[quote=EconProf]Earlyretirement, you’ve already mentioned the biggest Santaluz flaw–the 5-figure entry fee + $200/mo cost of joining the club that would enable us to use the gym, pool, coffee shop. Most of us residents haven’t joined and would if the price were lowered. Some day they will discover the concept of elasticity of demand and cut the price in half, double their membership, and bring in the same total revenue.[/quote]
Yeah. That’s what I figured. Here is what I really noticed doing lots of due diligence before visiting the area… not many residents or prospective buyers in Santaluz post much information on the internet about it or the Hacienda club dues, fees, etc. Usually a quick Google search will tell me all I need to know with the power of the internet.
But I didn’t find that to be the case with Santaluz. When you talk to realtors, it seems like they really don’t want to talk about the Hacienda or Spa Club or Golf club fees. Yeah, the HOA fees are splashed all over Redfin, etc. so you know those plus the Mello Roos but it seems like the Club memberships you gotta factor in as well and not much information about that online so hopefully my posts change that.
When I asked Kelly, what percentage of total residents in Santaluz have either a Hacienda or Spa membership. She told me it was “over 80%”! I really find that hard to believe but maybe I’m wrong. If any of you Pigs that live in Santaluz have the true actual % I’d really love to hear it and would appreciate it.
I totally agree with you EconProf about them lowering the fee and getting more people to join and probably making more money in the grand scheme of things. I can’t believe they need all of those employees there. But maybe I’m wrong. Just speaking from the outside looking in. Their operating budget has to be huge. Maybe eventually they will change their model and I think it would be a welcome change. Unless the total membership really is “over 80%”.
So today, I spent many more hours driving around Santaluz and doing some second viewings of houses I saw and liked.
It’s amazing some of the houses under construction there. I saw this MONSTER sized custom house being built. It was gigantic. It had to be at least 13,000 sq. feet or so. Just enormous.
And they are so meticulous here. Even at the entrance when we were getting a visitor pass. They actually have a laser printer there at the security guard gate. And it has your name on it, with a special holographic sticker on it. Then it has the directions to the address you are going to.
Just that kind of detail tells you they really thought things through and security is tight. I saw the special holographic sticker and got a chuckle. I guess I understand why they need to charge $205 a month for the Hacienda club memberships plus the $450 a month HOA fees. Ha, ha.
But seriously, security is pretty good there. All the times we’ve been driving around there the past few days, there is a security guard driving around on a motorized golf cart. Not sure how many of these security guards there are but I saw a few golf carts so have to figure there are a few. Although I imagine it’s a fairly eventless job.
Something that I think also is worth mentioning is that we went to the restaurant area and the pool/gym area two times. Both times it was TOTALLY dead. In the gym there was one guy working out on a treadmill one time and another woman the other time. NO ONE in the pool. Of course this was during the day but still I figured there would be people using them if they truly have 80%+ membership.
I’ve found it’s typically not a good sign when you have more employees working vs. clients in the place which was the case.
But all of the employees were VERY friendly, had smiles on their faces and seemed to love their jobs which is always a plus. But I still strongly believe they would be wise to drastically lower their fees and increase membership. But I guess it would be really tough considering that all of the previous people that already paid this fee to join. Things like this sometimes become a never ending vicious circle.
I drove some more past Camino del Sur into 4S Ranch and I saw some other areas that I didn’t see the other day. Some developments are better than others but ocrenter is totally correct in what he writes about it. No doubt, I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a great area to raise kids because I think it would and it’s still in the Poway school district. But I still think that the difference is night and day still with the high Mello Roos taxes.
I also had my Ipad so I was walking around and seeing exactly what point of Camino del Sur some houses were located at with Google Maps and measuring noise. Some were much better than others. It depends where exactly it is.
I wish there was decent inventory in Verrazzano. It’s really a gorgeous development and the manicured parks there are beautiful. Looks like great quality of life without the high HOA fees.
Looking at some more houses tomorrow in Carmel Valley. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week!
