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My wife and I moved into Sun City Georgetown 15 months ago. We really like living here. The big mistake we made was having a new house built by Pulte rather than buying an older pre-owned house. More on that in a moment...
It is amazing how many clubs and interest groups there are here. And they all seem to be inexpensive to join. We've been focused on getting settled in, plus we're on the introverted side, so we're slowly starting to explore them. Some of our neighbors jumped in with both feet immediately. We have found a large and vibrant Democrat/Progressive group here. I'd say the political mixture in Sun City in general is pretty evenly split--at least that's what we've anecdotally observed. The culture here really promotes neighborliness. We have met most of our neighbors around the block, and know them by name and a little bit of their story, it's not uncommon to see little groups of neighbors standing outside talking, and we help each other out with things. So that's all lovely. Our neighbors come from all over the U.S. and other countries and span the political/ideological/religious spectrum.
The Community Association (CA) does a really good job of running things and providing services to the residents. Sometimes we become aware of a rule that seems silly or overly pedantic, but I figure there must be some story behind why such a rule had to be instituted (my favorite is "No straddling the pool noodles!"). Yes, the Central Scrutinizer will send a minion to pay you a friendly visit if you do not have the requisite number of flower beds. But I get what the goal is, and I can appreciate it, having previously had the misfortune of living next to someone who let their house and yard become a dump. We have never felt the CA rules to be overly constraining.
It feels very safe here. The number one crime is fraud, since to con artists all these old folks concentrated into one area must seem like shooting fish in a barrel. It is a bit weird sometimes, when we go to an event in Sun City such as a musical performance and all I see are old people (then I remember that I'm an old people too). My wife and I ride recumbent trikes and we ride them all through Sun City--we've explored the entire development and the immediately surrounding areas. It feels very safe riding on the streets of Sun City, since the streets are wide, and people are only driving 35 mph, and drivers are already attuned to watching out for golf carts and pedestrians. Speaking of golf, we don't golf so I can't comment on that that (other than to say we also don't have to pay the golf fees).
On to Pulte... We're very unhappy with Pulte. We wish there were a better homebuilder in Sun City. Here are some pros and cons we experienced with Pulte.
- We love the design and layout of our house.
- The Pulte sales process was pretty smooth, and the salesperson we worked with was very pleasant and professional, if a bit vague at times.
- The process of selecting our options for the house - flooring, tiles, colors, etc. - was a lot of fun and very professionally done via videoconference.
- The build process was very frustrating. Poor communication and constantly shifting timelines, which made it hard to coordinate the sale of our previous house and our relocation plans (like most folks here, we relocated from another state).
- The closing was quick and easy and professionally done.
Upon moving in and settling in we began to realize that there were a number of issues with the house. We hired an independent inspector to give it a more thorough lookover. Pretty much all of the problems with the house seem to be the result of lazy or unskilled or rushed work. For example,
- Our floors are not level.
- There were significant drainage issues on our and our next-door neighbor's lots.
- Some of our window frames were bowed.
- Some of our interior walls are bowed, and cannot be fixed without tearing out and rebuilding the walls.
- There were numerous right angles done crooked inside the house. It was a bit crazy: nearly every place where there was a right angle, it was not 90 degrees. In some cases it was just the trim but in others the actual angles of the walls are crooked.
- The front and back doors were hung crooked and had gaps to the outside ("Hey bugs, come on in!").
- In general the interior finish work and paint was rough and shoddy.
Pulte, to their credit, assigned a very competent Customer Service representative to take care of fixing the issues we had identified. However, to Pulte's discredit, some of the repair contractors hired by Pulte had the same "do the least amount of work possible to get by" mentality as the contractors who had originally done the work. In a few cases, we had to demand that they come back multiple times to do it right.
The concrete work throughout our neighborhood is really bad. This is a brand new neighborhood that already has cracked sidewalks and other concrete issues. Some of our neighbors have had to have their driveways replaced. We had to have a section of the concrete pathway leading from our driveway to the front porch replaced.
When it's all said and done, our perception of Pulte is that they are a well-oiled business machine but that they rush and cut corners and use poorly skilled contract labor. Then, if the homeowner discovers the shoddy work and raises a customer service request during the warranty period, Pulte will come and fix those issues, but still often in a shoddy manner. It leaves us wondering what other things are wrong with our house that we aren't yet aware of. We have heard horror stories from some of our neighbors about issues they've found with their houses.
The aggregate of these experiences with Pulte would cause us to view Pulte as mediocre (at best) as a homebuilder. We love Sun City, but wish there was a better homebuilder here. If we could do it all again, we would have bought a pre-owned older house inside Sun City rather than having new construction done.
There is one more issue, that has recently come to light. We live at the north end of Sun City, were Pulte is building most of their new homes. About a block away from us, just outside of Sun City, is a two lane rural road. Some new homes here in Sun City are even further north, practically right up against that road. We didn't realize (and certainly weren't told by Pulte) that that road would (and now has) become a thoroughfare for 18-wheeler trucks carrying limestone from the quarries to the east of us over to the many new home developments (Parmer Ranch, etc.) to the west of us. The truck noise often gets really loud. It wasn't like this when we initially made our visits to Sun City to check out the development and view available lots, but it has steadily and dramatically increased. We've tried to be philosophical about this and figured that eventually (in a few years) those other housing developments will be completed and the trucks will go away. However, we recently learned that this two lane road is going to be turned into a major thoroughfare and be widened to four lanes and then eventually to eight lanes. This has been planned by the County for a few years--before Pulte began building homes in our neighborhood next to that road. Road noise levels are going to increase exponentially, while property values and resale possibilities for our homes will plummet. There will also be health and safety issues. Pulte was surely aware of of this massive road expansion plan but did not disclose this information to buyers, and chose to build homes near to that roadway rather than leave the land undeveloped as a buffer. Pulte is still building new homes right up against that road.
Alas, we failed by not researching adequately what plans the County might have for that road. But Pulte, in our opinion, committed (and is still committing) fraud by not disclosing this information to potential homebuyers.
So, when it's all said and done: We live in a neighborhood (Sun City) that we really, really like, but have a house of mediocre quality, and have just learned we're going to have an eight lane highway built a block away from us.
Last edited by MWatneymeyer; 01-21-2024 at 08:16 AM..
My only comment would be that there is no way that Pulte is committing fraud by not disclosing that there is a road that may or may not have a change in volume, design, or have annoy some people more than others. I mean, there is a road in my area of town that was 'approved' 30 years ago but is just now getting built. It could have never happened. It isn't the builders property or in any way under their control.
That said, I think most everyone I know that has built a house vows to never build again - only buy existing.
Oh, I dunno.
We built our current Brushy Creek home in 1994, and liked it so much we decided to stay put.
We’d do it all over again with just a few changes.
I am in the center of SC and very glad I am, from what I'm seeing coming up around the perimeter, particularly the nearby quarries. Been there, done that and learned a valuable lesson to see what is surrounding a prospective neighborhood, like what the city/county has in the works to be built, and what is the zoning near the neighborhood. Living near a quarry means having to put up with constant 18-wheelers with no load covers, kicking up dust that WILL end up in your home no matter the quality of your windows. They are loud, dirty, and hog the roads. And they run all. day. long. But it was my fault for not knowing what was near my neighborhood when I bought my previous home.
Now I've learned, which is why I chose to be in the older, central part of SC. I wanted established, mature landscaping, a larger lot, and a Del Webb-built home that's been "broken in" by a previous owner(s). Older houses need love too, and I have a list of upgrades I want to get done after I retire in a few months. The OP is right about the Pulte build quality, which has proven to be pretty bad. I've heard many nightmare stories from new home owners in the new sections. But they are cute and those newer sections have sidewalks and street lights that the original sections don't have, which seemed stupid to me when I was looking to buy here. Old folks having to walk on the street, and in the dark at dusk & dawn. What could possibly go wrong?? Greed, pure and simple; it would have cost the developers more to provide those amenities. I for one, would have paid more to have sidewalks and ample street lighting, but what do I know??
Bad concrete is rampant throughout SC. I've had concrete work done to my home, and it's not cheap. The company that did the work said that original developer's specs did not require reinforcing rebar grid to be laid below the concrete, therefore it can easily crack depending on what geologic structural issues exist or tree roots grow under the driveway, walkways, patios etc. The constant droughts don't help this situation either.
But those are the breaks. You can't know what you don't know. All homes have their issues, new or old. But there ARE things you can check out in advance to head off buyer's remorse as much as possible. After you've done your homework though, there will still be surprises and expenses you didn't expect. C'est la vie.
But all-in-all SC is a great place to live, like living in a beautiful park, is relatively safe, and the residents are generally very friendly and helpful. I've enjoyed it although I still work full time so haven't had a chance to try out the many clubs/activities, except for the three fitness centers which are top-notch. Although it's growing like crazy, Georgetown is a nice place to live, still retains some of it's small town charm while being accessible to Austin and it's surrounding small towns.
I am in the center of SC and very glad I am, from what I'm seeing coming up around the perimeter, particularly the nearby quarries. Been there, done that and learned a valuable lesson to see what is surrounding a prospective neighborhood, like what the city/county has in the works to be built, and what is the zoning near the neighborhood. Living near a quarry means having to put up with constant 18-wheelers with no load covers, kicking up dust that WILL end up in your home no matter the quality of your windows. They are loud, dirty, and hog the roads. And they run all. day. long. But it was my fault for not knowing what was near my neighborhood when I bought my previous home.
Now I've learned, which is why I chose to be in the older, central part of SC. I wanted established, mature landscaping, a larger lot, and a Del Webb-built home that's been "broken in" by a previous owner(s). Older houses need love too, and I have a list of upgrades I want to get done after I retire in a few months. The OP is right about the Pulte build quality, which has proven to be pretty bad. I've heard many nightmare stories from new home owners in the new sections. But they are cute and those newer sections have sidewalks and street lights that the original sections don't have, which seemed stupid to me when I was looking to buy here. Old folks having to walk on the street, and in the dark at dusk & dawn. What could possibly go wrong?? Greed, pure and simple; it would have cost the developers more to provide those amenities. I for one, would have paid more to have sidewalks and ample street lighting, but what do I know??
Bad concrete is rampant throughout SC. I've had concrete work done to my home, and it's not cheap. The company that did the work said that original developer's specs did not require reinforcing rebar grid to be laid below the concrete, therefore it can easily crack depending on what geologic structural issues exist or tree roots grow under the driveway, walkways, patios etc. The constant droughts don't help this situation either.
But those are the breaks. You can't know what you don't know. All homes have their issues, new or old. But there ARE things you can check out in advance to head off buyer's remorse as much as possible. After you've done your homework though, there will still be surprises and expenses you didn't expect. C'est la vie.
But all-in-all SC is a great place to live, like living in a beautiful park, is relatively safe, and the residents are generally very friendly and helpful. I've enjoyed it although I still work full time so haven't had a chance to try out the many clubs/activities, except for the three fitness centers which are top-notch. Although it's growing like crazy, Georgetown is a nice place to live, still retains some of it's small town charm while being accessible to Austin and it's surrounding small towns.
to be fair our neighborhood of thirty plus year old homes doesn't have sidewalks or many street lamps in the cul-de-sacs (ours has one, and that is in the "circle" part of the cul-de-sac) and it wasn't out of greed. It was deliberate. People didn't want them and many still don't want them. I personally hated having that nuisance strip of grass when we lived in a neighborhood that had sidewalks. We have a significant elderly population as well. The main street has some sidewalks and more street lights.
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