For those that plan to move to the Original Sun City what is your timeline?

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I say 3 years and my better half says probably 4, but that came down from 5 and now she is talking 3.
Preparation is just starting to get rid of a few things. At our current rate 3 years won't be long enough.
We started looking at houses in SC 2 years ago when we discovered SC, wishing we would have figured out how to buy then.
The biggest prep I have been doing is to convince my other half that it is OK to move to AZ and calm her fears.
The move from CA to CO was easy, I got transferred and her job ended and it was a corporate move to a bigger less expensive house.
This time it will be all on us and to a smaller home and IMHO a welcomed move.
So we have 3 years to rightsize from 2900 sqft full of stuff to less than 1800 sqft, looking forward to the final result, but not the process.

 

I chuckled when I considered responding to this post, doubt my “timeline” is anything close to usual, so I guess I’ll share it. I moved to the Puna district of the Big Island of Hawaii in 2004. This is ag land on the windward side, on the east rift zone of Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes, fairly remote (though not as much now as then), and without some basic services. We have 120-150 inches of rain per year. It takes a lot of work just to keep up with the moisture, the jungle, the critters (wild pigs, jungle fowl, mongoose, giant centipedes, fire ants, to name a few). About a year ago I started to feel overwhelmed, it wasn’t fun anymore, I was tired. I started looking around for something easier, maybe a condo or senior housing in Hilo, here on this island. I was pretty shocked by the prices, couldn’t even afford the tiniest studio. What do seniors on social security do? What does anybody do? This ain’t Waikiki, why so expensive? So, I was sitting in a funk, kind of halfway watching the TV on Sunday morning, May 17th, when a segment on Sun City, Arizona aired. I perked up, paid attention, sounded very good to me. I’ve never been to Arizona but that’s no problem, I bought my house in San Diego sight unseen over the Internet and did the same moving to Hawaii, hadn’t been to those places before either and they worked out. Anyway, I fired up the computer and realtor.com and started looking around, found two house plans that I liked very much, both row-house condos. One was the 879 sq. ft. one-bedroom, the other the 1034 sq. ft. two-bedroom, both in Sun City. There were lots of choices, and very doable prices. I did some research, found the HOA fees acceptable, taxes low, amenities amazing. I’m not horrified by older construction inside or out, popcorn ceilings and ceramic tile don’t bother me one bit. I think the current fad of granite and stainless steel is silly, so the older homes in SC are a good fit. Anyway, there was one 1034 that called to me, and I kept coming back to it. Finally, I decided to call the listing agent, asked her a bunch of questions, and ended up making an offer $3K below asking. That was on June 4th. My offer was accepted almost immediately and everything after that fell into place just like it had been choreographed. Escrow closed on June 25th and the place is mine. That part was easy, the hard part is going to be getting this Hawaii house knocked into shape for sale, the jungle beaten back, arrangements made to ship cats and household goods and me. I’ll be selling my good green truck here, getting small used car of some kind there (leaning towards Chevy Spark). Best case scenario, I’ll be there late October, more likely mid-November, hopefully before Thanksgiving. Can’t wait! That’s my timeline (and probably TMI).

 

Please keep us posted on the progress for your move to Sun City.
You will really enjoy everything it has to offer.
No real critters to worry about.
Only a few rabbits and they don't bite!
You might see a coyote, but not too often.

 

Very interesting that you heard about SC on the Sunday Morning segment, Lin. I've up and moved to several states in my life having never been there before. But my SC timeline was more carefully thought. I first planned to move to Sun City Center in FL. I got hooked of tropical after living in the Philippines for a few years. I looked at properties there for about a year or so. I read all the newsletters and Google drove the streets. I knew the area I wanted to live.

Then about a two years ago I stumbled across SC, AZ. It was difficult to change my direction to AZ but there were several reason that AZ would be an easier move for me so I started looking. I came close to making an offer on several places and didn't. I made offers on 2 places that did not work out. I waited 7 months for one house to come on the market that I knew was going to and when it did (and very cheap) I didn't bid on it (lengthy explanation). I had been thinking about a patio home, across from Lakeview, and I looked at one. It was great inside, good price and I don't know the reason it had been on the market for almost a year (sold now). I was thinking about making an offer on it. I had 2 hours to kill before my flight back home so I went over to Viewpoint Lake and sat there. I loved it so much I decided I would live in a shack to live on the lake. Of course there are no shacks on the lakes (although some badly remodeled interiors).

I went back home and found 4 lake houses for sale, 3 on Viewpoint. But the house on Dawn was so cute. The location was perfect and the view was wow. It was more than I had originally planned to spend but I had just sold my home for a good price and had some cash. So I bought it from the internet photos. Now for the sad part. I'm still 3 years from moving to SC. :ambivalence: But I will take some vacations there.

 

I was born in Reno, Nevada, spent my first 50 years there, so I'm familiar with desert living. Reno is high so cooler (-30 some winters) but still dry and with desert critters like rattlers and scorpions and tarantulas and coyotes. The only critters that worry me in SC are the killer bees, haven't had to deal with those before and recent news reports have been pretty scary. I'm looking forward to rabbits and quail and crows and bluejays and monarch butterflies, all things we don't have in Hawaii. The place I bought has a wonderful enclosed patio with lots of space to garden so that will be my first priority, plant, plant, plant. After that is well under way, I'll explore the rec centers, shopping, et al. As I keep repeating, can't wait!

 

We did the same thing as you Cynthia. We purchased our condo two and a half years ago. We won't be 55 until later this year. We wanted to purchase before the prices went up. I am not retiring for 6 years and my husband will work for another few years. We will split our time between Washington state and sun city.

 

Where in Washington state?
I am from Whidbey Island and don't miss the rain at all!

 

I live on the east side of the state so we don't get as much rain as Seattle.

 

Love to see these kinds of comments and how people came to Sun City. It's one of the questions I always ask a new buyer.

 

No popcorn ceilings for me. I keep asking why, why? I have to remove it.

 

What's wrong with popcorn ceilings?

 

They're fugly.

 

I don't care for them when they look dingy. Luckily the people we bought our condo from had them scraped.

 

I have popcorn ceilings.
No problem.

 

I loved the mid-century popcorn ceilings with glitter, they sparkled. Alas, they seem to have all been scraped away. I had popcorn ceilings for many years (many years ago) and the only problem I ever had was a leaky skylight which stained the ceiling, said stain being almost impossible to cover. It bled through multiple layers of paint, frustrating. I think we finally used Kilz and that did it. Dingy or stained popcorn ceilings are easily spray painted whatever shade of light suits. Nope, I don't mind them at all. I'm actually not sure if my place in SC has popcorn ceilings, no one has ever remembered to look up. I asked the realtor, but she forgot so it will be a surprise when I finally get there. I'm far more liable to start yanking out carpeting than worry about the ceiling. I'm hoping to get enough $ out of this house to be able to install wood-grain porcelain tile throughout, so much easier to take care of.

 

My SC house has a lot of tile on the floor and carpet. Both will eventually go. I'd like all hardwood but I might go with a good laminate because it's easier over concrete. I like the look of tile but I hate the dirty grout. I have a full tile bathroom now (up to the ceiling) with shower and a large tub in tile. Never again. It looks great for a few years but then its a battle with the mold. I love Mid Mod design and I will not change an inch about the outside but in the inside I want more modern. Smooth and minimal. And I do love granite. Not so much for the look, although I love anything stone, but for the ease of cleaning. I've had every type of counter top surface but once I tried granite I'll never have anything else. So easy to keep clean. I love it.

 

Interesting discussion. LinW-unless your new place (congrats by the way) has had a total redo, you probably have popcorn ceilings. Personally, I vote no to popcorn, no to carpet (area rugs okay), yes to stone counters (quartz or granite) but not in dark colors. I would also give a big thumbs up to mid mod and modern design. Regarding granite, I am not a fan of the tile. It needs to be solid surface. There's actually some pretty cool laminates out there for counters but I doubt my wife would go for them.

 

Mom has gone back to Minnesota for the summer and i'm getting the rest of her house done in tile while she is gone. There's about 900 square feet to replace and we looked closely at doing the tile that looks like wood (that Lin talked about). There's some spectacular colors out there and the beauty of them is they have minimal grout lines. To get the wood floor look, they lay them with hardly any space between them.

The problem was in the transition from all of the existing tile so we just stayed with exactly the same. A few years back we replaced all of our tile. We had the old 6 or 8 inch ones and they were horrible. We tried to go cheap and that was a mistake. We've had grout issues ever since and while it looks better, there's still issues. In the bedrooms and living room we had carpet and replaced that with bamboo. Can't say it's held up as well as we hoped, but it's still a nice change and way less of a dirt/dust collector than carpet.

If we were going to ever do it again, we'd look closely at the wood grained tile throughout the house. That or get a bid on pouring concrete floors. Anyone ever done that? Seems like it might be cold, but perhaps with the right concrete stain it would be good.

The wood grain porcelain that Lin is going to do is really an awesome look without the problems of the grouting and without some of the issues with the wood floors. It's more expensive to lay, especially if you do it on the diagonal, but it gives it a great look.

 

I'm 8-10 years out. I'm 57 now and don't expect to retire before 65, barring an unexpected windfall.
I figure that'll give me enough time to downsize and learn everything.
We plan on visiting a number of times in mid-summer... we already know the winter weather can't be beat.