Senior Living
Richard and Vivian Young purchased a home at Lake Lanier in 2007, and soon realized they downsized too much. They sought more space, but still on the lake. The couple, who are 65, purchased a new single-family home in Cresswind at Lake Lanier, assisted by Susan Jankoski with Harry Norman, Realtors. Richard chatted about the active adult community, which was previously called Seasons on Lake Lanier and purchased by the Kolter Group in 2010 after developer Levitt & Sons went bankrupt.
Q: Did you have concerns about purchasing in a neighborhood that had changed hands?
A: That was a big fear -- that they would go in there and do the same thing that Levitt had done. (Kolter is) a fairly well-capitalized company. They’ve got several projects. There’s some feedback on some of the websites I found that some of their customers had put on there that they do honor their agreements. The first thing they did after they bought Seasons and renamed it Cresswind was they tore down several houses ... and also several foundations that were not up to snuff. Now they’re in the process of building the tennis courts and the (36,000-square-foot) clubhouse.
Q: How did the size of this home meet your needs?
A: What they put on their plans (theirs is the Viola floor plan) as a second bedroom, we made into a den. Then the upstairs bonus room is what we made into the second bedroom. It’s sort of a loft thing. You go up the stairs, and it just opens up. It has extremely high ceilings. It had a lot of upgrades in it. Almost the entire main area is hardwood, with the exception of the office and the master bedroom. It’s got the granite countertops. It’s got surround sound. It’s got a gas fireplace. It was just what we were looking for.
Q: What social aspects attracted you to Cresswind?
A: They have clubs. They’ve got a walking club. They’ve got a craft club. They’ve got education clubs. As the term implies, it is active adult. I wished we had moved here 10 years ago. Of course, 10 years ago, it wasn’t there. The neighbors that we’ve met so far have really been friendly. We’ve got some great neighbors that have just moved in from Texas. Right now when you buy in there, they assign you a username and password and you go onto the private part of the website and they have a calendar there. They have line dancing and men’s card night. It’s not exactly a nursing home.
Q: What tip do you have for others searching for an active adult community?
A: Be prepared to pay for what you want. Our dues ($200 a month) cover a lot of things. There are other places with smaller association dues that they don’t have the amenities. Look for what you’re going to use. We’ve got a pontoon boat, and we love going out and cruising up and down and finding a quiet spot and sitting and reading. Of course, we wanted to be able to meet people in groups that had the same type of interests that we do, so this affords us an opportunity to do this as well.
At a glance
Richard and Vivian Young’s home in Cresswind at Lake Lanier has two bedrooms, three baths and an estimated 2,300 square feet. They purchased it in February. Homes in Cresswind, north of Atlanta, range from the high $100,000s to mid-$300,000s.
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