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Try It NOWCategory: Active adult communities
February 28 – If you are a person that likes to be active, have we got the place for you! It’s The Villages in north central Florida. Spread over a 5 X 12 mile site, there is plenty of room for just about everything. In fact it has so many…
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Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
February 24 -- According to a duo of college professors, suburbia as we know it is headed for trouble. Their prediction is that McMansion-land could become the next depressed "outer cities", filled with blight, poverty, and crime. Once again baby boomer demographic trends are among the culprits.
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 20 - You've heard it before, Americans don't save enough. Unfortunately, failure to follow this sage advice is going to mean a bleak retirement for many baby boomers, unless they get very busy. The Motley Fool's recent article, "Prepare for a Gruesome Retirement", shows just how pathetic those savings are. Of boomers aged 55+, 42% have saved less than $25,000, and only 50% have saved more than $50,000.
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
February 17 - Sales of existing homes in the 4th quarter of 2007 continued the slide seen earlier in the year. According to the National Association of Realtors sales fell in 45 states; down 21% on a national basis vs. the year ago quarter. The median price declined a record 5.8% in the quarter. Prices increased in about half of the markets surveyed.
Hardest hit were Las Vegas, Jackson (MS), Sacramento, and the Riverside and Orange County areas of southern California. Foreclosures are often cited as the major cause of the declines. But all the news wasn't bad, showing that real estate is nothing if not local. Bucking the trend
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Category: Active adult communities
One of the primary drivers of where people choose to retire is the ability to be near loved ones. Often the perfect choice is a home that is close, but not too close, to those loved ones.
Now the over 55 community industry is joining in on that trend. One of their answers is to be seen in Victoria Park in central Florida near DeLand. This huge development is truly multi-generational, with traditional single family homes. Victoria Gardens also includes a special section, Victoria Gardens, which is a gated and age-restriction community within the overall development.
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Category: International Retirement
February 6 – Here is a great opportunity to vacation in beautiful Costa Rica, famous for its natural surroundings Topretirements is pleased to announce a partnership with Boomers in Costa Rica, a firm owned by U.S. expatriates Andrew Mastrandonas and Preston Gitlin. They have been leading the most reliable real…
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
January 30, 2008 -- Florida -- In a crushing 64% to 36% vote Florida voters overwhelmingly brought in a new wave of property tax reform in their state, passing Amendment 1. The amendment would lower property taxes. It increases the homestead exemption by $15,000, saving voters an average of $240. It also provides "portability" of protected assessed values for Florida residents, meaning that if they sell their homes and move to a new one they can continue to have a 3% cap on the assessed value for their "protected" amounts.
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
The real estate market in South Florida, one of the hardest hit regions of the country, affects thousands and thousands or baby boomers who are considering retirement communities there. Your Topretirements editor has been in the Sunshine State for the past several weeks - this report summarizes his microcosmic view of the Florida real estate market.
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Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
Note: This article has been updated with the top 2011 active communities trends.
With many baby boomers expecting their first social security checks in the mail soon, the next obvious question is.... where will all of these boomers live in retirement? Indeed, a favorite baby boomer cocktail party conversational gambit these days is "Where are you thinking about living in retirement?" With big events like this afoot, we thought we would try our hand at predicting 2008's top 10 trends for baby boomer retirement communities. One thing is certain - baby boomers are so diverse that just about every retirement will be different. Here goes:
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
January 2 - The new year might have just rung in, but the news for buyers of retirement real estate is the same - buyers are cautious as inventory piles up, sales slow down drastically, and prices come down only slightly. A dire New Year's Day front page headline in the Miami Herald screamed about "Home Sales and Prices" being in a "Nosedive". But aside from the softness in the market for retirement communities, another worry has emerged - unfullfilled promises and communities.
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