Category: Retirement Real Estate
June 9, 2015 -- We were very flattered recently to see a story from Builderonline.com, "The Top 15 Builders in 2015’s Retirement Magnets", which used Topretirements' "100 Most Popular Retirement Towns" as the starting point of its research. The online publication basically looked at our top 50 towns (chosen on the basis of visitor popularity on our site), and then determined which companies build the most homes in those markets. It was an intriguing idea with at least one very big surprise.
Quantity Built
Let's start with a big surprise: the #10 builder is.... Habitat for Humanity. So at least we know from the beginning that there all kinds of builders in our 50 most popular retirement markets - not just those catering to the retirement set. The builder with the most
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Published on June 8, 2015
Comments 5
Category: Retirement Real Estate
May 15, 2015 -- Looking for a place to retire where your housing dollar gives you the biggest bang? If so the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, which ranks U.S. metros by housing affordability, might just have your answer. All of the top 10 most affordable markets are in the Midwest or Northeast, not such great news for retirees looking to retire in warm weather. The price of homes in these Metros ranges from a low of $75,000 (Springfield, OH) to a high of $105,000 in Sandusky, OH. Another problem with these "most affordable" Metros - none of them has inspired us enough to write them up as interesting
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Published on May 15, 2015
Comments 26
Category: Retirement Real Estate
This article contains information from the NAHB on 2 topics: progress toward recovery in the housing market and the list of finalists in their 50+ housing category awards competition.
WASHINGTON - Markets in 59 of the approximately 350 metro areas nationwide returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity in the third quarter of 2014, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI) report from November. This represents a year-over-year net gain of seven markets. Based on current permit, price and employment data, the nationwide average is running at 90 percent of normal economic and housing activity. Meanwhile, 66 percent of markets have shown an improvement year-over-year.
"The markets are recovering at a slow, gradual pace," said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly, a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del. "Continued job creation, economic growth and increasing consumer confidence should
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Published on December 8, 2014
Comments 2
Category: Retirement Real Estate
October 30, 2014 -- Our member Louise recently started an interesting conversation about time shares on another of our posts. Then Caps suggested that we begin a Blog post on that topic. Seems like a fine idea, since we know that many retirees rely on time shares, aka Interval Ownership units, as a way to make their retirement life more enjoyable.
Time Shares - Different Strokes
Many folks have 1 or 2 time shares that they look forward to using every year. Some have additional weeks in different locales and time periods. Others we know have consecutive weeks in the same locale/complex, which allows them to stay in a favorite place for a long period of time. And then we know others who not only have consecutive weeks, but have multiple units at the same time so their children/grandchilden can visit.
How time shares get used also varies. Some folks stay
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Published on October 30, 2014
Comments 34
Category: Retirement Real Estate
September 16, 2014 — One of our members, Caps, posted this question on another Blog topic, the results of our recent Retirement Confidence survey. SandyZ suggested that since it generated a fair amount of discussion, we move the swimming pool conversation here to give it its own place. Good…
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Published on September 18, 2014
Comments 20
Category: Retirement Real Estate
WASHINGTON, May 8 - Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market for the first quarter of 2014 reached the highest first-quarter reading since the inception of the index in 2008. That's according to the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) latest 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI). Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the single-family index increased 4 points to a level of 50, which is and the 10th consecutive quarter of year over year improvements.
Good news from baby boomers fueling the market
"There are many factors contributing to the
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Published on June 2, 2014
Comments 9
Category: Retirement Real Estate
May 28, 2014 -- We hear a lot of anecdotal information about snowbirds having problems finding a rental for the upcoming 2014-2015 winter season. The issue mostly goes back to the harsh winter we just ended, which has motivated more people to look for a winter break down south. Exacerbating the problem is a bumper crop of retiring boomers who are entering the rental market.
We know of one couple who gave up looking in Bonita Springs (FL) because they couldn't
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Published on May 28, 2014
Comments 24
Category: Retirement Real Estate
March 14, 2014 -- President Obama is set to sign a new bill passed by the Senate and House that rolls back planned flood insurance increases. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) welcomed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, saying: "Flood insurance legislation will provide much-needed certainty to home owners and financial stability for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Home builders believe the reform will provide an important boost to home building and remodeling. People who own homes affected by the 2012 Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act are relieved that they will not have to face huge premium spikes and impacts on
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Published on March 14, 2014
Comments 12
Category: Retirement Real Estate
February 26, 2014 -- What used to be described as the "beleaguered" housing market has entered a new phase these days. This week it received more great news. But, if that is good for you as a potential buyer in the retirement housing market is another question.
First, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller price index housing prices in the 4th quarter of 2013 rose 11.3% compared with a year earlier. Home prices haven't recovered everything they gave back from 2008 -2011, but they are getting closer in most markets.
Second, the Commerce Department reported that sales of single family homes surged in January. They rose 9.6% from the previous month, reaching their highest level since July 2008. Economists were
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Published on February 28, 2014
Comments 2
Category: Retirement Real Estate
January 15, 2014 -- This really good question was posted in the Topretirements Forum by Margielyn. We thought it so interesting that we have re-posted it here so people can Comment about it more easily
"It is usually the best idea to sell a home before buying a new one. This is for financial reasons: we won't have two mortgages and we would know the price house we can afford since we will use the proceeds from the sale of our current house to buy the new one. The problem... where do we live reasonably until we find our new home? What do we do with our furniture? Move it twice, once to a storage facility and then to our new home? How will we know what furniture to
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Published on January 15, 2014
Comments 47
