Advantages of Retirement Communities

There are many reasons why people choose to live in a 55+ community.  The advantages of retirement communities are easy to list and very visible if you decide to take a tour of one.  We strongly recommend a trip to at least two or three so that you can make a fully informed decision.  While a friend’s recommendation may be enticing, you should look at a couple of options before you make such an important decision.  In the age of the internet, it’s not difficult to find the nearest retirement community to where you live or are planning to live.

The largest retirement communities are in Florida and Arizona with The Villages topping the list with over 70,000 homes.  We have friends who live there and, overall, they are very happy with the community.  The activities that are available are amazing and there seems to be a club or group for just about any interest.  Many residents use golf clubs to get around and there are grocery stores, drug stores and medical facilities available not to mention some great restaurants.  We stopped by for a visit and got a personalized tour.  The place is enormous and, although our friends love it, it was too much like the suburban life we were trying to escape from.

Sun City in Arizona is another hot spot for retirement communities.  The largest ones are quite big and need to be experienced.  The advantages of retirement communities include the fact that everything you need is very close by.  If that’s what you’re looking for then by all means, consider one of the little towns that have been built to make people 55 and older as comfortable as possible.  Social opportunities abound and you’ll never run out of friends.

When my wife and I retired, we opted for a quieter locale.  We bought property at Sleepy Hollow Lake in upstate New York.  With about 800 homes and a private lake, the community is ideal for us.  While it may not have all the advantages of retirement communities that are larger, it fits our needs and offers enough social opportunities to satisfy both of us.  It is not age restricted so there are young families who enjoy the beauty of this tranquil area.  It doesn’t get much better than living on a lake with a view of the mountains.  While the winters are a bit chilly, we have stayed through the December to April period and did quite nicely.  Truth be told, we usually escape to a warmer climate during those winter months.  That’s one of the things that you should think about carefully.

The advantages of Retirement Communities are many. But is that what you want?

If you enjoy the seasons, moving to Florida on a permanent basis will mean you won’t experience the fall and the spring in quite the same way as the northern part of the country does.  While the winters are quite nice, the summer can be exhausting because of the heat and humidity.  It’s one of the reasons we chose a quiet existence on a small lake over the hustle and bustle of a large retirement community.  The advantages of retirement communities are numerous but, when we considered everything, we opted to stay in a Mayberry type town rather than a city.  It’s something to really think about and we know quite a few people who ended up changing their minds more than once.

The best way to experience the advantages of retirement communities is to actually live in one before you buy a home there.  There are almost always rental opportunities that are available in an area, and we know many people who rent a home in a community for two to three months each year.  It is definitely something to consider before making a huge purchase.  The worst thing that can happen is you decide this particular community isn’t for you and you look for someplace else.  The best thing that can happen is that you fall in love with the place and decide to buy.  Either way, you’ll be making a very informed decision.  The advantages of retirement communities are numerous, but which ones do you consider to be the most important?  Living in a community for a while will help you decide.

Take your time making the decision.  If possible, experiment with a couple of different areas before you retire.  We are fortunate to own time-share and for family vacations we used it to experience different areas as much as possible.  We had known that the heat and humidity of Florida would preclude us from owning something permanent there.  Summers are just draining for us.  But we do like January and February down there so our time-share is ideal.  During our second winter, we stayed in Arizona and fell in love with Tucson but determined that we would miss the seasons too much to consider living there full time.  The advantages of retirement communities were very evident to us and, although attractive, did not change our mind about living in a smaller community.

The bottom line is that no one can make this decision but you.  It’s an important one so take your time and experiment by renting in a couple of different places.  We happen to think that when you find the right place you’ll know it.  So, get busy.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life.

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