Category: Active adult communities
March 11, 2015 -- Whether you are in the shiny model home or the posh real estate office, it's the positive that gets accentuated when you go looking at retirement real estate. According to the enthusiastic salesperson the amenities are great, the fees are low, and the neighbors - well, they are especially interesting and friendly. What's more, there are only a few more great homes available before the whole project is completely sold out.
But unfortunately there are often things unsaid, whether you are looking at buying a new home in a brand new community or a pre-owned unit in a 55+ community that has been around for decades. This article will help you understand some of the potential pitfalls by pointing to situations you need to ask about. Mind you, most active communities are well run entities thoroughly enjoyed by their residents. This article is
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Published on March 10, 2015
Comments 143
Category: Active adult communities
February 3, 2015 — If you have spent much time by now on Topretirements.com we would be surprised if you haven’t seen a lot of Member comments about Home Owners Associations (HOAs). To many, it would seem these mysterious entities are the devil incarnate. Usually without any actual experience with the demon, these folks want to avoid what they think are treacherous fees, political cabals, and mean-spirited rules at all costs. Only occasionally do we see someone sticking up in their defense. This article will try to dispel some of the misinformation about HOAs, and then let you draw your own conclusions - are they are something to be avoided or appreciated? We’ve also included links to our
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Published on February 3, 2015
Comments 39
Category: Active adult communities
November 13, 2014 -- Many residents of the giant active adult community, The Villages, are mourning the loss of the legendary developer of their community, Gary Morse. Morse died on October 29 at the age of 77.
He moved to Central Florida in 1983 and starting selling real estate in the modest mobile home park owned by his father. Originally the homes here were mobile homes in a development called Orange Blossom Gardens. Over time the homes became a mixture of
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Published on November 13, 2014
Comments 35
Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is the 4th in a series on college town retirements. See Further Reading below for links to the other installments.
November 11, 2014 -- College towns are very often great places to retire. You are virtually guaranteed an interesting cultural life with plenty of opportunities to stimulate your mind. In most cases you might be able to take or audit college classes, or perhaps there is a Lifelong Learning program set up with the college. There are sporting events to attend, as well as world class facilities you might be able to use such as gyms or pools. College towns usually have more interesting shops and restaurants than in comparable towns. Lastly, most people find the presence of young people to be invigorating.
What Are College Affiliated Communities
Several colleges and universities have set up or have relationships with active communities or Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)
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Published on November 11, 2014
Comments 6
Category: Active adult communities
Update: September 2015: See our brand new "2015 List of the Most Popular Active Adult Communities."
September 3, 2014 -- When it comes to the states that have the most popular active adult and 55+ communities at Topretirements it is a 7 state race - with Florida far out ahead. Four states had 60 of the 100 most popular communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (12), Delaware (11), and North Carolina (12). Colorado and Massachusetts had their strongest showings ever (10 and 7 respectively) while South Carolina launched 5 communities into the top 100.
With more than 300 active/55+/retirement developments in our database, Florida has more communities than any other state. That is at least one obvious reason for its dominance, along with its warm winter weather and lack of income tax. Delaware continues to have the best representation of any cold winter weather state with 11 communities on the list.
Parsing these results:
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Published on September 3, 2014
Comments 121
Category: Active adult communities
January 7, 2014 -- It is common wisdom that the longer an active community has been in existence, the older its population. It makes sense - new communities market to an audience which is just starting retirement, mostly folks in their late 50's to early 70's. The buyers move in and tend to stay until they either die, or are forced to move to assisted living or a nursing home. That whole cycle typically plays out over 30 or so years. And then what happens? Well that is the subject of today's article.
The Oldest Active Communities
Sun City, Arizona, was launched January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, recreation center and
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Published on January 6, 2014
Comments 17
Category: Active adult communities
Note: Our 2014 list was published in September of 2014. See "Florida Dominates 2014 List of Most Popular Communities"
September 2, 2013 -- There are some very big surprises in this year's results for the 100 most popular active adult communities. First off, 4 states completely dominated our visitors' favorite active adult communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (16), Delaware (16), and North Carolina (12) amassed 69 of the 100 most popular communities. Within that result, Tennessee's 16 communities in the top 100 demonstrates that it is a state to be taken very seriously when it comes to baby boomer retirement. Of the remaining 46 states, only Pennsylvania (6), Texas (4) and South Carolina (4) put more than a few communities into the top 100.
Florida topped the 2013 list with 25 communities (it had 35 in 2012). Delaware's 16 communities on the list is by far the best representation of any non-Sun Belt state (we are counting Tennessee as a Sunbelt state, although that could be argued).
We take several conclusions away from these results:
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Published on September 2, 2013
Comments 62
Category: Active adult communities
June 26, 2013. We had an unusual media request from a popular cable TV show. They are looking for “out there” rules and restrictions at active adult communities. So if you know of any that are true or researchable, we would love to hear about them. Please add them as…
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Published on June 26, 2013
Comments 43
Category: Active adult communities
May 7, 2013 -- Note: This is an updated version of an article we ran in early 2012. It is basically the same content as before, but this update allows us to start over with fresh set of Comments. Our goal is to portray a variety of active baby boomer retirement lifestyles for our members, including different places to live.
Len and Ann are the kind of people that don’t like to stand still. And that's a trait which perfectly qualifies them to be residents of The Villages, that giant, non-stop fun active community of 107,000 people near Ocala, Florida. Here is their story - we hope you find it useful to learn more about how they came about deciding to living here, and what it is really like to live in The Villages.
What They Did Before Retirement
Len had a long career as an IT guy at SNET, the former
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Published on May 7, 2013
Comments 12
Category: Active adult communities
Note: See also Survey results from 2020 on the same topic.
March 5, 2013 -- Wow, talk about feedback - 753 helpful folks provided their valuable insights on their retirement status, housing preferences, and the future of active adult communities in last week's poll. Thanks to everyone who answered these 8 questions.
Your input provides so much to think about - we just wish we had room to highlight every comment! If there was one member statement that really struck us above all others, it was this one: "We love thinking about (retirement) and exploring our options. So many ideas, so many places to go, things to do. Can't wait!" We just love that attitude, prevalent among so many Topretirements members.
Highlights
There is no single one thing that folks are looking for - everybody has a slightly different recipe for retirement perfection. But all you builders out there, please note some key trends here! We've detailed the
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Published on March 5, 2013
Comments 45
