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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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 28 -- Are you the type of person who has a certain "magic number" in mind? The magic number being the amount of savings you think you need to quit the working world and retire. It's always been an interesting exercise, with the problem that all too often these numbers tend to be unscientific, often relying on shaky assumptions about spending and income.
Finding the magic number is an essential step in every baby boomer's preparations for a worry-free retirement. Nowadays there are any number of retirement calculators available on the internet. These nifty web pages take the mystery out of the process.
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Published on July 28, 2008
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Category: Green Retirement Communities
July 22 -- If there is one "cool" trend in home building today, it is going green. A number of factors have come together to make the green (environmentally sustainable) movement the potential saving grace of struggling home builders across the world. In fact, a McGraw-Hill Construction/National Association of Home Builders study predicts that "The market for green housing will grow to from as little as $12 billion this year to between $40B and $70B by 2012.”
Obviously the high price of oil is factor number 1. With oil prices skyrocketing, residential buildings, which account for 21% of U.S. energy consumption (source: U.S. Energy Information Administration), are an easy target for money-saving ideas.
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Published on July 22, 2008
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 15 - Retirees are coveted by states and towns because of their economic value. They buy homes, usually don't need jobs, and bring with them pensions, social security checks, not to mention tax dollars. A report from the N.C. Center for Creative Retirement: Institute for the Future of Retirement at UNC Asheville finds that some states are doing better at attracting retirees, and they are not all the usual suspects.
The Center relied upon 2005 data from the Census Bureau's American Community Surveys (ACS) to compile their findings. The biggest news reported is that Florida, although still receiving the biggest share of 60+ individuals, continues to lose market share to other states, particularly Texas.
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Published on July 15, 2008
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
For a lot of people the dream of retirement includes golf - and plenty of it. We've seen lists of the top 10 golf communities from other sources in the past, but frankly, they were less than satisfying. Nice list, no passion. That inspired us to a project we could really get into the swing of - the Topretirements.com list of top 10 golfing towns for retirees. Our criteria: the ready availability of great golf, relatively low cost, and other redeeming (non-golf) features, where possible.
Compiling a list like this by a self-described golf nut is a
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Published on July 8, 2008
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Category: Active adult communities
July 3 — Buying into a retirement or active adult community is a complex decision involving where you want to live, what lifestyle and activities you want, costs, and what kind of neighbors you want. Your new Home Owners Association (HOA), which typically runs most active adult communities and…
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Published on July 3, 2008
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
June 27 -- Identifying the bottom of a real estate cycle is a trick that is just about impossible to master. We at Topretirements have been exploring this question for over a year now, wondering if it is finally the right time to buy into a retirement community or active adult community. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer in sight. Today's New York Times article, "Retirees Find the Time May Be Right to Buy", examined this question, profiling the experiences several retirees had as they explored the retirement community real estate market.
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Published on June 27, 2008
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Category: Eldercare
June 24, 2008 -- Baby boomers fortunate enough to still have living parents gained a new resource today, BestAssistedLiving.com. This new online resource can help adult children find the best assisted living, eldercare, independent living, CCRC, and nursing home facilities for their loved ones. The website is a sister site to Topretirements.com, serves a similar audience, and has a site structure that will be very familiar to visitors of that popular online retirement community resource.
As a welcome to the site visitors can download a useful free eBook, "The Practical Guide to Selecting Eldercare Facilities". This new assisted living resource features a variety of helps for children of elders, as well as seniors who are looking for the best assisted living and retirement home resources.
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Published on June 24, 2008
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
While some might think this list is primarily for eggheads, consider for a moment the popularity of college towns for retirement. Increasingly retirees want to retire to a place where they can keep their brain engaged. This list from U.S. News & Word Report gives you some "brainy" places to consider.
Here are U.S. News' brainiest places to retire:
* Ann Arbor, MI
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Published on June 10, 2008
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Category: Active adult communities
Developers of active adult and over 50 communities are fighting back against the real estate slowdown. Their imaginations have been working overtime to come with new and exciting incentives to bring prospective buyers back into their communities. Obviously, lowering prices is a tactic used by most. Indeed the average price of new units sold at Toll Brothers and other builders is down significantly. But many developers are also focusing on the key problem facing buyers of active adult communities – they can’t buy a new home because they can’t sell their old one. Check out some of the ideas we have heard about in the last few weeks:
Buy 1, Get 1 Free
We’re not kidding, a California builder, Michael Crewes Development, is actually offering this deal. Buy one house, get a 2,000 sq.ft. cityscape row home worth $400,000 for free. So what about the house you have to buy?
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Published on June 4, 2008
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