South Down Shores - Golf Village
 

Hello, for those of you that own in Golf Village at SDS, do you love it? We are potentially looking at buying in there and have a young son. Would this be a good village and a great place to make memories in for our family?

We looked at SDS but didn't ended up there. My comment, though, is that through our searching at land to build on, forest homes, standard homes, condos, etc. we discovered the value of being in an association with other kids through friends who grew up at Lakeshore Park.

Ultimately, having kids AT the summer place, rather than having to invite friends and family up or entertaining the kiddos ALL THE TIME, is awesome.

Good luck in your search, feel free to connect with any other questions on our sitch, and welcome to the forum!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Golf Village and SDS itself have great amenities and the location of Golf is excellent close to the boat club and beach. If you are looking for a lot of activity in season than this is a great place as there is a lot going on in the summer but be warned, it does get extremely crowded in season. I cannot speak on the HOA in Golf Village. I owned in both SDS and Long Bay for 12 years

Not to throw this post too far off track, but how crowded is crowded? I see Suissevale's and Balmoral's beaches when I cruise by, and it does not look fun.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Long weekends and holidays finding a spot on the beach can be difficult. LB does also get crowded but has less homes 2 beaches and a pool where SD only had one beach. LB doesn’t have condos though.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Is it difficult to the extent that people play the 'towel game' and set up shop early in the morning and don't show until the afternoon? Or are people respectful of the limited beach space?

We lived in south down for 3 years and loved it. Had many friends that started in golf and moved around and all spoke highly of it. We recently moved to long bay simply to get a bit bigger place.

No not really. If you get there by 11 you are usually good and then sometimes it gets busy late in the afternoon with people coming off their boats and meeting people at the beach

We owned a place in Golf Village for 10 years. Overall the units are very well built, would rarely hear much from the neighbors, even when we knew they were there. For as long as we were there, the board was well-run, and maintained a healthy cash balance to avoid unexpected "special assessments".

The pool at GV is nice, though it's not heated, so we never really used it much, even though it was very close by.

Would highly recommend getting a unit that has a garage available, there is not much room for storage of things, particularly a golf cart, which is almost a must in SDS.

Small HOA
 

I choose a small HOA (less than 100 units) to avoid the crowds. Beach is never crowded even on holidays! Tennis courts are crowded first thing in the morning but fairly free the rest of the day. Most years, mooring is available. There been a couple of years when we had to 'pick out of a hat' for mooring privilege. Units are well built, well insulated, and heated with natural gas. HOA is run by the home owners, excellent reserve for emergencies and surprisingly the lowest monthly dues that I am aware of. Unfortunately units are sought after. Rarely does a unit stay on the market more than 15 days. I'm happy here than the mega campuses of SDS, Suissevale, Balmoral, Samoset etc.

Care to share where?

Wildwood Village on the shores of Lake Winnisquam.
https://wildwoodvillagecondominium.com/

I can walk to the WOW trail, walk to Lakeport Landing and enjoy Winnipesaukee. Occasionally walk to downtown Laconia for my morning coffee at Wayfarer or pickup a breakfast sandwich at Deja Vu, just off the WOW trail! One morning I took a kayak up Winnipesaukee River to Avery Dam. Port the kayak around the dam and kayak up to Lake Opechee!