Trilogy® at Monarch Dunes

Trilogy at Monarch Dunes is definitely not for everyone! However, if you decide it is for you then by all appearances it might possibly be a great experience for a lifetime, i.e., once the project is complete and Shea Homes' current leadership has vacated the scene. Amazingly, most reviews here are fairly accurate. Particularly as relates to age, i.e., retirement versus working class; race -- Black and African Americans especially beware; sales staff -- moderate your trust and faith; Shea Mortgage -- compare elsewhere; Shea Homes boilerplate contracts -- consider having an attorney review everything before you sign, and then keep the legal service on file for future use. If you came with a realtor, fine, now still obtain legal advice, as the Realtor's loyalty is with the entity that pays them, i.e., Shea Homes. Get everything in writing. Nothing is trivial. Remember Ronald Reagan's famous words, "Trust, but verify!" When things start to go sideways with sales (and things will start to go sideways with sales, before, during and after construction), upon exhausting a reasonable amount of time and effort at the local level without satisfactory resolution, forget about seeking help via Shea Homes as "Customer Service" equals "Lip Service" at the corporate level -- all about the bottom line. See legal service above. All that said, generally speaking, as a community Trilogy at Monarch Dunes is a great place to live and becoming better and better as it expands towards completion. Trilogy model homes are beautiful, and when built according to Shea Homes' exacting standards you will be pleased beyond your wildest dream. Shea Homes is of course aware of its prestige and deservedly proud. Howsoever, the problem at Trilogy at Monarch Dunes -- the root cause of nearly everything that goes wrong concerning Shea Homes -- is the sheer arrogance displayed by local senior leadership attributable to product quality, and worse, the impertinent business and operating culture created top-down. At one point our salesperson actually had the unmitigated gall to say nonchalantly and quite unabashedly, "...it's okay, you don't have to buy from us, we don't mind one way or the other!" At another early point concerning clarification of a critical sales issue, and without first checking with supervision, "...management doesn't want to talk to you!" True and accurate quotes. We believe, as was mentioned in an earlier review, the challenge is due in part to the young sales staff, uninhibited by likewise petty, immature and incompetent senior leadership. In addition to an obvious lack of "Customer Relationship" and "Diversity" management knowledge and skill (particularly regarding age and race); the organization exhibits a "first time home buyer mentality” and attempts to use these sorts of tactics when dealing with usually more experienced home buyers. Furthermore, don't be lulled by well-meaning "Resident Ambassadors". Although marketed as a 55-Plus community, you should not anticipate being recognized or respected accordingly. Of course, then, you should also feel comfortable reciprocating correspondingly. In our case, recognizing the signs we mostly ignored our sales representative, eventually coming to realize that the person was also ignorant about most things concerning the community and simple-basic Shea Homes' building and construction standards. For Black and African Americans: Armed with this knowledge and as conscientious consumers having decided to move to Monarch Dunes (likely over 55 and retired), you have likewise contemplated the demographics of the local community and San Luis Obispo County. Consequently, having confronted racial prejudice over your lifetime, i.e., stereotyping and discrimination, in particular, just prepare for status quo within Trilogy and the surrounding community. Although, frankly, once you have made the leap you will find there are many more absolutely great and wonderful people living at Monarch Dunes. All about attitude -- yours and your neighbor. "Forewarned is Forearmed" Good Luck!

We've looked at retirement locations throughout California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. Monarch Dunes was the first place that we both unequivocally agreed on. This is a spectacular place, with consistent great weather (if you like it sunny and 70 almost every day), very friendly community, fantastic amenities, golf course, club house, restaurant, spa, etc.

We have been here one year and it was definitely the best decision for us! We chose a townhome as we travel a lot and wanted the flexibility of low maintenance ! The amenities are lovely and our friends and neighbors are smart, engaging seniors for the most part. Lovely place to live!

After retiring early, we were looking for a place to live in retirement, down-size at least a bit, and escape the high utility and maintenance costs associated with our SF Bay Area home. We decided that the ideal place would have an good climate year-round, high quality new homes, a great health club and other facilities, and it should still be in the process of being built so that other new people in similar circumstances would be moving in all the time. We looked at or at least considered places in Florida, Indio, Las Vegas, Orange County, Santa Rosa, Pleasanton, the midwest, and Phoenix. We loved the quality of all the Trilogy properties we saw, so we started focusing on Trilogy as our first choice. Of all the Trilogy properties we considered, Monarch Dunes was by far the best choice because of the combination of a perfect climate and great facilities. We sold our house and moved down here in July, renting a house in Trilogy while our new house was being built. Our new Trilogy house is now finished, and it is great. This is the friendliest place we have ever lived.