I was doing some reading about gated communities and I found that a lot of people have a lot of opinions about them.

I found an article online by Tim Dillard, Why People Are Relocating to Gated Communities, which had some interesting things to say.

In his article Tim pointed out, "Gated communities are among the most popular neighborhoods for new homes... Gated communities are booming, which shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with housing trends across the nation... The popularity of gated communities is rising nationwide as the country deals with concerns about safety, comfort and security."

After reading this I went into our Birmingham Multiple Listing Service and looked to see just what was on the market in the Birmingham area in some of our gated communities.

I spotlighted just a few of them here below. You can click the link to see all of the active listings in each one (as of 12/20/2007):

* Liberty Park

* Carrington (Carrington Lakes)

* Greystone (including Greystone, Greystone Legacy, and Greystone Farms)

* Highland Lakes

* Lake Cyrus

* Lake Heather

* Shoal Creek

Please also note that these subdivisions may be partly or totally gated. Not all of the are gated in the entire subdivision, but according to the MLS all of these are in the gated parts.

Like Tim said, "Gated communities, depending on the neighborhood, may have golf courses, country clubs, lakes with private docks, parks and hiking trails and fitness clubs. The neighborhoods range in atmosphere from small town suburban to secluded luxury estates, with a wide range of choices between. There are home sites available on lake fronts, with river views, tucked into hillsides or fronting the golf green. Whatever the needs or desires of your family in a home, you're likely to find it in one of the beautiful gated communities..."

These have some of those same differences.

To get another (hopefully humorous) perspective...