Hello to all you knowledgeable SC folks. I am less than 5 years away from retirement and yes I am counting the years, months, and days. :smile-new: We are currently in Colorado north of Denver. We love it here, but it can get really COLD! A white Christmas is nice to look at, but not so much fun if your driveway is full of that white stuff. ;-) I discovered Sun City a few months back while on-line and got very interested. We have two little grand babies in Southern CA which was the reason I looked in that direction, but CA is out of the question due to cost and politics. My wife's only comment was "its too hot", so I need some help to convince her that enduring the heat is worth it. I like the heat (grew up on central CA) and like the idea of year round shorts, but my wife hates the heat. She also hates bugs, spiders, etc.. So if you nice folks can offer up some incentives I can convince my wife with maybe we will be neighbors some day. Thanks, Bruce
Hey Bruce, welcome. Pretty simple really...most amenities at the least cost. Sorry, can't help you with the heat. Lots of folks get used to it, leave for a bit of the summer (Logan Utah is popular for some) or just adjust their schedules accordingly. The great news is, we have air conditioning almost everywhere (said with a smile). Seriously, the community is amazing. There's tons of folks from Colorado including my neighbor who claims splitting time and here and there is equivalent to dying and going to heaven. Owning two places is a strain, but it all depends on how you downsize and what your expectations are. My best advice is to rent a place here in the winter and let her get a taste of the good life. There's no better way to experience a community than to try it before you buy it. Be forewarned, prices are going up and as we market the community, look for them to go much higher.
Hi Bruce.... We too are from Colorado, Evergreen area. So far we are doing the snowbird routine... Summers in CO and winters in AZ. We did spend one summer in Sun City for medical reasons.... I did fine with the heat, my husband not so much. Eventually we will make Sun City home, maybe spend some of the hottest weather visiting kids, or at a more northern RV park. To me the hot summer is like a bitter cold winter.... You go out when you need to. I loved the warm nights, once the sun goes down. Where we are in Sun City, phase 1, I am always amazed at how few bugs we have. I love to sit on the patio late at night and read.... I have never been chased inside by bugs. Mostly we have flies and when the citris trees are in bloom bees in the daylight hours.
Thanks for the input folks. A summer evening on the deck in CO is mosquito heaven, I would love a bug free warm evening. Bees on the citrus would be a wonderful scene, my dad raised bees when I was a kid. I think the draw of being a half days drive to the grandkids will be the only draw for my wife. Personally I like the idea of all the activities available, including the volunteer opportunities.
Here is a great page about Sun City Original. It has a Community Tour, Relocation Package, and best of all FLOOR PLANS OF ALL MODELS. I checked & my model 25 is listed there. The house listed on Tropicana is a few blocks from me!
Thanks everyone for the helpful hints/advice. Sounds to me like it is time for a visit to Sun City. My wife just said she wanted to go to Las Vegas again, I wonder how she will feel about a trip to AZ instead. ;-) We don't gamble so one hot place is as good as another. Emily, I hear you on the humidity, we vacation in Branson sometimes and there are times it is tough to breath. My asthma doesn't like the heavy wet air in the south. Unfortunately for us we are not in a position to do anything just yet, we need a few more years to catch up after this crappy economy put me out of work for almost 2 years, so we will have to deal with higher prices in a few more years. For now I will just have to envy those that are fortunate enough to live in SC and look forward to being a neighbor someday, so you lucky ones don't use up all the sun before we get there.
Go to the Sun City Visitor Center website. All the information you need is there. You can request a packet of information. You can also read the information in the packet online. This forum is the greatest for getting information.
Check out the Visitor Center and the Posse for volunteering. Of course, you can volunteer in all the clubs.
Hi Bruce and welcome to Sun City soon. We lived in the sierras in northern CA before coming here and the heat was hard the first summer, but we have acclimated just fine and look forward to summer now. We have AC from point A to point B so it is tolerable. Working out in it is not for the weak but people do work out in it. I only miss having the windows open at night and that is about it. Do not miss the white stuff and having to navigate to work in it. CA is only a 4 hour drive to the border and 6 to 7 to get to anything significant. We enjoy going over to San Diego to see the zoo on a weekend now and then. I think your wife will enjoy life here but follow others advice and come and stay for a summer first.
My daughter lives in South Carolina. The topic of a recent email was "welcome to the tropics". I thought maybe she had taken a trip. Nope, it was the humidity. She did say everything was very lush. I will take AZ heat any day.
Hi Bruce -- I have yet to run from the car to the store entry because it is too hot. However, living in the Midwest, that was common when the winter wind hit you in the face!
Ha Ha, all too true comments. The only thing my wife hates more than heat is humidity. Gilmark, I have often rushed from car to store/house to avoid becoming an ice cube along the way. We had a Rockies game get snowed out this May and we have sat at a game while it snowed. We were the lucky few that had seats under the cover. However we did finally give up due to the cold. I'll have to remind my wife that the her knee that constantly hurts was due to slipping/falling on the ice last winter.
