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Try It NOWCategory: Active adult communities
May 13 — A report from Arizona State University’s Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness brought some welcome good news to the Arizona market for active adult communities recently. The school found that price drops in the area of over 30% helped spur increased sales in retirement communities among snowbirds…
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
New home sales fell 8.5% in March, according to the Commerce Department. The vacancy rate for homes is at 2.9%, the highest level recorded since the Census Bureau started keeping track in 1956. Over 18 million U.S. homes were empty in this year's first quarter. Sound like bad news?
Not everybody thinks so. There are those who believe that the bottom of the real estate market is either here, or will be here soon. The optimists, on whose side Topretirements rests, believe that the mismatch between inventories (still way too high), demand (pathetic), and prices (still too high in spite of very big reductions in some markets) will eventually be resolved and the real estate market will return to equilibrium.
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Category: General Retirement Issues
April 21 - You know there is a movement afoot when both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times offer up features on retirement communities during the same weekend.
The Journal's article was excerpted from a book by Andrew Blechman called "Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias". In it Mr. Blechman wonders why a couple that he is friends with have decided to move to The Villages, the giant active adult community of 75,000 souls near Ocala, Florida. He describes in great detail what The Villages is all about - endless activity at a reasonable price in pretty good weather. In our opinion
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Category: Active adult communities
April 15 -- Imagine a town where a surprising number of residents have 2 golf carts - and only 1 car. Where the supermarket and high school have special golf cart parking lots. And where 72 of the 80 motor vehicles reported stolen last year were golf carts. That's Peachtree City, Georgia, one of America's largest planned communities -a perfect active adult community for many.
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Category: Active adult communities
April 9 -- For Sequoya, moving into a 55+ community in Yuma was "... boy what a mistake!" Similarly, Kimojimo "tried (a community in FL), lasted 9 months, and couldn't WAIT to get out!" Yet Bill55, who worked for years for Del Webb, "... met countless people who had no intention of living in an adult community. But for one reason or another they decided to give it a shot and I would see them around the community day after day taking part in all sorts of activities. At least 95% of those people said that moving there was the best decision of their lives!"
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Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
April 5 -- You've heard of the U(na)-Bomber and U-2 the rock group. Now get ready for another U, the U-Boomers. Forbes Magazine recently published an article that differentiates among different sub-sets of baby boomers. The U-Boomers are a huge segment that constitutes about 24 million of the 76 or so million baby boomers out there.
The "U" stands for uncompromising, so U-Boomers are folks who intend to maintain their lofty lifestyle aspirations - but who won't necessarily have the financial means to execute on those dreams.
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Category: Green Retirement Communities
March 31 -- Baby boomers are known for their devotion to preserving the environment - at least when they are not driving their SUV's. So the big question is, will the folks who pioneered Earth Day look for green (sustainable) retirement and active adult communities? Just as important, will the marketers of those communities recognize the need and make the product available in an appealing concept?
We recently came across some examples of green communities, which is encouraging. Shea Homes, a large national home builder, has announced that environmentally friendly homes will be the focus of some of its new developments in Florida and other sun belt states. These homes will be so-called "eco-friendly", and will have energy saving features such as solar attic fans, motion-sensor triggered lighting, energy-efficient windows and appliances, and garages with electric-vehicle charging stations. Some materials like insulation will be recycled. According to a report in Off the Grid, Shea says
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
March 28 -- January housing statistics from Case-Shiller were released this week - and the news continues bad for sellers, good for buyers. Of the 20 metro markets that this firm tracks, only 1 metro managed higher real estate prices vs. the year ago period, Charlotte (+1.75%). The 19 others had declining prices, with 10 of them experiencing double digit declines. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego had the biggest drops (Las Vegas went down over 19%). Overall the 20 city index showed a 10.7% decline in January 2008 vs. Jan. 2007.
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Category: Active adult communities
March 24 -- The stereotype would have you think that the hordes of baby boomers moving into active adult communities can't wait to move into a smaller house. According to a new study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), however, the reality is somewhat different.
The study, "Profile of the 50+ Housing Market", points out that more than 85 million people will be 55+ by 2014. Many will be buying in homes specifically built for 55+ buyers, and these won't be all that small - the average home will still have more than 2 bedrooms and over 2,000 square feet for living. Yards and other maintenance-requiring items will be downsized, however.
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Category: Active adult communities
March 18 - Maybe it is the softer market for real estate and active adult communities. It could be a bold move to capture market share when many real estate developers are down. Or perhaps it is just an awakening to the possibilities. Whatever the reasons, a number of leading active adult communities have been on an advertising tear lately, placing their ads in venues where they haven't been seen before.
Leading the charge has been The Villages, the active adult behemoth south of Ocala, FL. Anybody who has been watching golf on network television lately has been exposed to their messages many times by now. In Topretirements' experience, this is the first time that a retirement community has gone to national television to look for prospects.
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