SUN CITY – Over the last 15 years, Sun City has partnered with the Village of Huntley, Centegra Health, and Jameson’s, and other food and beverage organizations. All these relationships have enriched the experiences of residents.
This year, a large group of informal partners has emerged – a couple of dozen real estate firms who have taken the baton of marketing the Sun City lifestyle from Pulte Homes.
The Sun City community association staff formalized this transition with a realtor forum on June 24. More than 75 brokers and agents from area real estate firms came to Drendel Ballroom to get the latest and most up-to-date information on how to market and sell Sun City homes.
In a fortunate coincidence, this transition from Del Webb and Pulte into the local real estate marketing community is taking place right in the middle of the real estate industry’s recovery from one of its worst recessions.
Area firms such as Huntley Realty, Remax, and Century 21 have been active in Sun City almost from the beginning, servicing residents alongside the Del Webb/Pulte build-out process that was completed in the first quarter of this year. The forum’s purpose was to formally announce the build-out completion and provide area realtors with the latest information on Sun City programs, governing documents, regulations, and recreational facilities.
“I think the forum was an excellent idea,” said Joan Hightower, a realtor from Huntley Realty. “It was very informative; they gave us a packet with a wealth of information about Sun City programs and activities. I’ve been working with homeowners in Sun City for a while, but I learned a lot of new things in this forum.”
She added that most of her time in the last year has been spent on Sun City properties.
“We at Huntley Realty have open houses in the community every Sunday now. We have closed sales on 102 detached homes in the last six months, and 35 attached units.”
A resident of Sun City, Hightower worked for Baird & Warner in the Chicago area before joining Huntley Realty a few years ago. Huntley Realty’s office is in the Village Green Center next to Jewel-Osco.
Lynn Klein, owner of Century 21 Heritage, also was enthusiastic about the forum.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea; we learned a lot of new things about Sun City,” she said. “I had several agents there, and we found it very valuable. We are very busy right now; the market is recovering. Prices are going up modestly, and overall, things are looking better.”
Century 21 Heritage has offices in Hampshire, Marengo, and on the town square in Huntley. Like Huntley Realty, Century 21 has been active in Sun City for more than a decade.
The forum was organized and presented by a new marketing committee recently formed by the association’s IT/Communications Department, managed by Kathleen Flannery.
Bill Pennock, executive director of the association, made a special presentation and distributed a fact sheet on Sun City. It included nuggets of information, such as the association has a $12 million annual budget, most of which is funded by a resident monthly assessment of $135. A seven-member board of directors is responsible for the operation of the association and sets policy. Wentworth Property Management has been the managing agent since 2007. Wentworth currently has 51 full-time and 44 part-time associates working in seven departments. About half of them are residents of Sun City.
Wentworth recently became part of First Services Residential, a national senior adult community management organization.
