One of the perks to living in a gated community is that there is no through traffic. With less traffic your children are a little safer when riding their bikes, walking to the park or headed to the bus stop. Another perk to living in a gated community is less crime. There are different levels of protection you will find in gated communities ones that always have a guard on duty to check ids and communities that have an automatic gate that opens and closes with a swipe of a residents’ card or a known code. It’s very easy to get into the gates without a guard on duty, just by waiting for someone else to go in the gate first. Take that into consideration if you’re looking for better security. Also on the pro side of buying in a gated community, home values hold up very well and they tend to have higher price tags than similar homes outside of gates.

Some of the drawbacks to living behind gates is the feeling of being “locked in” and always having your comings and goings monitored by a guard. Having to wait for the pizza guy or the service company while they are being “buzzed” in. There are also maintenance costs and dues in many of these gated communities. Pay heed in buying properties that are located just inside the gates, or within view of the gates, these properties may lessen in value.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 7:39 am and is filed under General, Buyers Advice and Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.