55 plus Active Adult Community

[Ed Gibbons]

I am thinking about moving into one. Any feedback appreciated.

[Chuck Wintle]

whats wrong with your current life?

[David G Baker]

Spend the time and do a lot of research prior to making a commitment. My parents moved into one in their late 50's. Their problem was the frequent change of ownership and the increasing fees. The provided food was not to their liking on many occasions and the most heard complaint was hanging out with a bunch of old folks. Over all they were content. They lived at Eskaton in Carmichael California. Check it out on line and you will get a view of what they offer. For me 55 would have been way too young for me to move into an adult community. I am now 68 and still do not have any desire to give it a try. I have always been very independent and not really too much of a social person so living in the close proximity to a lot of people would probably cause me a lot of stress. Where I live now I can throw a stone in any direction from my house and not hit a neighbors property. Good luck in your choice.

[Tim Janssen]

I'm sneaking up on 82 and would not want to move into an adult only community. We like to hear children's voices. But to each his own.

Tim

[John O'Brien]

I moved into an active adult coomunity about 3 years ago. For the most part we are happy with the decidion. It's nice to go away and not have to worry about cutting the grass or who is going to shovel the snow. There are more things to do in the community than we can participate in. We have great neighbors and we are all about the same age.

On the down side, you do give up some rights and decisons are made for you by the trustees. You may not always agree with what is decided, but you have to abide.

We have a lot of amenities, but unless you use them, they are expenses you are paying for. We bought new construction, and once all the houses were sold, you go through a transition with the builder. Our builder (Centex, now Pulte) is not being very cooperative and we are finding there are a lot of items not up to standards. The thought is that the builder originally thought they would sell out the development in 5 years and be gone before things started falling apart, but because of the housing crisis they were around for about 8 years. So now some of the "shoddy" work is coming back to bite them. The township holds a multi-million dollar bond, so that work will be done.

make sure you get a copy of the bylaws and read them before you buy. Some palces we looked at had restrictions on pets (size, number, dog breeds) which was a concern for us.

So far community living is working for us. Once we both retire, we will have time to get more involved with on-site activities and more time to go away.

We are in Monroe Township, NJ where there are many adult communities.

[Brian Elfert]

One thing about most 55+ apartments, at least in my area, is the rent tends to be inexpensive and the apartments are generally fairly new. When I was looking for an apartment almost 15 years ago I found lots of listings with good prices and nice looking units until I noticed the 55+ age requirement. My guess is seniors probably take better care of their apartments so the rent is less.

I'm still a good ways from qualifying for one of these places, but I would probably rather stay in my own home as long as I could take care of it.

[Myk Rian]

Our builder (Centex, now Pulte) is not being very cooperative and we are finding there are a lot of items not up to standards.
Pulte, that says it all.
That company pissed off our entire county when they destroyed a beautiful wooded area, so they could put up a bunch of high dollar homes, that never sold.

[Heather Thompson]

We do not live in an adult community per say but are in a townhome, the property is run by an association that employs a management company to oversee daily business. The rules and regulations were changed last year and things that were allowed from the beginning are now considered violations subject to fines, the property manager walks the area with his clip board on a regular basis looking for revenue. My husband and I plan to move but at this time it is difficult as he is close to retirement and we are hoping to move to a different part of the country where there will be No association, we enjoy our freedom.

[Ed Gibbons]

Thank you for feedback. The prospect of retirement is scary. Some of the Active Adult communities look great.

Just don't know...:confused:

[David G Baker]

Many of the adult communities look great from the outside, if you get a chance talk to some of the members without the management around and get the true picture from those living the life. One of the main things about retirement is medical insurance and its cost. Another item I learned from experience is live off of your non-tax deferred money prior to tapping into your tax deferred dollars. I retired at 55 and was told that I could not touch my pensions or 401K with out tax penalties. That is not true as long as you actually retire and are 55 years of age you will not have to pay the penalties but you need to do it correctly.

[David Weaver]

I can't make any comments from firsthand experience, but the wife and I just had a dinner at an expensive place (we used a groupon) a couple of weeks ago, and the table next two us had two groups of folks who bought a property in one of those communities. Apparently it changed hands and was having money trouble, and one of the couples was able to get out, and the other couple wasn't and they spent their entire nice dinner troubling over how to deal with the situation and where to go.

Despite the fact that they went somewhere that costs about $100 per couple to eat (they didn't use a groupon), they were vocally describing their plight of being out of money, and how they didn't have the money to fix their property situations by just leaving.

Which would say to me that there's a lot of specific risk, and if a place didn't have a long track record and a pile of cash for liquid needs, I would definitely avoid it. It sounded like their place had been taken over and the staff halved.

My wife chided me for listening to their conversation, but it was entertaining even though they may not have thought so. They were old school, and if one woman in the group voiced an opinion, even a mild one, the other woman would chide her for "getting out of control". And the one guy kept saying loudly "is that the one with the porch, or is that the one without the porch, because if you have a porch, your living room is smaller!!".

Once the property is full at a place like that, it's got to be awfully easy for the property manager to cut staff and services to try to make a few extra bucks on top.

[Rick Potter]

There is a place called Sun City about 40 miles from us. The family of a friend moved there about 20 years ago. It is like a small town, with shopping. They were individual homes, and had a lot of amenities....clubhouse, pool etc. They also had a workshop, probably 1500 sq. ft., with all the normal tools. Only went there once, but have always wondered if they still have the shop.

Del Webb, the guy who built the place, owned casinos in Laughlin and Vegas, and started up the same type towns (lots of homes) in other places. I know there was a Sun City in AZ.

We decided to go the other way, and have added onto our home a 'granny flat'. It is an attached 1100 Sq. Ft. living area with a living room, bedroom, large bath, laundry room, and an alcove with a student sized refrigerator and microwave. The idea is that when we get older, one of the kids or grandkids will live with their family in the 'main house', and take care of our needs like doctor visits etc. Kind of like an assisted living facility. Hopefully we will kick off before the need for a hospital type rest home.

Our daughter and her family live with us now. Looks like the job is taken. She tells me she is gonna turn my shop into a skating rink. I tell her 'over my dead body'............oh, wait a minute.......

Rick Potter

[Mike Wilkins]

If you are a woodworker, over 55, and contemplating moving to Arizona, you may want to pick up the latest copy of American Woodworker magazine. There is an article on a shop located in one of these communities that is just awesome. Multiple everything, top grade machinery, hand tools, power tools, lumber supply for purchase, even cookies baked by the wives.