Would you live in a gated community?

[ringmastery]

[wyldwolf]

1. I'd rather not...

We're looking at houses in Swim and Tennis communities now (not gated, but close.)

And the Home Owners Association covenants are so strict you can't burp in your front yard without permission.

We've almost decided to buy land and wait another year and build on it.

[ikojo]

32. There's an X Files episode where Mulder and Scully

move into a gated community to investigate some mysterious disappearances. Seems the man who oversees the community regulations takes out those who challenge the rules.

[Bridget Burke]

34. Actually, it's his pet Tulku (Tibetan demon?) that kills rule-breakers.

It's one of my favorite episodes. Mulder in a pink Izod shirt! Mulder using a pink flamingo as his symbol of rebellion.

Darn, after the show's last season or 2, it's great to remember just how good X-files could be.

[mr_hat]

2. I wouldn't live in a metropolitan area that has gated communities.

[CanuckAmok]

3. That would be kind of drafty, wouldn't it?

Give me good ol' walls and windows anyday!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I hate the very idea

It's the affluent withdrawing in snobbishness and exaggerated fear from their fellow human beings. It's the one of the most elite phenomena I can think of.

What's next? Guards with boiling oil to keep the peasants out?

Imagine what it does to children to be brought up in a compound like that: everyone who is Not Our Kind of People is to be feared and despised.

[tedoll78]

15. Whenever I hear the phrase "master plan community"

I think "yeah.. master race community."

Just expensive enough to keep "the undesireables" out. :eyes:

[FloridaJudy]

30. or "restricted development"

I remember when "restricted" meant "No Jews Allowed". :mad:

Weird. My Jewish former in-laws bought a condo in a "restricted development", and saw nothing ironic about it.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. "Autocratic Institutions". I will NOT be told how to live my life.

If a porch light goes out, you better fix it or you'll get fined.

:puke:

[ramapo]

6. No

Gated communities are unamerican.

[Zorro]

7. Yes

I live in a gated community. I like it.

Not much traffic on the streets, no Jehovah's witnesses knocking on the door, people can't leave crap laying around in their front yards/driveways, etc. etc.

It's a lot less restrictive, expensive, and contentious than a condo association.

[stopbush]

8. Yes, we're thinking about it here in Vegas.

We currently live in an ungated community, right near a turn-in from a semi-busy street. The assholes around here NEVER slow down when they come in. There are children playing up and down the street all day long, but these drivers - who live here, BTW! - can't seem to keep it under 40 mph when presented with 200 feet of straight away. Believe it or not, the dickweed down the street ran over his own kid's foot with his Hummer last fall! Jee-bus, what idiots!

The other problem is the garbage and littering. We have a McD's about 3/4 of a mile in one direction and a Jack-in-the-box 1/2 mile in the other direction. That semi-busy street I mentioned is a virtual garbage dump (though the city cleans it all up just about every day) with kids tossing shit from their cars all day and all night. I just don't get it.

The move to a gated community - where the exact same house may cost you only another $5,000 - is a real option here. It's not a perfect solution, but it's no snob hill either. At least you lose the garbage and the speeding assholes (it's hard to speed into a gated community when you need to stop at the gate and maybe say hello to a security person).

[ronnykmarshall]

12. No JW's???

Well maybe that's not such a bad idea!

[LiberalFighter]

9. The would legislate how I would have to dress in my own home!

[Wcross]

10. I already do!

I have a farm gate at the end of my driveway so the cows don't wander off. I have a private security force as well. Angel, Buddy, PD and the three pups patrol my property to keep me safe from the deer, turkey and rabbits that might ruin my garden. Farm life is good!

[tedoll78]

16. That sounds GOOD!

I can't wait!

My dad's an architect, and he's designing a stone building for me and my partner; we're gonna live on some wooded acreage north of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana.. about an hour north of New Orleans. It'll be totally solar, complete with well and satellite TV. The only kind of connection I'll need to the outside world will be some sort of an internet connection. Good times, indeed!

[ronnykmarshall]

11. No.

A friend of mine lived in a nice condo complex in Daly City (just over the SF city line) and it was a pain in the ass. You have to either have a code or call when you went to visit.

I used to ride my scooter from the city to visit and the "guards" used to act like I Osama when I got to THE GATE.

[Piperay]

13. A gated community is a

really good place to be if you travel a lot, you don't have to worry so much about what could happen to your home while you are gone. :thumbsup: I don't live in one but if I can ever find the time to travel I would really consider it.

[tedoll78]

14. No, no, a thousand times no.

I hate having neighbors. The noise, the bother, having to look at whatever may be on their front lawns, etc.
And I hate homeowner associations, which are invariably tied to living in these communities.

[DrWeird]

17. Well shit, why don't I travel back in time to 1930's germany.

But maybe I'd live in a gated community if it was designed to keep out SUV driving, overpaid, snobbish WASPs.

[JCMach1]

18. Ironically, I kinda sorta do now...

All faculty and most students live here on campus. We have quite good security (including gates).

However, for me, it's an added level of comfort living in the ME like we do.

Most places in the U.S., it is just PARANOIA.

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. I refuse to live in any community that would let people like me live there

(Ah, the spirit of Groucho is strong in this one... ;-) )

[Florida_Geek]

20. I am soon moving to a "gated" Apartment Complex

But not a expensive one, really cheap they include electric in their rent.

I have had my car broke into, and it is a major problem with apartment complexes in my area.

Maybe the "gate" will not stop all car brake ins but...

[supernova]

21. I don't now; my sister and her family are

building a house in Raleigh's largest gated community. God it's huge! Several swimming pools, golf course, several tennis clubs, there's just no end to this place. It also comes with it's own attached strip mall with BJs and Wallyworld included.

To be fair it is a mixture of housing types. There's everything from McMansions to townhouses.

But the by-laws in that place or ferocious, all the way down to not leaving your kid's toys in the front yard overnight. :crazy:

[RoadRunner]

22. RoadRunner says ...

it's not where you live, it's how you live. If you live your days in awareness and compassion (not the phony GWB kind of compassion), then you can be quite happy anywhere. Even in a gated community.

[Bertha Venation]

23. I have, in a way -- a condo building. Wouldn't again.

The security was a joke, what with most of the residents letting in all kinds of rabble (for most of the condos were used as rentals). But for where the building was located, I felt safer than I would've with zero security measures.

Now I live in the country (although suburban city-escape creep is beginning to encroach) and never want to live any other way.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. Plus you know have room for MORE cats!

<Don't tell Mrs. V I suggested it!>

[Bertha Venation]

29. LOL As if you could plant an idea

that wasn't already in my mind. :7 I ask her about once a week if she needs a kitten. Strange; she always says no. :shrug:

[BiggJawn]

24. No. No Escape when the mob comes...

Does a gated community REALLY offer security? Some old semi-retired fat guy at the gate armed with a clipboard and "Expected Guest list"? sporadic "patrols" (probably more intent on finding violations of the "Door Swag Covenant" than crime)?

Roust 'em out and herd 'em against the fence in the back corner....

I think gated communities only send the message "Dig *US*! We're RICH! and we want to be insulated from the smelly rabble while we agonize that our neighbour's H-2 is 3 weeks newer than ours..."

[Whitacre D_WI]

26. I can't imagine I'd be welcome...

:shrug:

[NashVegas]

27. Yeah, Sure

I've always wanted to experience medieval life in a modern setting.

[Robb]

28. Gated, no. MOATED, yes! nt

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

31. I did for a brief time and here is what happened.

It was the ONLY time my home and car were broken into in my entire 45 years on the planet.
They had this thing called a homeowner's association...mostly made up of the kind of people that would peep into your home if they had the opportunity. These were people who DID NOT observe who broke into your home or car, but QUICKLY observed if you parked in your roomate's spot rather than the spot that was on your parking pass and cited you.

It was 4 years of sheer hell.

I will always and forever do my best never to live where there are gates or a homeowners association ever again.

I'd rather pour gas all over my body and light it on fire. :D

[dawn]

33. I already do. All apartment communities around here are gated.

It's Irvine, what do ya expect?

But the gate is usually always open. I don't really see the point. It's probably just there to help justify the high rents.