[quote author="awgee" date=1242724354][quote author="NewToOC" date=1242718932]So, the husband and I have been underwhelmed with the security provided by the Coto gate in the past. On any random weekend we could drive up to the gate with a printed MLS listing and gotten right through. So we planned to do this a couple weekends back when my brother and SIL were in town to show them Coto. They are fans of the Real Housewives show (its their trash tv of choice). Anywho...
This time the guard not only lets the four of us in but provides a handy map of all of Coto with all the open houses in Coto that weekend highlighted. The open houses included one on Shire (which is the street Vicki of the show lives in). He knew we weren't realtors. And it was after all the Saturday open houses had closed - around 5:15pm.
Does anybody know if the Coto HOA has issued a directive to their security staff to make it easier for home shoppers to look around?</blockquote>
Security is doing as instructed. It is not a matter of making it easier. It is just policy to let potential buyers look. My experience is that the security personnel are friendly and helpful.
Vicki lives next door to the open house last weekend. You can see her pool area from the backyard and vineyards.
Jeana lives a few houses down the street from the open house. To read a bit of dirt on the Keoughs, go to <a href="http://www.cotohousingblog.com/">Coto Housing Blog</a> and read the post titled, "NOD means Notice of Default."</blockquote>
We've been looking in Coto for a while, and they've always been real good about letting people in to look for homes, not just the past year... a few years back you just had to tell them which realtor you were working with but they changed the policy and you just say "We're here to look at homes"... as you mentioned, they'll give you the list of open houses (which is typically incomplete) and some ads.
Both of Vicki's neighbors have their home on the market (hmm... what does that tell you
). Vicki had hers on last year as well... asking way too much. Her back yard was nice, but the home I thought was pretty mediocre given her asking price ($3.7mil)... I hate to tell her, but her neighbor's home at $2.7mil is a MUCH nicer house... the lot location isn't the best from a privacy standpoint, but they did some nice things. If the neighbor's home is $2.7mil (which it appears to be having a hard time selling at), Vicki's home is probably in the low 2's. When we stopped by to see her <a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Coto-De-Caza/9-Shire-92679/home/5054746">neighbor's house</a>, you could hear Vicki and her daughter in a shouting match... and they were INSIDE the house. Ya, I think we'll pass on having her as a neighbor... even if her husband seems like a good guy. Haven't seen the <a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Coto-De-Caza/5-Shire-92679/home/5054737">home above her</a>... its priced a bit steep.
As mentioned, Jeana's home is on that street as well, diagonal from 9 Shire. It got a NOD, as mentioned. The amount isn't that much... not sure if they have other loans (Jeana mentioned in one of the early shows they owned like 4 homes), or like many couples going through a divorce are having hard times paying bills while things settle out. I met Jeana a few years back at an open house, and she seemed like a good person, so I wish her the best.
Delroy