Category: Active adult communities
Note: This 2009 article has been updated with a new edition from 2012. See "Why Not Live in an Award Winning Community".
Philadelphia - For builders, winning an award at the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Best of 50+ Housing conference is really good PR. For baby boomers, looking at the winners provides insight into what the housing industry thinks are the trendsetting ideas in home building. If you are looking to purchase in an active adult community, you should check out this list of communities winning awards to make sure you make the best decision. The awards were given out at the April 2009 Building for Boomers and Beyond Symposium to honor excellence and innovation in the design, development and marketing of housing for older consumers.
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Published on May 11, 2009
Comments 4
Category: Active adult communities
The urban retirement lifestyle represents a perfect fit with what many baby boomers are looking for in a retirement lifestyle. Baby boomers want to be close to employment possibilities, they would like to reduce their dependence on the automobile, and they are very interested in participating in a rich and diverse community. Builders of 55+ communities have been listening, and many new choices are attracting buyers.
Granted, the urban lifestyle doesn't appeal to everyone. Most people, 85% of them, will not move anywhere in retirement. But about 15% of retirees will relocate; either
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Published on May 3, 2009
Comments 5
Category: Active adult communities
April 29 - Your editor just spent a few days in the City of Brotherly Love attending the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) 50+ Builders Show: Building for Beyond. While you might expect that any convention of home builders in this economic climate would be a downer, this conference was anything but. Builders, at least the obviously successful ones who gathered here in Philadelphia, are a resilient and resourceful bunch. It was obvious from their questions and comments why these builders have been so successful: they want to build the homes and communities that satisfy the changing
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Published on April 29, 2009
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Category: Active adult communities
In a proposed merger that will create the largest homebuilder in America, Pulte Homes will combine with homebuilder Centex in an all stock deal. Pulte Homes is the parent company of the Anthem and Del Webb brands, the latter which brings you the huge Sun City active adult communities…
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Published on April 10, 2009
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Category: Active adult communities
If you haven't noticed, not every active adult community is created equal. Depending on the skill and commitment of the developer, the community can be interesting and an easy joy to live in - or boring and inconvenient. Some of the most interesting examples of the best community designs are evident in the 2008 Best in American Living Awards (BALA), which were just announced. The awards are sponsored by a panel of judges put together by Professional Builder, a division of the National Association of Home Builders. There are a number of categories (and all of the winners are worth looking at), but this article concerns the 2008 winners for the Communities division. Common
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Published on February 3, 2009
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Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is our 2009 article. We updated these active communities trends in 2011 based on interviews with 6 industry experts and comments from our members. Both articles make for interesting reading.
With a fresh avalanche of baby boomers sliding into senior-hood every day, there is a lot of interest in 55+ housing trends. This article provides the Topretirements list of the top 10 active adult community trends for 2009. (We did the same exercise for 2008. There are many similarities on both lists, but also some new ideas).
The ultimate trend for 2009 – and the great unknown – is will the real estate
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Published on January 19, 2009
Comments 10
Category: Active adult communities
The average age of active adult and retirement communities was reasonably stable - until now. While the original active adult communities like Century Village and Sun City have been getting older as their early residents aged in place, this was countered in the overall population by residents in newer communities, who tend to be on the younger side. Enter those darn baby boomers, the oldest of whom are now turning 63.
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Published on January 8, 2009
Comments 1
Category: Active adult communities
The press has been filled with reports of financial troubles in the retirement housing and real estate markets.
Faced with unsold units, vacant lots and empty condos, the reaction of some active adult communities has been to try to expand their base. The obvious way to do that is to let in younger buyers. Many active adult communities are age-restricted to at least one resident who is at least 55 years of age. Typically, unless the community has at least 80% of its population 55+, they do not meet federal regulations that allow developments to exclude children. At the many other active adult communities that have no official age restrictions, the fact is that most of their residents are 55 or better.
On the one hand letting in younger buyers might be able to fill more units, but it could have ramifications on the other side. Existing residents, for example, often chose to live with people their own age; away from noisy children and rushing commuters. Neighboring towns that lobbied to attract these active adult communities feel betrayed, since the communities were let in with the expectation that their older
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Published on December 2, 2008
Comments 1
Category: Active adult communities
Bulletin: 25 Best Places to Retire (follow this story to find link). If you are one of those folks who loves Martha Stewart, your new retirement community dream just got a lot more interesting That’s right, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and KB Home have teamed up to create an active community for adults 55 and over in La Quinta, California. LaQuinta is one of the fanciest neighborhoods in Palm Springs.
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Published on November 18, 2008
Comments 2
Category: Active adult communities
August 6 -- We are constantly on the lookout for the best places to retire. And it's fun to write about a place so nice that it gives you the itch to move there.
A more difficult problem emerges when we try to seek out the best active adult communities. Many people want to live in these self-contained worlds (and yes, many won't go near them too!). But when we get excited about an active adult community that sounds just great - the other shoe drops when we find out where it is. Yep, 9 times out of 10 it is in some little town that no one has ever heard of, way out in the boondocks.
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Published on August 6, 2008
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