Emerald Island status, currently

[amylucinda]

So, for those of you who have been recently, or any local folks who have visited, I'm wondering what kind of state Emerald Island is in these days.

I realize that each villa is independent, but as a general rule, are the majority well-maintained? Are there pockets that are not as nice as others?

I'm asking because I've read several comments on TripAdvisor that seem to indicate Emerald Island may have been hit particularly hard because of the economy, with references to empty or unkempt properties. There were also plenty of positive comments, too, which is why I'm confused.

And, from personal experience, our visit in 2007 was interesting, to say the least. We pulled up to our villa, and had to shoo away vultures from the driveway! The villa next door had a massive pile of trash at the end of the driveway that was being stalked by the birds, and the front yard was being used as a parking lot! Our impression, FWIW, was that this was someone's residence, but we were shocked with the state it was in.

I certainly don't want to 'dis the community and it always has been our first choice. I'd love to have someone reassure me that these are truly isolated incidents and comments!

 

[sympatico]

We were there in Nov and while there were a lot of homes for sale everything looked nice. The whole week or so we were there, there were guys doing lots of grounds upkeep.

 

[isla bonita]

So, for those of you who have been recently, or any local folks who have visited, I'm wondering what kind of state Emerald Island is in these days.

Emerald Island has had it's share of foreclosed homes. Due to the economic situation. That is turning around monthly. Many of the homes are returning to their original splendor.

The occasional trash tip does happen there is a lot of wild life in the area.
In the manors (homes) area there is a daily walk through to maintain the properties due to the occasional tip. In the villas (town homes) there is trash pick up door to door.

There are some improvements since you have last been down. The pool area has a TIKI Bar where both food and drink are available to the guests. The clubhouse has been refurbished and soon a new addition to the games room. New furniture for both pool decks and clubhouse.

New amenities that are offered at the clubhouse activities for children, spa type treatment, lessons for scuba, golf pick up and drop off at near by course and much more.

Here is a site that can give you additional information.

http://www.emeraldislandhoa.org/outside_home.asp

 

[amylucinda]

Just got back from a 4 bedroom on Secret Key Cove in Emerald Island. We didn't check out anything but our area.

Things seemed perfectly fine, and we had fewer issues this time than last. One house across the street had a foreclosure sign in the window, but we didn't see any maintenance issues in our area, and the public areas were perfectly kept.


We rented from Orlando4villas, and that worked out pretty well. Lots of pool towels! Little skimpy on the kitchen supplies. We had a few maintenance issues, including a smoke alarm with a dead battery at midnight. They are NOT the kind you can take the battery out of to kill, as they are hard-wired, and will beep with a dead or missing battery. We called the emergency number, but the gentleman said he was 85 miles away. We were left to sleep with pillows on our head with it beeping all night....the alternative being to drive to a store at 1am to get a nine-volt battery. I suggested maybe they should have a stash of 9 volts with the spare light bulbs in each home, for such a situation.

And for future villa renters, you might want to tuck a spare 9 volt in your suitcase!