snj_2000

Hi All,
We are moving to the OC area (Irvine, Tustin up to Yorba Linda - still fully TBD) in October and would like opinions on gated communities..........

We do not know anyone in the area and have 2 small kids (3 and 1) so thought this would be a good option for the first 12 months at least in order to meet people and find activities etc to do.

I will be working, my wife will not, we will be renting not buying.

They seem nice places with lots to do for the kids etc but wondered if anyone had any experiences to share?

Thanks

AdobePinon

Never lived in one, but they always seem like places for people who don't want to meet anyone.

Sally Redux

That's my feeling. Could be wrong, maybe they just don't want to meet me

kodokan

We live in one, and it think it can very much depend. Ours is gated, but it's quite small (around 60 houses in total), and because the houses aren't ridiculously palatial and expensive, it has LOTS of families in it. Consequently, it's very social, at least for the kids - they run feral, playing in the street barefoot, climbing trees, riding bizarre vehicles and golf carts up and down the roads, organizing impromptu 'night games' where they play variations on a theme of Pack A of young teens hunting down Pack B in a Marco Polo/ cops 'n' robbers fashion.

But in the other hand, this is all informal - there's nothing officially organized for families here. Parents of much younger kids must meet through baby music groups or some such. Or church - there would be a TON of meeting and socalising through church, but we don't go.

Hotscot

That sounds like hell....

and

(a Marco Polo/ cops 'n' robbers fashion)

Sally Redux

A nightmare game invented by the Marquis de Sade.

Nutek

++

Not my thing .. and not at all how I imagined one of these places to be.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Interesting to know.

Sally Redux

The ones around here are like morgues. Not sure which sounds worse.

Nutek

I quite like the don't-meet-anyone-ever idea.

But the ones I have seen all seem to have pet (dogs) restrictions that I couldn't live with.

sir_eccles

Communities gated or not are what you make of them. Being gated does not magically make them any more or less social (or safer for that matter as everyone knows the code from UPS to the pizza delivery guy).

It all depends on the people getting out and doing things. As for HOAs it really depends on who is running them if you'll get a stiff letter complaining about your kids running around.

ChocolateBabz

We live in one, just gated not manned, remote or code to get in. It's a false sense of security as people will tailgate residents in so it's nowhere near 100% secure. On the other hand it is really quiet, no outlet so no cars using our streets as a shortcut, they do in the non gated section. We don't get bothered with many cold callers which is another bonus. We also haven't had as many burglaries as the non gated section, not that there have been many but I guess burglers want a quick getaway, not being stopped by a gate before exiting. We do pay extra H.O.A. fees for the priviledge.

The main reason we chose this side of the development was the bigger lots, houses more spaced out and lots more green space.

Nutek

Some around here that have some lovely looking houses.

Sally Redux

Some in Calabasas are very sterile and the houses are MacMansions, others like Hidden Hills (a gated town really) have a more established, equestrian feel.

I just don't like that 'keep out' concept.

kodokan

Oh, you know, variations on a hunting each other down either individually or in teams, like Kick the Can or 1-2-3 Block Home, etc. Only after dark, for more challenge/ spookiness.

You're right, it IS hell. I am not, it turns out, a suburbs person at all, and find a lot of other people, especially kids, bothersome. But it gets my Skype-dwelling teen out sometimes for eye-to-eye contact socializing, and my 10 yr old daughter LOVES it, being the social butterfly she is. The community is like a giant open house after school and at the weekends, where she and a couple of her buddies roam around freely on their scooters, eventually washing up at someone's house depending on who currently has the best snacks or a spare parent to supervise the pool or someone willing to host an ad hoc sleepover.

So given the alternatives are arranging play dates and driving her back and forth to her friends (and then I'd have to interact with their parents), or her sitting alone staring at a screen, or *shudder* having to play Littlest Pet Shop karaoke with her myself, I'm (wo)manfully sucking up this life stage of being not at all about me. And looking forward to selling this house and downsizing to a city centre apartment or camper van once they've left home, and getting in a stack of books taller than me, and not speaking to anyone for months.

Sally Redux

I have really gone off kids lately (was never terribly keen).

I like to see people around, which I like about the apartment we are in now, but not necessarily have much to do with them.