Before You Buy in Leisure World Seal Beach, Watch This

So, you're thinking about buying in Leisure World Seal Beach? Well, hold up. Before you write that offer, I'm going to tell you the good, the bad, and the weird things that you need to know before you commit to living in this 55 plus community. [Music] Hi, my name is Steve Batis and I specialize in helping people relocate to Southern California, especially in the unique communities like Leisure World in Sil Beach. So, let's talk real talk into what it's like to live behind those famous gates. What Leisure World really is, it's not a nursing home. It is a 55 plus community. It's an active adult community. So, one of the things they're going to do when you move in there is they're going to have an interview with you. And part of that interview is to make sure that you can handle yourself, you can take care of yourself. They're not going to throw you out if you've lived there for 20 years and you can't take care of yourself then, but they want to make sure coming in that you're able to take care of yourself. Leisure World is also a co-op community. There's 6,000 plus units in there. There's about 9,000 people living in the community. The whole of Seal Beach is roughly about

20 21,000 people. So, Leisure World takes up about half of Seal Beach. And you'll see that like as you come down into Oldtown and you're in the community, it it kind of feels more of a retirement community. There are a lot of younger people that live in Seal Beach as well, but for the most part, at least half, probably close to 65 70% are seniors. So Leisure World being a co-op is a lot different than buying a condo or buying a single family home. You take ownership basically by shares of the corporation. So you don't actually own the unit. You have shares which allows you to access the unit and you can sell the unit and you can upgrade the unit and you can get that equity once you upgrade the unit. Or if you don't upgrade the unit, you live there 20 years, the price is bound to go up. For the most part, equity grows a lot slower in Leisure World. I mean, if you think about it, a lot of those units were built back in the early '60s, 1963. Um, and now you can get units in there for the high twos, 300,000, 350, all the way up to I've seen them in there for about 750. So, we're talking from

1963, we've only gotten to a maximum of 750. So, it's a little bit slower growing in there. And one of the reason why is because it is an allcash community. It's a senior community. So people move there and then they live out the rest of their lives there a lot of times. Being all cash makes it a lot harder for people to qualify to move in there. So it kind of keeps the prices within range for people that want to move in there. Now for the most part, Leisure World is cash only. There is one mutual, Mutual 17, which does allow for you to get a loan. Those are condominiums in that. They're in three-story buildings, so you're going to have somebody either above you, below you, or maybe above and below you, but you can get loans on those. Those units are usually going to start around 4450. Again, depending on the time that you watch this video, I mean, they can be a lot higher if it's 10 years from now, but right now in 2025, they're starting around 400,000. Those are all two-bedroom units, two bath. They're laid out fairly nice. They have balconies. When you enter the building, you actually enter through a lobby. Either get on the elevator if you're

on the second or third floor, and you ride up to your your floor, get off, and walk down the hall. It's a little bit different. The co-ops, they're either singlestory or they're two-story building. Two-story buildings do have elevators in most of them. There are one, I'm pretty sure there's only one that I've seen that does not have the elevator in it. Not sure why they let that one slide, but there is one right when you come in the front gate that does not have an elevator in that first stairwell. So, most people don't realize I get a lot of calls from people saying they want to get a loan in there. Just know before you I mean you can you can get loans in part in certain parts of it but just understand that about 90% of Leisure World is going to be cash only. Well, some of the pros to living in Leisure World. There's like over 200 clubs. There's gyms. There's a swimming pool with a jacuzzi. There's a golf course. It's a small golf course, but there's a golf course. You have RV parking, clubous. There's a a few churches in there. like I think I'm going to say three actual church buildings. There's also pickle ball courts. There's a car wash.

So, I mean there's a lot of things to do, a lot of activities, a lot of amenities. You know, if you're retired and you and you get bored easily, nothing to get bored at in Leisure World. My dad used to tell me only boring people are bored. So, I I I try not to say that, but there's a lot to do there. Needless to say, it's also about a fiveinut drive from downtown Seal Beach or Oldtown Seal Beach where the the pier is there. There's tons of restaurants, bakeries. There's actually like four or five ice cream shops on the same street. There's four Irish pubs on Main Street, which I never understood why you need four Irish pubs, but they're there. But there's plenty to do around there. There's shopping centers close by. There's grocery stores within a probably a twominute drive from the front gate to Leisure World. So, it is really close to the freeway, too. So, if you need quick access to the 405 or the 22 freeway, you're right there. So, if you're retiring and you want a social connection, it's a great place to actually retire. And you kind of keep your your payment the same. I mean, you're basically after you pay cash for the unit, you're paying the

taxes and the HOA fees, and that's pretty much it. some of the cons may be deal breakers for you. There's a lot of rules. So, you're living in an HOA community. Some of the mutuals will not allow you to even smoke inside your unit. Most of them you can't smoke outside. The maximum time amount of time a guest can stay with you is like 60 days. No loud music. Understandable. And if you're looking at buying and renting the unit out or you want to do something like that, it's probably not a good place for it. They do have some rentals in there. I've heard that they're actually opening it up and allowing more rentals to go in there, but there's a process behind that as well. And and I'm sure it's a a situation where there's only a certain percentage of rentals can be in each HOA. Now, remember, there's 16 different HOAs. There's 1 through 17, but 13's not to want to make sure that you read through those rules before you actually commit to buying one of those units. One of the other cons is parking can kind of be a hassle. And I say that with a little hesitancy. You do have a a carport assigned to each unit. There is parking

along the road and maybe once in the past few years I've actually didn't find a place to park right in front of the unit that I was showing. But most of the time parking is pretty abundant in there. So that's it's not too big of a hassle. But if you have like five cars, probably not a good place for you to move. There are places that you could store cars around the area, but if you want a garage and you want to work on your car in your garage, not the place. Another con uh to moving in there is the process to actually get moved in. Now, there is no loan, but you do have to go check your credit report that you need a certain score on your credit report. I'm not putting the actual numbers in on purpose. If you want those numbers, please pick up the phone, give me a call. I love to hear from people that are moving into the area. Love it, love it, love it. I get questions all the time and I really like helping people out. If you need anything, you want answers to these questions, I do have a cheat sheet I can send you, but just reach out to me. My my phone number

should be in the comments below or it'll pop up on the screen right here. Send me an email, send me a text, whatever. You're really not bothering me. I just got off the phone with someone yesterday who said he's been waiting to call me for a couple of months, and I'm like, "All right, why don't you call me sooner?" I'm I'm very easy to talk to. No question is too small. Just reach out any time. But the approval process does take time. So basically in a nutshell, what happens is you kind of get all your your information together. We kind of see if you meet the criteria of moving into Leisure World before we even start the process. Do you have enough money to buy the place? Do you have an income? You know, you can't if you have no income and you have million in the bank. There's a couple of mutuals you can move into, but believe it or not, some of them want you to have some income. So, we we got to make sure that's all in order. Once we find you a place, then we will we'll basically get all the paperwork together. Now, each mutual and on this cheat sheet, it'll show you that. If you need that,

just reach out to me. But on that cheat sheet, it'll show you we need two years tax returns. We need six months bank statements pretty much for everything, birth certificate. So, it'll kind of break down what you need to qualify for each different mutual. If you want to qualify, if you just want to shop wherever you want to shop, you want to go to the most stringent restrictions on that breakdown sheet, and you should be good anywhere you go in leisure world. But there is a process. The other thing about it is, and it kind of slows people down, is there's a 45day escrow. So, I had I just had a client that moved from Bumont to Leisure World. And we we put our house up for sale in Bowmont. And normally outside of Leisure World, the escro period is about 30 days. I mean, it can go longer, but a lot of buyers are like, they want to move in. They want they find a place, they want to move in, they write an offer, 30 days later, they're expecting to move in. Well, Leisure World, it's 45 days pretty much every time. You can extend it out a little if you need to go 60 days. You can do that uh if the

the seller agrees to it. I've had sellers agree to it. I've had sellers not agree to it. But when you have your house listed and it's a 30-day escrow and the Leisure World escrow is 45 days, there's kind of a problem there because you need the money from your house to close. So, we have to close your house at least probably about 3 days before that 45day period. So, at 42 days, we're closing your house, but you still need some way somewhere to live. So, you can kind of see why some people don't really like they they kind of shy away from that. But, if you have someone that, you know, an agent that knows what they're doing, not a problem. We'll work it out. I don't want you to be homeless. We we we work it out to where everything lines up. If you need the cash from the close of your home, then we have to close your home 3 days prior to moving into Leisure World because they have to take the cash from your home, transfer it to Leisure World, and get everything done so that you can go down and actually get the keys and get basically checked in. So remembered, very important, if you're selling a home and you

have to have that money from the sale of the home to purchase in Leisure World, get with someone who understands that whole process. And it, believe me, it is a different process than buying a conventional home. We're out in outside yes, they can learn it, but there's there's a a learning curve to it. Every every time I go into escrow in leisure world or every time I show properties in there, I I learn something new. There's a new rule or whatever. One of the things that they just changed this year, it used to be around ,000 per person moving in for the membership fee into Leisure World. They just raised that to ,000. All right. I had somebody ask me last night about how quickly or how much do the HOAs go up. Again, the most expensive HOA in there is like 623 right now. And that's in the condos. And and if you consider that Leisure World's been there since 1963 and the HOAs are only at six like the highest ones, most of them around 450 to 500 range. But let's let's just say over the last however many years it's only gone up to 0. I don't see it spiking that much, but it could. I mean, the HOA is going to

vote on raising those dues. And if your HOA boats to raise those dues, you you you have a say in it, but I I just don't see it going up that much. So, is it something to worry about? Maybe. But for the most part, they're not bad for HOAs and especially for everything you get. I mean, you get a you get 24-hour security, gate access, all the amenities in there, all the clubs, there's an amphitheater where you can they have concerts. So, there's plenty of things that that money is going towards. It's not like you're giving money to an HOA and you get nothing for it. So, as far as living in Southern California in a beach community, it's probably one of the cheapest places you can live in Southern California, but you have to pay cash and you have to be 55. Keep that in mind. Some people I've I've had people call me up that were in their 20s want to buy in Leisure World. I'm like, "Sorry, senior community." But give it give it about 35 years, you're good to go. So, what do you actually get for the money in Leisure World? I'm going to say the high twos. I mean, sometimes you'll see them like in the low two to

mid twos. You can get a one-bedroom unit. All the one-bedroom units are in the middle of the building, right? So, the two-bedroom units, anything on the end is going to be a two-bedroom unit. The Mutual 15 has the twostory buildings. Those are all two-bedroom units, two-bedroom, two bath. Most of the two bedrooms are one bath, but there are some with two baths. The more you spend in there, the more features that unit is going to have. So, the end units, obviously, they're going to be a premium. Um, if it has a washer and dryer built in, it's going to cost more. uh if it has air conditioning. Uh most of the units in there have split systems in it, but there are units in there with central air. You know, if they've upgraded the kitchens, some of the kitchens in there are incredible. Most of them are just plain, you know, a lot to be honest, a lot of them look like they're from the ' 60s. And I always tell people buy if unless you're handy, unless you want to deal with all the contractors, unless you don't want to deal with the contractors. What I always tell people is buy the minimum you can buy in there because being that it's all cash.

Why spend 0,000 on something? You could spend 0,000, put 0,000 in, and have the same thing as that 0,000 unit. Now, if you don't have time to do it, if you want to put in the work, you're just like, just get in the unit. I want to retire and go about my life. Go ahead and spend the money. It's going to cost you to do it. It's going to cost you time. It's going to cost you effort to redo it anyways. Some people don't want to go through the hassle of having it contractors come in and getting bids and quotes and whatnot. And there is a process for contractors in there. Leisure World will only allow certified contractors to work on those units. And if you want to put something on the roof, no go. You can put skylights up there, but they will come and check those skylights. And if if you're getting ready to move, if you're trying to sell your unit, and they do an inspection, I have one right now. Um the inspector went and looked the the skylights crack and guess what? The seller's got to fix it. You know, there is no option of no, I'm not going to fix it. The buyer can fix it. That that's not

how it works in there. They actually take money out of Estro if you're the seller. they hold back money to fix the issues that that inspection found, the issues with the unit that inspector found. Is that that's good? I mean, that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. A lot of people will still want to go in and do their own home inspection and see what else they find, but 99% of the time, the the inspectors inside of Leisure World are going to find those issues and they're going to basically get them fixed. You can still get an inspection. Some I've heard stories of some agents not wanting to allow those inspections to happen, but you have an inspection period and if you're within that inspection period, you should be able to have a home inspector go in and take a look at it even though Leisure World has their inspection done. Does that mean that the buyer is going to fix anything outside of that? No. If you go in there and you find something the Leisure World inspectors didn't find, you can try to bring it to their attention. Maybe they'll force the seller to fix it or you can ask the seller and they'll fix it. I've had it work both

ways. I've had sellers say, "No, we're not fixing anything else." I've had sellers say, "Yeah, we'll go ahead and fix that and no problem." Basically, what I'm saying is if it's in the leisure order inspection, they're going to fix it. And they're going to take the money out of the escrow to fix it. Also, like I said earlier, the one of the things that you you want want to account for what you're basically paying for once you move in there. If you're paying for the the taxes, so you're looking at about a 1.2 tax rate. So, if you buy a home for 0,000 in Leisure, that's going to be about ,800 a year. You divide that by 12 and then you add on whatever that HOA fee is. The HOAs again, they're running sheet. It actually has all the HOAs for each mutually in there. So, if it's a 0 HOA fee and it's 0 a month for your taxes, then you're looking at 0 a month or if it's 0, it's 0 a month. Okay? And then there's a usage fee from the county of from Orange County that you have to pay as well. So there's nowhere in Southern California. Well, can't say there's nowhere, but for the most part, if you're

in any beach city in Southern California for 0 a month, it it's not going to happen. Like even people people think they're going to move into a mobile home, even the mobile home lot fees are ,500 a month and up depending on where it is. So, you're really buying into living in a great area, great community. Always, always, always when you're anywhere you move, make sure you check those the the crime statistics for the area. Don't listen to me and what I'm saying. If if I say it's a great city, I might have grown up in a in a bad neighborhood and I didn't. But you don't ever trust someone saying, "Oh, that place is great." Look at the crime statistics. Look at what's happening in the city. There are no cities in Southern California that are void of crime. Okay? There's some safer places and there's some not so safe places, but again, it depends on how you were raised, what you're used to. If you came from the Midwest and you moved to Southern California, might, oh my god, this place is riddled in crime. When in reality, just got to look at the crime rate and crime statistics. Always do that. So, is Leisure World right for you? Well, you're the best

judge of that. But if there's anything I can do to help you out, if if you need that cheat sheet, give me a call, shoot me a text. I I love hearing from people. I love helping people out. If you need anything, just reach out to me. And if you want to know more about Seal Beach in general, I also have videos on Seal Beach on my channel that kind of walk you around town. Or if I didn't answer one of your questions, let me know and I'll try to do a video on that. But until next time, take care. Let me know if you need anything.