Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is the 4th in a series on college town retirements. See Further Reading below for links to the other installments.
November 11, 2014 -- College towns are very often great places to retire. You are virtually guaranteed an interesting cultural life with plenty of opportunities to stimulate your mind. In most cases you might be able to take or audit college classes, or perhaps there is a Lifelong Learning program set up with the college. There are sporting events to attend, as well as world class facilities you might be able to use such as gyms or pools. College towns usually have more interesting shops and restaurants than in comparable towns. Lastly, most people find the presence of young people to be invigorating.
What Are College Affiliated Communities
Several colleges and universities have set up or have relationships with active communities or Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)
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Published on November 11, 2014
Comments 6
Category: Active adult communities
Update: September 2015: See our brand new "2015 List of the Most Popular Active Adult Communities."
September 3, 2014 -- When it comes to the states that have the most popular active adult and 55+ communities at Topretirements it is a 7 state race - with Florida far out ahead. Four states had 60 of the 100 most popular communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (12), Delaware (11), and North Carolina (12). Colorado and Massachusetts had their strongest showings ever (10 and 7 respectively) while South Carolina launched 5 communities into the top 100.
With more than 300 active/55+/retirement developments in our database, Florida has more communities than any other state. That is at least one obvious reason for its dominance, along with its warm winter weather and lack of income tax. Delaware continues to have the best representation of any cold winter weather state with 11 communities on the list.
Parsing these results:
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Published on September 3, 2014
Comments 121
Category: Active adult communities
January 7, 2014 -- It is common wisdom that the longer an active community has been in existence, the older its population. It makes sense - new communities market to an audience which is just starting retirement, mostly folks in their late 50's to early 70's. The buyers move in and tend to stay until they either die, or are forced to move to assisted living or a nursing home. That whole cycle typically plays out over 30 or so years. And then what happens? Well that is the subject of today's article.
The Oldest Active Communities
Sun City, Arizona, was launched January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, recreation center and
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Published on January 6, 2014
Comments 17
Category: Active adult communities
Note: Our 2014 list was published in September of 2014. See "Florida Dominates 2014 List of Most Popular Communities"
September 2, 2013 -- There are some very big surprises in this year's results for the 100 most popular active adult communities. First off, 4 states completely dominated our visitors' favorite active adult communities: Florida (25), Tennessee (16), Delaware (16), and North Carolina (12) amassed 69 of the 100 most popular communities. Within that result, Tennessee's 16 communities in the top 100 demonstrates that it is a state to be taken very seriously when it comes to baby boomer retirement. Of the remaining 46 states, only Pennsylvania (6), Texas (4) and South Carolina (4) put more than a few communities into the top 100.
Florida topped the 2013 list with 25 communities (it had 35 in 2012). Delaware's 16 communities on the list is by far the best representation of any non-Sun Belt state (we are counting Tennessee as a Sunbelt state, although that could be argued).
We take several conclusions away from these results:
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Published on September 2, 2013
Comments 62
Category: Active adult communities
June 26, 2013. We had an unusual media request from a popular cable TV show. They are looking for “out there” rules and restrictions at active adult communities. So if you know of any that are true or researchable, we would love to hear about them. Please add them as…
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Published on June 26, 2013
Comments 43
Category: Active adult communities
May 7, 2013 -- Note: This is an updated version of an article we ran in early 2012. It is basically the same content as before, but this update allows us to start over with fresh set of Comments. Our goal is to portray a variety of active baby boomer retirement lifestyles for our members, including different places to live.
Len and Ann are the kind of people that don’t like to stand still. And that's a trait which perfectly qualifies them to be residents of The Villages, that giant, non-stop fun active community of 107,000 people near Ocala, Florida. Here is their story - we hope you find it useful to learn more about how they came about deciding to living here, and what it is really like to live in The Villages.
What They Did Before Retirement
Len had a long career as an IT guy at SNET, the former
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Published on May 7, 2013
Comments 12
Category: Active adult communities
Note: See also Survey results from 2020 on the same topic.
March 5, 2013 -- Wow, talk about feedback - 753 helpful folks provided their valuable insights on their retirement status, housing preferences, and the future of active adult communities in last week's poll. Thanks to everyone who answered these 8 questions.
Your input provides so much to think about - we just wish we had room to highlight every comment! If there was one member statement that really struck us above all others, it was this one: "We love thinking about (retirement) and exploring our options. So many ideas, so many places to go, things to do. Can't wait!" We just love that attitude, prevalent among so many Topretirements members.
Highlights
There is no single one thing that folks are looking for - everybody has a slightly different recipe for retirement perfection. But all you builders out there, please note some key trends here! We've detailed the
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Published on March 5, 2013
Comments 45
Category: Active adult communities
December 4, 2012 - You can't beat it when your biggest dream comes true. When we started Topretirements.com 6 years ago we imagined this site would be a place where members would share their knowledge and experiences about the places they know and visit. So when we read Carole's amazing post this morning in the Comments section of the "Tell Us Where You Are Going to Retire - And Why" Blog article, we knew our dream has been realized. Carole has shared a newsy, factual, and interesting report on her travels about the communities she and her husband are visiting in South Florida. She's not only provided many useful facts and figures, but she also tells us her impressions, which can be so valuable.
We've reprinted some of her posts in this article not only because they are so good, but because we want more people to see them. Although the post to which she responded now has a stunning 557 comments, the only people likely to see her comments are our Daily Digest subscribers, since the original post dates way back to February. In the interest of geographic
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Published on December 4, 2012
Comments 4
Category: Active adult communities
October 16, 2012 -- Few topics can generate strong opinions like Home Owner Associations (HOAs). There are people who have a visceral reaction to them, while others see them as a necessary and beneficial part of living together in a community. In today's update to our original 2009 article, Joe West, one of the most knowledgeable people in the country on HOAs and CEO of Community Associations Network, shares his expertise on the basics everyone should know before they commit to living in any
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Published on October 15, 2012
Comments 17
Category: Active adult communities
Note: This article provides our 2012 list. Here is where you can go to see the "2014 List of the 100 Best Active Adult Communities"
August 8, 2012 -- The results are in, and Topretirements members and visitors are most interested in exploring active adult communities in Florida, North Carolina, and Delaware. Those 3 states accounted for 60 of the 100 most popular communities. Left in the dust were the 3 next most favorite states - Arizona (8 communities), Texas (7), and Tennessee (5). As was the case with our 2011 List of the Best Active Adult Communities, Sun Belt states achieved near total domination over their colder brethren. (See also: 100 Most Popular Towns for Retirement - 2014).
Florida, the runaway favorite, topped the 2012 list with an amazing 35 communities (it had 40 in 2012). North Carolina improved its showing from 10 to 13 on the 2012 list. Delaware was close on NC's heels with 12 communities on the list - by far the best representation of any non-Sun Belt state.
We take several conclusions away from these results:
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Published on August 8, 2012
Comments 17
