IT'S COUNTRY-CLUB LIVING WITHOUT THE COUNTRY CLUB
The best thing about living in RiverWalk? You never have to venture outside its gates.
"A lot of people don't," says Jayne Guzman, a resident of the gated community in suburban West Palm Beach for more than 10 years. "Sometimes, it's days before I leave the community."
RiverWalk's 1,367 single-family and attached homes are situated around a town center within the community's gates, offering its 2,500 residents their own gas pumps, gourmet market, cafe, hair and nail salon, and ice cream parlor. There's even a post office, to which all residents have their mail centrally delivered.
"The builders felt (central mail delivery) was a way to get people to meet," says Guzman, an agent at RiverWalk Resales, the on-site Illustrated Properties real-estate office.
It's country-club living without the country club, residents say. There's no golf course, but for their $210-$248-per- month homeowner's fees, RiverWalk residents get cable TV, as well as access to 12 miles of pedestrian trails, a 24-hour fitness center, three heated pools, eight Har-Tru tennis courts, and meeting and activity rooms.
Home styles include one- and two-story single-family and attached homes, all with one-, two- or three-car garages. Guzman says many families occupy the single-family homes and that there are many young couples and single residents in the two-story attached homes. Many retirees, she says, like the one-story attached homes.
When construction began on RiverWalk in 1996, the development was intended primarily for retirees and snowbirds. But that's changed as the community has built up around it.
"Now, you have not only that, but families and people who want to live 15 to 20 minutes from all that Palm Beach and West Palm Beach have to offer," says Joe Borzillieri, a Corcoran Group real-estate agent who lives in RiverWalk with his partner, Bill Jabour, also a Corcoran agent.
Borzillieri moved to Riverwalk from Palm Beach in 1998, and upgraded to a larger home within RiverWalk in 2003.
"I think the old adage 'Location, location, location!' aptly applies here because, for all intents and purposes, it's the first gated community outside of downtown West Palm Beach on Okeechobee."
DiVosta also built Abacoa in Jupiter and VillageWalk, a Wellington community with a similar town-center concept, and other similar communities throughout Central Florida and the West Coast. Within the communities, amid hundreds of acres of greenspace and waterways, a series of pathways and bridges connects all areas for a convenient walk to the town center.
"The density is incomparable," says Borzillieri. "You have just under 600 acres of land with 1,367 houses, so there's a lot of green space and a lot of lakes and, of course the aesthetic where most of the cul de sacs end with walkways and bridges to the town center."
There are currently 46 homes on the market from the high $200s to the mid $500s in RiverWalk.
Compared with many other South Florida neighborhoods, where sales fell by half or more from 2005 to 2006, RiverWalk was less affected by the housing slowdown. In 2005, 87 units were sold. Last year, 59 homes changed hands.
"We usually sell between 50 and 60 a year in a good market," explains Guzman, who says she sold 36 single family and attached homes in 2006, down from 50 in 2005.
"Interest has definitely picked up. We've got more inventory than we've had in past years. But that's just the age of the community ... a lot of people need change and move on to different things."
Borzillieri advises his sellers to look at pricing as a key factor in attracting buyers.
"Current sales are the most indicative of what the eventual sales prices will be for their properties," he says. "What properties sold for a year or so ago cannot be used as a barometer as to what properties should sell for now. In most cases it's going to be less."
What residents say . . .
MATTHEW PARENT
WHEN HE MOVED IN: September 2004
WHAT HE PAID: $245,000
CURRENT VALUE (from Zillow.com): $258,850
WHY HE LOVES IT: "I took a job in West Palm and was looking for a place to live. I was actually just looking up and down the Okeechobee corridor and stumbled upon it," says Matt, who moved from Boca Raton. "It was one of those days where I just said, 'I'm going to find a place to live today.' "
He liked RiverWalk because it was close to downtown West Palm Beach, and the townhouse was in great condition. It had been purchased three months before by an investor, and its original owner had added several upgrades -- even carpeting the two-car garage and installing custom cabinets. The neighborhood was quiet, and there were walking trails for him and his English springer spaniel and American cocker spaniel.
But the unit was available only to lease, and at the time, there was a long waiting list to buy. Matt made an offer to purchase the townhome -- the most paid for a unit of its kind at the time -- and the owner accepted.
"I didn't buy it to flip it. I bought it because I needed someplace to live," says Matt, a financial adviser who works in West Palm Beach. "It really suits my needs ideally."
Matt says the townhouse was a better value than others he'd seen in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, where similar units cost close to $100,000 more.
"It's really kind of the same sort of country-club community but without the country club, without the golf course and the high-maintenance sorts of things," Matt says.
"You go to Boca West or Woodfield or Addison or some of the higher-end stuff, you pay for it. ... We have enough in the way of recreational facilities to keep people interested."
And once he moved in, he and his pooches felt right at home.
"Every afternoon, regardless of what time, you run across people as you're walking. People are very courteous with their dogs. There's a lot of socializing," he says. "Pets and dogs are encouraged, and people take that to heart, which is kind of nice."
-- Aime Dunstan
| Single-family homes | ||||
| YEAR | SALES | MINIMUM | MEDIAN | MAXIMUM |
| PRICE | PRICE | PRICE | ||
| 1996 | 166 | $152,800 | $179,500 | $297,400 |
| 1997 | 151 | $129,900 | $186,900 | $282,400 |
| 1998 | 185 | $129,000 | $153,900 | $290,600 |
| 1999 | 102 | $136,800 | $186,000 | $291,900 |
| 2000 | 299 | $134,500 | $189,000 | $320,000 |
| 2001 | 50 | $142,000 | $225,000 | $350,000 |
| 2002 | 81 | $150,000 | $228,000 | $370,000 |
| 2003 | 78 | $155,000 | $256,000 | $359,000 |
| 2004 | 49 | $195,000 | $315,000 | $400,000 |
| 2005 | 52 | $269,900 | $408,700 | $597,000 |
| 2006 | 39 | $285,000 | $425,000 | $575,000 |
| Townhomes | ||||
| YEAR | SALES | MINIMUM | MEDIAN | MAXIMUM |
| PRICE | PRICE | PRICE | ||
| 1995 | 45 | $115,900 | $132,900 | $148,800 |
| 1996 | 107 | $117,900 | $131,900 | $156,300 |
| 1997 | 120 | $109,900 | $140,800 | $171,700 |
| 1998 | 58 | $112,900 | $120,900 | $180,000 |
| 1999 | 73 | $116,300 | $142,900 | $171,100 |
| 2000 | 42 | $119,500 | $144,950 | $221,400 |
| 2001 | 89 | $124,900 | $139,300 | $185,000 |
| 2002 | 54 | $139,000 | $170,000 | $213,000 |
| 2003 | 46 | $149,500 | $185,000 | $245,000 |
| 2004 | 48 | $180,250 | $221,000 | $269,000 |
| 2005 | 35 | $150,000 | $296,000 | $345,000 |
| 2006 | 20 | $285,000 | $325,000 | $403,000 |
| YEAR | SALES | MINIMUM | MEDIAN | MAXIMUM |
| PRICE | PRICE | PRICE | ||
| 1996 | 166 | $152,800 | $179,500 | $297,400 |
| 1997 | 151 | $129,900 | $186,900 | $282,400 |
| 1998 | 185 | $129,000 | $153,900 | $290,600 |
| 1999 | 102 | $136,800 | $186,000 | $291,900 |
| 2000 | 299 | $134,500 | $189,000 | $320,000 |
| 2001 | 50 | $142,000 | $225,000 | $350,000 |
| 2002 | 81 | $150,000 | $228,000 | $370,000 |
| 2003 | 78 | $155,000 | $256,000 | $359,000 |
| 2004 | 49 | $195,000 | $315,000 | $400,000 |
| 2005 | 52 | $269,900 | $408,700 | $597,000 |
| 2006 | 39 | $285,000 | $425,000 | $575,000 |
| Townhomes | ||||
| YEAR | SALES | MINIMUM | MEDIAN | MAXIMUM |
| PRICE | PRICE | PRICE | ||
| 1995 | 45 | $115,900 | $132,900 | $148,800 |
| 1996 | 107 | $117,900 | $131,900 | $156,300 |
| 1997 | 120 | $109,900 | $140,800 | $171,700 |
| 1998 | 58 | $112,900 | $120,900 | $180,000 |
| 1999 | 73 | $116,300 | $142,900 | $171,100 |
| 2000 | 42 | $119,500 | $144,950 | $221,400 |
| 2001 | 89 | $124,900 | $139,300 | $185,000 |
| 2002 | 54 | $139,000 | $170,000 | $213,000 |
| 2003 | 46 | $149,500 | $185,000 | $245,000 |
| 2004 | 48 | $180,250 | $221,000 | $269,000 |
| 2005 | 35 | $150,000 | $296,000 | $345,000 |
| 2006 | 20 | $285,000 | $325,000 | $403,000 |