Hello, Sun City! My wife and I are early in the process of looking into spending some time in your community, preferably in the original development, and I am finding this message board to be very helpful. We’ve been looking into the availability of renting during some portion of the high season which seems to be January-March. Already we’re noticing that what we’d hoped to do…spend 6 weeks more-or-less…doesn’t appear to be possible as most owners, understandably, prefer to rent once for 3 or 4 months. We’ve contacted a realtor, as well as calling one owner directly who had listed online…same story both times and the individual we spoke with already had her place booked. We’re a little surprised to find that even 7 months out, rental properties appear to be relatively scarce. Other than continuing to contact individual owners from online sources, can anyone offer any suggestions for finding a desirable, but shorter term rental? Our interest in the original Sun City stems from a visit I had with my aunt and uncle in the mid 1970’s who were, as best I can remember, on N. Silverbell drive. That may not be correct, but having retired there sometime in the 60’s my impression is that they were either in phase 1 or 2. They loved the place, lived the rest of their lives there, and now it’s a lifestyle we want to explore. I have yet to find a truly negative comment on any of the threads on this board and that is very encouraging! I have much more to check out on the numerous sources referenced in earlier postings and I will continue to do that. I do have a couple of questions I haven’t yet seen addressed. One is about the difference in HOA fees across the different sections of Sun City…in terms of dollars and what these fees cover. And is my impression correct that both property owner and renter are required to pay…in effect double payment for the same period of time? Well, I guess that’s enough for a first post!
Hi Henry; welcome to TOSC. Your comments regarding short-term rentals are exactly what people have been struggling to get past for years, virtually no one does them, unless they've reached the end of the season and they haven't rented or if they can find multiple short-termers they can schedule back-to-back-to-back. The home next to the museum used to do month to month, but it looks like it may have a permanent renter now. I'll see what I can find out. The other possibility is to see if you can find others who would like to rent on this site, and try and piggyback with them. Even that may be problematic because rentals here go quickly and who knows what's available at this date? Your other questions are exactly the reason I've been a proponent of better communications with both potential buyers and renters. We all come from somewhere else where the community we lived in was nothing like Sun City. Our infrastructure were typically of mayors and city councils and the rest of the trappings that come from city governance. Sun City was founded on a whole different platform. We are self-governed and consequently newbies seldom understand the structure. We all tend to interchange terms because we don't get it. That said, you are kind of right, let me explain: Think of Sun City as a commune for us oldies but goodies. If you buy a house here you sign a facilities agreement where you agree to pay the appropriate fees to the RCSC (currently the Preservation and Improvement Fees, $3000, a $300 transfer fee and the yearly lot assessment, $462). Whether you live here or not, you pay the one time PIF and the transfer fee. The yearly assessment is also due and in some cases you may not even be able to use the facilities (if you are under age 55 or live within 75 miles of Sun City). Every owner pays these. The Sun City Home Owners Association is an entirely separate entity that is free standing. Membership is voluntary (and costs $20 per year); but when you buy here, one of the agreements you sign at closing mandates you agree to the deed restrictions that state you agree to the CC&R's. They are really simple in nature and help keep the community looking good. The point most potential buyers get mixed up about are the other HOA's. Attached housing (approximately 9000 of the 27,000 rooftops) are covered by their own home owners associations. There are 386 of them and they have their own rules and costs that cover the outside maintenance and other things. Their yearly fees vary based on what they cover, the number of units and the amount of work needed, etc. They can range from a low of around $125 per month to a high of as much as $250. So, single family detached homes have no mandatory HOA fees, attached do. Where you were correct is all owners pay the rec fees (attached or detached) to the RCSC. If they rent the unit out, the renter can either pay a monthly or yearly fee to access the amenities while they are here; our they can elect not to and then not use the facilities. It does in fact result in a double-dipping scenario for the RCSC and is one of the reasons our yearly fees are so low. The good news for you as a renter is they used to force you to pay a yearly fee, but now you can buy a monthly fee ($60 per person, per month) to use the facilities. Hope that helps.
Emily and BPearson: Thank you for your replies. There’s more going on there with the fees than I’d realized, but now I sort of get it and realize that they will vary with location and type of housing. In any case, they don't sound excessive. Good to know the activity/facility fee is monthly rather than annual...I'm really interested in knowing more about the facilities. In particular I think we'd enjoy access to a pool since that is one of the best forms of exercise I've found. I think we’d prefer a single family structure over any of the other options, but I don’t know if that’ll work out or not. Emily, I did like what I saw of that area around Silverbell as well, even though it was a very brief visit. It’s been nearly 40 years now and it’s funny what you remember, but I do remember thinking that it would be so easy to get lost if you weren’t paying attention or forgot the address. I’d never seen so many seemingly identical places! That and all the golf carts zipping around! So, we’ll have to see how our search goes for a while. If necessary we may rethink the 6 week thing and just accept that it’s 3 months or nothing. It’s not so much that we think we wouldn’t enjoy the additional time. It’s more a concern about being away for so long and worrying about things a bit while we’re so far away.
Emily: Thank you for posting the links. That idea occurred to my wife as well and we might just do that.
