I'd love to share my thoughts on the good, the bag, & the ugly of living at Coromandel. Let's start with the good:
The Good
1. Landscaping - the landscaping is lovely. Taking an evening stroll around the property in the morning and afternoon can be so peaceful and serene. It's also nice to look out your windows to a beautiful view. It can almost feel like you're on vacation!
2. Windows - the condos have floor to ceiling windows, and the natural sunlight is always wonderful. Even in a small unit, you never feel boxed in with all the windows. It's also nice that the condo association replaces them (at no expense to you) when they need replacing.
3. Swans - the complex rents swans over the summer to keep the geese away. Most of the ponds on the property are in pairs, so which pond gets the swans nest switches from year to year. Their little cygnets are precious to watch.
4. 4th of July Fireworks - are close by and you have a lovely view!
5. Walking distance to a nice strip mall and several restaurants
The Bad
1. Only original owners can rent out their condos - read the by-laws on this before you buy, and don't count on your real estate agent to know the policy, because most do not. There's some wiggle room in their for renting to family, and a one-year hardship exception - - but if you'd like the flexibility of moving away but keeping your unit as an investment property, this might not be the place for you.
2. Property Manager - I don't find the current one to be very helpful. I've found that they only way to get follow-up is to speak to him in person, either at the office or on the phone. My emails and voice mails never get returned.
3. Pools aren't that great - during summer weekends, it seems that every pool chair is taken, despite caps on guests per unit. I never thought the inside pool and hot tub were maintained all that well. People let little kids play in the hot tub. Swim diapers (disposable or cloth) are not allowed, so that makes it tough for families or guests with really young children.
4. Outside parking limited at times - especially on summer weekends, it can be hard to find a free spot in your building's designated parking lot. Again, I think guests just take over the lots.
5. Foot steps heard above. If you live on the 1st or 2nd floors, I think it's fair to expect that you will hear foot steps from your neighbors above you. I know there's policies around things like padding under hardwood floor, etc to try to mitigate that problem, but I still heard my neighbor's foot steps above me.
6. The facilities manager-type person has his own handyman business that makes a pretty penny around Coromandel. Almost every time he's come to our unit for a facility manager task, he's tried to sell me some service related to his handyman business. Seriously, how is this not a conflict of interest?
The Ugly
1. Underground Parking Garage - I think it's terribly designed for maneuverability. The parking spots are packed in like sardines, there's big posts all over that make spots even tighter, and it's just not good. I strongly advise anyone looking to live at Coromandel to walk through the underground parking, find where your designated spot is, and gauge your comfort with it. Look around at the corners and posts - you'll see car paint all over from where cars dinged, swiped, etc. If your car is of high value, rare, or just really important to you - keep this all in mind. And while you might feel confident in your ability to move around safely - how will you feel if someone else dings your car?
2. Lots of policing, tattletale neighbors - there are some residents who seem to have self-appointed themselves community police chief, mayor, etc. They like to tattle to the Property Manager for things like having the wrong kind of grill, etc. One of my neighbors pulled out the Welcome Wagon when I arrived, but rather than talking to me when I had something out of compliance, they tattled to the prior Property Manager, and she said something about the issue in the community newsletter (but no one ever talked to me personally). It's just hard to feel truly at home in a "community" where people aren't very nice to each other.
Like any place, Coromandel has it's ups and downs. read more