At Leisure Villas, we promise only the best for our homeowners. We operate along the Wasatch Front for the purpose and maintain our picturesque communities. Prospective buyers want to make sure that they understand what they’re buying, so here we answer a few of the most common asked questions about buying a Leisure Villas home.

Are the Properties Classified as Over 55 Communities?

Sometimes referred to as “retirement communities,” “senior communities,” or “active adult communities,” our Leisure Villas communities do fall under the 55+ model. We cater specifically to retirees who want to enjoy their golden years to the fullest with good friends and family, active lifestyles, and beautiful property. 

To adhere to this standard, HUD-registered subdivisions monitor who moves into our communities based on age. The Federal Fair Housing Act stipulates that we must have at least one person over the age of 55 in 80% of the homes. This standard allows our homeowners to live near people in similar stages of life with similar ideals.

Are the Communities Part of an HOA?

A homeowners’ association works as a kind of board of directors for each of our charming properties. The HOA sees that the community’s regulations are followed to ensure smooth operation and that our residents get what they pay for. The HOA oversees day to day operations and is funded by monthly fees.

What Can You Expect from Each Home?

Just because you retire doesn’t mean you have to live in a shoebox. Buying a Leisure Villas home provides our residents with attractive and spacious homes of great quality, pushing back against the growing trend in Utah for tiny cookie-cutter properties. Leisure Villas homes follow an open rambler-style with wheelchair accessibility and no stairs.

While some of our earlier-built communities fell under the condo category, our new models are built as luxury townhomes. We promise open floor plans, full kitchens with quartz countertops, vaulted ceilings, two or three bedrooms, and a two-car garage. Some models also come with sunrooms or a private patio. Residents who love having company will be impressed by the option to build on a bonus room. This guest-friendly addition adds 600 square feet to the property in question. 

Do Residents Own Their Homes?

Buying a Leisure Villas home is just that, buying a home. None of our units are available for rent; all of our residents have fully purchasing power. If apartments are more your style, you might check out our Pleasant Grove sister community Grovecrest Villas.

How Much Freedom Do Residents Have After Buying a Leisure Villas Home?

Because residents own their homes, they have a lot of freedom with what they do with them, whether that be painting the walls or installing a walk-in bathtub. For the sake of the community itself, we do have some restrictions when it comes to pets. One dog or cat is permitted, and be mindful that some of our communities have limitations on size. When outdoors, pets must be kept on a lease and under constant adult supervision. Even on leashes, animals are prohibited in public areas such as the clubhouse and pool area.

What to Expect from the Community

One of the things that makes buying a Leisure Villas home such a wise move is a community that cares. In addition to being a venue to meet like-minded people and engage in fun activities, a Leisure Villas community also manages many of the household chores that shouldn’t bog down your precious time after retirement. As mentioned, homeowners have freedom over the management of the inside of their homes. The homeowners’ association manages and maintains the rest so you don’t have to think about it. 

The Services We Provide

When it comes to keeping the community looking nice, we have you covered. Here are some of the chores and responsibilities we take care of:

• Lawn and landscaping care, including grass cutting, weed control, watering, fertilization, edging, mulching, pruning, and flower installation
• Snow removal from driveways and sidewalks
• Maintenance of the exterior of your home
• Replacement of outside elements such as driveways, roofs, etc.
• Fire and liability insurance for the structure of your home
• Operation and maintenance of the clubhouse and pool
• Lighting of the entry and grounds

Community Amenities

Leisure Villas communities are always beautifully maintained, creating a sanctuary in which to live and meet new people. We encourage you to walk around, taking in the fresh air, fresh landscaping, and friendly neighbors. We also highly recommend visits to our clubhouse, the hub of any of our communities. 

Our clubhouse is always open to the residents and their guests. It is even available to reserve in advance for a small rental fee, guaranteeing exclusive use for a given time slot. There is no end of things happening at the clubhouse, from social gatherings or other activities that take advantage of the building’s luxury features:

• Movie theater
• Spacious party room
• Kitchen area
• Pool table
• Exercise facilities
• Library

Each of our clubhouses abuts a large swimming pool with barbecue and lounge area. Truly, buying a Leisure Villas home gives residents access to a comprehensive package.

The People

Perhaps the best part of buying a Leisure Villas home is the community of people you subsequently join. You are sure to meet many people of similar ages with similar interests, providing you lots of opportunities to make new friends. We encourage community engagement, including  forming an activities committee so you can organize the kinds of activities you enjoy with like-minded people.

Being conservative with water is especially important in Utah’s desert climate. Water is a precious resource here, one we often take for granted. If you take a few steps to ensure your home is water-wise, there is an additional bonus. You can also save money on your water bill, doing yourself a financial favor. Don’t know where to start? Here are seven relatively easy methods.

Habits to Minimize Your Water Bill

Sometimes you can save money on your water bill simply by making a few adjustments in how you do things. You don’t have to cut baths out of your life or have all your clothes dry cleaned, but since the average person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day, there is surely some room for improvement. 

Wash Dishes and Laundry Efficiently

Dishwashers and washing machines are both incredibly helpful tools to free up valuable time. If they are used efficiently, they can also save you valuable money on your water bill. It is better to run these appliances when they are full, not so full that the dishes or clothes don’t get clean, but running one full load is more efficient than running two half-full loads. 

Don’t Let the Water Run

This hack to save money on your water bill is pretty obvious, yet it is probably the easiest to forget. Don’t let the faucet run when you brush your teeth, and be wise when warming up the shower. The inefficiency of running water makes using the dishwasher more energy efficient than washing dishes by hand. If you need to run the water, perhaps to let the water warm up, consider filling a bucket with that excess water to use to water your plants.

Wisely Water the Lawn

Speaking of plants, there are times when watering the lawn is wise and times when it is not. Watering the lawn in the heat of the day will only cause the water to evaporate before the grass can absorb it. Save your sprinkler settings for the morning or evening.

Fixes to Save Money on Your Water Bill

Some of the most effective ways to lower a water bill have to do with making your appliances more efficient. This does not always mean buying new appliances. Sometimes the ones you already have need a little TLC.

Fix Leaky Faucets

While the occasional drip from the faucet may not seem to be a big deal, leaky faucets can be a massive draw on your bank account. A steady drip each second wastes about 8.64 gallons per day, adding to approximately 259 gallons per month and 3,153 gallons per year. You can see how fixing one little leak can really help you save money on your water bill.

Make Sure Your Toilet Is Water-Efficient

The single largest use of household water is flushing the toilet. Installing a water-efficient toilet can minimize some of that expense. It is also important to check for any leaks. You can do so by adding a bit of food coloring to the toilet tank and leaving the unit alone overnight. If in the morning some of the color has leached into the bowl, you have a leak and should take steps to repair it.

Use Efficient Showerheads

Faucets and showerheads installed before 1992 can use more than twice as much water as newer models. While this shouldn’t be a problem in your Leisure Villas home, it is still important to check that your unit is as low-flow as it claims to be. Fill a gallon bucket with water from your showerhead, timing the process. If it takes less than 20 seconds to fill the bucket, consider installing a low-flow showerhead. Fixtures with a flow rate of less than 2.5 gpm can offer 25%–60% in water savings.

Invest in a Hybrid Hot Water Heater

This step to save money on your water bill is a bit of a cheat since it is more likely to reduce your energy bill, but every penny helps no matter where it is saved. Approximately 20% of home energy expenditure goes toward heating its water. A hot water heater can mitigate that cost with larger volumes of hot water heater with more energy efficiency.

Hybrid hot water heaters can be daunting because they have an imposing upfront cost, but in the long run they are much more cost-effective. If the sticker shock of a new water heater is glaring, you might choose to save up and wait until the water heater in your home is closer to the end of its life. 

As a side note, you can also cut back on your water-heating costs by adjusting water temperature at the source. If you use your water heater as a “master switch” to lower the temperature by just 10ºF, you can save roughly 3%–5% on your next water-heating bill.

While winter can be a magical time of year, it comes equipped with its own set of dangers. These include wind chill, heavy snows, and even dubious in-laws. One such seasonal threat is icy driveways. Ice presents many hazards, and when it is right outside one’s home, the risk of injury increases. Here we offer a few ways to avoid making the front of your property an ice skating rink.

The Trouble with Ice

Ice can range from innocuous to insidious. It adds a beautiful sparkle to any winter landscape but is also responsible for a spike in emergency room visits during the colder months of the year. Thousands of people miss work or require medical visits every year because of snow and ice. The Consumer Products Safety Commission quotes 12,000 to 15,000 emergency room visits every year due to holiday decorating alone. Be mindful of that as you navigate the icy areas of your property.

Methods to Melt Icy Driveways

Even better than tentatively tiptoeing around the slick areas is removing them entirely. There are many methods for thawing out icy driveways, some of them commercially available and others favoring more of a home-brew approach. Each method has its pros and cons, so consider carefully which is the best fit for your home.

Rock Salt

Rock salt is the most common method used to combat icy driveways. It is both natural and ubiquitous, making it one of the cheapest options. Salt, like many of the methods on this list, tackles driveway ice by lowering the freezing point of water.

Unfortunately, rock salt can do its fair share of damage, ranging from unsightly staining to detrimental corrosion. Salt is a catalyst for rust, so it can do a great deal of harm when it is kicked up into the undercarriage of vehicles during wet seasons. Salt also draws in moisture, and if that standing water is not cleared away, it can saturate the concrete underneath it, exacerbating the freeze-thaw cycles that can crack driveways and patios.

Salt is a blanket term for many chemical compounds, and some are more innocuous than others. Sodium chloride is used as table salt and is relatively safe, but calcium chloride is toxic if ingested, especially to pets. It can also burn your lawns and kill other plants.

Rubbing Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol is a household staple, and veritably inexpensive to boot. Alcohol in general is a very common ingredient in commercial deicers, and this household product loosens up icy driveways pretty well. By lowering water’s freezing point, the ice is broken up, making it easy to scrape away. 

For easy at-home application, combine two parts rubbing alcohol with one part warm water in a spray bottle. This concoction can be stored year-round, and when it is needed, simply spritz it liberally onto your driveway or sidewalks. This method works slowly but surely.

Commercial Chemicals

There are many chemicals on the market for deicing the driveway, and some work better than others. Calcium magnesium acetate, for example, only deices when the air temperature is roughly 26.5ºF or warmer. It is, however, biodegradable, which is plus whether you are environmentally conscious or just hate scraping the driveway free of salt when the cold weather recedes.

Magnesium chloride is still effective when temperatures plunge below 26.5ºF, even down to 5ºF. It is good for heavy-duty melt jobs, and even though it contains chlorine, it is less toxic for the environment and furry friends than is calcium chloride. You can find pellets of magnesium chloride in more commercial settings.

More Water

Though it may seem counterintuitive, adding more water to an icy surface can help melt the ice. The water must be significantly higher than its freezing point of 32ºF. You can take a pot of boiling water and carefully apply it to your icy driveways or use a spray bottle of scalding water and spritz it on the surface. Though this method is tedious, it is perhaps the most environmentally friendly.

Sand

Sand is not a deicer, but it can add traction to minimize the danger of slipping. This is why it is often applied underneath a stuck vehicle’s tires. Kitty litter can be used in the same way. Unfortunately, the mess that sand makes can make it a less ideal option.

Keep It Clear

The more snow is allowed to build up, the more likely a driveway is to ice over. If you can keep wintry precipitation from accumulating, you will be less likely to need solutions for clearing icy driveways off. Shoveling or, even better for your back, snow blowing snow away before it can freeze into ice may not be convenient, but it can be the safest option.

In preparation for the holiday season, we’re talking today about how to add a bit of festivity to your front porch. During the next few months, part of the magic stems from seeing celebrations of the season everywhere we look. If you want to contribute, we have a few suggestions for how to decorate your doorstep this year. You can also use these suggestions for other areas of your property, including inside your home. 

Let There Be Light

Nothing says holiday magic like homes lit up in festive splendor, and the variety available on the market is truly staggering. Lanterns provide a classic touch as you decorate your doorstep for the holiday season, as do lights specially designed in holiday shapes like stars, snowflakes, candy canes and wreaths.

Lights are the most common decoration to move beyond your front porch to the rest of the house. Holiday lighting comes in strings, curtains, icicles, and even projected patterns. If you like lighting that twinkles, or changes colors, or switches to follow a favorite carol, it’s all available for you. As we move into colder temperatures and the threat of flurries increases, contract out your holiday lighting installation to avoid dangerous time spent on the ladder or roof.

Wrapped in Wreaths

December isn’t well-known for its varied foliage, and as a society we have latched on to the only greenery there is to be found in the cold months: evergreens. You can use pine, spruce, and fir in many ways as you decorate your doorstep this year. We love a bold wreath on the door, and wrapping garland around support columns or porch railings also gives a beautiful flourish. You can frame your doorstep by draping garland from the ceiling and letting it hang down the sides. If you want to branch out, pun intended, consider adding smaller wreaths to front-facing windows.

Color Me Christmas

Color is an asset as you decorate your doorstep for the holiday season. Reds, greens, and golds are common and can be used in multiple ways. You don’t have to be a Scot to use cozy tartan, and buffalo plaid gives texture as well as bold color to a space. Reds and greens are naturally occurring at this time of year in evergreen bows and holly berries. 

If you are tired of commercial red and green, you can also embrace wintery tones that evoke quiet winter mornings. Icy blues, deep purples, and frosty silvers are all good choices. You can incorporate color in the welcome mat you place at the foot of the door, in the pillows for the deck chairs (or fleece blankets if you really want your doorstep to feel cozy), or even in door paint.

Tied with a Bow

Ribbon is a great holiday resource. It reminds us of the power of giving and serves as a nearly ubiquitous decorating material. Decorate your doorstep with ribbon by giving your porch’s columns candy cane stripes or by weaving it through the garland you’ve already added there. Plump bows in red or purple are a classy way to make a statement and help your front porch stand out even in a sea of snow. As you use ribbon to decorate your doorstep this year, remember to only use ribbon that is waterproof. Even if it is nested under the eaves, the winter weather is unpredictable.

Baubles and Buttons

The exact decorations you use will reflect your personal tastes. Keep that in mind as you decorate your doorstep this year. There are hundreds of different ways you can decorate for the holidays, and here are just a few things you can include:

• Display signs or plaques, either hanging from the walls or propped in the corner.
• Speaking of signage, your welcome mat doesn’t have to say “Welcome.” If you prefer, yours can say something about gingerbread or even the Grinch.
• The holiday season is an excuse to go all-out on your porch décor. Consider large nutcrackers or small Christmas trees.
• Incorporate color in natural ways for the season. Poinsettias and cardinals both have bold hues.
• Ornaments do exactly as their name implies. You can hang them from the porch ceiling or fill a lantern with them.
• Speaking of lanterns, they can serve as classy displays for other seasonal things, like pinecones and holly berries.
• Make your décor personal by propping up a pair of skis, displaying a menorah, or highlighting anything else you love about the season.

Most importantly, choose décor, colors, and motifs that you prefer in the way you decorate your doorstep. It is your home, after all. Find the right fit that will help you embrace the holiday spirit.

One of the common issues surrounding landscaping is watering, more specifically watering too much or not enough. Often HOA communities are guilty of overwatering everything. When you live in Utah, the summers can get very hot, and for homeowners who like green lawns, this can lead to lawn care workers overwatering lawns. However, underwatering plants in winter becomes increasingly common as the weather turns chill.

Grass likes water. So do trees and shrubs, but trees and shrubs don’t like overwatering. It tends to drown them. But there’s one other problem that we’ve been facing in recent years, and this deals with our drought season.

For the last two winters, we have received very little snow in many of our active adult communities. This coming year is so far not looking like it will be any better, though we can all hope it is. The problem we face is underwatering plants in winter.

How Does Underwatering Plants In Winter Happen?

Every winter, at least here in Utah, most of our trees and shrubs go dormant. This is not new to most residents of our climate. However, what many people don’t realize is that even in dormancy, trees and shrubs need water, for trees and shrubs drink in their sleep.

Normally, this isn’t a problem. Sure, we don’t generally water our yards in the winter, for obvious reasons. Trees and shrubs don’t need as much water in dormancy either. What water they do require is usually delivered through snowmelt.

Utah supposedly has the greatest snow on earth, unless we’re in a drought season. This snow builds up around our yards and plants. Throughout the winter, some of it melts into the ground. A lot of it freezes there, but the roots collect enough to keep the plant alive through the winter. A plant’s needs in winter are similar to a bear in hibernation: they still expend (and consequently need) energy, just not a lot.
Because dormant plants still need water to survive, when we get through a really dry winter, it is not uncommon to see many of our trees, especially the younger ones, along with our shrubs, die.

How to Save The Trees

The obvious way to avoid underwatering plants in winter and keep our plants alive in this situation is to water them. This may go against everything you’ve ever learned about taking care of your yard in the winter, but if those trees and shrubs can’t get enough water from the snow, we need to water them by hand.

It would be nice if sprinkler lines didn’t freeze so easily, we could just set our timers to water automatically once every couple of weeks. Unfortunately, cold temperatures don’t work well with rigid pipes, so if you find that your yard isn’t getting very good snowpack, you might benefit from taking a watering can out to your yard and giving those critical areas a much needed drink.

You can also attach a hose to your culinary water, but be careful. Many exterior spigots, though attached to your house’s culinary supply, will freeze and cause major damage if you leave the hose attached after watering. If you opt to keep your plants alive through a dry spell with a hose, always detach the hose after use, otherwise you may find that underwatering plants in winter is not your biggest concern.

Keeping your plants alive in the winter is not something we generally have to worry about around here, but when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate with us, sometimes we need to help things along. You shouldn’t have to water them every week as you do in the summer, just every once in a while when things are getting too dry for too long.

It wasn’t long ago when we used to think that two-toned paint was the way to go for our 55+ communities. We strive to deliver a home that is top quality and what retiring homebuyers are looking for.

Over the last year in Utah, we’ve had to challenge some of our long-held assumptions, as more buyers have been requesting white-on-white painting for the interiors.

What is white-on-white? And how does it affect the homes we sell into the future?

We’ll go into that in a moment, but before we do, know that when it comes to trends like this, what we do now might be different than what we did five years ago, and again different from what we will provide at some future point from now.

Current Painting Trends

What is White-On-White

If you’ve been to any of the Parade of Homes lately, whether in Utah, Salt Lake, or Davis county, you’ve likely noticed a familiar trend in painting styles. Where we once thought that the best looking homes were two-toned, meaning one color for the walls and another color for the trim, we’re now seeing everyone painting the walls and the trim boards the same color, and that color is white.

As we’ve learned in the past few years, there are at least 50 shades of gray. Well, there’s at least as many shades of white now, too. Most of the time, you can’t tell one white from another unless you put perfectly bleached-white paper up to it, then the contrast shows up. Most white interiors are going to be a slight shade of off-white, barely noticeable except to the discerning eye.

So what happened to our philosophy of two-toned paint being superior? Well, I guess trends change. However, we have made some efforts to add our own bit of premium to this white-on-white trend.

Accenting

When your walls and trim all match, the best way we’ve found to add value and pizazz, is to accent paint something else. You might choose to paint an accent wall, do wallpaper, wall decals, or any number of different style choices after you move in, but one nice touch that we are currently doing as a standard, is to accent the doors.

Not only do accented doors provide that extra layer of quality to a home, but they help break up the one-ness of the white. Now, this isn’t for everyone. Some people have still insisted on the doors matching the walls perfectly, and that’s ok. We all have our preferences. While we don’t usually try to adhere to every nuance of every trend, we do try to make a product that will feel comfortable and match the expectations of our buyers.

The tricky thing about accenting, especially on homes like we build, is finding an accent color that falls in line with what the majority of our buyers will like. Accents are sometimes personal. After searching the world of color pallets over several times, we believe that we have one that is in line with current trends, but also able to match a broad range of decorating styles and tastes. It’s a warmer sort of gray, that goes well with the walls, and great with most types of flooring, cabinets, and furniture.

As we get some more model homes built with this new white-on-white style, we’ll include some of them into our virtual tours. You’ll be able to find those on our floorplan pages of our website. As of this article, they have not been done yet. This style is however available to see in our Country View Villas model homes, and soon to be in our Hearthstone Villas community. Our Villas at Waters Edge will remain as our Two-Toned style throughout the construction of that subdivision.

In the Utah summer months, it can be difficult to keep skin feeling fresh and soft. This is especially true in a megadrought, but that doesn’t mean that having happy skin is impossible. Senior skin care routines are an excellent way to make sure that the summer heat doesn’t ruin your season.

Senior Skin Care

As one ages, it becomes more difficult to keep skin rejuvenated. As people approach their 60s and 70s, skin becomes thinner and doesn’t retain water as well. This can be exacerbated by the medications in the daily regimen and by other underlying medical conditions. Despite the challenge, there are many tools available to keep up on senior skin care. 

Humidifier

This handy little gadget is particularly important to keep around in the arid atmosphere of Utah. a humidifier will keep the moisture content in the air at levels that are healthy for skin. Try setting the humidity levels in your home between 45% and 60% as part of your senior skin care routine.

Bathe

Is there anything more soothing than a warm bath? While a dip in the tub can certainly help maintain cleanliness, it can also be very helpful to mental health and senior skin care. Use warm not hot water: warm water will absorb well into the skin but hot water has the tendency to dry skin out. Keeping the bath relatively short will also help to absorb moisture without overdoing it.

When it comes to soaps, use gentle ones that contain compounds that help reduce dryness. These include hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and lanolin. There are hundreds of moisturizing soaps on the market that smell wonderful. When applying them, use a soft cloth as opposed to a loofa as cloths are gentler on the skin.

When the time in the tub is done, pat your skin dry—do not rub it. This makes sure that some of the moisture on the skin remains, which you can trap in with lotion or moisturizer.

Lotion and Moisturizer

To keep the benefits of a warm bath with you long after you’ve gotten out, it’s important to be consistent in applying lotion and moisturizer. The best time to apply is within three to five minutes after getting out of the bath or shower. This traps in moisture and can help to restore the skin barrier that may have been disrupted by soap or rigorous cleaning.

The key to applying lotion is generosity. Apply it all over, and do not be stingy in the amounts you rub in. The perfect lotion and moisturizers will depend on your skin and your preference. Find the ones that are right for you.

Shield Your Skin From the Sun

Sitting in the shade is not just a good way to keep cool; it also protects your skin from the damaging UV rays of the sun. Opt for the shade when it is available. When it is not, be generous and consistent when applying sunscreen. The best blocks are broad-spectrum and water-resistant, and an SPF of 30 or higher should give good coverage. Apply sunscreen to any skin that will not be covered by clothing.

If you plan to be outside for long periods of time, reapply sunscreen every two hours to protect your skin. The time of day you’re outside affects how dangerous UV rays are. The sun’s rays are most direct between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.

Go Fragrance-Free

A dash of cologne can add appeal and build self-confidence, but as you consider your senior skin care plan, you may choose to go without. As fragrant as they are, colognes and perfumes can dry out the skin. Even aromatic additives to lotions and soaps can have the same effect. Consider other options for smelling good: an orchid in the buttonhole or orange blossom shampoo.

Visit the Dermatologist

There is nothing like a professional opinion. If you are looking for the perfect senior skin care routine, consult a dermatologist you trust. A doctor of the skin will also be able to find out if you have any underlying conditions to keep in mind as you take care of your skin. It’s always best to seek regular professional help. 

Care Together at Leisure Villas

At Leisure Villas, our calling card is communities that truly care about each other. As you build or refine your senior skin care regimen, you might choose to make it a group effort. Collaborate with your friends as you find soaps and lotions you enjoy, and meet together in the shade or in humidity-controlled rooms. Doing so can make developing your skin care routine fun.

We are living in a digital age. Everything from our lights to our sprinklers can be connected to smart devices, and navigating the net has never been easier. Amid all this smart technology, all manufacturers have their own digital assistants: Alexa through Amazon, Google Assistant through Google, Siri through Apple, Cortana through Microsoft, Bixby through Samsung, etc.

The sheer range of options available can be overwhelming, but it is meant to increase availability and convenience. To that end, the plan seems to be working. According to AARP, about 29% of adults 50 and over have adopted digital assistants, and that percentage is on the rise. Digital assistants add much to life before and after retirement. Here are just a few.

Convenience

Perhaps digital assistants’ biggest draw is the convenience they provide. When paired with a nest or home device, they allow people to control the smart devices around a home with a few spoken commands. You can set timers for lighting, sprinkler, and thermostat controls; adjust volumes on any connected speakers and TVs; and check to see who is at the door. Even automated pet feeding systems are on the rise.

Digital assistants are great for setting timers without having to fiddle with your phone with dough-covered fingers, and you can ask them to locate your phone when you set it down somewhere “convenient.” If only they could help find keys so easily. Oh wait, they can. Google Home can now find anything to which a “Tile” bluetooth tracker is attached.

If you’re attending to household chores or working on a project, your digital assistant can play music or an audiobook through the nesting device. Especially if your Audible account is set up, Alexa can retrieve your bookmark so you can find out what happens after that nail-biting cliffhanger. 

Easy Web Access

As they are all connected to the internet, digital assistants make surfing the web easier than ever. Voice commands can be more manageable than the fiddly buttons of a smart device, so simply asking Cortana what the capital of Tajikistan is is a good alternative to those with arthritis, Parkinson’s, limited mobility, or vision impairment (it’s Dushanbe, by the way). 

Asking the assistant directly can also make navigating the internet a more streamlined experience, since a smart assistant can go directly to the desired information while those searching by hand must sort through menus and often bad formatting.

Safety

With digital assistants in the home, every room has Life Alert-like response abilities, which is significant when 36 million seniors experience a fall each year. Smart devices can contact emergency services and loved ones in the case of a fall with a simple command: “Alexa, call 911,” or “Hey Google, call Jean.” Even if an emergency is something other than a fall, help can arrive quickly with a smart assistant onhand. 

In regards to how safe your personal information is with a digital assistant, they are generally safe. The companies behind smart devices are constantly improving their security technology, but everyone should be careful about which personal information they give over the internet, no matter the form. Highly sensitive information like medical and financial consultations should be conducted through other avenues.

Productivity

Digitals assistants can improve daily productivity with reminders about medical appointments or appointments with friends. Reminders about medication regimen can also be helpful. You can establish schedules to receive weather and traffic reports, calendar events, and updates on current events, or you can make grocery lists, put in grocery orders, and have the goods delivered right to your home. Smart assistants are great for keeping you informed and for freeing up your valuable time.

Security 

Smart devices can manage security footage of your property so you know what’s afoot even if you are not. When you leave to visit family or go on vacation, scheduled changes in lighting and heating routines can save you money and make it less apparent that your property is temporarily vacant. 

If you are concerned about your digital assistant always listening in, that’s valid. The devices are  designed to constantly collect information to improve user experience and to listen for trigger words and commands. If that makes you uncomfortable, you can disable the function or temporarily turn off the device.

Your mobile devices do not always need to be from the same manufacturer in order for them to be compatible. For example, a Samsung phone connects easily with Google Assistant. Find the right system to fit your needs and preferences so your digital assistants can improve your quality of life.

The country has been waiting for some signal as to the state of our economy. There’s a lot of speculation out there as to where the economy is going. Years of excess federal stimulus and monetary policy have landed us in a position of high inflation. The question is, can they dig us out of this current headache?

Leisure Villas has been in the Utah market now for some time, providing the best 55+ communities around. As such, we not only strive to find and build what Utahn’s want, but we feel as if we have a good pulse on the market.

So where is the market and what do we have available to you if you’re looking to buy in this market?

Buying a 55+ Home in Utah During 2^nd Half of the Year

Leisure Villas Products: Only the Best 55+ Communities

If you feel like this is the time to move into a Leisure Villas community, we welcome you. Most of the crazy price increases are over with, and we’re seeing some stability in the market at last.

We are nearing completion on a couple of our subdivisions, but we are also opening up a new community. Here’s the update, and depending on where you want to live, you may want to take note before it’s too late:

Utah County—We have two current projects happening in Utah county. One is in Saratoga Springs. This one is nearly complete. Most of the homes are sold out; however, as so often happens, we do get the occasional contract that falls through. As of this posting in August, we have one home that might become available again soon. If you really want to live in this community, I suggest getting in touch with our sales team for The Villas At Legacy Farms because if any do become available, they will not last long.

Our other Utah county subdivision is also nearing completion. Vineyard is a fast growing city, and this community is not sold out yet, but every home there has begun construction. As of this posting, there are approximately ten homes left to buy here, many of which might sell any day now. Don’t delay. If you want to live closer to the Orem area, The Villas At Waters Edge is one of the last opportunities left in the area for this sort of development.

We do have one other upcoming subdivision that will likely be starting next year on the border of Saratoga Springs and Lehi. Check back with us then to learn more about this addition to our group of best 55+ communities.

Ogden—Jumping up north, we no longer have a community available in North Ogden. Cherry Springs Villas is officially sold out. We are, however, working on bringing a new community to the area and will hopefully have something soon to share with you, so check back in about six months, and we should have an update then.

Tooele—The first phase of our Country View Villas subdivision is going strong. We’ve just dug holes for the last homes in that phase. There will be a delay in starting the second phase, so if you need to move in sooner rather than later, make sure you get one of the homes in this first half.

South Jordan—This is finally up and running. We have our first few homes under construction. This is a very high demand area, so keep in touch with our sales staff if you want to know when homes are opening up for sale.

Market Availability

Right now, the housing market is in a slow decline around the country. Some areas and demographics are being hurt more than others. The toughest hit demographics are those for first-time homebuyers.

This slowdown has not yet trickled up to the middle/upper scale houses as much. We’re still seeing a steady demand for the best 55+ communities. Only time will tell if this eventually affects those demographics. But for now, the decrease in first time homebuying is just putting less pressure on the raw material supply chain, which should hopefully reduce the shortages that we’ve all had to deal with recently.

Because of this, we are forecasting that prices on completed homes are going to start stabilizing near these levels.

What’s On The Horizon

Whether or not the Feds can wrangle in inflation will dictate what happens to the market going forward. So far, the government seems committed to spending more money, which means they are adding to inflationary pressures, while still trying to combat them. We’ll have to see where this takes us. We might end up with a decent correction, or we might just kick the can down the road again. Time alone will tell.

The housing market should not keep you from exploring your choice of the best 55+ communities. If you are looking to call one of our Leisure Villas home, give us a call today.

Jargon-heavy phone calls from insurance companies or the IRS are difficult to understand at the best of times, and sometimes it feels nearly impossible to distinguish the real calls from the scams. Many scammers target the elderly specifically, so we must be prepared to detect and take action against senior scams to protect ourselves and those we love who are in their golden years. 

The Trouble with Scams

Scams are sometimes difficult to recognize. Because of this, even major corporations have been the targets of phishing schemes and other scams, but while many of these third-party scams exist, the sad truth is that many senior scams are committed by family members or other people known to the victim. Scammers prey on trust, whether they do so deliberately over the internet or phone or if they justify their actions because they are close to the senior they are scamming. 

Unfortunately many fraud cases go unreported because, according to the FBI, people may not know how to report them. Sometimes senior scams go unresolved because victims are ashamed to admit being tricked or are even afraid that their relatives will lose confidence in their judgment and ability to manage their finances. Even though people of all ages and situations have fallen victim to scams, seniors especially are understandably hesitant to have control of their own affairs taken away.

Common Senior Scams—Recognize and Retaliate

The best senior scam protection is information. Being able to recognize a scam, no matter what one’s age, is a critical skill in this, the Information Age. Here are some common scams and their calling cards:

Tech Support Fraud

In this common trick, scammers prey on seniors under the assumption that they are unfamiliar with technology. False warnings about viruses loom large on the screen, followed by pop-ups that offer help (complete with a false phone number to call for IT assistance). Once the victim calls or messages the “service,” scammers on the other end ask for remote access to the senior’s computer for “tech support” but instead spend the time rifling through important and sensitive information stored on that computer.

Identity Theft

Identity theft can, unfortunately, be committed in almost numerous ways. We’ll discuss three examples:

• Pharming. These scams persuade people to visit fake websites disguised as legitimate ones. These sites always ask for personal information: passwords, account numbers, etc.
• Phishing. Phishing is a technique that involves sending fraudulent emails designed to trick the victim into revealing sensitive information. These messages almost always offer a false sense of urgency and include a link or attachment. When the senior clicks on these, they may be asked to “confirm” private information, or a virus might be downloaded directly to their computer which relays such information to the scammer.
• Smishing. Smishing is the pithy new nomenclature of phishing conducted through text or SMS. It works much the same as phishing, coming from a seemingly reputable sender. 

Confidence Fraud

Confidence fraud is usually conducted on social media or dating sites. Scammers appeal to the emotions of their victims and gain their trust by pretending to develop a friendship or a romance. The scammer then asks to “borrow” money because they “need help.”

Non-Delivery or Non-Payment 

In these schemes, scammers create fake shopping websites or social media ads that lead to fraudulent links. Any money spent buying “products” on these sites goes directly into a scammer’s pocket. 

Fraudulent Calls from the IRS or SSA

Sometimes demands for money seem like they are coming from an official capacity, especially the International Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration. These calls threaten arrest or legal action if bank account information is not confirmed or a “deficit payment” is not made. Sometimes the ploy is to reactivate a “suspended” social security number. It is important to remember that official organizations will not call you to ask for sensitive information.

Protection Measures Against Senior Scams

The fight against senior scams is a group effort. Up-to-date education about scamming techniques goes a long way toward preventing financial losses and the frustration and fear that accompanies being scammed. For in-depth safety measures to thwart scammers, see our article about senior scam protection, but we’ll list four basics here:

• Never give personal information to an unknown party. If a caller seems official, hang up and call the official number, not just the number in your caller ID, before you confirm any sensitive information.
• Never click on links or attachments from unfamiliar sources. 
• If you need technical assistance, reach out to a reputable organization.
• If you are uncertain about a plea for money, do not be embarrassed to ask for a second opinion from someone (or multiple someones) you trust.

In the event that you or another senior you care about is scammed, the proper course is to submit a tip to the FBI. Provide all the information you can, especially dates, original documents, methods of communication and payment, and transcripts of conversation. This can help you find restitution and prevent others from the same senior scams.

As reported by the FBI, almost $1 billion was stolen from seniors 65 years and older through fraudulent activity in 2020. Of the over 105,000 people victimized, average personal losses were upwards of $9,000, though almost 2,000 seniors lost over $100,000. These numbers are staggering and even disheartening. With statistics like that, with such vicious scams being affected all over the country, how can we provide senior scam protection? How can we defend ourselves and our parents, grandparents, and friends against such theft?

Do not despair. Though scams to steal from seniors are common, they are also pretty predictable, which means the tools for protecting seniors online are consistent. Putting proper safety measures in place can do a lot in the realm of senior scam protection. We have seven suggestions to safeguard yourself and those you love.

Senior Scam Protection Measures

Keep Sensitive Information Safe

This is the most obvious and important suggestion we can offer, and it encompasses all the others we will mention. Do not give private information—bank account numbers, birthdays, social security numbers, passwords, etc.—to anyone you do not infallibly trust with your money. This is true online, over the phone, or in a mail-in envelope. Official businesses or organizations will not call you to ask for sensitive information. If you have any doubt about the validity of the entity contacting you, hang up and call back using their official number. Do not use caller ID; look up the official number from their website.

Email Etiquette

For scammers, email is the perfect territory to wreak havoc. They can claim to be in an official capacity or to offer deals on tempting merchandise. In detecting a fraudulent email, look for misspelled words or irregular grammar. Though not always present, these can indicate suspicious activity. 

You should also study the email address of the sender. Official emails will never come from an @gmail account. Sometimes fraudulent email addresses look official but don’t hold up under scrutiny. For example, an email from technicalsupport@rnicrosoft.com may seem official, but the “m” in Microsoft is actually a “r” and an “n.” Report any emails like these as spam.

Beware of Downloads and Links

A spammer’s goal in sending emails is to steal information. Never click on links or attachments in emails from people you do not know. This includes an “unsubscribe” link within the email itself. If you need to follow an unknown link, type it in manually in another browser window.

Protect Your Computer

Legitimate anti-virus, malware, and security software and pop-up blockers offer much in the way of senior scam protection if they are kept up-to-date.

Pull the Plug on Pop-Ups 

It is very important to protect against internet pop-ups by shutting down websites and even the computer or phone if a suspicious pop-up presents itself. Pop-ups can spread malicious software. If the screen locks up, disconnect from everything. 

Cut Back on Junk Mail

Though a bit antiquated, scammers still use physical junk mail to ensnare potential victims, elderly or otherwise. The Direct Marketing Association’s mail preference service should allow you to opt out of solicitous mail for five year brackets. See what robocall-blocking protection is offered for your phone carrier.

Set up Bank Safeguards

Even if you don’t have concerns for your or another senior’s ability to make financial decisions, it may be wise to open a small local bank account for regular use. Establishing spending limits can provide further senior scam protection. The rest of the savings can then be placed in a separate, more secure account. You know what they say about eggs and baskets.

In the Event of a Scam

If you or someone you love falls victim to a scam, the correct procedure is to submit a tip to the FBI. While this may seem dramatic, it is proportionate to the seriousness of scamming. Contacting the proper authorities can help seniors find reparation and work toward senior scam protection for others. The FBI will ask for all the information you can provide: 

• Dates of contact
• Methods of communication and payment
• Original documents
• Descriptions of the interactions with the scammer and the scammer’s instructions
• Any names, phone numbers, email or mailing addresses, and websites the scammer provided or utilized
• Where and how funds were sent
• Bank or information that was compromised

Being scammed is a jarring experience. While not easy, we know that ensuring senior scam protection for those you love is your goal. In your preparations to shield yourself and your loved ones from scams, don’t be afraid to reach out to those with the expertise to help.

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and you are itching to shake off the winter fog. Spring is the perfect time to cast off the winter blues and get moving again, and how better to do so than with some spring exercises designed to make you healthy and strong? While the workouts below are by no means an exhaustive list, we’ve got a few suggestions on how you might start your spring on an active foot.

The Whys and Wherefores 

The benefits of staying active cannot be overstated. Doing so strengthens the heart and lungs, gives a body more energy, and staves off conditions like heart disease and diabetes. It also improves sleep, both the quality and the ability to drift off in the first place. Consistent exercise has been shown to improve muscle strength and bone density, which is especially meaningful in women over the age of 55 because losing bone density is common after menopause.

Because staying active strengthens muscles and improves balance, it serves as a preventative against falling and subsequent potentially serious injuries. Regular exercise doesn’t just improve your overall physical state but your mind as well. This duality results in increased independence. Seniors who are consistently active have an easier time walking, bathing, dressing, cooking, eating, and using the restroom without assistance.

Work It!

As you explore the right spring exercises for you, remember that everyone is different. We’ve listed four kinds of exercise you might try, but depending on your mobility and comfort level, you might try less or more. Pilates and cycling are two more low-impact forms of exercise that focus on stability and strength in the core and legs, respectively, and if you love to dance, you might try getting your exercise in that way. 

Swimming and Water Aerobics

As the weather warms up, we recommend you hit the pool for your spring exercises. Exercising in the water provides support while simultaneously offering natural resistance. This means you can set aside the additional weights. Swimming and water aerobics are ideal even in the midst of arthritis because they are low-impact. These two spring exercises can improve flexibility, strength, and balance with minimal stress on your body. The water aerobics exercises for seniors we recommend include flutter kicking, leg lifts, aqua jogging, arm curls, and standing water push-ups.

Walking

Walking is a great spring exercise because it doesn’t require any special equipment or facility. It also doesn’t need to be structured: you set the pace and the duration. Take a friend or your dog or just drink in your surroundings and the flowers blooming around you. If you are concerned about staying upright, a walker or a cane can help make up for any deficiency in balance. Walking is effective cardio that isn’t too abrasive on the joints.

Walking out in nature adds a new element. Walking a mountain trail or along the lake challenges the body’s spatial awareness. This makes walking out in the beautiful spring weather ideal for improving agility and balance. If you can be among trees, studies have found that “forest bathing” (spending time in pockets of trees and breathing in the rich air there) can reduce stress.

Yoga

If you want to feel like a young and free-spirited resident of Portland or Seattle, try yoga (and avocado toast). Yoga is a low-impact way to improve muscle strength and balance and flexibility while putting less stress on joints. If you want to get on the spring exercise train, take your yoga mat out to the grass. Each pose has varying levels of difficulty, so if you’re just starting out, it is still easy to follow along. If you have concerns about balance, many poses have variations that can be done while sitting. Here are just a poses we recommend:

• overhead shoulder stretch
• cat stretch
• cow stretch
• mountain pose
• seated twist

Spring Exercises with a Resistance Band

Resistance bands are stretchy rubber strips that add resistance to your workouts without adding stress on your body. They are very good for at-home exercising because they are beginner-friendly and can be combined with many different exercises. Using a resistance band while working out can improve posture and strengthen the arms and core, which helps prevent muscle loss. When you first begin incorporating a resistance band, start small and allow yourself to build up strength. Some of our favorite spring exercises using a resistance band include bicep curls, leg and triceps presses, and lateral raises.

At Leisure Villas, our goal is to provide you with a community that feels like home. Our beautiful units offer comfort and safety and autonomy, but we are more than just another home builder. By building communities that foster wholesome relationships and enjoyable activities, we help you engineer your lifestyle. We love to boast about our ideal locations and the carefree lifestyle we cultivate, and we’ll happily go into greater detail.

Only the Best

Each of our Leisure Villas floor plans—which range from 1600 to 2600 square feet—are single-story with the option to include another room above the garage (with closet and second restroom) for visiting guests. The amenities both in-unit and at the clubhouse are designed to support lifestyles that are fun and active. Host inside parties in our spacious party room near the kitchen area or pool-side in the lounge area with a grill. Screen your favorite movies in our movie theater, or spend a quiet afternoon in our library. Take a walk around the neighborhood or get moving in our exercise facility, and challenge your neighbors to a game of cards or billiards.

Our luxurious active adult communities are legally restricted to homeowners 55 years or older, so you can connect with your neighbors knowing they are all at similar times in their lives. We hope that those you meet at Leisure Villas will become an extension of your family, and we design our amenities to help cultivate meaningful relationships.

Our Leisure Villas Communities

We have five different Leisure Villas communities from North Ogden to Vineyard so you can find the location right for you and your loved ones. While most of our amenities remain consistent throughout all our sites, each community has something unique to offer. 

Country View Villas in Tooele

Tooele is a good fit if you are looking for something separated from the bustle of the city but not too far removed from friends and family. Our Country View villas meet this ideal middle ground, a good spot for those still commuting to Salt Lake and for those who are retired and want to be away from the crowds and traffic.

Hearthstone Villas in South Jordan

Hearthstone Villas is the largest of our communities with 168 homes in progress. It is also our first community to have pickleball courts installed. Located in the heart of South Jordan, this community will have easy access to all that the city has to offer. All of these units are still in progress, so they will be perfectly brand new for an added level of luxury.

The Villas at Legacy Farms in Saratoga Springs

On the northwest bank of Utah Lake, the location of our villas at Legacy Farms cannot be beaten. Those living here enjoy added amenities simply because of where the community is situated. Residents of The Villas at Legacy Farms have access to trails like Jordan River Parkway and Utah Lake Parkway; significant roads like Redwood Road and Pioneer Crossing; and locations like the lake shore, Saratoga Hot Springs, Patriot Baseball Park, and Thanksgiving Point.

Grovecrest Villas in Pleasant Grove

Grovecrest Villas, while not our usual Leisure Villas-styled community, is a great place for those seeking an apartment-styled retirement. This unique community boasts of beautiful mountain and lake views. If you love being out in nature, the Grove Creek Canyon and Battle Creek Falls trail heads are within easy reach. If you or your family are interested in adventures of a more fantastical nature, the community is a mere 5 minutes away from Evermore Park, the only immersive experience theme park of its kind.

The Villas at Waters Edge in Vineyard

The Villas at Waters Edge sit just on the east bank of Utah Lake, guaranteeing an idyllic setting for this community. If lake and mountain views are a must, consider Vineyard. The town itself is also beautiful, and our community has quick access to almost 10 parks and the Utah Lake Shore trail. We are in the process of adding new units to this community to meet the demand to live at the water’s edge.

Come Join Us

We at Leisure Villas are always looking to establish more communities that focus on you and what you value most. We offer a blend of new properties as we constantly strive to meet increased demand and an established model of both community and business so you know you are getting a service you can rely on and trust. If you are looking for senior housing communities that exceed expectations and feel like home, contact us at Leisure Villas today.

Welcome Winter. We missed you last year.

The snow is flying again in Utah, and temperatures are dropping. Lets see if this Winter is more traditional than last year.

After doing a site visit to many of our active adult communities, I was pleased to see that snow removal crews were doing their best to clear walks and driveways after the snow we just had.

We’ve been slow about getting blogs out these last few months, but if you’ve been looking for some updates on our 55 and older communities, here you go.

Another Year Older and Deeper Inflation

Tooele

Country View Villas, our Tooele subdivision, is up and running now. We are currently selling, and have some homes available. At the time of this writing, these homes are selling for approximately $60k cheaper than our communities on the other side of the mountain.

Not bad if you’re needing a home and want to save a few bucks while still living in one of Leisure Villas styled communities. Our model homes are expected to finish construction by the end of 1^st quarter, 2022, hopefully earlier. We’ll have to see how the Winter weather slows us down over there.

South Jordan

This community has been a hot topic for many people. Officially called Hearthstone Villas, this South Jordan neighborhood is finally (after months and months of delays) under construction. Currently, we have one foundation in the ground, with more on the way. This puts our first home completions on target to finish, hopefully around the end of Summer 2022, maybe August or September.

Sales have not opened up yet, but we will start accepting contracts on individual homes about the time we finish framing each one. Unfortunately, we can’t open them for sale any sooner than that, because every month, we’re still getting hit up with cost increases, and we want to make sure that we have a good idea of what the home will cost before we extend ourselves too far out.

North Ogden

Cherry Springs Villas is our furthest North community that is currently under construction. This community is almost finished, with the last of our homes, hopefully being completed by the end of the 1^st quarter 2022.

Most of these are already sold out, though there might be a few model homes up for grabs in the near future. If you’re interested in snagging one of these last opportunities to buy up there, talk to our sales agent. She can give you any updates on possible sales there.

Saratoga

The Villas at Legacy Farms is in a similar situation as North Ogden, however, there are still some homes available for purchase in this community, though the last building is about to start framing this month, which means that we will likely be selling those last 4 homes very quickly.

There will also be a few model homes available for sale, sometime within the 1^st half of the year in this community. If you are interested in one of those, then keep in touch with our sales agent in that community for any updates.

Vineyard

The Villas at Waters Edge in Vineyard, is still going strong and has plenty more homes to sell. Granted, we are in the last phase of this development, but we’ll continue putting in foundations throughout the first half of 2022.

This is a fun developing city that is quickly expanding and taking a lot of resident feedback on how they should grow. Its been a very refreshing experience.

More on the horizon

We do have more properties that we are looking into building on. We currently have one that is on the boarder of Lehi and Saratoga, which we are about to start the entitlement process on. This will likely be at least another year and a half before we have anything close to selling, but we’ll keep you informed as we get closer.

We’re also looking into other properties. And if you have or know of anyone that is selling a property that might be a good fit for our style of community, please reach out to us. We’d love to talk with you about it.

More problems face our nation than we seem to have solutions for at this time. Its now affecting everyone in every industry.

Material scarcity has made planning and constructing our active adult communities very unpredictable.

For a few months, it was lumber. Then it was windows. Appliances have been a challenge this whole time. Now it looks as though lumber is disappearing again, along with several other essential materials.

What does this mean for you if you’re looking at one of our communities?

What does it mean for our economy and the price of housing?

Planning For Success in an Uncertain Market

Shortages

If you aren’t aware of the shortages in the market right now, you must be living under a rock. It’s funny, but people’s true colors really start to shine when faced with the challenges we’re facing. Lately I’ve been hearing story after story of customers going berserk like when a shopper at a department store chews out the employees because their favorite makeup isn’t in stock.

Right now, in the construction industry, we’re facing a lot of shortages as well. Everyone seems to believe that the lumber has fully recovered, but as recently as last week, Utah had run out of sheeting material, again.

I went to buy a pool pump yesterday for a job, and they said that I was number 243 on the waiting list, and that they are getting only about 10-15 in each month.

As I talk with electricians, HVAC contractors, and even excavators, the pipe and basic materials that they need to run sewer, conduit, and ducting are out and backordered throughout Utah. Most of these subs are trying to stock up, but their reserves are quickly disappearing, and they are warning of more slowdowns due to a lack of materials, parts, both things as simple as wire, or as complex as furnaces.

I recently read an article online from a large investment banker that suggests that these shortages are short term, and we’ll be back to normal before we know it. However, with everyone I talk to in our industry, I get the feeling that we’ll be lucky to overcome our shortages by the end of next year. It wouldn’t be surprising at all, if this lasts into 2023.

Consequences and Strategy

The first and most likely consequence of shortages, from a simple economic standpoint, is that prices will continue to go up. This whole year, the construction industry keeps getting hammered with larger price increases. Even last week, I was told that a bunch of the metal I needed was going up another 25%! That’s a lot, especially considering that this isn’t the 1^st or even 2^nd such increase.

We also noticed this effect happening on the market for houses. During the Summer, people were bidding houses up to levels we’d never seen before. The supply was low, so the price went high. The problem is, that not everyone can continue to afford such high prices, and since wages are slower to react, we’ve started to see a decrease in demand.

However, the decrease in demand is still being offset by the increased supply, meaning that while the market for new homes has stabilized, the price is not coming down.

Wages are creeping up though. Skilled, and even unskilled labor costs are jumping up there. Today, $18 an hour can’t even hire you an employee who knows how to read a tape measure.

While the market price for homes has stabilized somewhat, yet the cost of materials to build homes is still climbing, this is going to start hurting the bottom line for many contractors. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them start slowing down and seeing if they can wait out these supply chain issues until either their material costs start going down, or until wages catch up and they can continue raising the price of their homes.

As for us in Leisure Villas, we’re continuing to build as best we can. We do anticipate delays in the months and years ahead, but we’ll keep doing our best to push forward. After having been sold out for so long, we finally do have some homes available for sale, though none that are ready to move into at this time. If you’re interested in any of our communities, please talk with one of our sales staff to see where and when we have availability. You’ll need to be quick though. Usually we sell out within a couple of weeks of opening up a new building.

We have finally caught up to ourselves.

Last year about this time, everything we had—sold out a year in advance. We were able to honor all of the contracts that we had made, even though our material costs went crazy too. We’re glad that’s over with, and we finally have homes going up for sale again.

We know that many people have been waiting up to a year for our homes to be available, but while we are finally selling within our current Utah active adult communities, we have other delays in our newer subdivisions that prevent us from selling there yet.

What’s for sale?

Current subdivisions

The Villas at Legacy Farms, in Saratoga Springs Utah, has recently opened new homes for sale. Check out our community page to learn more, or call our sales staff to learn which floorplans are available.

It’s been too long since we had anything open for sale, and we know there is a large list of people wanting to get in. So hurry up and find your home today, while you still can. This subdivision will have its last foundations in by the end of this fall, and will be all sold out soon.

Next, our 55+ community in Vineyard, The Villas at Waters Edge, also has some recently opened new homes to choose from. We are almost half-way completed on our second phase of this subdivision.

This community started out as one of our slower selling neighborhoods, but back then, Vineyard was a relatively unheard of town. Now, I think everyone knows where Vineyard is, and homes are selling faster than ever. So don’t hesitate to come in and see if we have the house you’ve been wanting to retire into.

Tooele is our third senior community that has finally opened up for sales. We’ve just finished framing our 1^st building, and have several foundations, including the foundation for the community’s clubhouse, in the ground and being worked on.

While this community will have all of our popular floorplans, and some modified versions of current floorplans, we have yet to complete any of our models. These will be arriving soon, as we plan to stick 4 model homes in our first two buildings.

But just because we have no models, it doesn’t mean that the homes aren’t selling already. Don’t wait too long to pick your home out, else it will be taken. Last month, and the proceeding months, bidding wars were the name of the game. While there is still some of that going on, the market hasn’t cooled down so far that the demand is low. In fact, its still very high. If you’re waiting for prices to drop, you might be waiting forever.

Soon to open

Hearthstone Villas in South Jordan, just south of Salt Lake Community College, is almost ready to sell, but not quite there yet.

We’ve been running into delays after delays as we’ve tried turning in building permits these last few months. So, while we know you’ve been hoping for a home in this area, we’re unfortunately going to have to wait a few months more before we have anything to sell.

We’re also looking hard for more property to buy. If you know of anyone with 15-25 acres of relatively flat land, who would like to see a developer who builds a quality niche community, like our beautiful 55 and older communities, please let us know. We’d love to work with you and them to bring awesome senior living into that area.

 

 

A little over half-way through this year, and I’m ready for next year. Feels like de’javu from this time last year.

I wouldn’t be surprised if supply chains and economic factors that have been so highly impacted by this last year will go into the history books, and be studied in universities for years to come.

But some college student’s homework a couple years from now won’t fix this year’s problems, and as we strive to build our active adult communities here in Utah, we are especially feeling the strain of the current conditions.

If its not back-ordered, It’s backlogged

It’s everything

It can’t have escaped your notice, that there is a shortage on just about everything. We still can’t reliably get appliances in, pvc pipe is as valuable as gold, and if you needed it yesterday, it’s at least three months on backorder.

Some things are starting to get a little better. Lumber for instance seems to be inching its way back to some semblance of normalcy. For a while, we struggled finding concrete and that is luckily becoming more available again.

Still, there isn’t one of our trades right now that isn’t somehow impacted by shortages. Whether it’s a shortage on swimming pool chemicals or safety products, or plastic boxes for electrical outlets, we are being delayed on all fronts of building.

We used to be able to order windows a month out, and know we’d get them in time. Now we have to order them three months out, and there is no guarantees that we’ll see them by then.

Backlogged

The other problem we face in the construction industry is subcontractors who are so busy that they can’t possibly take on all the work they have in front of them. They have too many jobs and not enough employees. And like with parts, if you want them sooner than later, be willing to pay the big bucks.

Over the last couple of months, even though we’ve been slowing down due to a lack of parts, we’ve had to source out other subcontractors just to keep our current ones caught up on the work we do have for them.

Leisure Villas

Without a doubt, this is a stressful year for everyone. Leisure Villas is doing its best to complete our jobs in a timely manner. We’re so grateful to all our customers who are and have been patient with us throughout all of this headache. We understand that our customers are just as frustrated with the whole situation as we are, but there is very little we can do about it, other than to keep moving forward.

Eventually, the market will stabilize, and we’ll all return to some degree of normal, we hope. We can’t make any accurate predictions as to how long this craziness will last, but I don’t see it extending much beyond this year. That could be little more than hopeful wishing on my part, but until then, thank you again to all our customers and potential customers for your patience. With any luck, we’ll be looking back to this year as a fond memory.

How are you loving this Summer heat?

If you’re tired of sweating it out in this drought, perhaps you’ve considered taking a swim to cool off, I know I have, but the Summer of 2021 has become somewhat inconvenient for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons, as you should well know by now, are shortages.

Unfortunately, these shortages are now impacting our personal and commercial swimming pools.

That’s right, we are short on chlorine now.

Lets discuss how this could possibly affect your Summer fun in our 55+ communities here in Utah.

Will I Be Able To Swim?

HOA pools for Leisure Villas

One of most crucial elements in our swimming pools is chlorine. We have to maintain a specific balance to keep the pools clean and safe. Its so important, that the County Health Department actually needs to send inspectors weekly to test the pool and make sure that it is within tolerances.

The problem our 55+ communities are facing now with our clubhouse pools, is that chlorine is running short.

A few months ago, granular and caked chlorine was experiencing a shortage across the country, but liquid chlorine was still in good supply. Now, however, the liquid chlorine market has experienced a major shortage. In fact, supply houses here in Utah are completely out!

Luckily for most of Leisure Villas active adult communities, we have hired a swimming pool manager to maintain our swimming pools, and this manager foresaw some of these shortages and did his best to prepare in advance.

He did however talk to me the other day, and warned that if liquid chlorine stocks do not improve, then there is a very likely chance in the coming weeks and months, that our community pools will need to be shut down temporarily.

This is not what any of us wants to hear, but for the last year and a half, that seems to be the sort of news we all keep hearing.

What can be done?

While there is very little that can be done to improve the chlorine stocks in the short term, there are some measures we can take to keep our current supplies of chlorine from running out as quickly. One of these is to keep the pool cover closed when the pool is not in use.

When the pool cover is open, and the pool is exposed to the sun and air, it evaporates the chlorine out much quicker than if it was covered.

Another thing we can do, is to make sure we take those showers before entering the pool. Chlorine reacts to biological contaminants, and so if the chlorine is getting spent cleaning all the filth on your bodies, then it requires more chlorine to keep the water sanitary. So don’t skip that part!

We all want to enjoy our swimming pools while the swimming season lasts, and in these high temperatures, the pool makes the most sense for cooling off from the heat of the day. But as the coming weeks approach, you may see some temporary shutdowns in your swimming pools. There isn’t much that can be done about this until the chlorine shortages rebound, so if it does come down to closing our pools, we ask you to be patient while our pool managers scramble to keep your pools open as best they can.

Over the last few months, the real estate market has been going through the roof. Its not just Utah either. There are places in the country that are still slow, but a large portion of the housing market throughout the USA are busy as ever.

The boom in the housing market throughout the country, combined with the complications of Covid-19, has really turned this recovery into something of a perfect storm.

This storm of events has led to the prices that you are seeing in the market right now, including those we deal with as builders of 55+ communities. Lets talk about them.

Rising Everything

Materials

Since September, we’ve noticed a major shift in the real estate market, and the materials and labor that go into servicing that market.

Covid related scarcity, and a booming housing market, have resulted in the cost of raw and finished materials for your home. Lumber is a prime example, and if you’ve gone to the hardware store lately, you know what I mean, but for us Lumber has double in the last six months, and is likely to continue climbing over the next few months.

The rising costs of materials have become so drastic that we as builders have had to hold off on accepting any new contracts until after we order our lumber.

Its not just lumber though. Anything metal has gone up, along with the rest of the supplies we need to build your home.

Labor is another factor to consider. President Biden may have failed to get his $15 minimum wage passed, but I’d like you to show me anybody who’s getting paid less than that in the construction industry. Finding labor, let alone good labor in this market, is incredibly difficult.

What does this mean for buyers and agents

Right now, if you’re looking to buy a first-time home, or if you’re an agent, you’re in a tough pickle. Current homeowners are in a better situation, because your home values are rising just as quickly as new homes, so you should be able to make the transition easily enough, assuming that you can find a home to move into.

That’s the other tough part about this market right now, we have so many people who need housing, but every home that comes on the market is sold out and bid up too fast to meet the demand for buyers to have much choice.

This is the first time in my career that I’ve seen this market go from the standard way of buying a home to what it is now. And what is it now?

With all the uncertainty in final costs to build a home, and with all the demand for housing and too little supply to meet our needs, every home builder and private seller has had to switch to the model of biggest and best offer gets the house.

We initially resisted this method of selling also, as it was so far removed from how we like to operate. Unfortunately, we don’t have any choice either. With waiting lists of 200 or more people scrambling to get into the few houses that we have coming available in the coming months, we will be forced to do this.

How long will this market last?

Right now, I don’t know how long this market is going to keep going like this. All signs I see, keep suggesting that this market is going to keep going for at least another year and a half to two years.

Increasing interest rates might slow it down somewhat, but the interest rates aren’t likely to climb super fast, since the government won’t be able to sustain its debt if it allow the rates to climb too high.

Also, since most cities here in Utah are continually resisting higher housing densities, we are almost guaranteed to have an ongoing shortage of housing to fill Utah’s growing needs.

Eventually, the market will calm down, but we just got out of a recession, and since most of these recessions happen about every four years (on average) we have a whole cycle of improving economic conditions ahead of us. If you’re struggling in this lopsided boom, we wish you the best. Who would’ve ever thought that an economic boom would create so many challenges.

 

If you’re following our Tooele community, and wondering when we’ll be up and running there, rest assured, we’re moving as quickly as we can.
Originally, we were hoping to pull permits last week, and to start writing contracts as well. Unfortunately, there was one last thing to finish with the city before we were able to move forward.
That item is underway right now, and we are staffing the sales office to answer questions and help get people started, but until the city gives us the green light, we are holding for a little longer.

55+ In Tooele

Sales office

The sales office is currently located at 960 N. 200 E. You might not find this address on Google yet, but if you get on 1000 N. and head to about 200 east, you should be able to find it pretty easy, as that’s the entrance to our subdivision.

Pricing is still being hashed out. We should have the final numbers ready as soon as we’re able to sign actual contracts. Already, we have several people who are interested and have placed reservations on homes in this community.

If you’re wondering what order we’ll be building in, we’ll be starting with our model homes, then we’ll work our way in and around the west side of the subdivision. We’ll also be submitting our clubhouse plans to the city soon. Since this is technically a commercial building, it sometimes takes a little longer to get approved and built, but we have the plans nearly completed and ready for submittal.

What is it like to live in a senior community?

In Tooele, there aren’t a lot of active adult communities yet. We’ve been building them for about two decades east of Oquirrh Mountain, but this is our first time in Tooele. Many people in Salt Lake and Utah counties are starting to see the benefit of living in these dedicated communities for retirees, but in Tooele, you might still be wondering if this is the right sort of community for you.

Here’s the facts, most people who move into a 55+ community are still active and strong. Many of you might not realize it, but we don’t build communities for people who need assistance living. Many of our homeowners are in fact, still working, though for many of them, if retirement hasn’t already come, then they are looking forward to it on the horizon.
This is a place to spend more time doing the things you love. Often, when people think about senior living, they think of nursing homes, or assisted living facilities. 55+ communities are neither of those things.

These are regular houses for adults who just want to be around others like themselves. And when I say regular houses, I really mean, better houses. They are built for retirees. Lets face it, you might be active now, but there are some luxuries that you didn’t know you’d like till now. For example, younger kids these days are moving into these townhomes that have three to four flights of stairs in their homes. Our homes, while technically considered a townhome, are all main floor living, with the majority of the homes having no stairs at all, at least, not unless you want them.
These communities are based on lifestyle. You come and live comfortably around friends you like, and neighbors you can relate more to. These communities are fun. You’ll love buying your next home in a Leisure Villas community. We look forward to meeting you.

Country View Villas is our newest 55+ community to become available. It’s also our first ever community in Tooele.

A few months ago, we started accepting reservations of the first few homes. They filled up surprisingly quick. As it turns out, there’s a lot of people interested in this new neighborhood. The big question has always been: When will it be open for sale?

Well, we finally have a date.

February 1st of this year, we will officially open our sales office to the public. We haven’t begun construction yet, but that is scheduled to start within the next few weeks. At that point, we’ll be up and running as fast as we can.

Tooele Active Adult Living

Details

This community is located about a block East of the Macey’s Grocery store on Main Street on 1000 N. and 220 E. Currently, there are 136 homes planned for this development. They will of course have our popular clubhouse which comes fully equipped with an exercise room, a theater, billiards, library, gathering room, and don’t forget the swimming pool.

We’ll also be building our four most popular floorplans that have been carefully designed and honed over the last few developments that we’ve built:

• The Grandview
• The Stratford
• The Windsor Court
• The Bristol Court

Over the years, we’ve built many different floorplans, and we are constantly modifying them, improving them to fit the lifestyles that best suite active adults who are at or near retirement.

We know that if you’re at or near retirement, you’re probably wanting to settle into a house that will be loads of fun for the duration of your retirement, help you find instant friendships with others your same age, a place which will be fun for family to visit you at, and is specifically adapted to help you grow into those later years, when mobility becomes an issue.

At Leisure Villas, we hate stair, and we love building friendships. Designing communities that are much more than sticks and bricks is our chief goal. We want to build a lifestyle oriented community, one where you won’t just take pride in your home, but in your community as a whole.

The people have always been the best part of any Leisure Villas Community. Often, after we’ve sold out one of these types of communities, the HOA has to form a waiting list to accommodate all the extra people who want the opportunity to move in.

Schedule

As with most of our communities while under construction, we will open our sales offices at 10am and go until 5pm Monday through Saturdays. As stated earlier, we’ll begin opening our sales office on Feb. 1st.

Construction will begin as soon as possible, with the first homes scheduled for completion later this fall or early winter. But as you may know, if you’ve been house hunting, you don’t want to wait until then to buy your home. Not only will these sell quickly and in advance, but those who buy their homes earlier will be able to pick out more of the upgrades and options to personalize their home to their tastes.

We look forward to meeting you, and we’ll see you soon!

It’s good to be finished with 2020. What a rollercoaster year. Now the big question on everyone’s mind, will 2021 be a repeat?

Sure there’s a Covid vaccine coming out, but there’s also a new strain of Covid. So has 2020 become the new normal? I hope not, but we’ll see.

Whatever happens with Covid, it’s out of our hands for now. But what about our economy? Every year, I like to put my finger on the dollar’s pulse and read the tea leaves to guess at where our market is headed.

Last year, my predictions weren’t spot on, but I’m guessing that not many people would have predicted 2020 to go as it did.

So all I can do now is look at where we’re at, where we’ve been, and make my best guess at where we might be headed. If you find my ponderings interesting, great. But remember, I’m no financial advisor. Please don’t make any financial decisions based solely off of my predictions.

2021 Economy

Looking back

For 2020, I anticipated a slow down in home sales, or at the very best, that they would stay fairly even, since 2019 was showing some signs of slowing. I thought price fatigue would drive the market, and was secretly wondering if we were due for a recession, however, many of the factors that drive the market were still looking strong and steady.

Then we had the market drop on us when Covid was announced. It showed signs of being a strong decline, ushering in a full blown recession. Then to my surprise, it rebounded so quickly, that it erased most of the losses, with exception to a few select industries. Many people who were playing the stock market, had a great opportunity to really boost their portfolios during that time. By the end of the year, we were even seeing record highs for many companies again, despite Covid shutdowns.

Also, during the Summer, the real estate market in Utah saw a huge boom. Suddenly, all inventory and homes under construction were sold out. In many instances, homes in new communities were sold out a year in advance! Because of this, my prediction that prices would remain steady was way off.

This surge in demand, along with Covid caused shocks in materials, and forced most builders in Utah to raise prices quickly and steeply. Lumber alone nearly doubled in price, and business shutdowns all over the globe made it nearly impossible to get a lot of necessary items, and those that we could get, we had to pay handsomely for. 

Currently

As we begin the new year, prices remain high. From what we’re seeing, approximately 25% of our new home sales are coming from out of state. Mostly California, Colorado, and Washington. This is a lot higher than we’ve noticed compared to previous years. Why this is happening, is better left to other speculators. But needless to say, that in addition to a robust and growing population here in Utah, we’re also getting a lot of people moving into our state.

Commercial building space is increasingly vacant. Where many businesses have been forced to send their employees home to work, they’re finding out that they don’t need the big office buildings as much anymore.

Also, while Utah may appear to be strong economically, especially in the residential real estate market, this is not the case for the entire country. Then again, Utah has often weathered economic difficulties better than the rest of the nation.

Looking forward

While last year proved that I’m not the best predictor of the economic future, if I were to take a guess at 2021, I would think that in Utah at least, we can expect to continue seeing rising costs of housing, with very low availability.

I’ve often written about Utah’s housing crisis. This crisis is brought on by very high demand and insufficient supply. This drives the affordability down for many households, and the builders that do attempt a low-priced housing option, are often forced to build communities that are so cheaply built and bland, that you can see them adopting that slummy blight that often plagues such communities after about 20 years.

In my opinion, this leads to a disturbing long-term future. The only way that I can see around this, is for cities and their residents to understand the need for more housing, and higher density housing. If existing land is available for more residential homes, then the supply of buildable land goes up, and the cost of that land will go down. This will allow and almost force competing builders to spend some of those savings on building higher quality homes.

Utah is in a transitionary stage. Most of us long-time residents are used to the small city way of life, and we resist changing to big city living. But Utah is growing, and if we don’t responsibly plan for that growth, we will inevitably build ourselves into the very thing we don’t want to be living with.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to get on my soap box. Utah has done a great job so far. It is however this writer’s personal opinion, and I don’t necessarily speak for Leisure Villas here, that Utah is in a housing crisis, and until developing new residential ground improves, Utah will continue to see rising costs of housing.

So yes I believe that 2021 will see higher demand for housing, and rising costs of those houses, especially as raw material shortages continue to be affected by Covid shutdowns.

 

We know that we have a lot of great folks, who are 55 and older, who’ve been following us for some time, wondering when our South Jordan, Utah community will be ready for sale.

Not yet… but getting closer.

For the sake of keeping you informed, I thought I’d give you an update as of today, December 7th, 2020.

Hearthstone Villas Progress

Development

As is the case with most new developments these days, this 55+ community in South Jordan has taken its sweet time in getting ready. We are happy to announce though, that all of our government obligations have been met, insofar as we now have permissions to move, full steam ahead.

Currently, we’re working on the underground development. This involves sewers, storm drains, water, electric, gas, cable and phone. We anticipate spending a good part of the winter working on these improvements, and being ready to start concrete and asphalt in the early spring months.

Since we’re still a couple of months away from turning in building permits, we’re going to hold off on opening the homes up for sale until we’ve made a little more progress on the underground work. Ideally, starting around February, we’ll begin accepting contracts, we think. This is by no means a firm date, but is subject to change, depending on weather and other factors.

From there, it’ll likely be the end of the year (2021) before we’ll have homes that are ready for occupancy.

Right now, the sewer is in half of the 1st phase. Over the coming months, we’ll get that and many of the other utilities run throughout all three phases.

When to buy?

Since we still don’t have a firm date to open the homes up for sale, and so that you don’t have to keep calling every week, we encourage you to reach out to our sales staff, and get on their call-back list. We’ve already got a good sized list of interested homebuyers building up, and you don’t want to miss out on your opportunity to be among the first into this community.

Even when you get on our call-back list, don’t hesitate to call up every few weeks to check in. We know that you want to be in this community, and we don’t want to accidentally lose your contact information.

Hearthstone Villas is expected to be one of our highest amenity stocked communities to date. Aside from our standard clubhouse, we’re also including pickleball and horseshoe pits.

There will be something for everyone here, and we expect this community to be a huge success.

Until then, don’t forget to check back here often. You may call or keep tabs on our blog, as the time gets closer that we start opening up for sales. We look forward to meeting you.

In the mean time, we wish you a very merry and safe holiday season. The world may be going crazy, but this season is an excellent reminder of the things that matter most in our lives and our communities.

 

This week, social media is filling with things that people are thankful for. Perfect timing for Thanksgiving too.

With the holidays approaching, and uncertainty about family gatherings still in question, it might be all too easy to complain this holiday season. Despite the current situations we face, there are still many things that we can be thankful for.

One of the things we can be thankful for, is that this year is almost over!

Who knows what next year will bring, but this year sure has been wild.

Anyhow, with the end of the year, comes the holiday season, and for those of you who are looking for a new home in a 55+ community, you might be interested to know what our holiday hours are.

55+ Community Visits

Hours will vary

Usually, we’re able to give you exact times and days that our sales offices will be closed during the holiday season. This however, isn’t a normal holiday season.

As with most builders in Utah, we were slammed with unprecedented sales earlier this Summer and Fall. Because of this, many of our homes are sold out for several months in advance. We usually like to keep a healthy stock of ready-to-move into homes available, but that hasn’t been easy this second half of the year.

Because of this, our sales staff, depending on the community and their personal plans, may be taking extra hours off during this holiday season.

As such, if you would like to visit any of our fabulous 55+ communities during some of your extra spare time this Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, it would be advisable to call up the sales person at the community you are wishing to visit before you go out.

Just because one sales person might be attending one sales office, it is no guarantee this year that they will be attending every sales community.

Availability

While it may be discouraging to be house hunting when all the homes seem to be already sold out, don’t hesitate visiting one of our communities. It is not all-together uncommon for some people’s plans to change, which causes them to opt out of moving.

If you really like one of our active adult communities, and it appears sold out too far in advance, go talk with the sales agent there anyways. They can be very helpful in arranging a call back to you if somebody backs out of a contract.

Since we are generally very good about understanding the changing circumstances in people’s lives, we have often been able to accommodate these canceled contracts. In fact, they happen more often than you might think. So don’t be too discouraged. Let our sales staff know what you’re interested in, and they can keep you in mind, giving you every opportunity to move into the home that fits your needs the best, as availability arises.

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and may the New Year bring health and prosperity to you and yours. We look forward to meeting you, and helping you find the home that best suits your needs.

 

Every year around this time, the temperatures start dropping and the snow starts flying. Most folks who’ve spent any amount of time in Utah, know that the cold season can bring great fun or great risk.

Today, I wanted to remind all of the great folks who’ve bought from us in the past, that now is the time to turn on your heat tape.

Even if you don’t have any snow on your roof, it might be a good idea to turn the heat tape on.

Our active adult communities provide the convenience of heat tape on our most susceptible homes, and we do it free of charge in certain locations. It’s one of those little extras that helps set us apart from other builders.

What to do about Winter?

Heat tape:

Most of our homes come equipped with heat tape. However, just in case you say, “Where is mine?” know that we only put it on the areas that are most at risk of causing dangerous ice dams in walking areas.

So for most south facing roofs, this heat tape is not necessary, and thus is not installed. However, if you have a north-facing roof, or one that is subject to a lot of shade in the Winter, then we will usually install heat tape if it looks like it’ll be a likely candidate for ice dams.

If we have installed heat tape in one of these areas for you, then likely, there is a switch, either behind your front door or in your garage. Often there are multiple switches, so take inventory of them before you flip one and call it good.

Once you’ve flipped it, you can leave it on all Winter.

But won’t that run up the power bill?

Yes and no.

The heat tape we install has a thermostat on the end. When temperatures are below freezing, it activates. On warmer days, it shuts off. So will there be days when ice doesn’t need clearing and its below freezing, sure, but there are other reasons to leave it running.

Sometimes, heat tape is run in a zig-zag pattern along a roof line. This style of heat tape can be turned on an off manually as needed.

We however have opted for an in-gutter style of installation with the thermostat to control it. This is done so that you can turn it on at the beginning of the season, and leave it on till spring. Frankly, with its thermostat, you could even leave it on year round, since it shouldn’t turn itself on during the Spring/Summer/Fall months.

Leaving this style of heat tape turned on throughout the season helps, because it keeps the ice clear of the gutters as the water drips into it. However, if you wait until the ice has already built up, then the heat tape will only serve to tunnel a hole through the ice and it will not keep the ice buildup from remaining or from growing.

Other considerations

While heat tape and ice dams are always a concern, since the improper mediation of the ice can lead to dangerous walkways below, we need to remember a few other things:

Snow and ice removal from our driveways and sidewalks always becomes an issue during the winter. Often the maintenance crews like to default to throwing more ice-melt on concrete than should ever be used. This creates a much higher chance of the concrete chipping up.

So if you see anyone covering your concrete, unnecessarily, with excess amounts of ice-melt, remind them that it is decreasing the life of your sidewalks, and you might want to sweep some of it off.

Also, remember to park inside your garages, so that snow plows and those clearing your driveways can easily clean the concrete. Snow and ice that builds up on concrete can also cause damage to the concrete if left uncleared, not to mention the safety factor of slipping on a sheet of ice.

So this year, please be safe, and remain good stewards of your communities. Happy holidays!

 

 

Enough with Covid 19, who’s feeling the symptoms of Election Fever?

I know I am.

It comes with a headache, sometimes nausea, and often makes you want to social distance by much more than 6 feet.

The funny thing is, we go through this every four years. You think we’d be used to it by now. But every election year, it seems like the whole world is going to fall apart if one party gets elected over another.

I don’t know what the right answer is, but one thing is certain, and that is this: A Leisure Villas 55+ community, will still be the best choice for active adults who are looking for a new home.

Sorry if you don’t agree with this political opinion, but it’s true!

How will this election affect the real estate market in Utah?

Hot or Cold

If you’ve been following the market here in Utah for the last few months and years, you’re probably wondering why homes are becoming so expensive.

For you, assuming that you own your own home, this isn’t going to be terribly bad. The frenzy of demand has upped the value of your home also, so moving into a new place is going to be a fair enough trade.

The problem I see, is for new homebuyers. Where are they going to buy into? It used to be that you could have a starter home on a ¼ acre lot. Now those same lots are selling for as much as it cost to build a whole house plus the land, and that was only 10 years ago.

Now, a starter home looks a lot different. Very small footprints with lots and lots of stairs.

I don’t see this current election changing the pent up demand here in Utah for a while. There are so many people needing homes, so few job seekers looking to join the construction ranks, too much bureaucracy involved in permitting new communities and new homes, too many current residents who fight against new development, and now we can’t even get raw or finished materials in like we used to.

All of this we’ve been dealing with for several years now, but that last one, the shortages on materials, is new. If our new elected officials do anything, I hope they keep in mind these shortages. It’s a fine balance of juggling public health and economic stability.

Where do prices go from here?

For the foreseeable future, Utah home prices are likely to continue climbing. This Summer and Fall, we, along with many other home-builders, saw a massive spike in new home sales. This caught many of us off-guard, and because of this, we ended up selling in advance, a lot more homes that we thought we would. Most of our ready-to-move-into homes sold out, and we filled the next several months worth of upcoming builds.

As prices of materials have gone up, and as demand has climbed, we, along with most other builders, were forced to raise prices. Since there are even less houses on the market now, compared to how many people are needing to buy a home, the next year is likely to only see more price increases across all homes in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber counties.

When will this housing boom end? Nobody knows. But you can bet that once you start seeing a lot of house flipping in the market again, then this streak will be nearing correction levels. At this point though, the house flippers aren’t in force yet.

Only time will tell. We started seeing slowdowns last year, but those all ended this Summer. There were some deals to be had last Summer and Fall, but I can only imagine that if you were trying to time the market, then last year was your year. Otherwise, you probably missed it, and we’re in for another 3-4 years of rising prices, and I don’t see that changing, regardless of who gets elected.

 

Halloween is here.

The decorations are going up and the election year is scaring everyone, what a fun season.

Have you figured out how you’re going to celebrate on the big day?

Maybe you’re over 55 and aren’t sure if a traditional Halloween is appropriate this year.

I think a lot of people are wondering the same thing. This year is a little different than most Halloweens we’ve had recently.

Do you participate in the trick or treating, trunk-or-treating, or do you set a bowl of candy on your porch for the roaming teenagers to plunder?

Covid Halloween

Where does Halloween come from?

To understand what to do on Halloween, I’d like to take the approach of remembering why we celebrate it in the first place.

Halloween seems like one of those odd holidays that should never have become an official holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good Halloween as much as the next person, but why do we even celebrate it?

As it turns out, Halloween is a very old tradition dating back about 2000 years ago. Remember when harvest festivals were a big thing? Probably not. Some of your parents might have though, or at least, had some version of it for when they finished harvesting for the year. I remember talking with my grandparents about the times when their family would all get together and harvest their fields. They’d then have a big party with the biggest meals of the year. My grandpa was a young boy at the time, and even when I interviewed him in his 90’s, he still fondly remembered getting a full pie to himself.

The old-time harvest festivals were somewhat related to Halloween, though Thanksgiving was probably more so. Back in the day, Halloween still had an other-worldly appeal. The old Celts used to believe that the dead would come back to Earth, or at lest visit near to it. Sacrifices of animals and crops were a part of this tradition, where they would invoke favor from the dead, or attempt to predict the future.

Superstitions were high, and in some cultures, this became a time to hope for one’s future mate. Games were played to predict one’s future spouse, anything from tossing labeled nuts into a fire, throwing peelings on the ground and hoping they formed initials of your future lover, and other superstitious and occult traditions.

Halloween has always been a little creepy, though surprisingly, it had less to do with the past than it did with the future. Now days, it has more to do with candy, kids, and cuteness, mingled with a few scary movies for the older ones.

Probably the most scary trend that I see, is how people are now dressing up their animals for the festivities. Pet costumes are one of the newest fads sweeping the country. Every year, more people are torturing their animals with cute little costumes.

So the way I see it, Halloween was born from ancient European traditions, most of which immigrated to America along with their practitioners. But it is a constantly evolving holiday, and who knows where it’ll end up after this Covid mess has run its course.

Perhaps you have a chance to influence where it goes from here.

Suggested changes:

Since Halloween is evolving, here is a small list of possible changes you could try.

• Maybe you should steal from some older traditions. You could turn Halloween into another Thanksgiving, getting together as family to share a spooky themed meal eating from all the canned groceries you harvested this year at the supermarket, but would normally never get around to eating, like those cans of asparagus and lima beans that usually get reserved for when the food bank comes knocking on your door for donations. Wouldn’t that be a fun trick on your kids?
• Use the holiday as a matchmaking event for your children’s future spouse.
• Take bets on predicting the future, things like the upcoming winter weather, who gets into a new relationship next, who wins the presidential election, or who contracts covid first.
• Have a family history party and everyone shares and interesting story they learned about their deceased ancestry.

Or you can make up some new, more popular traditions, like:

• Seeing who can come up with the most ridiculous pet costume.
• Experiment with creepy fun obstacle courses or pranks for managing new ways of delivering candy to children without having them knock on your door.
• Having family parties, where you play fun Halloween games, share candy, and keep the festivities to those who are closer to you.
• Trick or treat on social media only. I don’t know how that would look, or how there would be any treats involved, but you can use your own imagination.

Or you can go about your Halloween traditions like you always have.

Whatever you do, be safe, have a great Halloween, and don’t let Covid convince you to cross over to the other side just yet.

One of the most anticipated things to happen in a new 55+ community is when the clubhouse gets finished.

It’s what many early move-in residents look forward to, and what many residents to follow fall in love with.

In our North Ogden community, Cherry Springs Villas, we are nearing completion of our clubhouse. While the interior is pretty well finished, the exterior is going through its final stages this month.

Almost there

What’s left?

For the most part, the swimming pool is all that remains to be finished. Surely there are some asking when this is likely to happen. Tops Pools has been working tirelessly there for the last couple of weeks to prepare the pool for opening.

Soon, the deck will be poured and the fence will go in. Once both of those are completed, then the pool will get plastered. This is followed by a couple weeks of curing and balancing.

The idea was that the pool would be opened up for use later this month, even if only for a short time. If the weather stays warm, and this year, who knows what really will happen, then we might try to open it for a little while.

However, the more likely scenario is that we’ll get the pool filled and balanced right in time to winterize it. We’ll see how things progress, but its about that time of the season. The good news is, that the pool will be ready to start up in the Spring because it will be fully finished, inspected and ready to play.

Will we get to use the clubhouse?

In this year’s environment, this is a question that we’ve been asked quite often. It seems that due to Covid 19, the whole world is becoming increasingly anti-social. Not the best thing for a community with a clubhouse, right?

Well, in answer to that question, yes, the clubhouse will be available for use. As it opens, as with all our other current communities, we simply ask the residents to be cautions and respectful of other people’s health.

Ideally, we are all responsible adults, and we should be able to know when we might be putting others or ourselves at risk by being around others. So we urge careful consideration, but the clubhouse is there for the residents of Cherry Springs Villas, and we hope that you will enjoy it.

Is it worth the HOA dues?

Here’s an interesting misconception. Many people believe that their HOA dues are there to support the clubhouse. While it is true, that the clubhouse does require some maintenance, the HOA dues have nothing to do with the construction of the building itself. Nor is the clubhouse the largest part of an association’s financial obligations.

I’ve sometimes heard complaints that people didn’t want to pay HOA dues because the clubhouse wasn’t done yet. However, the largest expenses of a community like this don’t get eaten up by the clubhouse or it’s swimming pool.

The largest expenses are the landscaping, and more specifically the water. In the Summer, its all the water and mowing that make the yards look so spectacular. In the Winter, it’s the guys who remove all the water that comes in the form of snow.

Then there is also insurance and reserve funds that replace worn out exterior parts of the community as the place ages.

The clubhouse itself is an expense that we as the builder foot entirely on our own, because we know that you value this in a 55+ community. It’s the sort of place we want to build, and for you to enjoy. We have never relied on HOA dues to build your clubhouse. Often times, if we can help it, we try to get these clubhouses built in the beginning, unlike other communities who might push it off till the end, and may even then, try to shirk their promise of building one.

Anyhow, for those of you living there now, we hope you enjoy your clubhouse. For those of you still considering a move here, we look forward to meeting with you and seeing if one of our luxury 55+ communities here, or in any of the other cities we’re building in, are the fit you’ve been looking for.

 

If you’ve been following us and waiting for our 55+ community to start selling, the wait is nearly over.

We’ve finally got pricing, and we’re about to open up for sales.

As of today, September 28th, we are taking reservations, but in the next couple of weeks, we’ll have the homes ready to write contracts on.

As we so often do, we’re trying to offer the first few units a discounted price from what we believe the market to be at. This means that if you act quickly, you can be one of the first few people into this community at the best prices its likely to see. 

Country View Villas

Build Schedule

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be taking reservations on our 1st four buildings. As soon as we record the plat, we’ll start converting those reservations into contracts, and writing new contracts. The 1st TEN contracts will be at our early-bird pricing.

Here is the order that we are building in:

1. Building #1: Which will have two of our models, and a Grandview with a loft for sale, and a Windsor Court for sale.
2. Building #2: Which will have two more of our models, and a Stratford for sale, and a Bristol Court with a loft for sale.
3. Building #14: This will have a Bristol Court, a Bristol Court with a loft, a Windsor Court, and a Windsor Court with a loft, all for sale.
4. Building #12: This will have a Windsor Court, a Windsor Court with a loft, a Grandview, and a Grandview with a loft, all for sale.

(See our floorplans page for details on our current floorplans)

During this time, we’ll also be submitting our clubhouse plans for building. Since that is technically a commercial building, they tend to take a little longer to approve through the cities, but we will strive to begin construction on it as soon as possible so that our homeowner can enjoy the amenities it provides in as quick a time as possible.

Pricing:

Rarely do we post pricing on our website, since it can fluctuate so rapidly, especially in this turbulent market. But for the first 10 contracts (reservations converted to contract are included in this number), we will be offering these homes at our early-bird pricing, which we feel is somewhat of a discount on the current market.

Why are we doing this?

There are multiple reasons, one of which is the hassle factor involved with being the first movers into a new subdivision. For example, our construction schedules for this new community are not fully developed yet, and so building completion dates will be very flexible until we get moving full speed.

Also, we like to reward those who are willing to take a chance on a new home without having seen it completed first.

So what’s the early-bird pricing? Here you go:

• Bristol Court: $ 309,900
• Windsor Court: $ 339,900
• Stratford: $ 364,900
• Grandview: $ 369,900
• Bristol Court w/Loft: $ 354,900
• Windsor Court w/Loft: $ 384,900
• Stratford w/Loft: $ 409,900
• Grandview w/Loft: $ 414,900

How do I reserve my home?

Just call 801-653-1291. One of our helpful sales agents will work with you to reserve your place in Tooele’s new 55+ community, Country View Villas.

Also, in the next few weeks, we’ll be setting up a temporary sales office on site, so keep an eye out for that. But till then, don’t hesitate to call. These first ten homes could sell out quickly.

 

 

I hate to keep visiting this topic, but I thought this might be interesting to some of you.

When people started going back to work, we were hoping that life might start returning to normal. Maybe that was too much to ask.

It is times like this, though, that we realize how global our whole economy has become. I remember when President Trump started his hard stand with China and our trade policies. This affected some of our building material options, but mostly it impacted our flooring.

Though it caused some headaches, the real trouble with building our senior communities, and all new homes for that matter, began this year with Covid.

Supply and Demand Craziness

Too much demand, too little supply

As soon as the recession was confirmed this year, everybody decided to do their part to correct the issue. Governments enacted unprecedented stimulus, and individuals stuck at home got bored and started buying tons of stuff.

On top of that, everyone has been so inundated with the idea that if you buy into the stock market when its low, then you make more money as it goes up. Well, it seems that all of this ended up boosting a large portion of the market. However, with all this spending and buying, nobody was actually working.

Now we’re faced with a three month shortage in over half of our raw and finished building materials.

Since April and May in Utah, we’ve seen a significant increase in the demand for homes. Communities that we thought would take till the end of the year to sell out, are already sold out now.

This is great from a selling standpoint, but from a building standpoint, its a shock. Considering that most of our materials come from out of state, many from places that were fully shut down for three months, we’re now struggling to find enough materials to build how we need.

Some examples

The first thing we noticed to take a hit was appliances. For the last two decades, we’ve been proud to offer GE appliance to our customers. A couple of months ago, after we robbed all of our model homes of our GE appliance, and got no confirmation of when we’d ever be able to see another GE package, we were forced to switch to other brands.

Then we started seeing a major shortage on trim supplies, like doors and moldings. All of a sudden, many of these parts, much of which comes from out of state, were depleted.

Imagine our surprise when lumber jumped in price by a whopping 50%. Crazy! That’s not the end of it either. Continuing lumber shortages are threatening another 50% price hike in the near future.

Almost every branch of construction is facing some kind of shortage. This is resulting in higher prices and longer wait times. Items that were almost guaranteed to be in stock now are unlikely to be available for at least another three months. Longer in some cases. 

What to do

I’ve heard of some builders who’ve begun stockpiling materials and equipment. Do you remember a few months ago when people did that with grocery stores? Yep, it’s happening right now, but with construction companies.

Many of them aren’t comfortable that the items they need over the next year will be available, so they’re adding to the problem.

Since construction time-tables often take on the form of several months, even years of planning, these short-term delays, while they may get resolved by the end of the year, may impact scheduling and budgeting headaches that last well into next year.

This requires all of us in the construction industry to be on our game, keeping our orders and lead times planned accordingly. Still, even with the best of plans, we’re all going to be struggling to keep the pipeline flowing flawlessly.

It’s funny, but every time I think that this year couldn’t get any more weird or challenging, it does. Best of luck to you and yours. Here at Leisure Villas, we’re doing our best to keep things moving along so that you can move into your ideal community with as few headaches as possible.

 

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been getting a lot of phone calls about our newest 55+ community in South Jordan, Utah.

Yes, we do have a project going in there. No it is not for sale yet, but it will be in the not too distant future.

We’ve just barely started breaking ground there. Perhaps you’ve noticed it as you’ve driven northbound on Bangerter Highway. It’s the newest development about to start south of Salt Lake Community College.

Hearthstone Villas

Timeframe:

There will not be any homes for sale this September. In fact, we’re not sure if we’ll even be selling anything before the end of the year. Currently, we’re waiting to see how long the development phase will take. Nothing is worse than buying a house and not knowing when you can move in.

As far as getting the actual houses constructed, we’re aiming for foundations to start going in around the end of February. Granted, if we can start sooner, we will. That would mean, if things go the way we hope they will, then we should have homes ready to move into by around the fall of next year.

Like I said though, we’ve still got a few months of uncertain scheduling, especially as we go into winter, that may affect some of our plans.

However, as soon as we are ready to open the homes up for sale, we’ll post it here on our website.

What is different about this community?

Is there differences? Yes, there will be.

Every time we start a new community, we have to re-evaluate how we do things. We’re constantly trying to provide the most current amenities, and practices that will give your home and your community the things that you value.

One of the things that we’ll certainly install in this community, is pickleball courts. We’ve built these before in a park that we constructed next to one of our previous subdivisions, the Villas At Pioneer Crossing, in Lehi. We did this as an experiment, and with the popularity of the sport, we’ve decided to include some courts in Hearthstone Villas.

Another thing that we’re considering doing, is installing the infrastructure to accommodate electric vehicle charging in every garage. I don’t think it’ll be a huge surprise to anybody that electric vehicles are slowly working their way into our daily lives. It won’t be many years from now when a good percentage of us will be driving them.

There may be other changes as well. We’re always striving to improve our product and our processes. We know that if you’re searching for a 55 and older community, then you’re not usually interested in a starter home. For that very reason, we don’t build starter homes. We build homes that match your current expectations for what a home should be, with the lifestyle to go with it.

Welcome to South Jordan

We’re excited to start selling homes here. Don’t forget to check back here often, to see when we’ll be ready to help you make the move that’ll make all the difference in your retirement.

 

 

This has been one of the most frustrating, exhilarating, and interesting years that I can remember. How about you?

Every now and then, I attempt to predict the market, especially as it relates to the buying and selling of homes for folks who are 55 and better. I’ll often give a re-cap of where we’ve been, where we are now, and where I see us going in the future. Covid 19 blew all my predictions completely off course.

As we’ve gone through these last few months, I think we’ve seen the best and the worst that our country can throw at us in many ways.

An Economy With No Rules

Starting with 2019

For the whole of 2019, most of the financial world was predicting a recession. This never materialized in the way we thought it would. As the year drew to an end, the economy was still going strong, but most people were feeling the recession at our doorstep.

During this latter half of the year, sales started slowing to a minor degree. Some homes had to offer a few incentives to move buyers in. All signs were pointing to a real recession at the beginning of 2020.

First half of 2020

This year started out pessimistic, and not just because we would all be enduring the political battles of an election year.

Despite all the predictions, and hopes for the economy, I don’t think anybody could’ve predicted what would happen next, though I’m sure there are a few people who’ll want to take credit for it all in hindsight.

First we get the Corona virus panic, which shocked the stock market and the grocery market! This was followed by a quick plunge in our economy. It was the trigger for the very recession everyone was predicting.

What nobody was predicting, was how fast things would rebound. With everyone stuck at home for a couple of months, household projects and childhood education and activity products boomed. While the leisure business suffered, other parts of the economy saw record highs.

This propelled us into a lighting recovery, that was far from evenly spread. This created shortages in supplies of everything from computers to lawn-care products, to side-walk chalk, and of course sanitation products.

There was also a lot of political unrest from activist groups, though that’s a topic we’ll avoid diving into here.

Stimulus also had an interesting effect on the market. People who lost their jobs could suddenly start making more money by not working, than they could by working. So while many industries were seeing booming sales, the amount of people transferring from those harder-hit jobs to the in-demand jobs were few. This led to even more scarcity of resources.

Any time that resources are scarce, the prices tend to climb. I can’t say if priced climbed very much in most places, or if this all combined to keep the market stable, but in any case, our economy recovered surprisingly well.

Second Half of 2020

Utah’s economy has seen some bewildering statistics because of Covid. Our housing market has seen sales that have been better than we’ve had for the last couple of years. And this out of a year where we thought that sales would be struggling.

Utah still maintains a shortage of new housing to supply the demand, which means that home prices are likely to resume their upward trends, after about a year or so of smaller price increases.

While we expected a slowdown in housing, we instead ended up with a housing boom here in Utah. I don’t know how the next year is likely to shape up, but this has been one of the wildest rides I’ve seen in a long time.

This has led one of our projects in Herriman to sell out months before we expected it to. It has also caused us to step up our build schedules in Vineyard, and our homes are selling quickly in North Ogden and Saratoga Springs as well.

If you’ve been considering a move to a 55+ community, don’t wait for the next down-turn. It seems that we found it and are quickly moving away from it.

 

 

 

For a little while now, I’ve thought it would be fun to add some good recipes to this blog. When living in a 55+ community, its easy to entertain guests. Maybe its your grandkids coming to visit for a Sunday dinner, or maybe you’re getting together with some neighbors in your home or in the clubhouse, but having a few secret recipes can be a fun way to add some flavor to your next meal.

So here’s one that I thought I’d share, one that my wife cooks occasionally, and I have come to love. It’s a carrot dish, with a foreign flare.

Not-Boring Carrots

Summer-time means fresh veggies

There are few things that I enjoy eating in the Summer-time that come in a can. I love to stop by farmers markets, or check out the in-season produce at my local grocery store to find what’s fresh.

Among my favorite finds are carrots. Nothing beats a freshly pulled carrot raw. But next to that, is a great cooked carrot. I’m not talking about boiling it till it turns to mush, though, with the right broth, even that can be amazing. No, I’m talking about mixing in a few things, giving it a slightly steamed, slightly fried flavor.

Moroccan inspired

My wife is great at finding recipes that nobody else uses around here. Whenever we’re invited to dinner, there’s always a sense of curiosity, and occasionally I’ll admit, trepidation. Not all of our recipes turn out to be great crowd pleasers.

Most of the time though, they are healthy. It’s this search for healthy living that inspired her to turn to other parts of the world that don’t entirely rely on butter, salt, and sugar to flavor their food. This carrot recipe is one that we have found to be safe in a traditional group, but different enough to turn the perceptive foodies nose in its direction.

Directions

1. Prep your spices by mixing them in a bowl. This saves time, and lets you keep a better eye on your carrots so that they don’t burn. Add your cumin, cilantro, mint, paprika, parsley, chili powder. Set this aside till you’re ready for it.
2. You’ll want to prepare some carrots and shallots. You could probably use onions, but shallots pack more flavor per ounce than regular onions. Plus they have a slightly unique flavor. And since this is more of a carrot recipe than an onion recipe, I like to keep the onions less of a feature. Dice the shallots, then slice the carrots into thin pieces. I think the correct term is julienne. I don’t know if cutting them any other way makes a bit of difference, but you want them thinner than just chopping them into 1 inch chunks. This lets them cook faster and absorb more flavor.
3. With a little oil, (I prefer grapeseed oil, since it has a very high smoke point, and tastes way better than olive oil in my opinion), sauté the onions on medium heat in a pan for a few minutes till they’re translucent. Add the carrots and cover them, cooking for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally until they’re tender all the way through.
4. Now that the carrots are tender, add your spices. Mix it in good and cook for just 2-3 minutes longer.
5. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Naturally, the fresher the ingredients, the better, but this recipe doesn’t need a lot of each herb, so something dry can often do in a pinch, especially if you don’t want to by a whole thing of parsely, only for such a small portion. But despite the meager quantities of each of these, they all combine to add a very subtle and surprisingly flavorful dish.

1 lb carrots – Julienned

½ C diced shallots

1 T Oil

¼ t cilantro

1 t mint

¼ t paprika

½ t parsley

¼ t chili powder

1 t salt

 

This week, my wife came to me and said that we needed to go on a date for the weekend.

“Great!” says I. “Where?”

That’s the big question. With everywhere closed down or highly restricted, it might seem hard to find any entertainment.

What’s an active senior to do?

It took me a little head scratching, but I think I’ve come up with a few ideas. I floated a few of them by her, and she even approved.

So if you’re wanting to take your sweetheart out for the evening, but are struggling to find anything to do, hopefully I can spark some ideas.

A Night Out On The Town?

Options for our virus wary world

I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy finding something to do. The usual suspects are either shut down till further notice, like my favorite Edison Street Events, where you can usually catch a silent movie with a live organist, or live music at Sundance.

And if a place isn’t shut down, I know it makes my wife very nervous, especially when there are too many people there. Even still, there are options available.

Here’s my short list:

1. Take a bike ride along the Jordan River Parkway.

This is the one that my wife decided to do. She liked the idea of being out in the fresh air, covering some ground and enjoying the scenery. Plus, with as much as we’ve been indoors lately, the idea of stretching our legs sounded too tempting to pass on.

If you happen to be living in our 55+ community, located in Saratoga Springs: The Villas At Legacy Farms, then you’re already living at the trailhead to the Jordan River Parkway. You could easily bike up to Thanksgiving point and spend some time walking around their beautiful grounds. I say easily, assuming that you like biking.

If you don’t live close to the Jordan River parkway, I happen to know that our other subdivisions in Herriman: Midas Creek Villas, or our Vineyard Subdivision: The Villas At Waters Edge, also have walking/biking/horse trails near each of those.

If you don’t live near any of those active adult communities, well, maybe you should.

1. Go painting in the park.

When’s the last time that you took an easel outside and tried to capture the beauty around us. Camera phones make snapping a picture almost too easy. But there is something about painting that is both therapeutic and amazing.

If you’ve never done it before, no problems. Nobody’s going to judge you too harshly. Chances are, most of them know they wouldn’t even dare try. So go ahead, grab some brushes and paints, and find a shady spot somewhere to practice your masterpiece. Since you live in Utah, you’re lucky enough to have something interesting to paint, no matter where you go.

If you have no clue what you’re doing, look up a few Bob Ross paintings to get some basics down. They can be a fun, stay at home date all in themselves. Just make sure you have your remote control handy, so that you can pause the show long enough to catch up. And don’t be discouraged if your first dozen paintings turn out to be—less than perfect. You’ll be surprised how quickly and addicting this painting thing can get.

1. Go Bullfrog hunting.
   1. A few weeks ago, I saw the articles out about bullfrogs in Utah. I didn’t even know that Utah had bullfrogs. But now that I know, I want to find them.
   2. The last time that I ate frog legs was probably 15 years ago. Surprisingly, you can order them in from Walmart’s frozen food department. I happened to chance by them there once, when they actually had them in stock. They’re surprisingly big, like chicken legs, and if you overlooked the different bone structure, you might even think that’s what you were eating.
   3. So while anyone can go out fishing for a date night, maybe you can learn how to go bullfrogging, and come home to cook up a culinary delight that will both surprise and delight your friends or family.

There’s plenty more

I’m not going to go into depth on all the possible date activities out there. But needless to say, there are options, even though you might need to be a little more creative at this time.

For instance, if you’re feeling like just watching a movie, but don’t want to see the current re-runs in the big theaters, give some of the more specialty theaters a try. For example, Thanksgiving point’s museum theater is showing educational films in 3-d, or is it 4-d now? Anyhow, you can go on their website and reserve a ticket. I doubt these theaters get the same crowds that the bigger theaters attract.

There’s also bowling. I know the owner of Oympus Hill Bowling Alley, and he’s mentioned that they are open, and following restriction guidelines. But even then, they barely fill their bowling alley. So you could easily keep a social distance from people, and enjoy a night of stretching for a strike.

If you’re lucky enough to live in one of our fantastic senior communities, then you also have a clubhouse that is close. It usually offers billiards, a built-in theater, and a swimming pool. You could even grab a few friends together and play games, making it a fun group date.

There is plenty of fun to be had out there, even though the whole world is telling us to keep out. With a little creativity, and a sense of adventure, we can have a fun and safe time going on dates with our sweethearts.

Good luck!

 

For the last few months, we’ve been struggling like everyone else to figure out how best to do business during this unusual year. Many things we think ought to happen, have surprised us on the flip side.

Who would’ve thought that the stock market would be booming throughout this last season. It’s almost like bad news leads to healthy stock returns. I don’t get it.

There are a few things though that I do get. One of them is taking care of our customers.

Since we build communities for folks 55 and older, we’re very aware of the risks that some of our homeowners might face due to this virus scare. So what do we do when a customer finds themselves in need of warranty assistance?

Getting Things Done

Time to fix something

While its never a call that we want to get, we realize that new homes occasionally have issues that need fixing. Warranty is a part of the package, and at Leisure Villas, we do our best to ensure that you’re getting a quality-built home.

During the last few months, we had several homeowners opt not to get warranty issues taken care of. For the time being, we’ve been let back into many of those homes. However, as more cases and concerns arise about the virus spreading faster than before, we foresee caution becoming an issue again.

That’s why we’ve been doing our best to keep ourselves socially distanced, as well as keeping things sanitized as often as possible.

When it comes time for us to enter your homes and do warranty work, we’re more than happy to wear face masks and do everything in our power to be in and out as quickly as possible.

Nobody wants to get sick, or to pass on something to anyone else. So if you don’t feel comfortable letting us into your house just yet, please, still let us know about the items you need fixing, and as long as they’re a low priority, we’ll hold onto them until you feel a little better about having us in your home. Hopefully it won’t take too long.

For emergencies, we’ll take care of it quickly

There are a few instances where a warranty claim should not be procrastinated. Usually these have to deal with water.

Water issues can be among the most damaging issues a home might ever encounter. That’s why, if you notice any sort of problem with water leaks or anything of that nature, we’ll want to get in and get it fixed as quickly as possible.

If you find yourself worried about a certain warranty issue and letting one of our contractors into your home, feel free to reach out to us and discuss your concern. We’ll do our very best to make your sure you are safely taken care of.

When will this pass?

I don’t know when we’ll be over with this whole mess. I’m so tired of talking and hearing about it. I’m sure you are too. More people are coming down with the virus everyday, and yet everyone seems to be getting more complacent.

We wish you a happy healthy year. And thank you for making Leisure Villas Utah’s preferred builder of 55+ communities for another year.

 

We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately on upcoming 55+ communities. One that has many people excited is Country View Villas, our exclusive community for folks 55 and better.

This new development in Tooele is located at 1000 N. and about 220 E.

As of June, 2020, no homes here are for sale yet, but we have begun preparing the land for construction.

Why have people been so excited about this community? Well, there is a few reasons. Maybe one of these will get you thinking about it also. Let’s talk Tooele.

Country View Villas

Update

If you’ve been following rumor, then you know that we’re about to start our very first active adult community in Tooele. This is the city that’s so far away, yet so quick to get to.

As of June, we’ve been working hard at getting sewer and storm drains installed at this new development. By this fall, we’re hoping to have the majority of the underground dirt-work completed, so that we can begin installing foundations.

We’re still waiting a little longer though, before we open the community up for sales. But check back here often. As soon as we open them up to the public, you’ll see and hear about them here, on our website.

Why Tooele?

Tooele is an interesting city. Its clear out of the way, yet for folks needing to commute to Salt Lake, it’s a surprisingly quick car ride away.

Also, there’s a smaller town feel to this remote, yet still present city.

One of the really cool things about Tooele, is that it’s also not as expensive as living in the Salt Lake or Utah counties. If you’re like me, you’ve probably watched the home-buying market explode over the last 10 years in Utah.

Apparently, everybody loves Utah and wants to live here. Its making for a robust housing market. At the same time, its pricing a lot of people out of a new home, or a used home for that matter.

Tooele’s prices have gone up, there’s no doubt about that. But they’ve started from a lower price point as well. So if Salt Lake County feels a little too expensive for you, then maybe you should consider a trip out to Country View Villas, and see if the fresh country air is a little more to your liking and budget.

Granted, we don’t have prices available yet for this community, nor do we have a sales office, but when we open them up for sale, we’ll let you know.

When to plan a move…

If Tooele sounds interesting to you, or if you’re a long-time Tooele resident who is curious about living in a community dedicated to folks who are 55 and older, then stick around. Around Springtime, we’ll likely start moving people into this awesome new community.

That means that in the not too distant future, you should start planning your move. Being retired, or nearly retired comes with some advantages. When you live so near to others your age, you practically have a whole new social network built into your community. And by social network, I’m not talking about the online sort. I’m talking about the kind where you can actually talk and get together as often as you like.

Living in a 55+ community is all about the lifestyle. It is a great way to meet new friends and to make the most of your retirement years.

If you’d like to live in a quality 55 and older community in Herriman, this is the time to come and visit.

Our last foundation has recently been installed in Midas Creek Villas. There are plenty of homes still available for the next several months, but by the time 2020 wraps up, we’ll likely be all sold out.

So, if you’ve been considering a move to this community, or if you’ve been wondering about active adult communities in general and would like to live in the Herriman, Utah area, then you should hurry up and visit, because Midas Creek Villas is in the final stretch of construction.

Still Available… For Now

Time to get off the fence

If you’ve been sitting on the fence, waiting and wondering if now was the time for you to buy a home within Midas Creek Villas, then the answer is yes, now is the time. We had a little bit of a slow-down from December through February, but oddly enough, since Covid19 started, sales have steadily been going stronger.

This was not what we’d expected, though you won’t find us complaining. In any case, as sales have been picking up over the last few months, this is the time for you to decide if you’re ready to move or not. If you wait till the end of the year, you might be out of luck—at least, out of luck for this community.

How many are left?

As of this article, there are about 15 homes left available in Midas Creek Villas. A couple of these are completed, and awaiting someone who is ready to move right away. There are also a few others that are far enough out, that if you buy soon, you’ll still be able to choose some of the upgraded features that will more properly fit your tastes.

Either way, availability will not last long.

We do have plans for more communities in the Salt Lake Valley over the next couple years, however, we still haven’t broken ground on any of those yet.

Senior Communities post-Covid19

I’m sure many people are wondering what’s going to be happening to our culture, now that half of the population is paranoid about infectious diseases. I’m kind of curious too. I think, at least in the cities, there’ll be some lasting changes. But also, I’m seeing a lot of people living life as usual too.

Have you been to a community splash pad or public pond lately? You’d think that nobody was concerned at all about contagions. Many of these same people are in a higher risk age group as well. So what’s really going to happen?

I don’t know. All I do know, is that people want to be actively involved with friends and family, even if there is some risk to health. I think that the best we can do, is try to be smarter and more conscientious of our own symptoms. If we feel sick, we should stay home. I know this doesn’t sound very novel, but for as long as I can remember, people have been fudging the likelihood of their contagiousness, for the sake of a little more fun, productivity, or not missing out on plans.

I think we can all enjoy family friends and community, if we’ll allow this Covid19 to simply change how we view sick days, and how we put others at risk. We can still have fun active communities, like the ones we build here at Leisure Villas. We can still go out with family and friends. Most of us are responsible, and smart enough to know when we’re really sick. As long as we can learn to respect other people’s health, I think we can move on to better and brighter days ahead. 

 

I was just talking with a colleague the other day, and he mentioned a conversation he had with a homeowner in one of our 55 and older communities. This homeowner apparently commented on how nice it was, living in a community where nobody was competing with each other for social status.

I’m sure we’ve all been there, seen the neighborhoods where everyone seems to be buying the latest and greatest toys. It’s hard not to notice and compare their situation with yours.

But the interesting part about living in a senior community, is that everyone has already been there, done that. Whether they cared about such things before or not, most of them have lived long enough to know that happiness doesn’t come from all the stuff you can buy, it comes from all the people you can share your time with.

No More Keeping Up With The Jones

No more driveways full of toys

Our homes are full of active adults, who like to get out and play as much as the next person. Partially due to the nature of our homeowners, and partially due to the fact that there isn’t any room for toys, you’ll rarely see the common toys littering your neighbors yards here.

While its true, you or your neighbor might bring over their RV for a day to load or clean it, there’s really no great place to park it long term in one of our communities. The same goes with boats and 4-wheelers. If you can’t fit it in your garage, then it really has no place here.

Now these things aren’t bad to own. Far from it. But there are other ways of storing them if you own them. Many people who do have them can even find places in their garages for some of them. The nice thing is, that your neighbors and you aren’t seeing these toys every day.

It has a way of leveling the field and beautifying the neighborhood. Everyone’s homes look nice, and everyone’s homes, at least on the outside, remain free of clutter.

Emphasis on the people

People are often judging each other. And I’m sure that still happens to an extend in a 55+ community, however, most people who live there, enjoy their neighbors because they’ve learned the value of making friends with people in their same situations.

If you’re retired, or nearing so, and your children and grandchildren don’t visit all that often, who can you spend time with?

Many folks move into our communities for many reasons. Some like the safety it affords. Some like the fact that the yards are maintained for them. Many of them like the lifestyle that comes from having so many friends close at hand. With a community clubhouse to meet and make more, there is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to find someone or many someones who have similar interests as you.

At Leisure Villas, we pride ourselves on providing neighborhoods where people can come together like they never could in a standard subdivision. And hey, with the amenities that we have, maybe your grandkids will even come visit more often.

 

 

“The residents of Leisure Villas showed up in costumes and BYU gear, marching down the street to patriotic music, waving and throwing out candy.”

(Photo and Article re-distributed with permission from The Lehi Free Press)

Without a doubt, Covid19 has changed our world. Likely there will be lasting repercussions from this. One of the things that has people concerned, is our aging citizens and keeping a safe distance from them.

A couple weeks ago, The Lehi Free Press posted an article in their paper about one of our 55+ communities that decided to enjoy each other’s company as best and safe as they could.

We were flattered that they even mentioned our company, since Leisure Villas has since sold out that particular community. Still, this article highlights one of the amazing aspects of our product, and that is the joy our customers get from our lifestyle oriented communities.

So here’s that article:

Lehi Free Press – April 16th by Briana Warner

Lehi Senior Community, Leisure Villas Creates Socially Distanced Parade

 

The Leisure Villas at Pioneer Crossing is a 55 and older community in Lehi. On Thursday, March 9, they joined in a socially distanced parade to spread some love and cheer. 

Sybil Palmer is the self-appointed activity director of the Leisure Villas community. Palmer worked hard to come up with a way that she and her neighbors could safely see each other during this crazy time. In this community of residents over the age of 55, the risks are very real for fatal cases ofCOVID-19. Fortunately for Leisure Villas, there have been no cases of COVID-19 within the community of 175 residents. In a time when all residents are being told to stay indoors, “I just wanted to bring a little joy into people’s lives,” said Palmer. “We’ve all been hunkered down, we don’t get to see our grandchildren or each other and it’s lonely.” 

In a normal week, Leisure Villas is actively social through group dinners, movie and game nights. 

“We are like a little village unto ourselves here,” said Palmer. “We take care of each other. We see each other more than our families.” Now, that· has all changed. Two weeks ago, the community joined for a wave on their front lawns in order to see each other. “My kids came to visit me and they stood on the porch and I looked out my bedroom window,” recalls Palmer. “I see families come all the time and visit with chairs on the lawn.”

In a time when many are afraid, this Lehi community has chosen to stay positive and find fun ways to show love and support.

Lifestyle vs fear

Over the last couple months, everyone’s lifestyles have changed. We don’t know what will happen in the short or long-term because of this, but this article is inspiring, because it shows that even when we’re forced to restrict our social behaviors, we can still find ways to safely come together and responsibly spread some cheer.

As restrictions ease up, and we’re able to see each other more often, it will still be important going forward to exercise caution and be responsible for our actions and how those might affect others. But as this article demonstrates, just because we have to be careful, doesn’t mean that we have to hide.

These truly are crazy times, but with the support of great neighbors, friends, and family, we’ll find a way to be social and safe.

 

It’s been a long time coming, but we have finally finished decorating our model homes in Saratoga Springs, UT.

This 55+ community is fully under way. It’s being built near one of the quickest growing parts of Saratoga Springs.

As of right now, we have four model homes fully decorated and waiting for you to visit.

See Our Model Homes Today

Open House

This subdivision, The Villas At Legacy Farms, is open for visits. Despite the Covid 19 pandemic, we’re still able to keep our doors open. And since most people are staying home right now, this is a great time for you to come visit.

With between one and seven new visits per week, you aren’t very likely to meet another person besides our friendly sales agent on any given day of the week, Monday through Saturday. Though, if you come on Saturday, there might be a few more people. That is the day most people venture out.

Also, our sales staff in all of our new communities are trying hard to keep the models sanitary for your convenience.

So if you’re wondering if this is a safe time to get out of your house, both for the day, and forever, come visit The Villas At Legacy Farms in Saratoga, where you can experience our latest and greatest decorating from our team of professional designers.

Still Selling

I’ve met a few people who are holding back, banking on the hopes that the housing market in Utah will crash. While it is true, that this Covid 19 is creating financial hardships for many people, not everyone is being effected evenly. Granted, there could be some trickle effect, especially if this becomes a prolonged shutdown, but Utah also has a few other things going for it.

Our economy is one of the most diverse in the United States. Add this to the fact that we also have a great entrepreneurial base, and it might be safe to say that Utah will come out of this recession ahead of the rest of the country, like usual.

Also, Utah still has a shortage of housing. Throughout this last month, I’ve heard story after story of people whose phones are ringing nonstop as they list their houses for sale.

Adding to that is our experience over the last few weeks. While new visitor visits to our communities has gone down, the rate at which we are still selling our homes hasn’t slowed nearly as much. Over the last few weeks, I’m sometimes disheartened by how many new people are visiting our projects, but then I’m pleasantly surprised to find out that they are buying.

It’s like Covid 19 has kept all the looky-loos home, but the people who are sincerely looking to buy a house are still out there shopping.

While its too early to tell what will happen with Utah’s housing market, we’re feeling as if the demand for housing is likely to continue strong. House prices will probably remain flat for some time before they start going up again. I also read an article yesterday stating that mortgage rates were at another all-time low. This also will likely keep the demand for new housing strong.

All in all, the housing market is still moving along. It may even be the lifeline in our economy that keeps enough stability in it until the rest of the country re-opens.

When that happens, it’s anybody’s guess as to how quickly housing will start going up again. If you’ve been waiting for the economy to provide a buyers market, this is likely it.

 

It seems that Covid19 is all that the whole world is talking about right now. If you’re anything like me, you might be getting tired of it. But if you’re 55 or older and have been considering a move to a 55+ community, where does that leave you?

These are strange times, to be sure.

There is a hint of irony behind all of this though. Every day, I see headlines saying that the housing market is crashing, or that it’s still booming. Most of it is speculation by people who don’t have a clue.

Since we’re in the 55+ active adult housing industry, I thought you might appreciate our perspective on the situation. Perhaps it might help you make your own decisions.

The 55+ Market: Spring 2020

Where we came from

It helps to know where we came from, to give you some perspective. So last year, around this time, most of our communities were averaging around 12 visits per week from folks who hadn’t been to one of our communities before. For us, this is a healthy amount of new traffic. On top of that are return visits, but we won’t go into those numbers today.

With this kind of traffic, we were able to sell about 4 homes per month in each community. However, as 2019 progressed, I think that people were starting to feel the pressure of an over-extended bull market. Historically, we have a recession every 4 years, but we hadn’t had one of those since the Great Recession. This is partially due to the extended nature of the Great Recession, and partly due to Federal policy that was intended to prop up an economy that was already doing better than it probably had any right to be. Adding to this, was the fact that home prices had been going up, and even though demand still overpowered supply, many people were getting price fatigue.

Because of this, the market for new homes above $350k started to slow in Utah. Since only starter homes, those super compact row-homes, were the only ones selling below that price range, many move-up homes were feeling this squeeze.

As a result, towards the second half of 2019, we saw little to no price increases in homes. There were even a few discounts to be found emerging.

Where we are in April 2020

That brings us to today. The US economy was primed and ready for a pullback, especially in the equities market. All it needed was a good trigger. Enter Covid19.

You may wonder why we had such a massive selloff last month in stocks, well, it was because everyone was already thinking recession before the economy got shut down, so they were ready to sell stocks. Add to that, the fact that the governments around the world have given many businesses a mandatory vacation, and well, how can anyone expect the economy to do well under those circumstances.

What does this mean for housing?

Demand for housing in Utah is still extremely high. Utah has a growing population, spurred even more by all the software engineering companies that have moved into town over the last couple decades. Many of them are still able to work from home, meaning that some of Utah’s population is insulated to a degree.

The leisure businesses like restaurants, bowling alleys, and theaters to name just a few are really struggling. Retail is a mixed bag. Groceries are doing tons more business, and the medical industry is plodding along. Hopefully the government’s actions will help those hurt most by this.

So while Utah is going to be hurt by this, a lot of the state should pull through all right.

Commercial construction is slowing, but residential construction is still going strong. To put it into perspective, let’s look at the numbers again.

As I mentioned earlier, our 55+ communities were getting an average of 12 new visits each week, selling about 4 homes per community each month. During this quarantine period, our new visits have dropped to somewhere between 4-7 new visits per week, with an average of 3 sales per month per community.

What this tells us, is that people are still wanting to move, and while half or more of our normal traffic is sheltering in place, those who are coming out to visit us are still very interested in buying.

Many of them are also encouraged by the mortgage rates that are being offered at this time. With all the government spending to curb the economic impact of this recession, I wonder how long low interest rates can continue, especially if inflation decides it doesn’t like all this extra money the Fed is printing.

From our discussions with new visitors to our communities, those who had their money in stocks are feeling the pinch right now. Those who weren’t buying houses from their stock portfolios are seeming to shrug this off more casually than much of the millennial generation. Whether this is because this isn’t their first economic rodeo, or some other reason, I can’t say. Nobody wants to get sick, but aside from a bit of extra caution on that front, the consensus that I’m hearing, is that this will eventually pass.

Where we are headed to finish out the year

So is this a buyers market or not?

While it’s true that mortgage rates are at historic lows, fear is also a high motivator. I think it’s interesting to note, that last year, people were holding off on purchasing a new home because they were waiting for the market to go down a little.

Now that it’s down a little, those same people are scared of buying a home because they are uncertain of what the market is going to do long-term.

There’s no doubt about it, we’re all in for a rough ride over the next couple of months. Depending on which hour you watch the news, you may feel extremely optimistic or very pessimistic about the future.

However, and this is just my opinion, I think that people can only be afraid for so long. I think that come Summer, kids won’t have anymore homework to keep them busy, parents are going to go stir-crazy if they don’t get out more, and life will start to balance itself out again.

I expect that businesses will start opening up again by June, and that by September, the economy will start feeling like it’s stabilizing again.

During that time, new homes might feel a little bit of a squeeze until homebuyer confidence fully returns. Interestingly enough, those who’ve already bought are not canceling contracts, and since demand is still pretty high, I would expect that here in Utah, the prices will be flat for the rest of 2020. 

For these reasons, I feel that this is a home-buyers market. Of course, it’s not always easy to buy when things look bleak, but historically, this would be considered the idealistic buyers market, whether you’re looking to buy a house or more stocks.

Whatever you decide, I hope this article has been informative and helpful in your decisions.

Good luck and stay safe.

 

This is the 4th and possibly last lesson for interior decorating. If you’re new to this, you can reference some of our other interior decorating tips by following the links at the bottom of this page.

Anyhow, there was one last topic that I wanted to discuss, and it’s a big one, not just because it can have a big impact, but also because it’s usually the largest, heaviest part of decorating your home.

You guessed it, I’m talking about the furniture.

One of my biggest gripes that I often fought decorators on, was that their choice of furniture rarely lent itself to any degree of practicality.

Often, especially in a model home where the furniture will not actually get used for anything other than looks, you can get away with impractical furniture. But in a real house, being lived in by real people, you have to sometimes make compromises.

One thing to keep in mind though, as you plan your trip to your local furniture store, is the size of your furniture.

Scale Is Important

It’s not only about what will fit.

So you buy a new house, and the first thing you do is take out your tape measure and see how much room you have to fit that huge comfy plush sofa.

Before you run off with credit card in hand, stop and take one more measurement of your room. This one has nothing at all to do with a tape measure either.

When you’re looking at your room, regardless of whether your dream bed or couch fits, consider the overall scale of your room.

If the room is large, then by all means, grab that plush, butt absorbing monster of a sofa. But if your room is somewhat smaller, you might want to reconsider the style of sofa.

Small rooms often lend themselves better to small furniture. Now when I mean smaller furniture, they could have similar dimensions, but a 7 foot sofa can be so plush and puffy that it might look twice as big as another 7 foot long sofa that doesn’t have all the extra padding and pillows.

I remember one time, we had a model decorated with an elegant fluffy sofa. It fit very well in the space, but made the room look super tiny and claustrophobic.

In that same room, we replaced that sofa with one that didn’t look nearly as plush, but was still attractive, and all of a sudden, that tiny room became a large family room.

This same principle can work in reverse. Maybe you have a small space, but by filling it up entirely, you can make the area look bigger. This is often done in small narrow areas that you might not normally think to put something, but when decorated, can have a real impact.

One last thing:

You can decorate your home to your heart’s content, however, there is one last thing that really makes a good home pop, and that is you. No amount of designer furniture or useless trinkets will make your home amazing without you.

Without you, your house is worth little more than a photograph that is admired one minute and forgotten the next. You however won’t be forgotten, regardless of what your house looked like.

If you’re the sort of person who values friendships and loves people, then you are already leagues ahead of the crowd. If you’d also like to live around more like-mind folks who are genuine and amazing like you, then check out one of our communities. We only create lifestyle-oriented communities with you in mind. This could really be the neighborhood you’ve always dreamed about.

For previous articles on interior design, check out these previous posts:

https://www.leisurevillas.com/interior-decorating-101/

https://www.leisurevillas.com/interior-decorating-102/

https://www.leisurevillas.com/interior-decorating-103/

Who would’ve guessed that the whole world could’ve changed so quickly?

It seems like only a couple weeks ago, everything was normal and routine.

Well, where do we go from here? If you’re a senior and have been considering a move, you might be wondering if that’s the best idea anymore.

With the uncertainty in the economy, and the risks associated with this new virus, its hard to predict what comes next.

Whatever happens though, keep smiling. The next month is going to be very uncertain. But after that, we should start seeing some light at the end of this crazy tunnel.

Important Things To Remember

This isn’t the end of the world, unless it is…

We’re no stranger to shocks. We’ve experienced them before. In every case, we’ve come together as a country and pulled through them.

9/11 is a perfect example of when the whole country stopped in shock at what was then, an unprecedented attack on the United States.

If you look back, you’ll remember times when things looked pretty bleak for our country. Eventually, things got better.

This current upset will get better too. For those who are better able to whether this storm, we can look to the future as a bright spot. We can take comfort knowing that the world will still press forward. We can keep an eye out for those whom we can help, and we can make the best of a bad situation.

I have two such examples to relate:

As I was talking with our friendly sales staff this week, one of them mentioned how in their 55+ community, they had a couple of seniors who were at a higher risk for complications if they got sick. So they have isolated themselves in their homes.

Neighbors have rallied around them and dropped off groceries and other goods at their doorstep so that they don’t have to get out and be exposed to what might otherwise be a life-threatening disease for them.

This is what our communities are all about. Friendships and genuinely caring for each other.

Another example of kindness came from a story one of our employees related. Salt Lake City was shutting down in-house dining at their restaurants. This employee got together with a good friend to enjoyed one last meal out before the closures took effect.

When they finished with their meal, knowing that the waitress was going to lose her job that night, they made sure to leave an extra large trip, multiple times the cost of their meal.

There’s nothing we can individually do to stop the hardships that come from today’s circumstances, but there’s plenty we can do to make the best of a bad situation.

The Sun always comes up tomorrow, so we can all live the best that we can today, and be as positive as we can today. Because if for some reason the Sun didn’t show up tomorrow, no amount of pessimism today would make a lick of difference.

We’re doing our part.

If you’re a little shy about coming out and house hunting at this time, we completely understand your hesitancy. However, if you are still interested in moving forward, we want you to know that we are still in business.

Whatever happens in the economy, we’re going to do our best to keep as many of our people employed, and to keep you safe.

After every visitor stops by our sales office, our sales staff has been disinfecting all of the surfaces that the potential customer came in contact with, so you can feel comfortable coming into a clean sales environment.

We want to keep you safe, and keep you comfortable, whether you’re as healthy as a millennial, or whether you’re at a higher risk from this virus.

Good luck, and don’t forget to smile!

 

It’s Monday, March 16, 2020, and what a wild ride these last couple of weeks have been!

Any hope of containing the corona virus outbreak is seemingly futile. If you own stocks, you’re probably tearing your hair out right about now. If you’re in a high-risk category for complications due to the sickness, then you’ve probably got even more to be worried about.

On top of all that, the world’s economies are going to take a hit and fall into recession because of this microscopic pest.

With all this commotion, you may be wondering if it’s time to paint lambs blood over your front doors.

So what can seniors do?

Turns out, there are some bright spots for those willing to make the most of a scary situation.

Looking On The Bright Side

Mortgage rates

A couple of weeks ago, when this virus hit, the mortgage market became very attractive. 15 and 30 year mortgages on homes got as low as 2.5-2.8%. That’s barely enough to keep up with inflation!

These rates have since bounced back into the 3% ranges, and who knows what will happen this week with the Fed cutting its rates to 0. Its funny how we were expecting rates to start climbing over the last couple of years, now we expect them to remain down for some time.

Chances are that rates in the 2% range will remain rare, but if they hold within the 3% range, then this is an excellent time to buy a house.

In Utah, the housing market looks to remain strong. There is still plenty of pent-up demand and not enough homes being built to satisfy that demand. We may be starting into a recession, but overall, we’re in a much better position than we were back in 2007/2008. I would predict that this will be more mild even than the recession of 2001.

Considering that some homebuilders, especially us, are offering some deals on ready to move-in homes right now, this is definitely a buyers market.

Stocks

While it does seem like a nasty blow to the stock market right now, keep in mind that these are the times that make people a lot of money. If you’ve ridden this market all the way down, history shows that eventually the market will come back.

If you have money to invest, then there will be some really good deals to be had in the stock market. I defer to Warren Buffet when it comes to my own investments. If you find a company at a price you know is good, don’t try and time the market, just buy at that really good deal and hold long term. A deal is a deal, and this too will pass.

Its not all about the money

Though it is true, recessions and downs in the markets can provide some interesting opportunities for those who are able to take advantage of them, there are some real concerns that should be addressed.

Since we cater to the 55+ market, some of our customers might be in a high-risk category for complications due to this virus.

Since we highly encourage active and social lifestyles, we feel it important to urge extra caution at this time. It’s unlikely that our residents will escape this pandemic, even if they decide to be completely anti-social. It’s likely going to keep spreading and exposing a lot of people. From what we’ve heard, the goal now is to slow it down, so that the health care system doesn’t get overwhelmed all at once.

Because of this, we ask you to take a close look at yourself and your neighbors. Even if you think that you’re fine weathering the virus, keep your neighbors in mind. If you’ve been around people who’ve been sick, even if you’re not showing symptoms yet, please exercise a little more caution around those most vulnerable.

On our part, we’ve met with some residents and decided that our monthly potlucks should also be postponed until this is a little more under control.

We all know proper hygiene. Wash your hands with hot soap and water. This is much more effective than wet wipes and hand sanitizer (which have become scarce, anyway). Since Covid 19 is airborn, limit visits with at risk individuals, and if you are an at-risk individual, please be extra careful. It’s not possible or practical to completely quarantine ourselves till this passes, but please take necessary steps to remain safe.

Luckily, high-risk individuals have better options for staying safe at this time than ever before, especially in our 55+ communities. Since our communities are so friendly, and everyone has been around the block a few times with hardships and other things, we like to think that those living in our communities are fairly level-headed. With this wisdom, often comes compassion.

Among the most crowded places to visit right now are the grocery stores. If you are high risk, and need help with groceries or other needs, check with your neighbors. There are plenty of friendly people in our communities who are healthy and active, and of a lower risk, who would be thrilled to do you a service.

Luckily the hording is settling down too, so grocery stores will be able to catch up on their stock.

Other options are to use online delivery services. Places like Amazon and Walmart can make it so that you rarely have to even visit the grocery stores. Things like social media can also help provide social interaction, which, though it will never fill the need for actual personal interaction, it can make things easier.

With every big pharmacy chasing vaccines for this, it shouldn’t be long before this whole thing is behind us. We dealt with this before when we had Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Zika Virus, and West Nile. We’ll get through this also. Until then, be careful, and take care of yourselves.

Disclaimer: We are not financial or health experts. Please consult your financial advisor before taking any action in the stock market. Also, please defer to experts on public health. The comments expressed here are merely the opinions of the author and are not to be construed as definitive advice.

 

We’re there, part 3 of our beginners series on decorating.

So far, we’ve talked about trends, and colors, and finding the right style to suit your needs. Today, we’re going to discuss the little things.

What do I mean by little things?

Well, I’m talking all the finishing touches that separate most decent decorating jobs from the jaw-dropping amazing jobs, the kinds worthy of being displayed in a magazine.

Keep in mind, this part deals with small stuff, but it can be the hardest part of making your place look right.

It’s The Little Things That Matter

Fufu

No, I’m not talking about someone’s dog. I’m referring to the knickknacks that serve no purpose, other than aesthetics.

When you go into most homes, you’ll get a quick impression. We’ve all been there. There’s the crafty family who moved in and did something fun with the walls and made them look trendy. There’s the toy house, which represents any family with kids. And there’s the almost-hoarders, who haven’t thrown away a single thing in over five decades, and it’s all crammed into every conceivable nook or cranny of the home’s arrangement.

Whatever home it is, it usually doesn’t look like it should ever be featured in a magazine. But whether you want to sell your home and have some wow factor to it, or whether you’d just like your neighbors to be impressed, you might want to learn the art of fufu.

Adding fufu is all about making the room look complete without being cluttered. Last time we talked about color, and color still applies when using fufu. All those visible items that you put on dressers or shelves or counters, need to match your home’s color theme if you want maximum impact.

There’s a couple of hard things about this. First, is that most fufu is useless.

That’s why if you’re going to be living in it, you need to flex those creative muscles a bit and find pretty things that you still use every day. Like your salt and pepper shakers. Chances are, if you’ve been using the same shakers that look like spotted heirloom elephants for the last fifty years, they probably don’t really go well with anything.

Also, your work shoes aren’t generally considered fine décor, but something to organize them out of the way, and mostly out of sight could be a great piece of décor.

Another thing about fufu, is that you don’t want to fill up any shelf or space completely. There’s a fine balance between having enough stuff, and having too much. Personally, I’m a very practical person. If I can’t find a use for something, I don’t like keeping it around. So when it comes to the little things, be smart about it. Folders, reams of paper, mail, cutlery, kitchen appliances, none of these are good decorations, but in our homes, many of these things are necessities. If they absolutely must be visible, make them match your color and styles, and where possible, hide the rest. That’s what cabinets and pantries are for.

There are many creative and attractive ways to live in the messes we make, but they don’t often look good on their own. They take some effort. 

Lamps are often used to decorate, and here’s a dirty little secret, 50% of lamps that are used for decorating, don’t even work. That’s right, they’re not plugged into anything, and some of them don’t even have light bulbs. They’re just for looks. But light is often an overlooked aspect of decorating. This is a whole can of worms that we’ll discuss in another blog, on another day.

Don’t let it happen on its own

There is no right or wrong way to use fufu when decorating. It is a very personal thing, and it should reflect your values. From the art you put on your walls, to the knitted quilt you drape across your sofa, you make your space your own, but if you could employ one little rule, it would be this:

You decorate your space, not your stuff!

It won’t happen on its own. If you let the items you’ve collected over the years dictate how your house looks, it will look random and unattractive. That brings us to the second biggest challenge of decorating: keeping up with your changing environment.

Face it, we all evolve in our tastes and it really seems like a waste to throw out old stuff. Maybe it’s an inherited item form our great-great-great somebody, or maybe it’s a kinky gift our kids gave us. Some things are difficult to not use. There’s a place for a lot of those things, but it isn’t always visible.

So when you’re adding little things to a room, be purposeful about it. Often, it’s the little things that complete the mood of your home. 

Some people make a living from organizing homes and picking colors. Most of us, do not.

There are however a few tricks that even the most amateur do-it-yourselfer can do that will make your living space pop.

Today, we’re going to check out a few simple tips. This isn’t a definitive guide to all things decorating, but if you feel clueless about organizing your space visually, then this can only help.

We’ll break down a photo for you, and see if we can show you how to take “Blah” and turn into “Brilliant”

Decorating is in the details

Movies, they know color

This is why I’ll break down an image from a popular film. I do this, because online, we often see beautiful images of interior design, like this image here, or the one above. And like these pictures, it’s hard to imagine how you might actually live in a room decorated like this, despite how visually pleasing it is.

In movies, we can actually see people interacting with well crafted spaces that look livable.

Let’s look at the movie Matilda. 

Below, you can see a well-crafted scene of a living room. Keep in mind, I’m not suggesting that you

consider TV dinner trays part of your décor, those are props meant to show the lifestyle of this fictitious family. what I want you to look at, is the actual decorating.

1st Color:

As you may notice, the coloring here is very consistent. This scene follows a similar coloring scheme as every other part of the movie. They do this to make the whole thing visually pleasing. 

As you can see, there are several colors here that follow a fairly analogous style of mixing. Everything from the curtains to the painting on the wall, to the sofa, the carpet, and even the lamp have matching colors within this theme. They’ve taken this a step further and matched the costumes as well, mostly because the movie’s costume department and their decorating department were wanting to stay consistent.

But what are matching colors?

There is a very helpful tool online called Adobe color. I used this site to evaluate these colors. You can play around with it also. https://color.adobe.com/create

For any given color there are different ways to match that color. Like I mentioned above, this scene is very analogous. That may not be a term you’re used to hearing. Here are a few other ways to match this same color scheme:

As you can see, there is Analogous, Monochromatic, Triad, Complimentary, Compound, and Shades.

You can see how the relationships work on these color wheels.

Also keep in mind that you don’t always want an equal amount of every possible color that works well. When decorating, most decorators will have their primary color (think wall paint), then an accent color (think baseboards/casings), then a couple other colors used sparingly.

Notice in this picture, the cream is the primary color, the tan is the accent color, and the green and brown are other matching colors that blend in well but are used sparingly.

In the Matilda picture, the yellowy/mustard is the primary color as seen on the walls and some furniture. Pink is the accent color, and green and black are the supporting colors, used more sparingly.

So which colors are right for you?

In all the years that I’ve been building and selling homes, I’ve seen it all.

I’ve seen people who’ve painted their interiors to match something you might find in a colorful Caribbean town, to deep purples, to light and airy, and dark as leather can be stained.

This all depends on your personal character. If I were you, I’d pick my very favorite color, then go to Adobe’s color matching website and have fun experimenting for a while, using that as your primary or accent color. Don’t worry if your colors don’t match whatever you saw in your local home show. Find the color scheme that works well for you, and you’ll be half-way there.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to organize your space for maximum impact.

Building a house is what we do well. But there’s more to a good house than a winning floorplan.

I’ve seen some houses with horrible layouts sell extremely well, and all because of how the interior was decorated.

In fact, I employed this once when I owned a super cheap 700 sq ft apartment condo conversion. While everyone else was trying unsuccessfully to sell their condos for $40,000, I decorated mine to look as photogenic and targeted as possible.

The result was that while nobody could sell their ugly condos at $40k, I got immediate offers on mine for around $55,000.

The moral of this story, is that looks do matter, and today, I want to go over a few key principals that will help even the most clueless decorator get off on the right foot.

Decorating to Sell or Decorating to Move In

Know the basics

Maybe you want your home to show well for potential buyer, or maybe you want your next home to really feel like you. Either way, there are reasons for decorating well.

Over the years, I’ve learned that most people think they’re fine without hiring a decorator. In many cases they are. However, in several cases, they just have no idea that they don’t have a clue.

But not all of us want to spend money on someone who’ll design our living space for us, especially if they get it wrong.

So for the do-it-yourselfers, here’s a simple tip on making your space look better.

Trends come and go, but personality is consistent

What do I mean by this? Well, do you remember when everyone needed to have a fake porcelain chicken somewhere in their house? That was a trend.

Are you noticing how many houses lately have been painting their brick? Yes, another trend.

Trends change every few years, and it can be incredibly hard to keep up with them, considering the costs involved with house finishes and furniture updates. So rather than focus on what’s trendy, focus on your personality.

Personality guru’s often claim that there are about 4 main personality styles. There are the bold go-getters, the gentle peace-makers, the party nuts, and the extremely analyticals. Take a look around you sometime, and you’ll notice that many people tend to fall into some of these categories.

Each of these personality traits comes with a certain preference for color. Often the bold go-getters like the darker colors, like blacks and browns. Decorating for this sort will often include deep rich colors, like you might find in an old gentlemen’s club.

For the gentle peace-makers, light and airy would make them feel more comfortable. They look for harmony and bright happy feeling places.

For the party animals, get your color on. They’re happy with a lot of different colors and trends, and they’re more forgiving of clutter. Not that you should have a cluttered feel, but functionality isn’t as important as making their place feel cool.

For your analytical friends, they tend to prefer functionality over coolness. They still like their house to look good, but they’ll be more likely to tell you that your picture is crooked, than to tell you which picture to hang.

So which is right?

If you’re decorating to sell, consider this, the people who’re most likely to buy quickly are the bold go-getters and the party animals. They tend to make decisions quickly. So decorating with dark or fun colors, and showing the creative coolness of your space is important.

Gentle peace-makers and analytical sorts are a little slower at making snap decisions, with the analytical being just a bit quicker. The analytical people will want to understand everything, and the gentle peace-makers will want to try the house on for size, and know that if they sign a contract, they can back out if it doesn’t feel right.

If you’re decorating for yourself, then ignore the trends. White may be all the rage, but if you are a bold go-getter or a party animal, white might not be your thing, and you’ll probably feel more comfortable with a less trendy, albeit nice style. And vise versa. If the trends shift around, and suddenly people are decorating with chickens or maybe even ducks next, and you are the analytical sort, you can expect all your analytical friends to laugh at your decorating decisions.

Decorating is very personal, and trends are not. There is always a way to merge them together, but just because you’re seeing nothing but white painted brick, with white cabinets and white everything else, doesn’t mean that you should be changing your whole style to match these homes.

In another couple of years, black will be the new white, and who knows, maybe big metal stars on the outsides of homes will trend again. In the end, match your scheme to your personality, and you’ll enjoy your space much better.

 

The other day, I was talking with one of our friendly sales staff, and she was talking about our product and the market.

“OK,” says I. “What are you noticing?”

She’d been getting a few people in who were concerned about the cost of a new home, and they were having a hard time adjusting to the current level that most homes are being sold for.

During our discussion I asked what the visitors thought about our prices and the value that they were finding here, in one of our active adult communities.

This is what she had to say:

“Price Hurts, Value Makes Up For It.”

The Comparison

We don’t generally like to compare our business to that of our competitors. This is for a couple different reasons.

First, we want to be the leaders in our industry. If we’re constantly comparing, then we might fall into the trap of keeping up with the other guy’s innovations. For the last couple decades, we have had the best product on the market for retirees, and we want to keep it that way.

Second, we don’t exactly build the same sort of product that most other builders are bringing to market. While most of them are building standard attached and detached homes, we are building lifestyle oriented homes and communities.

Having said that, my sales lady shared a key difference between our product and those around us. When someone first comes to our community and steps into our sales office, one of the first questions they ask is: “What is the price?”

At first glance, they often have that, “Mmm-hmmm” moment, where they try to make sense of the price. They may be comparing us to another builder down the road, or they may be wondering what their current home is worth.

Over the past decade, home prices have gone up a lot.

Sometimes, they’ll wonder if our prices are higher than our neighbors, and they’ll show us those other quotes. At first glance, there might be a price benefit in the other guy’s offer, but then we show them the standard features of our homes, like standard stainless steel appliances, or the standard 2-tone paint that is in most of our communities, even standard quartz countertops.

Then when they get looking at the cost of additional upgrades, they’re really surprised, because we aren’t charging nearly what the other guys charge.

For a lot of builders, selling upgrades is a major part of their profit. For us, we understand that our buyers are looking for those same quality finishes, but we don’t want to gouge them for it either. Instead, we provide a lot of those things that other builders would charge you through the roof for. And if you do want something more, our prices on additional options are reasonably fair.

Once you compare finished closing prices, with all your options included, most buyers come to realize that our homes are actually the better value for their hard-earned money.

On top of that, we also provide something else that others just can’t compete with, and which is nearly impossible to assign a dollar value to, and that is the friendly lifestyle that makes our communities the havens most people dream of living in.

There is no comparison

Dollar for dollar, Leisure Villas offers the best value for your money. For peace of mind, you can’t beat the sort of neighbors you’ll be sharing your neighborhood with. And for fun, well, you can image what it’s like living around a bunch of folks who are at your same stage of life.

Make the smart move today to a Leisure Villas Community.

 

In 2019, Leisure Villas designed and built our first Stratford model home.

Traditionally, we build homes for active adults, and since we understand that stairs and yard maintenance might be difficult down the road, we design with things like that in mind.

But one thing we hadn’t tried yet, was to build a home that had two master suits. This should have been a no brainer. As we age, we understand that we can love our spouse enough to kindly sleep in different rooms.

Snoring, waking up when our partner has to pee several times a night, or other things can make a good nights rest difficult. So why wouldn’t we want to consider a home with two master bedrooms?

See What It Looks Like

Models open for viewing

Our first Stratford home sold before we could model it. Since then, we’ve built a few more, and finally we have two that are decorated and a third which is almost ready for showing.

The first, fully decorated model is in our North Ogden 55+ community, Cherry Springs Villas.

But what if you live in Salt Lake or Utah County?

We have some closer to you, also. In our Herriman 55+ community, Midas Creek Villas, we just finished moving furniture into our Stratford model. We still have a few foo-foo items to put in, like paintings, plants, etc. But for the most part, you can come and get a good feel for what that home could look like if you were to move in.

Also, in our Saratoga Springs 55+ community, The Villas At Legacy Farms, we are in the final stages of decorating that model. Within the next month or so, we should have a wonderful showpiece of our Stratford in Utah County.

Designing with Seniors in mind

The Stratford in the next in line of our age specific housing floorplans. We’re constantly honing our designs, making them fit the needs of our customers.

This plan came about from listening to feedback from our happy customers. Aside from adding another master suit to this floorplan, we also would occasionally find potential customers who had disabled children or spouses living with them.

Since all of our homes are already ADA adaptable, they were great for folks dealing with these sorts of issues, however, we thought we could make some improvements, specifically for those who struggled with wheelchair accessibility.

Thus, the Stratford’s second master bath, is also more accommodating to movement with wheelchairs. It is also the only floorplan we currently have, that we can easily modify to add ADA cabinets/countertops as an upfront option, if desired.

This floorplan is very unique, compared to what you might find out on the open market. All of our plans are uniquely designed for active adults, but this special house adds one more reason why Leisure Villas is the homebuilder of choice in Utah for folks 55 and older. So if you want more than just another house, more than just another regular neighborhood. We build houses that fit you with your current and future needs in mind, and in communities that fit your current and future lifestyle.

 

There’re a few times each year that we really ought to remember our significant other. Among those times, are Valentine’s Day.

Just because you and yours are likely to be grandparents now, it doesn’t mean that all the fun needs to grow old. In fact, seniors and near seniors probably have more freedom now than you ever did when all the kids still lived at home.

But even still, finding a worthwhile date idea that is new and exciting can be stressful.

So today, I felt like sharing a few ideas around Utah and Salt Lake County, that might make 2020’s Valentine’s Day all the more memorable.

Make This Valentines Special

Our top 3 Valentine ideas in Utah

First idea

Painting the Night at Scera. Have fun creating your own 9”x12” painting. Here, you’ll be able to follow along as an accomplished artist takes you through the steps of making your own art.
You’ll get to play with acrylics and take home something that hopefully you’ll be proud of. And if you’re not proud of it, at least you’ll have had fun making it, and maybe even go home with a prize on top of that.

To learn more, check out their link here: https://www.heraldextra.com/calendar/arts/paint-the-night-at-the-scera/event_1427087a-878b-11e7-9c58-f375a006bcc6.html

Second idea

The Illusionists are a Broadway spectacular. They will be coming to the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake. If you’re looking for something purely magical for your Valentines date, well, it don’t get much more magical than this.

Get your tickets in advance and prepare to be wowed by their amazing talent and showmanship.

You can read more about them here: https://www.saltlakecountyarts.org/events/the-illusionists/

Third idea

When is the last time you got all dressed up fancy for a date and went to the ball?

How about a masquerade ball?

If you’re feeling adventurous, then throw on your finest formals, and get your masks ready to go, because at the Provo City Academy Square Library, they are hosting a dance with dinner and live Jazz entertainment.

This is one unique opportunity, a throwback to a long-gone age, that you almost can’t afford not to attend.

Check out this events details here: https://www.utahvalley.com/event/valentines-masquerade-ball/27217/

Or throw your own party

If you live in one of our 55+ communities for active adults, and you’re not feeling cupid’s arrow exciting you about any of the above listed date ideas, then try putting together a Valentines party of your own at your community clubhouse.

Chances are good that you’ll find some fun couples who’d love to group together and make this year’s celebration one to remember.
After all, that’s one of the great benefits of living in a 55 and older community—you get to be around lots of folks your own age and have a huge family of friends to spend time with. If you put your heads together, you’re sure to find plenty to do.

Who knows, maybe you’ll even get talking, and get a small group to go out and enjoy a night out on the town. And if I happen to see you at the masquerade ball, I’ll be the one wearing a mask.
Happy Valentines Day.

A few years ago, I was talking with a relative. She was in her 80’s at the time. She put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You know, the last time I went to the movies was when they were showing Grumpy Old Men.”

What? That was in 1993!

She hadn’t been to a movie theater in about 20 years!

I know she has a bunch of girlfriends that she spends time with, and maybe movies just aren’t their thing, but when you look at the options on the big screen, do you really feel like paying good money for any of them?

So I thought, with your help, it would be fun to start a list of movies that you like.

We’ll try to keep these updated as best we can, and maybe on your own, or in your community movie nights, you can use the list we create to help you plan your next movie.

So please, participate!

Movies For The 55+ Crowd

Your Favorite Movies

Let’s get this list started.

It’s no secret that Hollywood today is churning out mega blockbuster after mega blockbuster. But they’re targeting a certain demographic, which is the 13-29 year olds.

Sure, they, or some independent producer will come out with the occasional film that really works for more than that crowd, but such gems aren’t always the easiest to find, especially if you’ve grown tired of fruitlessly checking the theater listings.

So let’s pool our collected experience together and make a list of movies that you actually enjoyed, so that we can share this with others in our communities.

The following is a brief survey. Please take a moment to answer these 4 simple questions. Notice, we’re not asking for or collecting any personal information. Let’s have some fun with this. If we get some good responses, we’ll post the results in a few weeks. So fill it out, and ask your friends to do the same.

Today’s problem with cinema

There’s a growing problem in movies today. Most of it started around the time that digital filmmaking became accessible to the masses. Suddenly, amateur filmmakers didn’t have to save up for a year, just to buy film stock and rent a cinema quality camera.

On top of that, digital platforms for releasing content has taken the world by storm, empowering anybody with a digital camera to challenge Hollywood for next to nothing.

While this might be great for some up and coming talent to learn the trade, it has also bypassed the gatekeepers that screen the scripts for quality, making it extremely difficult for the really great independent films to get noticed amidst the clutter.

To combat this tidal wave of low and microbudget films, the big production companies in Hollywood have shifted focus to producing films with budgets that no independent filmmaker could ever hope to achieve.

Where they once made plenty of movies with budgets in the $5 million to $25 million range, it seems like they keep pushing the bar higher, with budgets easily hitting the $1/2 billion range.

In order to make their money back, they have no choice but to target those who shell out the most cash in ticket sales and fan merchandise, which is the 13-29 year olds.

But just because the 55 and older crowd isn’t their main target audience, it doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy those ones, or that there are no other movies more to our tastes. They’re just not as easy to find.

So if you live in one of our awesome 55+ communities, you should check out your movie club. If you don’t have one, then start one. The theaters in our clubhouses are great places to meet.

After all, even a great movie is best when it is shared with friends.

January 15th

It’s been over a decade since we’ve posted an official online special, but today, we’ve got two.

At The Villas At Waters Edge, one of our newest 55+ communities in Vineyard, Utah, we have two great models that we need to sell asap.

They are to be sold, as is, with current colors and upgrades. There is nothing wrong with them either, but we need to move them in the next 30 days, so we’re willing to make a killer deal on them.

Discounted Home Sale

Home #1

In Building 4B, we have a beautiful Windsor Court with a bonus room above the garage.

The interior is finished with a durable wood laminate floor and brown cabinets.

Originally, this home, without any upgrades, would’ve started at $414,900. With the $8,000 up extra finishes we’ve put in, this one would normally go for $422,900

However, if you come in and buy within the next 30 days, we’ll sell this home to you for a killer deal of $399,900.

That’s a $23,000 savings! Woo-hoo!

Home #2

Here’s another Windsor Court with an upstairs loft.

This home has our most preferred and expensive cabinet upgrades, along with our popular laminate wood floors.

Normally priced at $427,863 with all it’s upgrades, we’re letting you steal this home for only $404,900, that’s another savings of almost $23,000 bucks!

This home has been under contract multiple times, but for various personal reasons, they were forced to stay in their previous homes. 

It can’t get better than this

These are both really great homes, but because we’ve held onto both of them for too long, we need to sell them quickly. We’re not in the business of paying interest on vacant homes, which means that this is a great opportunity for you.

Granted, the interior finishes have been decided for you, but if either of these homes looks like they hold 

the style you might normally pick anyway, then stop on by and see if they’ll work for you.

Deals like this don’t come along very often, at least, not with our product. So if you’ve been out there, wishing and hoping for a deal in this crazy market, then this is it! You’ve found it.

At these prices though, they won’t last long.

If however you’d like to pick out your own upgrades, and customize the home to your personal tastes, you are still more than welcome to come on by and purchase one of our award winning homes that hasn’t yet been finished. Of course, these amazing deals won’t apply to those. This is only a special that applies to these two inventory homes that we want to sell today.

Once they are sold, then the deals are gone. So if you’ve been wanting to live in an active adult community, complete with the amenities and lifestyle that you’ve always hoped for, but were limited because of the high real estate prices, then this is your lucky day.

Give Josh a call now, 801-438-6546 and let him know you’re on your way in. He’ll be happy to show you around, and your future neighbors will be excited to meet you also. In fact, as I was taking pictures of these homes the other day, in preparation for this article, one of the neighbors came in to welcome me, hoping that I was their new neighbor.

This is a truly social and fun community. Come on by and see what you’ve been missing.

 

No 55+ community is complete without a clubhouse. After all, one of the big draws for an active adult to move into our communities, is the enhanced lifestyle they’ll get to enjoy.

While having a clubhouse means little as far as how social a community gets, it still serves as a central hub for bringing people together.

Even for people who aren’t as involved or who don’t care so much about socializing with their neighbors, the clubhouse can provide some fun for individuals and couples.

For instance, if you have grandkids visiting, the swimming pool, billiards, or theater room are great to entertain with.

If you just want to keep fit, water aerobics, lap swimming, or working out in our top quality exercise room are excellent amenities that will keep you active and happy.

Villas At Legacy Farms Clubhouse Progress

Timing

Earlier this year, we submitted plans for our clubhouse to the city. It took several months of planning to get them submitted, and we have since made some improvements and modifications to the original submittal.

As of December 2019, we’ve resubmitted the clubhouse plans for review with the city. We expect to install a foundation sometime in February of 2020, which means that the clubhouse will most likely be finished before the end of 2020.

By that time, the community will be approximately two-thirds built out, which means there will be plenty of people ready and excited to start using it.

Generally, we like to have the clubhouse under construction already. In this community, that didn’t work out quite as fast as we’d hoped. However, it will be done before we finish building everything out.

What about the models?

If you’ve visited the Villas At Legacy Farms recently, you may have noticed that we have 4 model homes showing. These models are currently being decorated. We anticipate this to last for at least another month.

Visitors are welcome to visit any time before or after they are decorated. We keep them open from 10am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday.

As soon as they are decorated, this will be one of the first communities we’ve built to showcase a fully decorated version of our newest model, the Stratford.

Easier to find than before

For the last few weeks, there has been a lot of road construction along Saratoga Road. This has made it a little harder for folks to find us. However, within the last few days, the road has been opened to thru traffic again, and you should have no problem finding us.

While Saratoga Road is one of the more scenic drives to get to the Villas At Legacy Farms, you can also get here very easily via Redwood Road.

There’s a lot happening in Saratoga Springs right now. If you’re 55 years or older, and are considering a move that will place you with lots of great people your same age who share similar interests, you need to come over and see what this community has to offer you.

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday, and welcome Winter. Living in a Leisure Villas Community is awesome when you’re over 55, but alas, we still live in Utah, which means: Snow and Ice.

The good news is, that your HOA hires out snow removal. This is great, but there are still a few things that you can do to ensure that this Winter doesn’t keep you slipping.

Among those things are heat tape and ice melt. We posted a helpful article on ice melt a few weeks ago. You can link to it here.

Today, I want to discuss heat tape.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Heat Tape

What is heat tape?

Some of you might be familiar with heat tape. For others, this may be the first time you’ve heard of it. Heat tape isn’t really tape at all. It’s a plastic-coated wire that warms up and melts the ice that touches it.

In our 55+ communities, we learned early on that heat tape was very valuable to our homeowners. Icicles and ice dams on the roof often cause a lot of concern for people.

Generally speaking, these icicles and ice dams aren’t the big problem. People often fear that they’ll cause damage to the homes. In most cases, this isn’t a big deal. Roofs are waterproofed in such a way that most minor ice dams will not get so far up under the shingles that it leaks into the house. Also, most icicles will not hurt the structure of your house.

The biggest problem with ice dams and icicles, are the lakes and rivers of ice that form below them. This is why we install heat tape on all of our homes in areas of concern. It’s not because we’re afraid of ice hurting the house, we’re afraid of people slipping on the ice that comes from the stuff that is dripping over the edge of your roof.

Heat tape can be used in a multiple of ways. Sometimes it is wrapped around pipes to keep them from freezing, sometimes it is zig-zagged across roof sections. For our homes, and our purposes, we’ve placed the heat tape inside the gutters, running them down through the downspouts.

This is generally effective, but it requires knowing how to manage the heat tape on your (the homeowner’s) end.

How to use your heat tape

The heat tape we install, since it lays down inside the gutters, is most effective if it is turned on before the snow falls. If the snow is already piling up on your roof, you should quickly ensure that it is on.

As piles of snow melt on top of your roof, that melted water drains to the gutters. The gutters, if cleared, will let the water escape down the downspout like it should. If the drains or gutters are blocked with ice, then the water freezes on top of the gutters, forming those large slabs of ice that overhang your roof.

We install heat tape as a preventative measure to keep the ice dams and icicles from forming in the first place, by keeping those gutters open. However, if you are too slow at getting your heat tape turned on, and the ice dams and icicles have already formed, well, you might be out of luck. At that point, the heat tape will only tunnel an ineffective hole through the middle of the dam, and fail to clear out the ice above it.

By having the heat tape turned on, the melted water will fall into the gutters and stay melted long enough for it to follow the heat tape through the downspout and away from your roof. Depending on where the downspouts land, there may occasionally be some ice runoff to deal with there, which can either be mitigated with some ice-melt, or with warmer temperatures of the surface as the sun hits it. This cannot be totally avoided, but for the most part, there are only a couple of weeks where the temperatures are so chilled, that it requires a little extra attention and caution.

What about higher energy costs?

Good question. Heat tape does require electricity to run. Since the wire is run to your personal meter, you are responsible for the energy it uses.

However, the heat tape is designed to only come on at and below freezing temperatures. If you look at the end of your heat tape, located at the bottom of your downspout, you’ll notice a little attachment. This is a thermostat. It measures the temperature and activates the heat tape accordingly.

So while heat tape will add some extra costs to your monthly energy bill, it should do a pretty good job at only running when the temperatures require it. This is why we recommend turning your heat tape on at the beginning of the season, then forgetting about it until the end of the season before turning it off. That way you don’t forget to turn it on when you really need it.

How do I turn my heat tape on?

If you’re not sure how to turn your heat tape on, the switch for it (assuming you bought into one of our communities) is either located behind your front door, and/or next to the door leading into your garage (on the garage side).

On many of our homes, we’ve installed switches in both places, mainly to run different sets of heat tape. In some of our newer homes, we may have abandoned the switch by the front door, and placed all of them in the garage.

Check out both places. If you find switches that don’t turn on any lights, then chances are good that these are the heat tape switches. The ones behind the front door usually control the heat tape over the front door. The switches in the garage usually control that heat tape over the garage and back patio, though we never actually install it over the patio.

Also, if you have a switch that doesn’t actually control any heat tape, since that area might have been deemed a low-risk area for ice accumulation, then that same switch can always be used to power a set of Christmas lights. All that you’ll need to do is have an electrician change out the blank plate where the heat tape would normally go, into a GFCI outlet, and you are good to celebrate the holidays with lights.

If you’re new to your home and you have any questions, feel free to ask one of our sales or construction representatives. And as always, we wish you a very safe, and merry Christmas season this Winter.

Every year, we get very busy in the Fall. We’ve been developing quality 55+ Communities for a long time now, and every season, when Winter starts knocking on our doorstep, we start building out ahead of ourselves to get ready.

In Utah, it goes without saying, that the seasons can change significantly. There are always challenges to working in each of them, but usually, Winter and Spring are the toughest.
However, even though we know that building will be harder, most homebuyers really hate delays. It’s our goal to reduce such frustrations, but sometimes, even with our decades of experience, Mother Nature can still play havoc with our plans.

Battling the Elements

Everything gets harder when it’s cold

During the warmer months of the year, we tend to get spoiled. But just because winter shows up, it doesn’t mean that we stop building. In most cases, we try to get all our foundations in the ground before December. Usually, we have great working conditions until about the second week of November, depending on the year.

After that, we can’t easily install more foundations until late February or April.

Everything outside also goes slower. Stucco, brick, and stone have to be tented and heated so that they don’t freeze before they harden.

Also, the dirt usually has some moisture in it. When this freezes, it causes the dirt to heave. That means that pouring concrete gets very difficult. You don’t want to pour concrete on frozen ground, or else when it warms up, the ground will settle under your concrete, and suddenly, your sidewalk will be an inch or two lower than it should be.

So how do we still pour concrete in the Winter? Its not easy. We have to either warm up the ground or dig out the frost.

Also, we must use blankets to cover the concrete once it’s poured. This keeps the concrete from freezing and losing its integrity before it’s cured. This however creates an unavoidable staining on the surface of the concrete. Unfortunately, the stain cannot be removed. It’s caused from trapped chemicals that are trying to vent off of the concrete, but have nowhere to go. Often, these stains will fade somewhat over the years, but they are often a necessity of working in the Winter.

Dealing with snow

Snow is also a problem, but not always for the reasons you might expect.

Snow can actually help insulate the ground. If there’s a large blanket of snow covering the ground, then the frost layer of dirt cannot get much below 32 degrees. This means that the frozen dirt will be very thin, and we won’t have as hard of a time prepping for the concrete.

Naturally of course, this causes a ticking clock to start as soon as we remove that covering of Winter fluff, but if we predict super cold temperatures, we almost always hope that it is preceded by about 12” of snow.

The biggest problem with snow, aside from not being able to work on landscaping, is what it does to us in the Spring.

Depending on the location and the soil types we’re dealing with, that snow will eventually melt and saturate the ground. Sandy soils are heavenly, but in Utah, we’re usually dealing with a lot of clay.

Clay does not release the water very quickly, which means that we are often stuck with very muddy conditions for a longer period of time.
If that snowy Winter is also followed up by a rainy Spring like we had this year (2019), well, expect major delays.
When it’s muddy, we can’t do a thing. Our machines get stuck, our concrete can’t be poured, and everything becomes a mess.

What is this year’s forecast

According to the long-range forecasts by the NOAA for 2019/2020, this Winter is expected to start off warmer than usual with average precipitation. They predict that El Nino has a 50/50 percent chance of ending, and sending us into a neutral weather pattern, which basically means, that everything is very uncertain.

Reading the tea leaves, I would suspect that we’ll have a fair amount of snow, but it won’t usually stick around too long. This might take away any insulating blanket we might want over our soils, allowing frost layers to go deep, especially on shaded areas.

Really, it’s impossible to know for certain what will or won’t happen. We can only do our best to mitigate possible delays. Most likely they’ll happen, but to what extent, we can’t say. The best way for a homebuyer to keep up to date, is to call every couple of weeks and check on the progress, especially as the time to close draws near.

Good luck. We’ll do our best this season also, and we wish you a wonderful and safe Winter this year.

If you are 55 or better, and have been contemplating moving to Vineyard, Utah, then you owe yourself a trip to The Villas At Waters Edge.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been working hard to get this new age restricted community up and going. We’re excited to update you with our latest developments.

With all the construction happening around Vineyard, we might be hard to find, but come looking. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with this cute community tucked in, only one block away from the shoreline of Utah Lake.

What’s Happening as of 11/11/19

Clubhouse Update

For our residents and recent visitors, you may have noticed that the Clubhouse at the Villas At Waters Edge community is nearly completed. Last week, we paved the parking lot, and soon you should expect to see the back patio getting concrete.

Once that is in, weather pending, we’ll get the pool fence in and hopefully get occupancy soon after. Once that happens, the clubhouse will open for use, and we’ll be able to get parties and activities going.

Furniture, exercise equipment, and decorations have been ordered, and should hopefully arrive by the time we are ready to open the place up.

The swimming pool will not be opened this year. Sorry for anyone who was hoping to do some polar bear plunges, but it didn’t make any sense to maintain a pool that wouldn’t get used. It may even look like the pool isn’t finished.

While the equipment will all be fully installed and ready to run, the pool shell itself will remain un-plastered. This is because the plaster requires the pool to be filled, or else it will not set up properly. But as soon as the weather warrants it in the spring, we’ll get the pool plastered, filled, balanced, and opened so that our residents and their guests can enjoy it for the entire season.

Phase II

As we finish selling out the first phase of our Vineyard Community, we’ll begin building in the second phase. Already, you may have seen some work being done over there. If you are already living here, then thank you for your patience with any dust that we might have kicked up.

Over the next month, we plan on finishing this phase, and being ready to place foundations for our next set of homes on that half of the community.

As we build, we sometimes make minor changes to floorplans, or styles. Our floorplans are always evolving. Often, though not always, we might elect to make these modifications when we start a new community, or when we start a new phase of a community.

Rest assure, any changes we make are generally minor, and happen in response to changes in suppliers, of materials, processes, or other logistical or market variables. While we may or may not change anything in phase 2 of this community, it will still look and feel as though it belongs to this same development.

If you’re not sure if this is the right time to move to the Villas At Waters Edge, might I suggest that you come and talk with Josh, our friendly, no hassle representative here? He currently has an open house in our Grandview model, and will soon move that office into the Clubhouse upon its completion.

He’s there most days from Monday through Saturday at 10am to 5pm. While there, you can walk through our model homes, maybe even meet some of the neighbors in this social environment and see why so many adults are excited about a Leisure Villas home. We build them right, and help you achieve the lifestyle that you’ve been working for.