As we age, a few things become priorities. We appreciate the time we spend with family and friends.

There are a few things that we don’t appreciate also, like the increased threats of heart attack, stroke, and other health risks.

Perhaps its these risks that make us appreciate all the good in our lives even more.

Often here, we talk about how moving into a 55+ community can be one of the best moves a retiree can do, but today, let’s shift gears a little and talk about our health.

Is it too late to change lifestyle?

Healthy habits vs genetics

There is some debate about whether genetics play a major role in our overall health, or if our lifestyles are the main culprit to healthy or unhealthy bodies.

Genetics argument

Say for instance that those family who went before you all died from a heart attack, possibly at an age that is seeming younger and younger the older you get. Also, your siblings now suffer from high blood pressure or high cholesterol also. What does that mean for you?

Many doctors agree that genetics predispose a person to having certain types of health problems, like heart disease. After all, some of these things tend to hit the whole family. Shouldn’t that be proof enough that genetics play a major role in our overall health?

Lifestyle argument

Let’s take a look at the flip side of the coin. What if genetics aren’t the main culprit in our overall health. We’ll use the same heart disease scenario as above, but look at it from a different perspective.

What if, everyone in your family, past and present, suffered from heart disease, because Great Great Grandpa loved to throw an extra lump of butter into everything and insisted on a sugary desert at least two or three times a week.

It wouldn’t be hard to see how eating like this could become addictive how kids would come to expect meals to follow a similar pattern.

So, which is it?

Probably, the answer is both. Genetics and lifestyle likely play a major role in our health. The danger comes when we rely too much on one argument. For instance, if we say it’s all genetics, and there’s nothing we can do about it, then we easily justify our unhealthy eating habits, or we neglect to work out.

If we say it’s all lifestyle related, then we ignore some of the risk factors that might come from genetic predisposition, and fail to adequately prepare for anything beyond our control.

If we are truly concerned about our health, then we need to keep both options on the table. This means that we need to make necessary changes to improve our life, along with the quality thereof.

Change is hard

If you or someone you know has gone through something life threatening, like a heart attack or some other malady, then you might know that for a short while, you are sincerely concerned about changing your lifestyle to be healthier.

However, it’s funny, but after a few weeks, most people tend to drift back into their normal lifestyle, and the urgency of their past crisis fades into a blurry memory.

Unfortunately, the older we get, the more rigidly we stick to our patterns of life. I remember having to make similar choices with my lifestyle. I used to love eating, but I have a large family with a long history of heart problems and strokes.

For me, I had to decide, do I want to live to eat, or eat to live? I also hate working out, and would always look for any excuse to avoid it.

After diving head-first into vegan, vegetarian, and other supposedly healthy diets and workout routines, I ended up settling into a pattern that works for me. I still eat meat, though not as much, I still cook with fats, though not as much, and I still consume sugar and salt, though I’ve significantly cut down on those, and my wife forces me to work out if I get lazy.

It’s still hard most days, and I’ve been living like this for a few years now. The funny thing is, though, my quality of life hasn’t gone down. If anything, it’s gone up. I get sick less frequently, and I generally feel better.

Every country has its health challenges. In some parts of the world, people consume far too much salty foods. Some consume far too much fatty foods. Here in America, we pull in so many cultures, and have so many people who consider themselves foodies, sampling cuisine from all over the world and eating out so much, that we have the worst of it all.

We tend to eat several times our daily salt requirements. Fat is in style. We love cooking with butters and oils. We eat so much more sugar than the rest of the world. Take any of our deserts to Asia, and they’ll spit it out because it’s too sweet. (Seriously, I’ve seen this a lot).

I’m not advocating that everyone become vegetarians and spend every day in a gym. I’m not that guy either. But if we take a minute to evaluate our lifestyles, openly and objectionably, there might be some places that we can find a happy balance that keeps us happy and healthy, longer.

Don’t be discouraged. Change is difficult, and it takes time and practice. It’s like moving to one of our active adult communities. They are different for many people, but once they give it a try, they wonder why they didn’t make that move sooner.

Living healthy, living happy, and helping lift those around us is all part of the journey. Give it a try. Maybe you’ll find a fresh new perspective on life. If you do, feel free to share it with those around you.

 

Over the last few years, there’s been a surge of homebuilding in Utah. Unfortunately, Utah hasn’t been able to build houses fast enough to meet the demand of current residents.

It’s hard to imagine, but Utah is increasingly becoming like California. I remember the day, when a person living in California could sell their small house there and move here to Utah with enough cashed out equity to buy four bigger houses.

Fast forward to today, and everywhere you turn, it looks like home prices are trying to catch up to states like California.

Why is this happening? Where can someone find a home? What can be done about it?

These are all questions that both young buyers and seniors are asking.

As Utah’s only dedicated builder that focuses entirely on creating 55+ communities, we find this trend disturbing as well. We know why this is happening. There are things that can be done about it, but most people don’t want to address those things. Let’s dive into the economics of it.

Why are Utah’s home prices so high?

Not enough houses.

This may surprise some people, but even with all the high-density home projects happening, and all the other development that we’re seeing in places like Lehi, Herriman, Saratoga, and others, Utah is still building too few homes to meet the demands of our growing population.

When there aren’t enough homes to supply an area’s needs, two things happen. First, is that home prices rise. This is great if you already live in a home. The value of your house is appreciating quickly. This is not so great, if you are a first-time homebuyer or if you’re a renter, because the demand for housing is pushing you out of the market.

Why aren’t there enough homes?

There are several different factors that are keeping Utah housing below demand.

1. Land available for houses is increasingly scarce. Sure, they’s land. Not all of it is prime for building on, either because it’s meant to be used for commercial projects, or because there is no water and other infrastructure to support houses there.
2. When land is available, the neighbors often protest it. We hear more about this all the time. Neighbors banding together and protesting any new development that comes in near their neighborhoods. Almost always, they site traffic as a concern, even when the streets were designed to handle the additional traffic. Really, it’s a form of discrimination. They don’t like to see empty fields turn into more homes, and when they do, they don’t want to see housing that reflects the current needs of our times. Every time neighbors protest these sorts of things, they either delay housing developments or the shut them down entirely.
3. Getting new housing developments approved through cities is a long and difficult process. Some cities are better at handing this than others, but some cities, due to lack of coordination or outdated procedures or some other reason, take ridiculous amounts of time to approve a new development. We’ve developed in cities where the process takes little more than 6 months to gain approvals, and then there’s been cities that take between 2 and 4 years! And that’s just here in Northern Utah.

What to do?

For many folks looking to move, they are left with a couple of options. First, is that they fork up the extra money to stay here where they’ve lived much of their lives. The other option is that they do what the Californians did ten years ago, and move to a state that is cheaper to live in.

For many of our homebuyers, this second option is out of the question. Much of their family still lives around here, and they want to be close to family. But if the housing crisis continues, then either seniors will be forced out of the state, or their kids will be forced out.

It takes a mental shift. Like it or not, Salt Lake and Utah counties are turning into bigger cities. If we want to keep Utah affordable, we need to not be afraid of development.

Leisure Villas is doing their part to build quality houses for folks 55 and older. We want to keep you here, where you love to live. I wouldn’t call us a high-density builder either, since most of our communities maintain a density at or below 5.5 homes per acre, but even then, we’ve seen the trend of anti-development groups gang up on home builders like us.

What they’re doing, is inflating their home values, by not allowing anyone else to move in. So while it’s in their best interest to block development in the short run, it ends up hurting our economy in the long run.

I don’t know where Utah will be in 20 years from now, but I hope that we are able to come together to tackle some of these big issues that impact us all.

 

I don’t have to tell you all the benefits of moving into a senior community. If you’re over 55, then you already know what you want.

You want to live in a beautiful home, with a low to no maintenance yard, friends your same age. You want a community that supports the truly awesome lifestyle that you’ve developed over a lifetime of hard work and hard play.

For many of you, you also want to live near family. If that family happens to be near Herriman, then you need to get in before these homes are all gone.

 

Availability Is Good, But It Will Not Last

When will Midas Creek Villas be sold out?

Construction has been steady in our Midas Creek development. This wet Spring has made building difficult, but we’re forging ahead anyway. By the time winter rolls around again, we will have gotten every last foundation placed in the ground for this Herriman community.

Granted, they will not all be built up by then, that will last through the Summer of next year. By then, most if not all the remaining homes will be sold. So if you’ve ever wondered if living in a 55+ community is right for you, then stop on by and see for yourself.

For all the fence-sitters

Making a move takes a lot of careful planning, and given how stressful it can be, you want to make the right choice, the first time. For many of you, you may have been following the progress of construction for some time.

Often, we have folks who’ve been visiting us for weeks, months, even years. Usually, about the time that they decide on which home to buy, someone else has already placed it under contract.

Well, this is it, with about two-thirds of our Herriman community sold, you need to decide if you want to live in one of our truly awesome neighborhoods here, or wait for another couple years to see if we can start another 55+ community in Herriman. By the way, as of now, we don’t have any plans for a future development in Herriman.

So come on in. You’ve been following us for a while. You know this is what you want. Let us help you make this easy and painless as possible.

Why now is the best time to buy a home in Herriman

You already know that we’re starting the last year of homebuilding in our Midas Creek subdivision, but why else should you hurry and purchase a home here?

Simple, because if you buy now, not only are you guaranteed to get the home you want and deserve, but you’ll also get the opportunity to choose out your upgrades and options and personalize your home. Otherwise, if you’re lucky enough to get the home you want by this time next year, chances are, that all those options and upgrades that you’d normally want, will be chosen already for you.

While we try to pick out color schemes that look handsome, even attractive, you’d be better off picking something that is especially unique to you.

So come in today. Don’t delay. Your home awaits, at Leisure Villas.

 

 

Every stage of our lives comes with new opportunities. New couples are likely to buy townhomes or small starter homes, families might need something larger, with a yard, and seniors will thrive best in a home designed around their needs.

When you’ve spent the majority of your time, living in your warm comfortable home, raising kids there, and building relationships with great neighbors, it can be a hard thing to move away.

What might make this decision even harder, is if you’re moving into a new home and neighborhood that is completely different from what you’ve become accustomed to.

If however, you are over 55 years old, looking to retire, or are already retired, there are some really good reasons to consider a move into a 55+ Community like the ones we build.

I’ll admit, these communities aren’t for everyone, but before you make your decision, read on a little, and see why an age restricted community is different, and why it might make all the difference for you.

Communities Tailor Made For Active Adults and Seniors

Safer

When we talk about homes that are designed for seniors, we’re talking about more than just a house. Your needs are greater than the roof you sleep under. You need a community of folks like you. Living in a 55+ community, means that everyone is around your same age. Most of them are retired, too.

This means that you automatically have a social environment, where folks know and look out for each other.

Also, since we keep our homes ADA adaptable, we usually have no stairs, unless of course you add an optional loft to your home package. Let’s face it, as we age, those joints don’t handle stairs as well as they used to.

So stay safe and move to the more secure Community by Leisure Villas, and get rid of all the stairs that are in 99% of the other homes on the market.

Easier

Do you really enjoy doing yard work? What about snow shoveling? What about mowing?

Some of you truly do like digging your hands into the soil, and our communities provide you plenty of opportunity to plant gardens and flowers, but all the other chores that go with owning a house can be difficult, or unpleasant.

You’ve worked hard your whole life, wouldn’t it be nice to let someone else do the laborious chores, while you relaxed a little more, and only do the parts you enjoy? All of our homes are in communities that have HOA’s, run by great folks like you, who actually care about your community. You couldn’t ask for a better HOA.

So go ahead, relax a little. Enjoy an extra vacation or two. Donate that snow shovel to your kids and make the easy move into a relaxed Leisure Villas Community where the exterior maintenance is nearly a thing of the past.

Kid’s comfort

One of the hardest things to do is watch your parents grow old. I’m sure most of you can remember such times. It’s sad, and scary at times. In my family, good old grandpa is in his 90’s and stubbornly refuses to move out of his split-level home.

To go anywhere, he must climb or descend at least two flights of stairs. This is after having broken his back once already and struggling with mobility issues. We all love him a lot, but we worry about him as well.

It’s easy to look from the outside in and say, “Perhaps your house isn’t meeting your needs.”

It’s another thing entirely to look at our situation from the inside out, and say, “My house isn’t meeting my needs now,” or “It might not meet the needs of me or my spouse in the not too distant future.”

For your peace of mind, and that of your children’s, do yourself a favor and move into comfort in one of our luxurious Leisure Villas Communities.

Less Lonely

The retired life is meant to be fun, isn’t it? None of us hope to die as soon as we give up the full-time job. For most of us, we’re still active and living life to the fullest. We know that coming years might not be so kind to our bodies, but we are still very much involved in everything.

The thing is, though, that once we’re retired, we find out that most everyone else we know is still busy. Our kids and grandkids come to visit, and we love their company, but what do we do when they’re not around.

Some of us are also unfortunate enough to have lost, or know that we soon will lose our significant other. Retired life can be great, but it also comes with these challenges. When you live in a community with people who are at your same stage of life, you get to make more friends that can help with the sad times that eventually hit us all.

Not only do you get more neighbors who you can relate to, but our communities also encourage getting together to meet neighbors you might otherwise not know. From potlucks, to movie nights, to lunch dates, to service projects, our clubhouses provide great places to meet and built lasting friendships.

If you want to ensure a fun retirement with plenty of friends, or if you want a supportive network of friends for any lonely times to come, move to one of our friendly Leisure Villas Communities.

Avoid assisted living longer

One thing that we are all aware of, is that we aren’t getting any younger. We hope that we won’t lose our memories. Some of us hope we won’t really die, so we choose not to think about it. Others of us, try to soak up life the best that we can today and hope that tomorrow will be good as well. There’s probably even those who look forward to the end, in hopes of a better life after this.

We all hope for things to turn out the best that they can. The longer we can put off death, and assisted living (which is arguably worse), the better we’ll be.

So can living in a 55+ community help you liver longer and have a better mind throughout your later years?

Well, let me ask you:

Would more social contact in your life, keep your mental health better?

Could a safer house prevent accidents to your physical health, and help your overall longevity?

Would you be able to avoid unhealthy physical and mental stress by not having to maintain a yard?

Many people believe that living happier, leads to living healthier, and living longer. If you believe this too, then don’t you owe it to yourself to move to a Leisure Villas Community?

Are you ready?

There are plenty of reasons why a community should be tailored to your stage of life. Given a minute, I’m sure you could think of some more than have been mentioned here.

It’s not always easy leaving the home you’ve become used to, especially when it has so many memories tied to it, but if you want to enjoy the next few decades to the fullest, then finding a home that meets your current situation will drastically improve your lifestyle.

So visit any of our communities, and see if you’re ready to make the move to one of our amazing 55+ Communities. Nobody builds them better than Leisure Villas. We’ve been at this for a long time, and we’re constantly striving to provide you with the best possible solution to your retirement dreams.

Buy a home from Leisure Villas today. It will be the best move you ever made!

 

Have you ever wondered if reverse mortgages are some sort of scam?

Maybe you’ve heard of these lending instruments, but they seem too complicated to wrap your head around.

If you’ve ever wondered about selling your home, refinancing, or just finding a way to raise a little extra cash to help you through your retirement, this might be of some interest to you.

As a disclaimer, I’m not trying to sell any mortgages. I’ve interviewed mortgage experts for the sole purpose of delivering you some of the facts, to help you better understand this lending vehicle.

Over the past several years, I’ve seen a lot of different things in the home lending world. Among these have been double-digit rates, bridge loans, sub-prime mortgages, and yes—reverse mortgages.

Some of these, are things of the past. Though, some of them might still come back, like high interest rates.

Since reverse mortgages have gone through some changes in recent years, lets dive into them, and see what they are, how they work, and if they are a potentially useful tool for you.

Are Reverse Mortgages a Scam?

Definition: Reverse Mortgage

To understand a reverse mortgage, let’s work backwards. I’ll assume that you know how a regular mortgage works. You pay each month towards your debt, part of that money covers interest on the loan, part of it pays off principle, which builds up equity, and then there are a few extra expenses that cover things like insurance and property taxes.

Pretty simple, right?

A reverse mortgage is a little different but follows similar principles.

First: It assumes that you’ve already paid off all or a large chunk of your home. It might also assume that you have a large amount of equity, even if you haven’t paid off much of it. This would be due to the value of your home going up, which in this market, most of our homes have increased in value over the last decade.

Second: A reverse mortgage flips the traditional mortgage backwards, so that your home returns money to your pocket, instead of you paying into it. The insurance and property taxes are the only exception. You still pay those.

But how is this possible? It’s pretty simple, and even safe, though there are a few things you’ll want to consider before going that route.

The 12 Nitty Gritties

1. Most, but not all reverse mortgages are federally insured, meaning that, these are legitimate lending vehicles that are backed by the United States Government.
2. You can purchase a home or refinance your home with one of these loans, you just need to be 62 years or older.
3. Under most conditions, you will still be eligible for Social Security and Medicare.
4. You keep your home. The title is under your name, not the banks. This means that if you want to sell it in the future, you still can.
5. While some of these loans can have a maturity date, the bank will never require more money from you than your house is worth.
6. These loans are for houses, which generally includes anything from single-family detached, up to 4-plex attached homes, and even FHA approved condos.
7. Like a regular mortgage, there are some credit requirements, which a lending officer would need to verify.
8. Also, like a regular mortgage, there are property requirements that your lending officer would need to verify.
9. This is not for vacation properties. You need to live in the house for at least 6 months out of the year, making it for your primary house only.
10. Naturally, there needs to be some equity in your home. Depending on interest rates, your age, and other possible factors, you should probably have about 40-60% equity in your home to qualify for a reverse mortgage.
11. The value of your home cannot exceed $726,525
12. There’s a few other piddly requirements, like you need to meet with a reverse mortgage counselor to ensure that this is a good option for you. Frankly, this isn’t a bad requirement. It would be unfortunate to enter into a long-term loan of any sort and not be fully informed of how it might affect your financial future. And of course, the government isn’t going to support this sort of loan for you, if you owe the government a bunch of money and haven’t paid up.

Why would I do this?

You might be thinking, “I’ve spent so many years trying to get out of debt, why would I want to give up all that equity now?”

It’s true, a reverse mortgage reduces your equity. That seems very counterintuitive to what we’ve been told our whole lives.

But unlike a regular mortgage, where if you lose your job, you lose your ability to pay your mortgage, and subsequently, you lose your house, a reverse mortgage doesn’t require you to pay any more than the smaller fees for taxes, insurance, and HOA dues (if applicable) each month. After all, this type of loan is for people who are NOT working, because they are retired, or close to it.

Also, as long as you remain current on those smaller expenses, you continue to own your own home, Eventually your equity position might go down to zero, but even then, the bank cannot take your home away until either you permanently move out, at which time, they will pay you or your kids the remaining equity left in your home. If there is negative equity in your home, you and your kids are not required to pay it. That’s where having a federally insured loan comes in handy. The government insures that you will not owe a dime when all is said and done.

Your kids can also have the option to buy the home for 95% of the appraised value, when you move out or die.

Most people consider reverse mortgages for the following reasons:

• They find themselves at retirement and are unable to buy a new home more suitable for their needs.
• They own their home outright, but are homebound because of a restricted budget that doesn’t allow for any vacations or traveling.
• The market is hot, and they can get more money out of their home now to use as a safety net for future needs
• They like to have extra cash on hand to take advantage of investment opportunities.
• They can have the ability to help kids or grandkids with school. This may also apply to helping with down payments on a house of their own.

Most people are afraid of reverse mortgages for the following reasons:

• They will have less money to pass on to their children when they die.
• These people are afraid that this is a sneaky trick of banks to steal their homes away.
• They have an emotional attachment to having their home paid off.
• They don’t understand how it works.

You might be asking, “Can’t I just get a home equity loan if I need cash in a pinch?”

While it’s true that most peoples’ first thought is a home equity line of credit, you have to remember, that when you withdraw money on that sort of loan, you have to make regular monthly payments again, until you completely pay back the loan. This is great for younger working families and individuals. But for retirees on a fixed income, this can be very difficult.

Is it worth it?

This is a decision that everyone has to make on their own. There are pros and cons to this decision, things that need to be thought out carefully. That’s why visiting with a financial planner might be a good idea.

For example, your kids might not get much of an inheritance. But think about you and your parents. Would you rather that they lived more comfortably throughout their retirement, and had the ability to go on vacations once and a while, or been able to visit family more often? Chances are, your kids want the best for you too, even if it means less money for them when you die. After all, you earned that money, not them. They’re working, not you. They understand this.

Other things to consider, what are your end of life plans going to look like. For many of us, those last few years might include assisted living homes or memory care facilities. These aren’t fun things to think about, but expecting our kids to take care of us might not be every parents dream. That’s why a financial planner can be very useful. It would be best to make sure that all your bases are covered, with enough left over to handle the worst case scenarios.

For the most part, you shouldn’t be afraid of a reverse mortgage. Like any lending instrument, you need to make sure it matches your long-term plans and financial goals.

For more info on reverse mortgages, please check out this Myths/Facts website that dives into all the misconceptions surrounding reverse mortgages.

As always, I hope this was a helpful and educational article for you. Here at Leisure Villas, we strive each week to produce helpful content that is relevant to our friends and family who are 55 years and better. You can visit us at https://www.leisurevillas.com/

Disclaimer:

We are not financial advisors. The information in this article is written to the best of our knowledge, based on interviews with industry experts. It should not be taken as financial advice. We always recommend that you visit personally with a qualified expert. They will be able to evaluate your current situational needs and provide the most up to date knowledge and advice. Thank you.

 

Have you ever seen those pictures, you know the ones, where it looks like everyone is happy, and life is perfect?

We all know that those are staged photos. The same thing happens with videos. I love seeing peoples reactions to videos that were staged, but made to look like real, spur of the moment, candid snippets.

So is anything out there genuine? Sure!

Is it attainable? Yep, and that’s what I want to talk about.

I’m not just talking about living in an ideal 55+ community, like the ones we build. I want to examine a few ideas that can make any neighborhood a better place to live.

What Makes A Neighborhoods Feel Good?

Consider the needs of the individuals

By now, most of us have heard of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It suggests that we have a pyramid-like structure of needs that start from basic and climb in priority.

In a nutshell, it is suggested that the needs are as follows:

1. Physiological needs: These are things like food, shelter, sleep, the essentials for living.
2. Safety is next: Once our physical needs are taken care of, we desire a need to feel secure.
3. Belonging: This is where good friendships become highly valued.
4. Esteem: Once you have friends, you want their respect, and you want to feel a sense of accomplishment.
5. Self-Actualization: This is the peak. When everything else is satisfied, you need to know that you are living up to your full potential.

Many of us in a community live at different stages along this list of priorities. So how does this help us unite our neighborhoods and create that utopian community that we would love to live in?

I don’t want to make this a study in sociology, I would rather make this a practical tool for evaluating our communities and deciding how to increase our overall happiness. So let’s dive into it.

What makes you happy/what makes your neighbors happy?

Knowing what makes you happy will help you determine the position you hold on the hierarchy of needs. As a reminder, it doesn’t matter where you are on this list. It isn’t a competition. It’s simply a way of judging what makes you happy at this time in your life.

Physiological Needs

Are you happy if you can keep a roof over your head, and keep you and your family fed? Then you are probably at the first level. For many of us, we start out here. When we’re struggling as a young family, possibly owning a mountain of debt, and few job place skills, this can be a real concern.

Many of us might also struggle with this as we retire. Health care becomes more expensive, and our physical needs become more fragile.

Making the most of it

If you have neighbors who have real physiological needs, helping them with those needs can provide a great source of friendship and joy. Maybe it’s giving them rides to a doctor, maybe it’s helping them in the yard, or passing on a job referral. Maybe babysitting is something they could really appreciate so that they can take care of something important to them.

Safety

We are all vulnerable at times. This may come as a result of past experiences or feared possibilities. It ranges from assault, burglary, natural disaster, food poisoning, radon, to a whole host of other concerns. Some of us feel safe in any circumstance, while others of us are constantly anxious about the next possible catastrophe.

Making the most of it

Helping a neighbor with this requires us to know a little about our neighbors. Sometimes, all it takes, is knowing your neighbor to set them at ease. If they don’t know who you are, then you could be, well, anybody, even someone who is untrustworthy. Other things you can do, might appeal to your personal interests. Do you enjoy emergency preparedness? If you have a clubhouse or church house that you can meet at, you can host informative classes on your specialties. There’s a lot you can do to help people feel safe, even if its as simple as watering their plants or collecting their newspaper when they’re out of town.

Belonging

I’ve met people whose physical needs are met, and they feel safe, but who don’t feel at all like they belong. If this describes you or someone you know, what can be done to help that? You may consider yourself the perfect neighbor, and still they don’t feel as if they belong. You may not even know that they don’t feel a sense of belonging. Hint: A good clue that they don’t feel as if they belong, is that they don’t ever talk to you.

Making the most of it

One common thing that I’ve noticed among people who feel a lack of belonging, is that they don’t reach out to others. This is usually based on fear of rejection. So many people worry about being the one to ask a neighbor to be their friend. Sure, we’ve all been blown-off before, but we don’t usually know the reasons why. The best way I’ve found to help establish a cohesive neighborhood with folks who feel as if they don’t belong, is to be the one who says hello first. Make that initial contact, then follow up.

Esteem

When I think of esteem, my first thought turns to pride. But as I ponder on this more, the dreaded pride, that cripples so many people, is not so much a part of this stage of needs. While it still plays a part, it is more dangerous if someone displays a large amount of it in the earlier needs. If you feel as though your basic needs are met, and you feel as though you belong to your community, then the need for pride becomes less important, and we start needing real esteem, not fake esteem.

Making the most of it

This is the confidence building stage. People who need esteem might come off as prideful, but they might also just be searching for validation. If that can be met, then these folks will know that their opinions are worthwhile to others. Their happiness will come from being a true value to their neighbors. These are the folks who can benefit most from service opportunities. Find ways to include them and their expertise, especially as it relates to needs within your neighborhood.

Self-Actualization

These folks seem to have it all. Their focus is personal development, education, and culture. They aren’t elitists, and they aren’t always wealthy. Often they are philanthropists. These people are confident, and their happiness often revolves around their being able to contribute to society.

Making the most of it

Don’t be afraid to ask these people for help. Often, they are more than willing. They’ve already learned the importance of being involved, and they know they can be of value. Also, you can pass along fun ideas that you learn of. Maybe there’s a Broadway play coming to town, or a trip to some historic site coming up that they might enjoy visiting with you.

Summary

If I could summarize all these community building ideas into one cohesive thought, it would be this: Get to know your neighbors and serve them.

That’s almost seems like an oversimplification of it, but it can appeal to so many of us, regardless of where we are in our life’s journey.

If you’re familiar at all with the lifestyle we encourage at our active adult communities, then you’ll see how this simple thing fits into all of our programs. For instance: We encourage monthly potluck dinners, HOA involvement, movie nights, lunch dates, quilting, book clubs, aerobics, and service projects. All of these things help bring people together. If people can be brought together, then they can get to know each other. Once they know their neighbors, they become more aware of their neighbors’ current needs, and by helping them, both people benefit and the overall happiness of the community improves.

Well, what about church?

Yes, if you live in a place like Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or some other church is the dominant religion, you may know that many people are already involved in community activities and services. Does this mean that we don’t need to worry about our community?

Well, if you’re part of one of those churches, you might already feel as if many of your neighborhood needs and friendships are met, but I’ll bet that most of you have neighbors on your street, that you barely even know. What about them?

Perhaps you are not a part of that church organization, and you want some of that good neighborly vibes. There’s always a need to be more neighborly. Perhaps it’s time to step out of your comfort zone and act to make your neighborhood the sort of place where you would want to live.

That’s what we do at Leisure Villas, and you can do that too, in your neighborhood, or even in one of ours.

With Springtime here, and Summer right around the corner, I thought I’d share a few

tips on how we make our landscapes really beautiful.

Whether you live in one of our 55+ communities for active adults or not, it’s always nice to have an attractive yard.

Also, since we don’t control the communities once we’ve sold out of them, perhaps some of you living there would like to know how we did the landscaping before you took over the HOA. Many of our communities have landscape committees, and some of them have some good green-thumbs, but I’m sure that there’s someone out there who might find this article interesting.

 

How to make your planters pop.

A recipe for stellar flower gardens

Every year, we make an emphasis on dolling up our senior communities. Inevitably, this means placing large orders of flowers. But a good flowerbed starts before the flowers ever get planted.

First of all, we find that raised beds look much better than flat beds. So if you have room and dirt enough to berm your flowerbed, it will make your flowers look more bushy and full.

Also, make it easy on yourself. The last thing you want to do is be watering them each day by hand, and believe me, they like water. So plan for sprinklers or drip systems if you live in a climate that is dry, like ours here in Utah.

Next, and this is the fun part, picking out the best flowers that will make your yard pop.

Over the years, we’ve developed a short list of our favorite flowers. You could call this the Leisure Villas Recipe for landscaping:

First ingredient, is your perennials. These are important, because as their name suggests, they will come back each year. So you’ll want to carefully consider where to plant them.

There is one thing I would caution about here though. If you want your garden to look the best, don’t be lazy. It’s very tempting to plant only perennials and call it good for the next several years. This is fine, really, but if you really want to upstage the Jones’ next door, you need to take it up a notch.

I would plan for about 15-20% perennials, which can get pretty tall, and fill the rest with annuals, short and medium sized. You will want a definite variety in height.

This gives you a great variety and control over your flowerbeds.

Here are our favorite tall perennials:

Cone Flowers

Black-Eyed Susans

Daisies

For small and medium sized winners, try some of these which will often be annuals:

Snap Dragons

Salvias

Zinias (the profusion sort are really nice, but they sell out quickly)

Dianthus: These flower for a long time and are usually bi-annual or perennial.

Petunias: You really ought to have plenty of petunias. Make sure to get the ones that are most likely to be spreaders, as these will fill up the most space and cover the ground, even overlap each other nicely. They are with out a doubt the number one most planted flower by Leisure Villas.

Photogenic yards

Having a yard that would make most neighbors jealous seems daunting. But when the local pre-schools start stopping by to take class photos in front of your flower garden, you can secretly hide behind your curtains and smirk with satisfied delight.

Now, just because you have a winning combination of flowers, it doesn’t mean that you’re done. I would also recommend a few smatterings of bushes or grasses, like Karl Foersters, and even some short ornamental trees if you have the room.

Once you’ve got a good variety, don’t forget to fertilize. These flowers can look great, but they will really thrive under ideal conditions. Something close to a 16-16-16 granular fertilizer will ensure that your flowers are well fed for the summer.

Then don’t forget to pull out the weeds occasionally. Once the flowers are spread and thriving, most weeds will either be choked out or completely overshadowed by the beautiful colors, but keeping it as weed free as possible will only magnify its awesomeness. Oh, and don’t forget to cut off the dead flowers, especially with plants such as geraniums. Dead dried flowers will not show well.

As you may have guessed, there are some costs involved with a flower bed of this magnitude. If you buy all your flowers from a nursery, then expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1000 or more, depending on the size of your planters. I’d also plan on spending a full day tilling your garden, and planting.

Ways of reducing costs, might be to start your own flowers from seed indoors, rather than buying them from a nursery. This isn’t always practical for everyone, but now is the time to start prepping for it if you want to go that route.

So is it worth it?

I asked myself this for a couple of years. Finally, last year, I bit the bullet and planted this arrangement in my yard. The price-tag hurt, but after having a full summer of non-stop blooming, with granted, a few hours here and there to maintain it, I have to say, that this might be a regularly budgeted luxury that is totally worth it to me.

So true, it is a luxury, and I don’t really care for upstaging my neighbors, but it made our yard feel great, and we fell in love with our yard all over again.

I hope this has been helpful for you. Whether you try this in your yards or not, is entirely up to you. Perhaps you even have a different winning combination of flowers. If that’s the case, I applaud you for it. This is just the formula we use at Leisure Villas, and it works very well for us.

Have a great summer, and enjoy your landscaping.

The price of buying a home in Utah is not cheap. If you’ve been out shopping, you know what I mean. Seems like there’s always a bit of sticker shock.

Unfortunately, the retirement communities for active adults are not immune from these soaring prices. The nice thing though, is that if you own a home or property, then the value of that has also gone up.

But what if you own more than just a home. What if you have a house that sits on five or more acres of land? All of a sudden, your property is worth more than most people can afford.

This means that whoever you sell the family farm to, is likely to be a developer, because nobody will pay those prices for a hobby farm or estate anymore.

So, who do you sell your property to?

Kill two birds with one stone

You’re over 55, and looking to move, but you have to sell the family farm to do so. Since we specialize in building 55+ communities, you might consider stopping by and seeing if we can help with both your problems.

Naturally, we’re not the perfect solution for every case, but who knows, you might come off looking like a genius if everything works out right.

First of all, moving into a 55+ community like ours is brilliant. We’ve got the lifestyle and culture that makes retirement fun. There’s also the safety factor of living in a private community like this where a majority of the people are retired. People look out for each other here.

Second, since we are an active growing company, we consider every single piece of property that someone offers to sell us. We can’t choose every property for one reason or another, but we will go out and visit every piece that is pitched to us, as long as it is 5 acres or larger.

Also, since we construct quality homes and provide a community feel to every development we build, that is both beautiful and functional, you can be sure that if we develop your land, you won’t have to feel embarrassed when your neighbors ask who you sold to.

Easy and it makes sense

Sure, a one stop place for buying a home and selling your old property may sound lazy, it’s really not. Since we can’t buy every property, we’ll only do what makes real sense. We also believe in dealing fairly with everyone.

So, if it looks like it could work out, why not? Of course, you’re the one who’ll make the final call. Rewind to twenty years ago, when people knew what rewind meant, and our product was so new that many people had no idea what to think about us.

Today, it’s getting hard to find family or friends who doesn’t know somebody living in one of our communities. The majority of those people, if asked, will likely tell you what a great decision it was moving there.

55+ communities aren’t for elitists. They are for active adults who like building close friendships with other fun adults. They like to spend their time more efficiently so that they have more time to do things that really matter to them.

Maybe you’re not 100% sure if one of our 55+ communities is right for you. That’s fine. We’re not for everyone. Come on by and see, though. You might just be surprised.

It’s old news now. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it news anymore, but it looks like we’re safe in the short term from a service tax in Utah.

Due in large part from pushback from the public, the bill was not passed. This is probably a good thing, for now.

When I first heard about it, it felt like a policy that was being pushed hard and fast, without anyone actually reading or thinking about it, kind of like Obamacare was.

Needless to say, I was worried. How would this effect our business as a developer and builder of senior communities?

But are we out of the woods yet? Sort of.

Tax Reform In Utah

Going forward:

If you’ve been following the stories, you probably already know that we have some challenges ahead. Utah has long been recognized as being one of the most fiscally responsible states in the Union. For some reason, that makes me happy, even though I’ve had little to nothing to do with that, aside from my vote.

I also think there is a strong belief among our representatives that some form of tax reform is due. Personally, I don’t follow the state’s balance sheet at all. I have no idea if we’re in trouble. If the bill’s sponsor is to be believed, then we are departing from a goods economy to a service economy.

That may be true, but I don’t know if it’s the largest culprit. You may be providing more services than goods, but that money you make is still often used to buy goods.

What I do know, is that we buy and sell a lot more online than we used to. Some post offices are even forcing us to install extra parcel mail boxes to accommodate all the extra online orders. Taxing those purchases and sales, has not been an easy road.

Any time that something new is taxed, that wasn’t previously taxed, heartburn ensues. The question is, will a service tax in some form come back? My understanding is that, yes, there will be more discussion on this in the near future, possibly even later this year.

Are there alternatives? Sure.

Are they any better? I don’t know. All I believe is that a quick push is not the right answer.

I get that nobody wants more taxes. It may even be true that a service tax, along with product tax reductions might alleviate the overall tax burden, I don’t know.

One thing is for sure, I don’t envy the road against public opinion that our lawmakers are facing. I’ve been there before. Sometimes when we develop a new community, the neighbors band together against us, and even if our product is better than any of the other possible project that might develop on a neighboring land, they don’t always believe it until it’s in and done.

I remember one such community. All the homes around it were your traditional single-family homes on lots. It was a good well-maintained neighborhood, but we struggled getting it started. Then once built, the neighborhood embraced it with open arms, even loved the place.

I remember working on some of the homes there, about half way through the subdivision, and watching the local preschool come and get pictures in front of our superior landscaping. The local farmers would also take the kids around the 55+ community on a hay-wagon, towed by their tractor, all dressed up in their Halloween costumes, like a big Halloween parade. It was really fun to see how they embraced it. But I digress. I was talking about taxes.

How the bill would have affected us:

My biggest worry was that the new tax bill would put a lot of contractors out of business. Imagine all the services that go into a home:

First, you have the primary services.

I consider these the most recognizable services that go into home construction: The framing, the plumbing, the electrical, the paint. These are the basic essentials of a home. Every one of these are service-based. That means, that they would all be taxed, and that is a very significant chunk of your home.

Second, you have the secondary services.

These are like subcontractors to the subcontractor. Let me explain: Many of our subcontracts, we’ll take drywallers for instance, don’t hire most of their employees in house anymore. Most of their labor crews have been split off into minor roaming subs for the main subcontractor.

These people would also need to be taxed, even though the primary subcontractor was also being taxed. This essentially amounts to a double taxation.

It gets even more complicated when you consider a planner. Say you need to hire someone to plan your house or your development. You hire a professional, who hires their secondaries, like engineers, surveyors, and lawyers. These engineers and surveyors might even hire a third level of service providers that I’ll call tertiary subs for consulting, geo studies, water studies, etc. The list could extend beyond that. If each of them are having to tax for their services, then suddenly, we have triple taxation on a single service.

If they want a real moneymaker, they found it, though I don’t think it would work in the short term. The homebuyer is really going to struggle forking over that kind of money, which is why many homebuilders will go out of business, at least, in the short term, until the housing crisis deepens, and people are willing to pay an even higher premium for homes.

It will, in effect, eliminate any efforts our lawmakers are already doing to encourage affordable home prices. So yes, it’s not hard to see why we were worried about this in our industry. But I find it hard to believe that there is an easy silver bullet that will not hurt any industry targeted by extra taxes, which brings me to my next question.

Should we turn away any new tax reforms?

I hate taxes as much as the next person. However, I do think that if our budget is being strained, for whatever reason, then we mustn’t shy away from it. It’s a tough issue, and if you knew that in your home, you’d be facing a financial pinch in the near future, you would need to seriously consider your budget also.

Usually the two main places are to look: first is where you’re spending more money than you need to, keep in mind that need vs want is a sore topic, especially on the public level. The second place to look is at finding other ways of generating additional income.

I don’t have any of the answers. I wish I did. There are plenty of people who believe they have the answers, whether they do or not, I can’t judge. But if we get enough of them together under a spirit of compromise and common sense, then hopefully something good will come out of it. Needless to say, some real thought and consideration is in order.

At least that’s my opinion. Maybe you have a different one. We live in the greatest state with the most going for it. We’ll get this figured out.

Welcome to Part 2 of our neighborhood development blog. Last week, we addressed a couple of concerns about traffic and density being added to an established community. If you haven’t read it, you can check it out here.

Today, I’d like to discuss a few more concerns that residents often have when the farm next door gets sold to a developer like us.

Let’s face it. Nobody ever seems to want any new homes in the field next door. That’s totally understandable.

But as things always go, eventually those inner-city properties will be developed. You as a neighbor have a right to be concerned and involved. So lets discuss a few more items that you might be considering, or might want to consider.

Concerned about a new 55+ Active Adult Communities coming into your neighborhood?

Parking

We recently attended a zoning meeting where a concerned resident asked about the parking. The concern was, that in a project like ours, would there be enough parking for the home-owners and their guests.

Luckily, we’ve been doing this for many years now, and we’ve addressed the question of parking quite well. In our 55+ communities, even guests have enough room to park without overflowing into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Part of this is planning on our end, but part of it is also the demographic that we serve. While many of our homeowners receive occasion guests, the majority of our homeowners have fewer cars on average. With each having a double car garage, plus two spaces in their driveway, and additional parking by the clubhouse and street-side parking within the community, there always seems to be enough parking for everyone.

Other neighborhoods I’ve seen in the past, haven’t been so well contained. I know of one new neighborhood, not ours, that built townhomes that were often rented out to college students. While they too should’ve had enough parking, their demographics encouraged too many people to break the city ordinances and over-occupy many of the homes in that subdivision. This caused overflowing cars to park on the surrounding neighborhoods.

So yes, parking is a valid concern. Luckily, our senior communities are well designed to accommodate all necessary parking for residents and visitors.

Visual aesthetics

Property rights are a funny thing. Our founding fathers were adamant about preserving property rights. This is one of the major parts of the Constitution. Among those rights are the ability of a property owner to use their property as they see fit.

Naturally, there has to be some restrictions on this.

Zoning and planning are among the restrictions placed on property use. This is a good thing. There has to be limits or else city infrastructure will be strained or underdeveloped.

There’s also a trend lately, to impose design standards for what someone puts on their property. This one is a little more iffy. I’m personally not opposed to some design standards, but there should be limits to what a government can demand. I wonder at what point does a city violate a property owner’s rights when they start dictating every facet of building’s visual appearance.

In any case, we’ve all seen those developments that look horrendous. Some of them are even brand-new subdivisions. Granted, most of those are catered to first-time home buyers, so they’re trying to keep the costs as low as possible.

While there are often many ugly homes out there, we tend to associate ugly with higher density. This is a little unfair.

For instance, we build higher density communities. Granted, our communities aren’t a lot more dense than a standard single-family-home subdivision, still, many people might be concerned that we too would just slap some piece of garbage on a newly developed piece of land. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

We’re selling to retirees, not first-time home-buyers. Our buyers have higher expectations. They don’t want to live in an ugly community. So we put a lot of effort into designing beautiful homes, inside and out.

Our landscaping is rarely outclassed by any other community, and since it’s managed by an HOA, it stays nice too.

I’ve often looked at our communities and thought of them as parks, with ramblers homes. All the land between the homes is common ground, and so the greenspace isn’t fettered with lots of mismatched fences and lawn garbage.

In short, our communities look amazing! The landscaping is great, and so are the exterior treatments of the homes.

Of all the builders

There’s a lot of builders out there. With some of them, you know what you’re getting. With others, you have no idea.

We are one of those builders with a proven track record spanning about two decades now. With us, you can be sure that we won’t hurt your neighborhood. Most likely, we’ll take that farm, or vacant land, and turn it into a low traffic community that is beautiful and gives grandma and grandpa a place to retire to.

These are people like you, people like your parents. We strive to build without stairs, and to provide warm receptive places for them to enjoy an active lifestyle throughout their retirement.

If a property near you is set for development, you couldn’t go wrong with Leisure Villas Community. It would be hard to say the same for a lot of other types of developments of similar or even of less density.

How Much Extra Traffic Does A Senior Community Add To A Neighborhood?

One of the challenges of building wonderful communities that are tailored to the 55+ community, is finding land.

We’re always on the hunt for that next special location that will be a great neighborhood and a great fit for our unique developments. Whenever we do this, it’s important to us to visit with the neighbors and inform them of our intentions.

Occasionally, we’ll find neighbors who are concerned about what we might bring to the area. This is normal and natural, as most people are vigilant of how their area will be affected by future developments. This article is meant to address some of their concerns.

Myths Of New 55+ Active Adult Communities

Myth #1: A 55+ community will be too dense for my neighborhood

The truth is, very few new developments are in the 1/2 to 1/3 acre lot size anymore, at least, hear in Salt Lake and Utah County. Suitable land for development in Utah is scarce, and there is a large housing shortage here. Most of our standard communities have a density of about 5.5 homes per acre, which is only slightly denser than traditional ¼ acre lots.

Most new developments are pushing for 8 or more lots per acre. This means, that for now, we are still one of the least dense developers in the business.

We like this lower density for our customers, because it allows us to build larger homes that are rambler-style, meaning single floor homes. Most of the higher density homes out there right now are narrow and tall. Sure you’ll never need to buy a stair stepping exercise machine, but after you hit a certain age, those stairs can be more hassle than healthy.

Myth #2: Won’t a senior community increase the neighborhood traffic?

To a point, any development will increase traffic, but eventually, land will get developed. The question is, how will different developer’s products impact you?

Before any new development can be built in a city, the city requires a traffic study to be conducted. This study helps the city determine if the roads are capable of handling the new traffic. There are specific engineers that have made a career out of being the best experts in this field. When consulted, they find that a senior community will produce significantly less traffic than a community of regular single-family homes.

How is this possible, especially if you have more homes in a senior community than, say, a third or quarter acre lot subdivision?

Who lives in a standard single-family styled home? Usually, families.

Who lives in a senior community? Usually, seniors.

The thing about seniors, is that many more of them are retired when compared to younger families. This means that on average, they’ll have less people living in each home, they’ll have fewer cars, will not be traveling as often, and especially not at peak travel times.

These traffic reports are not derived from theoretical hypothesizing. These traffic studies are conducted by actually laying down meters, and physically observing the real traffic of completed communities that have come before.

So statistically speaking, an average 55+ community will generate less neighborhood traffic than a less dense, single family home neighborhood.

To be continued

It’s often disappointing for many long-time residents to see a nearby field give way to the increasing demand for housing. Often, the extra open space is part of why many people move to a particular location. Problems however arise, when somebody moves into a neighborhood, then says that nobody else can move in afterwards.

We understand the difficulty involved with the changing dynamics of our great state. Growth is good, but growing pains can often accompany it. That’s one of the reasons why we build with beauty in mind. We sincerely strive to become a value to each and every city that we build in.

While many builders are content with slapping up the cheapest, fasted product that will sell despite looking horrible for years after, we are committed to building luxury home, lifestyles, and communities that look great and feel great, whether you live in them or around them.

There’s a lot more we can discuss as it relates to this issue. Perhaps we’ll address that in a later article.

 

 

Every now and then, I have somebody ask me what we would charge to rent them a home in one of our luxurious 55+ communities.

That’s when I tug at my collar and say sorry, this might not be the place for you. All of our homes are for sale, not for rent.

I’ve met some really amazing people who for whatever reason, prefer to rent. It’s especially sad when they want to move in here, and you want them to move in, but home ownership is out of their budget.

However, the question of renting, as with most things, doesn’t always have a straight forward answer. For some of you, this might help clear things up.

Are Any Of These Homes Apartments or Rentals?

To rent or not to rent, that is the question.

So there are two sides to this question, and no, I don’t mean, should I rent or buy. Obviously, we want you to buy. No, the questions I’m referring to deal with:

First, can I rent a home in this community?

And

Second, can I rent out my home to someone else?

These two questions can be summed up in one answer, yes-ish.

That doesn’t sound very reassuring, I know. Let me explain. We don’t like to sell a home to you if we think you’re going to buy it just for a rental. Our goal is to provide owner occupied homes for retirees and near retirees who want to enjoy the leisure and luxury of owning in a 55+ community.

That said, we aren’t legally allowed to stop you from renting out your home once you own it.

Over the years, though, we’ve found that most of our homes aren’t often used as rentals. The cost to buy a home, plus the amount of rent it would need to generate to pay for itself, is not usually feasible for most people.

Having said that, I have seen some of our community members who for some reason or another, have moved out, but kept their home there and rented it out. This is rare, usually only about one in a hundred do this. The last one I remember, was because a widow married a widower, and suddenly they had two homes.

While I totally understand having separate rooms, hence our newest double master floorplan, separate houses can be a hassle. So yes, there are a few instances where our homeowners have rented out their homes. There’s a few instances where I’ve seen two widowed friends in the same home as well. One is the owner, the other is the renter.

If you’re looking for a place to rent, these homes are few and far between. But hey, it never hurts to ask around and see if anyone knows of somebody that is trying to keep a house warm. All I’m saying, is that this might be a difficult hunt.

Alternatives for renters:

What if you really do like the 55+ community feel, and homeownership isn’t on your list of to-do’s. Well, since finding a home for rent in one of our communities is never an easy task, might I suggest an alternative?

Not long ago, we finished building our very first 55+ apartment community. As with all of our other communities, this is finished luxuriously, with grand amenities, including a huge library, pool, spa, exercise room, common area, warming kitchen, walking trails and more. Even more, it has a lot of great people who love to socialize. There’s always something fun going on.

We’re constantly growing and striving to remain the Utah leader for building the best active adult communities possible. Stop by for a visit, we’d love to discuss your options.

Great news for anyone who is over 55 and is looking to buy a home in Utah!

Over the winter, we built a few extra homes before anyone purchased them. With Spring hot on our radar, we want to get an early start on the selling season.

In a couple of months, the buyers will be back out in force, and buying a home before someone else does will be like two rednecks fighting over the last Black Friday TV at Walmart.

So to help you get thinking about moving a little earlier, we’re offering a quick close deal for anyone willing to close on a home within 30 days of signing a contract!

End of Winter Sale

Details:

Not all of our 55+ communities have homes that qualify for this offer. As of today: Midas Creek Villas subdivision in Herriman has 1 new house that qualifies for this, and The Villas At Waters Edge in Vineyard has a few more.

Our project in Saratoga Springs, The Villas At Legacy Farms, does not have any homes that qualify for this special deal, since we are still months away from having any homes completed there.

So here’s the deal:

For the next month or two, until we’re sold out, if you put one of our inventory homes under contract and close on it within 30 days, we’ll discount your home $5000!

This discount is on top of some already smoking deals that you can find in our Villas At Waters Edge community. To learn more details on how you can save by moving to Vineyard, give Josh a call 801-438-6546. He’ll be happy to help you discover the price advantage of moving to Utah’s newest shore-side community, and it really is a fun place to live.

A growing town:

Since most of our deals are in Vineyard this month, lets take a moment to see why Vineyard might be the place for you.

Only one block away from Utah Lake, it’s not unusual to see people running along the shore-line trail, having a picnic, or wading out with a fishing pole.

Do you like canoeing? Gaining access to the lake is easy, at Vineyard Beach.

Maybe you want to pull out the motorboat and go for a leisure ride, well, Lindon harbor is only about a mile and a half away.

Also, if you’ve driven by anytime within the last few months, you may have noticed that on the North side of 800 N, leading into the Waters Edge area, there is a lot of dirt-work happening where Geneva Steel used to be. This will the be commercial half of Vineyard, and will likely bring with it the shopping and grocery that will officially turn Vineyard into a fully developed city.

Utah county is growing quickly. It is one of the fastest growing cities in America. With all this growth, possibly another two million people in the next 40 years, home prices are only going to keep climbing. Getting into a new home now, especially while we’re offering a few discounts, means that this is the best time to move.

So if you are at or nearing retirement, and would like the leisure of living in a community where an elevated lifestyle is valued, then stop on by and see if The Villas At Waters Edge is the place for you.

Recently, our business participated in some training to help us improve our company culture. We focused this on understanding our personalities, what drives us as individuals, and how we can apply that to better understand each other and our customers.

For this training, we received high recommendations to use the Larcen Consulting Group. Carla Fugit was amazing. This wasn’t the first time that many of us had experienced personality training in our company.

We serve the retirement community, providing great homes and great communities for active adults, and we’re always looking for ways to improve and provide you with the best product on the market, and quality customer experiences.

There were many things we learned, that will help us improve, but there were also a few take-aways that I thought might be interesting to write about for our customers.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Community

Disclaimer:

The things I’m sharing, are not necessarily the opinion of the Larcen Consulting Group or their presenter. These are my own opinions and extrapolations that I formed. If you are interested in pursuing personality training, you would be best served to hire this group to give you a professional assessment and consultation.

Differences:

Buying a home is an important decision. At Leisure Villas, we want to give you more than just another home. We want to create a community where people can retire to, and enjoy an elevated lifestyle.

Part of that lifestyle that we emphasize, deals with enjoying new friendships with others who are at your same stage of life. We also promote a fun healthy environment for your kids and grandkids to visit. People often credit our wonderful floorplans, but they also say how secure they feel living in our communities.

But what if you’re the sort of person that doesn’t like to party. Maybe you look at the clubhouse and wonder, why should I care? or, When will I ever use that?

Maybe you’re the sort of person who does like the parties, and wonders why your neighbor is being such a downer.

The thing is, we aren’t all cut from the same cloth. We all have different things that motivate, inspire, and excite us. Most importantly, this is great!

Diversity is fun, challenging, and stimulating.

In our communities, sure you’ll find others like you. Likely you’ll become great friends. Beyond them, you’ll get to meet and interact with folks from all walks of life. Often, it’s our differences that bring us closer together, and frankly, who doesn’t want to be a part of something?

You don’t have to go to every party, or be involved in every little thing. Maybe your best friends will be the ones you see, only when you’re picking up your mail, or the ones you meet when you go to an HOA board meeting.

The idea of an elevated lifestyle means that all people, regardless of their personalities, can come together and create something great. That’s what we’re all about. By bringing what is best about you, your strengths, your passions, and yes, even your weaknesses, and combining those with a neighborhood of others who want to be part of something, not merely another house on the street, you can create what we affectionately call “Community.”

We build communities, not subdivisions. We build lifestyle, not just living places. You’ve lived other places before, among which were likely some great places. We want our 55+ communities to be at least as good, hopefully better, and it’s all about the people.

There’s an elephant in the room, and I think it stepped on my concrete floor and cracked it.

Okay, maybe not, but you’ve still found a crack in your concrete floor, what do you do now?

Maybe you’re thinking, is this going to be a problem? And what is causing it? Will it get worse?

This is a rather simple problem, but stressful for some, mostly because it can inspire mixed emotions from fear to anger. So today, Lets dive deep into the issue of cracked slabs. Since we build slab on grade homes, often called patio homes, for most all of our 55+ communities, this is one area that we would like make sure you’re educated on.

The Case of The Cracked Slab

Concrete 101

Before we get too far, lets have a refresher course in concrete physics. Don’t worry, we’ll keep this simple.

Concrete utilizes three primary ingredients: 1- water, 2- cement, 3- aggregate (aka rocks).

When mixed in proper proportions, you end up with a mud that will soon hardened into a rock-solid shape. Hopefully, this shape is established before it hardens. This “mud” as it is often termed, utilizes a chemical reaction that form binding structures with all parts involved. This chemical reaction will last for years after you initially place your concrete. That means, your concrete will keep getting harder as long as you have it.

The first seven days are the most critical time for concrete. The majority of the hardness happens at this time, and contrary to some rumors you may have heard, the concrete is not flexible at this stage. This is why you should never drive on new concrete for a minimum of one week.

The rest of the noticeable hardness happens throughout the duration of that month. After that, the changes continue but at diminishing rates.

While the concrete is hardening, it is also drying. There is a difference. Concrete does not get hard because it dries, the chemical reaction is what makes it hard, the drying is from excess moisture draining into the ground or evaporating into the air.

As the concrete dries, even after it seems hard, it acts a little like drying mud, you know the sort, you’ve seen it after a mud causing rainstorm; it’s filled with a maze of cracks. Concrete does the same thing when it dries, it shrinks.

As concrete shrinks, it has only one place to go, and that is towards itself. However, nobody wants or expects concrete to go where-ever it will: You want it to stay as wide as your foundation, and the Earth that it rests upon doesn’t want to give up on the laws of friction.

So while the concrete is struggling to shrink, forces are trying to keep it from moving. Imagine what would happen to a glass bottle if you secured both ends tight, and then it shrank, even just one millimeter. It would not end well.

This is the reason why your sidewalks and driveways have relief joints cut into them. It’s to encourage the cracks to happen there, instead of through the more flat and noticeable areas that will cause you heartburn. Of course, this only works most of the time, but almost every joint you see, will have a crack in it.

You might also notice that inside your house, there aren’t those huge relief joints that you see in sidewalks and driveways. That’s because those large obvious joints aren’t easy to lay tile and carpet on.

As a general rule of thumb, any slab of concrete over nine feet will crack. Sorry for any of you who say that your basement floor never had cracks in it. You probably just didn’t notice them.

Can cracks be stopped?

There are a few ways to stop or limit cracks. One is to place rebar into the concrete. Like most builders, we do this. Granted, it doesn’t prevent all cracks. We place rebar in several strategic locations to keep the concrete from settling and pulling away from places it needs to be. It also helps lend strength to the slab.

Also, concrete poured in the middle of the summer is going to have more cracks than concrete poured when it is colder. Why? Well, lets think about it. What does the hot Sun usually do to water? It evaporates it quickly. So during the Summer, your concrete dries out faster, producing more cracks. So if concrete is poured in the cooler months, assuming its placed on a good base, it will have fewer and smaller cracks.

There are other ways of avoiding cracks or keeping them to a minimum, but they start getting very pricy. The cheapest of these pricy options is to fill the whole slab with steal mesh. This will still allow cracks to occur, because the concrete is shrinking around all this mesh, and the mesh might not be shrinking with it. The idea though, is that the mesh will keep the concrete from settling or from separating too badly. We do not install mesh, because it’s a high cost additive that doesn’t fully stop cracks from occurring. And since we pour your floor on compacted fill, we’re not worried about settling issues.

The next option, is to use a post-tensioned slab system. This will either keep the cracks from happening at all, or keep them so small that you’ll have a hard time seeing them. The only problem, is that your slab has to be twice as thick and cost 20 times what it normally would.

Generally, you only see post-tension slabs on things like tennis courts or large commercial styled projects where any visible crack really is a problem. They accomplish this by running thick steel cables through the concrete, then tightening and securing them to the outside of the concrete. Essentially, what they’re doing, is creating a gigantic spring every couple of feet that crisscross to suck the concrete into itself. This means that as the concrete shrinks, the steel springs help the concrete shrink across the ground it’s sitting on, keeping any cracks from forming, or at the very least, from separating.

Naturally, this is overkill for most homes.

Should I be worried about the cracks in my floor?

Generally, cracks in your floor are nothing to worry yourself over. The only time that you might be concerned is if the cracks start changing vertically, suggesting that there is some settling happening. On our homes, this is pretty rare, but if it does happen, the settling usually all takes place early on and we’re able to grind or fill the differences.

Ceramic or porcelain tile can struggle over cracks too. Since the concrete will always move just a hair from hot to cold seasons, those cracks might cause havoc for tile, causing joints or even the tiles themselves to crack.

Most good tile companies are used to dealing with this issue, and they’ll often bridge the cracks with products meant for such situations.

Caulking cracks in your floor does very little good. People are often worried about water coming up through the cracks, but on a patio home, your floor is well above any underground water. If you had a basement, then that would be different. Water would always be a concern, but even then, the cracks would do little to stop the water from penetrating, because concrete is not waterproof. It is porous, and water will leach through solid concrete and still flood your basement if it is present.

Once your carpeting and hard flooring are in place, you’ll quickly forget all about those cracks. They won’t be felt under your floor, and they won’t be a place for pests to hide.

Concrete cracks can seem scary at first, but they are common on almost every home that has a concrete floor. If anyone ever tells you that your concrete floor should not have any cracks whatsoever, beware, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Many of us have the day off work today. For the rest of us, we are left to contemplate human rights from our workplace.

Whether we are at home, on vacation, or continuing the daily grind, today is an important holiday. Many of us were around on August 28th, 1963 when Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his iconic speech. I remember speaking with one senior a few months ago about the time when she was a young  girl trying to survive the Chicago Riots of 1968.

Human rights, when you think about it, were very limited in the US, and not very long ago either. Many would argue that we still have a long way to go.

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

How far we’ve come

There is no doubt, that in the last hundred and fifty years, we as a nation have grown up considerably. Human rights have improved drastically for all races, genders, nationalities, and religions. Slavery, persecution, segregations, diminutive legal rights, and more are hopefully things of the past.

Without question, racism and persecution still exist, but with every new generation, we come closer to shedding the prejudice, pride, hate, and the pain that have existed for too long in our nation.

In many parts of the country, Mart Luther King’s, Jr.’s dream has become the reality, and for that we are grateful.

How far we have to go

Despite the progress we’ve made in the last several decades, the war rages on. The US is a giant melting pot, or so we’ve all been taught. Like multiple major waterfalls crashing together, this combination can be turbulent at first, but eventually, the expanded river grows strong and steady.

Even if we feel that we are near that calm end, there are still eddies of resistance that remain. We don’t have to look far to see these pockets of problems in the news, even today. When people persecute or bully others based on color or religion, you know the fight is far from over.

To think that Apartheid in South Africa lasted clear until 1994, is evidence that our world is still struggling to shake the shackles of separatism. And this isn’t just limited to racism.

In our day, there is an estimated 400,000 slaves still in some form of captivity, here in the US alone! That’s not even considering the 43+ million more around the world.

Laws around the world are quickly condemning slavery around the globe, but it is still an industry that thrives behind the scenes. Until we as a nation, and a world, can drop our fears of difference, our pride, greed, and elitisms, we’ll always be fighting this in some degree. For many of us, it takes opening our eyes, then being brave enough to confront it.

Today is a day to be inspired

So today, where-ever you are, don’t forget to take some time to reflect on our history. We have a lot of great reasons to be proud. Great men and women who have come before us have opened our eyes and made our country greater that it has ever been.

Just remember, that there is still room for many more great men and women to make a difference. Maybe that is by sharing your experiences with your kids and grandkids, or maybe it’s donating time to help those who are in need, or just being a friend. Being retired means that we have a spectacular opportunity. We have time. Time to have fun, but also time to do a lot of real good. In many cases, doing good and having fun can be one in the same.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Thank you for choosing one of Leisure Villas’ premiere retirement communities.

By this point, you are either living in one of our amazing homes for active adults, or you are about to move in and are reading this article to know how things work once you are here.

As always, we strive to build the best house we possibly can. Home construction however will occasionally have flaws or errors. Most of these are basic and easily corrected, but it does help to understand how the process works.

Getting Something Fixed

Expectations

First, managing expectations is an important part of home ownership. We pride ourselves on being Utah’s best builder for senior communities. We know that you want to retire into a home that is low maintenance and well suited to your lifestyle.

We do a great job at creating such communities, but we can’t negate all home-owner responsibilities. For instance, there’s obvious maintenance like replacing old light bulbs or smoke alarm batteries that we don’t do for you. Nor are we going to vacuum your carpets each week and replace your furnace filters every two months after you move in.

But there are other issues that may arise that don’t seem so cut and dry. For instance, the weather stripping on your door. This stuff eventually rubs off. Sometimes after some of the veins are gone, others still keep the weather out, but other times, it and needs replacing.

Also, it’s good to keep in mind, that there are industry standards for construction quality. We pride ourselves on exceeding many of these standards, and we do our best to accommodate marginal requests, but occasionally we may draw the line when a request becomes completely unreasonable.

When to make a request

Generally there are three main times that a fix request should be made.

    First:  Pre-settlement Inspection.

The pre-settlement inspection, also called a walk-through, should be done before a home is closed on and occupied. This is a time when the builder can show you through your home and explain all the different features and how to work them.

This is also an opportune time for you to see the home and discover any items that you feel are not up to industry standards. We’re always striving to have few to no items that need fixing at this stage. We spend several days before these walkthroughs, touching them up and getting them ready to occupy, but occasionally we miss something, and if you find something, we’ll do everything in our power to get it fixed before you move in, though sometimes, this isn’t possible right away. In those rare instances, we consider the problem to be a warranty issue, and we’ll finish it as soon as possible after you’ve moved in.

    Second:  14 Day Callback.

Ideally, once you’ve moved in, you should be able to enjoy your excellent new home. However, at this time, you might notice something that you and we missed during your initial walk-through. Not a problem. Let us know, we’ll be happy to fix it for you as soon as possible.

    Third:  One Year Callback

Here it is, the final warranty callback. By this time, you’ve lived in your home for a full year, and if there was any last minor things that have been bothering you that you, that didn’t get taken care of in the first two callbacks, this is the time to get them done, or forever hold your peace. We recommend letting us know within the last 14 days before your warranty expires.

We usually ask that you request warranties during these three main periods, this last one being important, because your warranty ends after this time, but also because if you wait till the one-year mark, your house will have finished settling as much as it is likely to. This means that any extra screws popping through sheetrock will be evident, and any other things that can fail or that were installed incorrectly will have presented themselves by now.

Most warranty requests made outside of these three main callback periods are usually considered a lower priority, since most anything major will have already been caught by the first two request periods. Thus we can’t always jump on every little thing in between, since we have other priorities that are more pressing. Besides, a lot of time is expended every time we have to do any warranty request, so if we can lump all of them together as often as possible, we are able to work much more efficiently.

If however you have a real serious problem, such as a water leak or your furnace stops working in the middle of the Winter, by all means, we’ll jump on that right away.

If you have any questions about what is or is not included in your warranty, feel free to ask one of our sales representatives. If they don’t have the answer for you, they can quickly find it.

How to submit a warranty claim

There are two main ways that we prefer warranty claims to be submitted. The first is via our online portal. At this time, that portal is maintained by BuilderTrend, a software that you will get a log-in and password to once you close. This log-in can be accessed through our website.

The other way you can submit a warranty request is to visit with our sales staff. During construction, and while we’re still selling homes in your community, we will maintain a sales staff dedicated to your neighborhood. Whenever you submit a request through them, please do so, preferable in type, since they will mostly be entering it into our BuilderTrend tracking software for you.

We discourage you from calling in your requests, unless it is an emergency, and we discourage you from stopping our construction team on site to discuss your warranty. This is because they are usually very busy, and while they will ultimately be in charge of getting any work performed, they don’t have time to visit with everyone everyday.

Thank you

We are very glad that you chose to buy a home in one of the top 55+ communities in Utah, built by Utah’s best builder of retirement homes. We sincerely hope you enjoy your home, and that everything we mentioned here makes sense.

If your experience is anything like the nearly 2000 other satisfied homeowners we’ve worked with in the past, then we expect that you too will agree that this will be the best move you ever made.

Welcome 2019. What better way to start off the new year, than with some early bird pricing?

If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you may know that the first few buildings that we place in a new 55+ community are priced very attractively.

Since we have a brand new community that has just been opened up for sale in Saratoga Springs, Utah, we’ve decided to do it again.

So if you’ve been sitting on the fence, deciding whether or not to buy into one of Utah’s best kept secrets, wait no longer.

Specials In Senior Communities for January 2019

The Villas At Legacy Farms

Our brand new community in Saratoga Springs is finally under construction. This means that we are now selling also. With so many local amenities, this is one of Utah’s most impressive locations for an active adult community.

In keeping with tradition, we evaluated the market price for our homes, and slashed $10,000 off of the first three buildings. Everything beyond those first few buildings is automatically for sale at the market price.

We’ve been doing this for about a decade now. We like to consider it a reward to our early buyers, since they can’t actually see the final product before it’s sold. Granted, they will easily be able to guess at the interiors, since we model the same floorplans in other subdivisions, but exterior elements often change from one community to the next.

Other Deals

Even though The Villas At Legacy Farms in Saratoga is sure to be a stellar location, Saratoga may not be the right fit for you. So you might be asking, Are we making any deals on any other 55+ communities?

Well, yes, but only for a very short time.

We’ve got some quick move-in deals available right now in our Vineyard Community, The Villas At Waters Edge.

This is a rare circumstance. We don’t often have many homes that we can offer a discount on, and the few that we do have will not last long. If you’re interested in living closer to Orem, then stop by Vineyard and check out our new community there.

With Spring around the corner, the homebuying season is soon to be back in full swing. So stop buy our sales office there today, and ask Josh what kind of special deals he can offer for a quick buy.

Best Time To Buy a Home

January is one of the best months to buy a home. Builders continue construction of homes all year long around here. Each year, after Halloween, sales start slowing down as more people focus on the holidays.

This is a predictable trend that happens each year, but because of it, builders are often eager to get a jump start on the new year, and to boost their sales in an effort to make up for slower sales during the Christmas season.

Typically, by April, all available inventory is sold out, and builders, instead of offering deals, are usually forced by market pressures to raise prices instead. So if you’re considering a move in the near future, you’re not likely to find better pricing on new homes than you are right now.

Stop on by and see what we have to offer.

 

The Holidays are past, and it’s time to get back to whatever we all do every other week of the year.

For many of us, the new year is a time to reflect and plan for the coming months. I know it sounds cliché, to make goals and hope that they last more than a month, but we all imagine and hope that we can keep the Christmas spirit alive all year long, so why not keep our ambitions high all year long as well.

In truth, if we’re to keep the Christmas spirit alive throughout the year, that takes some supreme ambition and effort on our part to accomplish.

Age matters very little. Whether we’re enjoying the high life in one of Leisure Villas’ wonderful 55+ communities, or still raising kids, we can all work to improve our personal lives.

To help with this, I’d like to share a few things that I like to do around this time of year. Maybe you have a better idea, and that is fine, too, but here is how I do my New Year’s personal renovations:

New Year’s Traditions

Celebrate

First of all, you made it through another year!

Maybe it was a stellar year, or maybe you had some difficult challenges. Maybe someone you love passed on and you don’t feel much like celebrating. Each year brings its own cornucopia of experiences.

Regardless of what I’ve gone through, I like to set a day apart. My own tradition includes watching a good movie with my family and splurging on some fancy cheese and crackers. I know, that probably doesn’t sound much like the way you’d want to celebrate, but I love crackers, cheese, and movies.

The other thing I do, aside from promise my wife that I will not spend any more money on weird cheese for the year, is I like to work on my personal growth plan.

Personal Growth

Yes, it’s true, I have a personal growth plan. I was inspired to put one together after reading one of John C. Maxwell’s books, though I