October 10, 2006
Yet for all the conveniences gated communities offer, their detractors say they have a more insidious appeal.
"People like the exclusivity that comes with the gate," says Stuart Gabriel, director and chair in real estate at the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. "With respect to housing prices and socioeconomic status, you are not going to have someone two rungs down the economic ladder living two doors down from them."