So both my wife and I visit PD regularly. There's at least 1 additional friend that is waiting for the last phase. I think what attracted us to DH and to my friend's family is basically it's one of the last developments in what arguably is a nice part of CV. With all due respect to people that live along 56, etc, those areas are sort of out there from what we normally like to be (beach, malls, close to work, etc).
I guess what makes me and some friends like plan 3 is the loft option in the attic and the attraction of a brand new home to "customize". And PD did a great job marketing that. The thing that I don't like about DH though is that
1) a lot of the lot sizes are really odd shaped.
2) No real 3 car garage. Tandem sucks.
3) For such an ubber size home on plan 3, it sort of stinks to have such a small 1-door entry.
4) The price (for us) is ridiculous.
Ok, admittently, it's mainly #4 that's the problem for us. My wife hates plan 3, prefers plan 2, can't stand plan 1. I don't like plan 2 and prefer 3, don't really think plan 1 would be much of an upgrade for us. On top of that, very few units are in compliance with our "fong shui" needs. Also, obviously for us to motivate moving at this point, would mean we would need to sell our existing home giving up a view that my wife likes that most likely we won't have if we moved to DH (most homes have backyard views of neighbors), and also sinking more money into a debt that won't be recovered for a long while. So obviously, unless there will be a firesale (which I highly doubt), it's simply not going to be on our radar.
Make no mistake, the existing prices for plan 3 are out of price range. though I suppose we could stretch to live there, it's simply beyond our level of comfort, especially in this economy. It's also pretty pointless for us to argue whether home prices are going to "hold value" in Pardee communities. If you agree that most likely you're not going to see appreciation in the next 5 years, and if you're like most people that are going to take a mortgage out, it's already a liability.
It will be interesting to see what kind of financing some buyers in such new communities did. I suspect there might be a few(not a lot) that are on sketchy loans.
If you're seriously considering plan3, why not consider something comparable like Lexington? At least you won't be paying an annoyingly higher HOA from the new communities.
