I lived in Sun City Hilton Head from 2008 to 2013. My stucco house was built in 2005. I started to address the cracks in the stucco in 2011 having an infrared study done by a resident in Sun City. It passed the initial home inspection. The first year was ok but with sections on the border of failure. In 2012 the test revealed a failure and Pulte had to replace one side. The problem here is that they did not change the location of the expansion joints around the windows and set up another failure in the future and the other sides were headed for failure. Pulte did not charge me anything because they want to mitigate the class action suit but there is no guarantee that they will continue to fix stucco problems free of charge. Infrared test costs are paid by the homeowner and have to be done once a year or once every two years at a cost of @ $200. Furthermore, I had cracks in the foundation, and the overall quality of the house for being built in 2005 was poor. The HVAC system and roof were going to need replacement earlier than one would expect. I had cracked tiles and window leaks. All things that you would think I would have seen or read about in the home inspection when I bought the house. But you get caught up with the allure of Sun City and a house on a lagoon that you put the practical side on the back burner. The major reason I moved back north was that I felt that within 10 years I would be spending a chunk of my retirement savings to maintain a house that was fairly new.
Plus, Sun City was not the best fit for me. Politically, it is tea party conservative and I felt I was living in a large nursing home at times because there is a large segment of the population who have owned there for twenty years and are now in their 80s. Also the expense of having three golf courses would increase the POA at some point. This is just my opinion and I also felt that a large segment of the residents felt self-entitled. I worked for the management company there in a customer service position for 5 years which added to my perception. I guess the bottom line is that I am highly suspect over the construction quality of all the homes built there (even the new section) and would recommend that perspective buyers look at the overall fit of moving into a large, and aging senior community.
