Quiet, tiny Pepperwood safe, yet convenient

"A lot of people are not fans of the HOAs"

Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post

By THOMAS R. COLLINS

Published September 20, 2009

NORTH PALM BEACH — When it comes down to it, what a lot of people want in a house is a place that is close to the action, where services and entertainment are convenient. But a place that, when you're at home, doesn't really feel like it's close to the action.

That's probably why homes along Prosperity Farms Road between Northlake Boulevard and PGA Boulevard tend to sell pretty well - when they're on the market at all, that is. There's plenty along those thoroughfares, but the residential streets offer tidy and quiet enclaves.

Which brings us to the "neighborhood" of Pepperwood, a tiny community that consists of a single horseshoe-shaped street that begins and ends at Prosperity Farms Road.

It sits about a half-mile north of Northlake. And it sits there very quietly. No signs advertise the community's name, except the street signs. And no gates announce its presence.

A tour through the neighborhood, a 30-second drive that you might be able to stretch into a minute if you really crawl, finds three dozen ranch-style homes. Every one of them is neat. The grass is cut. The weeds are trimmed.

The sounds are bird chatter and rustling leaves from stately oaks that line the road.

It's easy to see why there's just one house on the market right now, even though we're in one of the worst housing markets ever.

"It's a very convenient location, strategically located between PGA and Northlake on Prosperity, kind of a coveted corridor," said Realtor Pete Martinsen of Re/Max, who handles some listings there.

The homes range from 1,800 square feet to 2,700 square feet. The community was built between 1978 and 1980. The schools in Pepperwood's school district are A-rated Allamanda Elementary, C-rated Howell L. Watkins Middle and B-rated Palm Beach Gardens High School. Only three homes have sold in the neighborhood since 2008 - a three-bedroom, two-bath for $269,000; a 3/3 for $269,900; and another 3/3 for $321,000.

Jack Robson, who works in commercial real estate, bought in Pepperwood in 1993. There has been some change since, but he still enjoys it, he said.

"It's a great little, small neighborhood - a lot of the children in the neighborhood have grown up and moved on but there are still a lot of young kids in the neighborhood," he said. "It's a safe area. The kids get out and play. The people all look out for each other."

He's known his immediate neighbors for more than a decade.

On his last listing in Pepperwood, Martinsen said, he received 30 phone calls on it.

The first contract fell through, but that turned out not to be a problem.

"I put it under contract again immediately," Martinsen said. "There was a tremendous amount of activity compared to the other listings I have."

A draw for some people might be that there's no homeowner association, a lack of organization that hasn't hurt the neighborhood's aesthetics.

"A lot of people are not fans of the HOAs," Martinsen said. "So it's obviously a perfect situation for them."