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: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
The deluge of unending bad economic news is enough to make Pollyanna turn downright crabby. Stocks are down, Madoff type pyramid schemes are up, and real estate can barely be given away in some parts of the country. What is worse is that Americans have forgotten their economic history. Lost is the experience we learned the hard way - that lack of confidence fuels the downturn – individuals and businesses continue to feel worse, cutting back more, so more and more people lose their jobs. The bad news cycle just goes on, until some magical day (Inauguration Day!?) when confidence returns, people start spending again, and businesses feel like they have to hire more people to keep up with demand.
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Published on January 3, 2009
Comments 3
Category: Retirement Real Estate
As 2008 draws to a close and fond memories of the holidays begin to recede, here's a wish for much better retirement and retirement community news next year.
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Published on December 26, 2008
Comments 1
Category: General Retirement Issues
The conversion of the Topretirements weekly Best Places to Retire eNewsletter to a new email provider is now complete. Our new service should provide greater reliability and graphics - IF - you confirm your subscription. That's because our new provider (aweber) requires that every name from our subscription list confirm that they really intended to subscribe.
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Published on December 21, 2008
Comments 0
Category: Retirement Real Estate
Regardless of when the economy turns back around, the financial crisis has put just about everyone's retirement lifestyle picture a little bit askew. If there is any silver lining, it just might be that it forces us to look at the retirement paradigm in a new way.
Remodeling
Common wisdom and AARP surveys show that at least 80% of people would like to retire right where they live now. The problem is, most of us moved into our homes with different lifestyle requirements than what we have now. Whereas we were once looking for more room for our families, a smaller footprint (with reduced energy consumption and property taxes) might be more appropriate today. Another consideration is that our future mobility will not be what it once was. So if we are to stay in our homes, remodeling them to fit our future might be a good idea.
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Published on December 16, 2008
Comments 0
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Most of the experts think that our economic mess could continue for the next few years. If you have just retired and are trying to figure out how to adjust to life with a smaller portfolio, this article might help with some perspective. That is, if you get over what was our first reaction to the crisis, wanting to just stay home and mope!
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Published on December 9, 2008
Comments 1
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Every so often US News & World Reports goes through its database and comes up with another "Top 10" List. This time their efforts have produced one dear to all tax-fearing hearts, the 10 most tax-friendly towns in America. After all, you can't do anything about federal taxes, but you can vote with your feet and move to a low tax town or city.
The US News list is an interesting one, will almost all of the towns in the west. Most made the list because there is no
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Published on December 2, 2008
Comments 23
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: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
It seems like an oxymoron to think that, just when you were beginning to think about down-sizing, you could actually soon outgrow your existing home. Worse yet, you could do the same for the home you are about to build or buy for retirement.
The more precise statement is that you probably won't outgrow your home, but if you are not careful, your needs will change to the point that your home no longer fits you. Anyone's health and/or mobility can change quickly - and when it does your choice is either to move, or put in expensive and inconvenient renovations.
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Published on November 24, 2008
Comments 7
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
