amount of money can pay for it all. Do you think it's because people volunteer? But I imagine like any volunteer organization, many people do not volunteer and it's a small core group who do most. Is that true of SCAZ?
Here is why Sun City Original is ranked #2 of all Sun Cities. Statistics: Opened January 1960, population 38,500, 8,900 acres, 27,000 homes, homes resale only, 7 Recreation Centers, 7 18-hole, 1 9-hole and 3 country clubs. Annual Association Fees - drum roll please $450 per 2 person household Now let's take a look at the most expensive Sun City: Great Island in Plymouth, MA. Statistics: Opened in 2002, population not listed, 306 acres, 3,000 homes, home sales not listed,1 recreation community center, and 2 18 hole public golf courses. Now get ready for their association fees per 2 person household - a whopping $3,600. Other Arizona Sun Cities Annual Association Fees per 2 person household. SC West $770 SC Grand $1.404 SC Anthem $2,770 As you can see SC original is the BEST!
That's right Sulley, they want to do something akin to what we have here. And Cynthia is spot on, the Chinese always lived at home with generations within the same household. There is a sense that is changing and the Chinese are looking at alternatives. For as long as Sun City has existed, we've been put under a microscope to see if people can understand it, replicate it. Jan Ek, RCSC general manager, was just interviewed a few weeks back by the Wall Street Journal and those same questions were asked: "How do you do it for so little money?" There's no one answer; obviously our size allows us some financial freedoms, but so does the volunteerism that drives the community. It's why I have argued the importance of maintaining both the value and the values inbred within the community. Newer age restricted communities have a slightly different mindset. Their structure's are built to pay for the services we provide via volunteers. Virtually all are smaller other than the Villages of Florida, and consequently they build in costs to provide those services. For some that is an attraction, not everyone wants to spend their leisure time as a volunteer. BTW Peg, SCW just took a sizeable increase in Rec fees and are now or soon will be over $400 per person.
When I lived in Peoria -- just afew miles from where I currently live.....OUCH ! ! My bills were costly for: * * * Yearly membership for the gym at LA Fitness * * * Cost and upkeep of my Peoria Backyard swimming pool ( I maintained it all my self - - however - -the chemicals - & replacing parts - -whenever ---were very cost PER year) * * * The property taxes were twice as high as here. * * * My homeowners as well as Auto Insurance both in Peoria were twice as high as my insurance in Sun City Our Rec Fee is very reasonable at $450.00/yr. -- Bravo that the Rec Centers will keep our Fee at that and not go sky high in cost ! !
We also fled north Peoria and are glad we did. I agree that the property taxes and HOA fees were simply not worth the mailing address. Property tax at the peak for our former home was $2,800 and here it is $790. No contest pftttt. I also joined L.A Fitness and could not wait to get away from them. I love our gym here at the Bell Center and go frequently to use the walking pool and the equipment, which is always clean and functioning well. Del Webb is the Disney of retirement communities and it will be interesting to see what China and others come up with.
North Peoria was undeveloped for the most part and when the boom hit developers moved in with new master planned communities and shopping centers. There are several nice developments and Trilogy/Vistancia and Vistancia Village is where we camped when first arriving in 04. The developers stopped when the crash hit but residential is slowly coming back with some new builds now. Sonoran Mt. Ranch is one of the nicer family developments and West Wing another. There are large parcels with custom homes as well. Taxes are higher and people pay school fees as well. The last time I checked on the Trilogy 55+ HOA fees, they were over $265 or around that number.
I don't think Peoria is particularly upscale, it's just that any community that is not a 55+ is going to have higher taxes because of the schools.
