What's New at The Enclave

ENCLAVE BUYERS LIKE KOKES' PEACE OF MIND PROTECTION PROGRAM

A few years back, Ralph and Caron Sibona decided to leave the Garden State and retire to a planned residential community in Delaware near beaches with plenty of opportunity to go fishing. But it wasn't long before the couple with seven children and twelve grand children began to miss family who reside in New Jersey.

"At first, we really enjoyed the lifestyle in Delaware along with the excitement of new home ownership," Caron Sibona recalled. "But, we soon discovered that being close to family was more important, so we decided to come back home to New Jersey."

The couple started researching and visiting active adult communities from Jackson and as far north as Hillsboro in search of an active adult community that offered a full range of recreational amenities, a social atmosphere, convenience to shopping, and most of all closer proximity to their children and grand children.

"It seems as though we toured more communities than I can count," Ralph Sibona said. "Those that offered everything we wanted were very expensive, with high property taxes. We also were worried about our ability to sell the Delaware property at a fair price in a reasonable amount of time. We finally discovered The Enclave at The Fairways."

Caron said that The Enclave offers what they consider to be reasonably priced homes, as well as a clubhouse with heated indoor and outdoor pools, and a location near the shore. “The builder also offered a program that eliminates the possibility of owning two residences at the same time. As a result, we signed the contract and placed our Delaware home on the market fully realizing that if it didn't sell, we wouldn't have to carry two homes."

Danielle Kokes, vice president of sales and marketing for the The Kokes Organization, family builders of The Enclave and other 55+ communities for the past 45 years, said that buyers like the Sibona's fear the possibility of not selling their existing house before closing on a new home.

"My family decided to address the issue years ago by instituting a plan that eliminates any possibility that our buyers may have to close on a new Kokes community home before their existing home is sold. We call it our Peace of Mind Protection program," Kokes stated.

The Peace of Mind Protection program is tailored to buyers who must sell their existing house in order to purchase a Kokes home. "Our program completely eliminates the possibility of being in a position of owning two homes at the same time.”

Kokes applauded the program as an easy to understand approach to home buying. "The first step is to select a home site and style at a Lake Ridge Community. This automatically locks in the sales price even if construction costs rise. The Lake Ridge buyer is then required to list their present house with a licensed Realtor. If after six months the house doesn't sell, the buyer’s deposit will be in refunded in full without a penalty of any kind.”

She added that The Kokes Organization also works closely with their customer’s Realtor. “We’ve made arrangements with a company that specializes in staging our buyer’s existing house so that it shows well. We pay for this service in order to help the Realtor sell our buyer’s old house quickly and at the highest possible price.”

The Peace of Mind Protection program extends to all of the Ocean County based Kokes Family communities including The Enclave at The Fairways, Country Walk of Lake Ridge, and The Reserve of Lake Ridge.

The Enclave is priced from $294,900. The Reserve offers homes from $274,900. Country Walk offers both single family and courtyard homes. The courtyard homes start at $179,900.

"The Lake Ridge family of communities appeals to a broad range of buyers, and each offers distinct benefits such as an onsite clubhouse with outdoor pool, tennis and bocce courts, and many indoor amenities including card rooms, billiards and a state-of-the-art fitness center," Kokes stated.

Every Lake Ridge community -- all located within 12 miles of each other -- offers a wide array of floor plans designed to accommodate both singles and couples. "All of our communities are nicely situated providing easy access to major highways, shopping facilities, and points of interest including beaches and Atlantic City," she said.

Jerry Kokes, vice president, pointed out the two and three bedroom homes at The Enclave and at The Reserve are Energy Star certified and extremely well appointed. Kokes said that buyers are greatly impressed by the items included in the kitchens at no additional charge.

“All homes come fully equipped with deluxe stainless steel General Electric appliances.” He added that kitchens also include granite counter tops with a choice of edging, ceramic tile flooring, and 42-inch Aristokraft kitchen cabinetry with three door styles and a choice of ten finishes.

“We build into our homes those features that active adults want right down to items such as Kohler fixtures, Silverline Andersen double pane windows, Progress lighting fixtures, wall cabinets in the laundry room, and a garage with a fully finished painted interior,” Kokes said.