7 Advantages of Living in a Gated Community

Gated communities are not just for the elderly, they provide numerous benefits to homeowners of any age. Local real estate agents can help you locate all the gated communities in your area, some hidden gems that you might not realize are hiding in plain sight. If you are still considering life inside a gated community, the following information should convince you why this is a safe living option and a great way to grow your investment.

  1. Discouraging and Blocking Solicitation – Perhaps there is no greater pleasure living in a gated community and knowing those survey takers and salesmen are not welcome to come knocking on your door. Solicitation of any kind is discouraged by the association, so anyone looking to pedal magazine subscriptions or get you to switch cable providers is going to have to ring the doorbell of someone living outside the gated community. No more hiding behind the peep-hole as a pushy salesman is looking to convince you to buy something you don’t need in the first place.

 

By eliminating solicitation, this also helps to make the community safer because those looking to cause harm by pretending to sell items in the hope of casing out the house are not going to make it by the gate.

 

  1. Keeping Vehicle Speeds Down – One of the biggest issues of living outside the gated community is you have to deal with drivers going by the house at dangerous speeds. If you live near the main road, many drivers like to speed through quiet neighborhoods to bypass traffic, putting everyone at risk. Not only is this a danger trying to back out of the driveway, all children near the street are now at risk of being hit by this reckless driver. Gated communities have slower posted speed limits, and drivers outside the community can’t access the roads to use as shortcuts.

 

Guests to the gated community have to come to a full stop before they can enter, allowing them to become more aware of the surroundings and start their baseline speed at a more appropriate level.

 

  1. Safer Conditions for Pedestrians – Due to the lower speeds in the gated community, it is a much safer place to get out and walk around. Whether you are walking your dog or riding your bike, slower vehicle driving speeds mean you are safer from getting injured. Perhaps you like jogging before or after work, you won’t have to worry that a distracted driver doing 60 mph is going to slam into you from behind anymore. The gated community has lower posted speed limits and those usually driving are residents anyway, so they tend to drive at an even lower rate to make certain their neighbors are safe.

 

This also means you can relax a little knowing the children who are playing or riding in the gated community are not going to be exposed to drivers who treat the road as their own personal racetrack.

 

  1. Increased Security in the Community – Just the presence of the gate at the entrance of the community can act as a deterrent to vandals and thieves. If you are in the market for buying a home, there really is no safer place to live than inside the gated community. Neighbors tend to know each other and watch out for each other, so anyone walking or driving in the area that looks suspicious is quickly spotted by many people who are concerned for the safety of the community as a whole. Vandals and thieves will want to find easier targets that try to sneak into the gated community where they can be quickly identified.

Although the gate at the front of the community is not going to keep all trouble out, it sends a message to a potential criminal that they are going to be dealing with a whole community rather than a single house.

 

  1. Higher Sense of Community – When you are driving around house hunting, you want to be in an area where you have neighbors you can enjoy as much as the location itself. In a gated community, most residents have this sense of community because they feel everything behind that gate is controlled. By knowing instantly who is a friend and who is a stranger, it is easier to trust your neighbors. These communities often have block parties, family socials, community yard sales, and other group gatherings.

 

Taking care of one another and looking out for their property when they are not home are some reasons people love living in these gated communities.

 

  1. Increased Property Values – Rest assured that if you move into a gated community today, when it comes time to selling your home, you can expect higher property values.  Regardless of what real estate sites such as Zillow say, there are many factors that affect your homes value. Part of the reason your house value is increasing all the time has to do with limited space, building codes, and the HOA of a gated community. Even if you did nothing to the house, when it comes time to selling your home, the community itself helps to increase the overall appeal and value of the property.

 

These gated communities are often the first place many potential buyers are looking when thinking of moving.

 

  1. Controlling Access to the Community – Visitors to the gated community will need either a friend to allow them in or a gate code, which helps to accurately record anyone who entered or left the community. The front gate area will often have a security camera running around the clock, further helping to identify the driver or license plate of anyone who came into the community.

 

This controlled entry and exit of the gated community ensures residents will enjoy less in the way of unwanted traffic and have a better awareness of who entered and left the neighborhood.

 

If you are in the market for buying a home, make sure you allow the real estate agents to show you all the properties available in gated communities too. You may discover that the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience of having to identify yourself before entering the community each day.