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Try It NOWCategory: Active adult communities
In a proposed merger that will create the largest homebuilder in America, Pulte Homes will combine with homebuilder Centex in an all stock deal. Pulte Homes is the parent company of the Anthem and Del Webb brands, the latter which brings you the huge Sun City active adult communities…
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Category: Active adult communities
If you haven't noticed, not every active adult community is created equal. Depending on the skill and commitment of the developer, the community can be interesting and an easy joy to live in - or boring and inconvenient. Some of the most interesting examples of the best community designs are evident in the 2008 Best in American Living Awards (BALA), which were just announced. The awards are sponsored by a panel of judges put together by Professional Builder, a division of the National Association of Home Builders. There are a number of categories (and all of the winners are worth looking at), but this article concerns the 2008 winners for the Communities division. Common
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Category: Active adult communities
Note: This is our 2009 article. We updated these active communities trends in 2011 based on interviews with 6 industry experts and comments from our members. Both articles make for interesting reading.
With a fresh avalanche of baby boomers sliding into senior-hood every day, there is a lot of interest in 55+ housing trends. This article provides the Topretirements list of the top 10 active adult community trends for 2009. (We did the same exercise for 2008. There are many similarities on both lists, but also some new ideas).
The ultimate trend for 2009 – and the great unknown – is will the real estate
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Category: Active adult communities
About 60 million Americans live in buildings controlled by home owners associations (HOAs), according to the Community Association Institute. Now, as the real estate crunch moves into a new phase with more strapped owners who can't make their mortgage or maintenance payments, HOAs are being forced to foreclose to protect their interests.
The problem is worse in older condominium associations, especially those that have been poorly run. Suddenly facing large maintenance bills some HOAs have to send out hefty assessment notices, but unfortunately many owners are not in a position to pay.
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