Ginn Reunion Resort
October 21, 2008
An example of a Resort and Club community is Reunion Resort and Club, located in Orlando. Reunion Resort and Club is being developed by the Ginn Company. The Ginn Company is a developer that you will definitely be hearing more about in the near future. They have several projects under development in Florida, the Carolinas, and the Bahamas. They also sponsor and host tournaments on the LPGA Tour.
Encompassing over 2,000 acres within a gated community setting, Reunion Resort and Club has everything a baby boomer could want in a resort community. Reunion has 36 holes of championship golf with more on the way, a unique pool pavilion with a water park and kids’ area, a multimillion dollar clubhouse with fine dining, a fitness center, tennis center, spa, stables with horseback riding, and more. For boomers who like knowing their fridge will be stocked with your favorite items upon arrival, concierge service is available.
Reunion Resort and Club offers homes, townhouses, and condos from the $600’s to several million. As a property owner you can choose to have your home rented out to resort guests for a fee that you will split with the developer. If income from your property is of no concern to you, you can have your property completed excluded from the rental pool. Or if you are looking for a second home initially, you could buy your property, use it when you want, have it make you a little bit of money when you’re not there and when you are ready to live there full time, just take it out of the rental pool. [Visit website]
Venetian Bay New Smyrna Beach
October 21, 2008
Venetian Bay is a community in New Smyrna Beach developed by The Johnson Group, a long time local developer. Venetian Bay is not a 55+ active adult community, but you will find that the homes and amenities available there will appeal to boomers looking for a community in Florida.
Amenities at Venetian Bay include parks and playgrounds, a town center, a beach and swim club, nature trails, and championship golf course. The Venetian Bay town center will eventually be home to several local businesses like coffee shops, ice cream parlor, restaurants and even a grocery store. There is also a weekly farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. This level of convenience is very appealing in that residents do not have to leave the neighborhood for most services that they need and use on a daily basis. This type of community is a growing trend in Florida and Venetian Bay executes it perfectly.
The beach and swim club located at the town center is open to members and features a lagoon style heated pool, spa, kiddie pool with waterfall umbrella and a tiki bar. For golfing boomers there is a brand new 18-hole championship golf course, clubhouse with restaurant and bar, a full pro shop and practice facilities.
There are five builders working on homes in various section of Venetian bay. These include The Johnson Group, Paytas Homes, Tiffany Homes, KB Homes, and Magnum Capital. Available homes range from townhomes, town center condos, and estate sized luxury homes. For the most part, there is bound to be a home within your budget.
New Smyrna Beach where Venetian Bay is located is just a few minutes from Daytona Beach. New Smyrna is a popular vacation and retirement destination on Florida’s east coast. Be sure to check out Venetian Bay if you are ever visiting the area. I think you’ll be impressed with what you find. [Visit website]
Grand Haven Palm Coast
October 20, 2008
Grand Haven in Palm Coast is one of the east coast’s finest golf communities. Grand Haven sits on over 1,400 acres along Florida’s Intracoastal waterway. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the gated Grand Haven community is the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course. Combine this with award winning homes by some of the areas best home builders and you’ve got the perfect formula to attract baby boomers looking for a community in which to enjoy the retirement lifestyle in Florida.
In addition to the Jack Nicklaus golf course, Grand Haven has an 17,000 square foot award winning clubhouse with dining areas and lounge. In addition Grand Haven has a Village Center which is the social center of the community. Here you’ll find Grand Haven residents partaking in social activities such as wine tastings and dinners, playing a game of tennis or taking a water aerobics class.
You can either buy a lot in Grand Haven and have a home built or buy a home thats ready to move in to. These currently range in price from the $400,000’s to over $800,000 and range in size from about 2500 square feet to nearly 4,000.
Palm Coast is one of the fastest growing cities in America, and with the great amenities, shopping, dining, and recreation options around you can see why. While Grand Haven is not a designated 55+ retirement community, boomers will surely like what the community has to offer. [Visit website]
Toscana Community
October 20, 2008
Toscana is a new community by ABD Development located in Palm Coast Florida. Toscana is a gated community with estate sized lots overlooking 120 acres of conservation area. While Toscana is not a retirement community per say, the community is surrounded by the types of amenities and lifestyle retired baby boomers are looking for.
Home prices start in the high $400,000’s and sizes range from 2,800 to over 5,000 square feet. ABD Development is a consistent Parade of Homes award winner, so you can expect to find some of the nicest floorplans and home amenities available.
Palm Coast where Toscana is located is in North Central Florida and is very popular area with retirees. Palm Coast is located in Flagler County which was the fastest growing county in the country for several years running. You’ll find plenty of golf and recreation choices, proximity to the beach, and loads of shopping and dining choices are the main draws of the Palm Coast area.
Crane Lakes Golf Community
October 19, 2008
Crane Lakes is a 55+ manufactured home community in Port Orange Florida, just minutes from Daytona Beach. Crane Lakes is one of the nicer manufactured home communities in the area, and some of these homes go for over $200,000. Standing inside some of them you would never know it was a manufactured home.There are currently over 700 homes in Crane Lakes.
Amenities
Crane Lakes is a golf course community. The course is actually pretty challenging. I always tell peopl to bring your mask and snorkel…I lose at least a dozen balls each time I play Crane Lakes. The course is semi-private, so you don’t have to live in Crane Lakes to play the course. Many people in Crane Lakes own their own golf carts, as carts are permitted on the streets inside the gates of Crane Lakes.
There is also a 19,000 square foot clubhouse with swimming pools, dance floor and recreation hall, a restaurant, card tables, pool tables, an exercise room and more. There are always activities going on at Crane Lakes so you’ll likely never be bored. There are tennis courts, shuffleboard courts and boce ball courts.
Homes and Home Prices
The manufactured homes in Crane Lakes are built by Palm Harbour Homes, one of the best names in manufactured home construction. While these are built up to current codes and Florida’s hurricane strength standards, one thing that may affect your choice to buy a manufactured home in Crane Lakes or any other Florida community is the fact that local emergency management are quick to order mandatory evacuations of manufactured home communities much more quickly than for site built home communities. Even though your home may be built to withstand a low category hurricane, you might still have to evacuate which could be a huge inconvenience.
The advantage though of lower cost for the home is a powerful one, especially in today’s economy. As you’ll see standing inside one of these homes you really cannot tell that it is a manufactured home. They have come a long way from the manufactured homes of old.
Location
The city of Port Orange where Crane Lakes is located is always rated as one of Florida’s best cities in which to live. From Crane Lakes you are about 8 miles to the beach. There are plenty of options near Crane Lakes for shopping, dining, and entertainment and more places are springing up all the time. [Visit website]
Halifax Plantation
October 18, 2008
The Community
Halifax Plantation is located in historic town of Ormond Beach off of Old Dixie Highway, one of the most beautiful stretches of roadway in the state of Florida. Halifax Plantation is a little over 10 years old and has over 1,000 homes, townhomes and condos. Boomers will find every amenity imaginable to create the retirement or snowbird lifestyle you desire.
Amenities
Like most Florida communities, one of the biggest draws at Halifax Plantation in golf. Halifax Plantation has a great course that I’ve personally played several times. There is a driving range and clubhouse with full pro shop, restaurant and bar. Halifax Plantation also has 4 clay courts, a junior olympic sized pool, exercise facilities and locker rooms. If you are a frequent walker or cyclist, you’ll also like the scenery in and around Halifax Plantation.
Home and Home Prices
There are several preferred builders in Halifax Plantation including Arthur Rutenberg, bennet Brothers, Paytas Homes, McCarthy Builders, Richard Ruebel, Solti Construction, Stoughton Homes, and Bellemead Development. As you can imagine, you’ll find that prices and sizes vary across these builders but generally you’ll find prices from the $200k’s on up from there to over a million.
Location
Halifax Plantation is just a short drive from downtown Ormond Beach and approximately 15 minutes from Daytona Beach. There is plenty of shopping and restaurant choices in the area. Ormond Beach has been rated by several publications as one of the best cities in which to retire. There are other Ormond Beach communities you’ll want to look at before making a decision including Plantation Bay. [Visit website]
Plantation Bay Ormond Beach
October 18, 2008
The Community
Plantation Bay is a well established community in the town of Ormond Beach, a popular retirement destination on the east coast of Florida. Plantation Bay has been around for several years, and at time has been developed by several different builders. Today the community is being expanded and new homes are being built by ICI Homes. Plantation Bay is not designated as a Florida retirement community, but baby boomers looking for that kind of lifestyle and pace will be at home in Plantation Bay.
Amenities
Plantation Bay is a golfer’s dream and has three golf courses, Club de Bonmont, Prestwick and Westlake Golf Courses. Over the years Plantation Bay has hosted several charity golf tournaments and exhibitions featuring well known tour professionals. In addition to golf, Plantation Bay also has 10 clay courts and two clubhouses with swimming pools and restaurants. There are also plenty of social activities to keep you busy.
Homes and Home Prices
As I mentioned, Plantation Bay has been under development for many years. As home sizes and prices have changed over the years, you’ll find just about all sizes and price ranges represented in Plantation Bay. From townhouses under $200,000 all the way up to McMansions over a million dollars. There are new homes for sale, as well as resales, so you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.
Local Area
Plantation Bay is only about 20 minutes north of Daytona Beach. Just far enough to be out of the traffic and congestion Daytona sometimes experiences during Bike Week and race weeks, yet close enough to shopping and restaurants in the area. Ormond Beach is consistently rated one of the best towns in which to live on the east coast of Florida. There are other communities in the area that you should check out, most notably Halifax Plantation which is right down the street from Plantation Bay. [Visit website]
Sun City Florida
September 30, 2008
One of the first Florida retirement communities, Sun City Center is an active adult (55 and over) community located between Tampa and Sarasota along the I-75 corridor.
Sun City Center, originally developed by Del Webb as a clone of its successful Sun City retirement communities in Arizona and California, first opened its doors in 1962. Since that time, the development has changed hands many times, and the size and scope of the community has been expanded from the original vision of 5,000 homes.
Golf carts may be operated on all public streets within the Sun City Center community subject to certain constraints. Golf carts may be used only between the hours of sunrise and sunset and never at night, even if the cart is equipped with lights.
There are cart paths leading to medical facilities, including South Bay Hospital (Note: South Bay Hospital will soon be moving about eight miles away from its current location and will no longer be accessible by golf cart once it completes its move), restaurants and shopping centers, even Wal-Mart. This is a huge draw for residents. Being able to drive your golf cart to the grocery store, the post office, to dinner, even the hospital (for now).
One of the biggest draws of Sun City Center is the many amenities available to the residents. From the many golf courses, recreational facilities, restaurants, movie theaters, shopping and other lifestyle options, there’s always something to do in Sun City Center.
Sun City Center has no local government per se. A volunteer Community Association oversees the recreation facilities and governs the community. The elected Board of Directors has full power and authority over the affairs of the Association subject to the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.
Sun City Center is made up of many smaller “communities” within the community and most of these have their own homeowner’s associations with its own rules regarding standards for maintaining your property, making changes to your home, architectural and landscaping standards your property must adhere to, and the maintenance of common areas. When buying a home in Sun City Center you need to make sure you get a copy of the covenants and restrictions for the particular HOA the home you’re looking at is located in.
Sun City Center Golf
There are 162 holes of golf to be played in Sun City Center. Yes, you read that right…162! These are spread out over eight courses.
Each course has its own distinct style, so it will take you a while to get bored with all the courses available to you.
The courses you are eligible to become a member of depends on which part of Sun City Center you live in. Initiation fees range from $3,000 to $6,000 and annual dues range from about $850 to over $1500. The course dues and initiation fees vary and change so much, it’d be an exercise in futility to put them here. So check the links I’ve provided in the book for the most current information.
Since many of the residents of Sun City Center own their own golf carts, the courses charge “trail fees” to us a personal cart on the course. These fees range from about $500 to over $900 depending on which club you join.
Some clubs have reciprocity at others in the community. For example, if you join Club Renaissance, your privileges also include Sandpiper (27-holes) North Lakes (the first course built in Sun City Center…18-holes) and Caloosa Greens (18 hole executive). You may also have privileges to play at other WCI golf clubs throughout Florida.
Ginn Resorts Saves Bald Eagles at Tesoro
September 19, 2008
You hear so much about developers all over the country going head-to-head in legal battles with government agencies and conservation organizations, it’s nice when a story such as this one comes along.
Ginn Resorts has a history of environmentally friendly practices due to its founder Bobby Ginn’s love of nature and wildlife. So when two bald eagles built a nest on some high priced real estate in a Ginn community called Tesoro in Port St. Lucie, what did Mr. Ginn do? He put a halt to construction, put up a fence around the nest , and changed the plans of the community at an enormous cost to accommodate the eagles.
You can read more about the eagles here. There is also a web cam so you can watch the eagles if you’d like courtesy of Ginn Resorts and the Florida Audubon Society.
Lore (Lives of Real Estate) Magazine has a great article on the Tesoro eagles and Bobby Ginn’s commitment to the environments in which he builds these luxury communities.
On Top of the World Community
September 10, 2008
When you’re On Top of the World you’ll discover truly unsurpassed, active adult living in scenic Ocala, Florida. Amid gently rolling hills, magnificent horse farms, majestic oak hammocks and crystal clear springs, On Top of the World Communities brings every homeowner Excellence Above All…conveniently located in central Florida near Tampa and Orlando. We have choices and amenities you won’t find anywhere else.
On Top of the World Communities offers 17 beautifully furnished models and expert design consultants at the Design Studio to help you personalize your home to your sense of style and budget. Homes exceed Energy Star standards, meaning approximately a 23% savings on energy costs to you!
On Top of the World is the home of Candler Hills Golf Club, a semi-private, par 72, 7,300 yard course that offers the longest par 5 in Florida — 669 yards. On Top of the World also offers two private golf courses; The Links, and The Tortoise and The Hare.
Other great amenities include a health and recreation center, state-of-the-art fitness center, two ballrooms for community events, card/meeting and billiard rooms, woodworking shop, radio control airplane field, tennis club, heated indoor pool, outdoor pools, conference center, continuing education opportunities, world-class fitness center and spa, and cultural center with world-class entertainment.
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We've taken the time to find and organize the best links for the retirement community destinations you're looking for, so you don't have to. Most websites only mention those communities that have paid money to advertise with them. Our goal is to cover all communities, regardless of whether they advertise with us or not.
Our pages contain links to everything you need to know about a specific area and are organized to help you quickly find what you need. For example, our "Quick Links" section contains links to information about real estate taxes, state and local government, general area information (Mahalo), and local real estate information (Zillow).
