Friday, October 17, 2008

Odds and ends from Loreto

Thursday night's welcome reception for homeowners was held in the Vista Del Mar suite on the third floor of the Inn. Great views, great food and drink and the chance to meet homeowners who had just arrived that afternoon. Just a rough guesstimate that 30 or so were in attendance.

Speaking of the views, the rains that have fallen this summer have changed the look of the countryside. What was brown scrub during our visit in April is now lush green undergrowth everywhere you look. The downfall to all the rain that fell last week during Norbert's visit is that the Sea of Cortez is churning up a lot of debris, which makes snorkeling difficult. We're hoping the sea will calm down soon so we can get in some snorkeling before we leave.

Friday morning we attended the vendor-sponsored continental breakfast in the courtyard of a Founder's neighborhood across from the Inn. Vendors included Casa Mesquite, ADWA, Road 9 and Property Management. Dahlgren & Duck and Vivero Los Cabos (the new landscaping company) had not arrived by the time we left. It was an informal get-together where homeowners could learn more about what the preferred vendors offer, but not as informative as we would have liked, especially with two of the planned vendors being no-shows.

However, we were happy to see ADWA's wide selection of window coverings and, for the most part, we've heard good things about them on the official homeowner site. Initially, we thought we'd just order in the states and bring coverings down when we move, but the ballpark price range for our Encantada quoted by Adrian seems like a pretty good deal and a lot less hassle for us. Something else to think about.

On the downside, we learned from Jesus, who's with customer service, that homes in Agua Viva may not be permachinked after all. According to Jesus, window frames and doors will have some kind of stain that's good for six or seven months, but that's it. He did say, though, that he wasn't absolutely sure about this info and promised to get back to us. If true, this is a real disappointment especially after seeing the condition of some window frames and doors during a walk through Founder's on our first day here. The damage was extensive after just a few short years. There's a lot of discussion and information on permachink on the official homeowner site.

Friday afternoon, homeowners were offered the opportunity to view their homes on a customer service guided tour. It was fun to see other people's homes, especially those that are near completion. Some of the new exterior colors are nice, others a bit too vibrant! But once all the homes in a cluster are completed I'm sure all those colors will mesh nicely.

We were delighted to discover that the steps to our tower had been poured since our first visit to the site Wednesday. When work crews are on site they work fast, but there seems to be a lot of hopscotching from house to house.

The estuary near our cluster (38) has had a good bit of rock wall collapse as a result of all the rain or just poor construction, we're not sure. It will take a lot of work to re-do those areas. We're not sure if other estuaries have experienced the same problem. And we're wondering about the homes that will be built alongside the estuary... will flooding be a problem when severe storms move through?

Tonight is the farewell clambake and we've got our fingers crossed that someone from LBC/Replay will make an appearance and offer up some information. If that happens, I'll be sure to post tomorrow.

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