Retirement Community Living: An Environment for Healthy Aging

Active Adult Living Communities

As more of the population pushes the previous life-span boundaries, more and more of us become concerned with aging in such a way that we can maintain our quality of life. Of course, at the core of healthy aging is making good choices about eating right, maintaining a healthy body weight, and having regular medical checkups, but did you know that where you live can have a factor in your overall health as well?

In many neighborhoods there may not be readily available exercise facilities or social opportunities. This can make it difficult for retired people to maintain a previously healthy lifestyle. Keep in mind, a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just include exercise, but also social connections and mental stimulation as well. All of these factors can be supported by living in a new home in a good retirement community. Exercise helps keep up Active Adult Living and even moderate exercise can help keep you more mobile and able to enjoy both daily life as well as special outings.

Mental exercise is also an important factor to consider; the more mental stimulation we participate in, the sharper our minds remain. Mental exercise can be as simple as having regular trips to the library for reading materials, playing a game of bingo with friends, visiting a local museum, or connecting with friends and family. Both kinds of exercise also help keep our stress levels down as well. Prolonged stress can deteriorate most of the systems of the body and even affect your memory. Enjoying a relaxing and active adult living environment can be one way to help combat stress in your life.

A good retirement community can help you with all of these issues and more. It might include such simple elements as walking paths and close proximity to shopping, medical care, as well as entertainment such as a theatre. Some retirement communities have swimming pools or shuffleboard as well, giving you that holiday cruise feel!

Some aspects of healthy living, such as choosing whether or not to smoke, having regular medical checkups, and eating healthy are very personal decisions; while other aspects can be greatly influenced by the environment you live in. Whether choosing either a new residence for living in all year round, or just winter accommodations to help you escape a harsh climate, keep in mind what kind of environment would support you best in your retirement.

For information about Active Adult Living Communities visit www.trilogylife.com.

This article provided by the Editor of Medical Rag.

Active Adult Resort Living - Retirement Communities

At Trilogy, we simply don't believe in cookie-cutter homes. Instead, each community offers a variety of floor plans that honor the local design style, from desert contemporary in Arizona to bungalow influences in coastal California.

All of our homes are finished with flexible living space you can tailor to fit the way you want to live -- including options from a separate casita for visiting guests to an office studio to your own cigar and wine tasting rooms.

At Trilogy, it's about combining the ease and value of a production home with the advantages of custom; it means you get a home that's uniquely yours without all the hassle (or expense!).

Click to learn about our Retirement Communities today!

US Census Reports 78 Million Baby Boomers: New Homes Cater to Active Adult Living

In its first report on Baby Boomers in 13 years, a new US Census Bureau analysis of 2006 data released in November 2009, found that California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania are the five US states with the largest numbers of Baby Boomers. In 2006, Baby Boomers age 42 to 60 totaled an estimated 78.0 million and comprised 26.1% of the total U.S. population.

With 78 million people nearing retirement age, it is not surprising that retirement, or “Active Adult Living”, communities catering to the needs and interests of the Baby Boomer generation are increasing in popularity.

Some new home builders even offer a resort-like lifestyle in the form of forward-thinking, master-planned communities complete with diverse amenities like world-class resort clubs, tons of recreation choices, restaurants, scenery, and spa services.

WOW....Who wouldn’t want the live that way….EVERY day?!!!

If you are in the market for a new home in an active adult living community look into the amazing, eco-friendly, energy efficient new home communities located in California, Texas, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania by Trilogy of Shea Homes.

For more information on the November 2009 census on Baby Boomers visit www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age/2006%20Baby%20Boomers.pdf

Baby Boomer retirees and your active adult development

The market for retirement housing is fundamentally different from that of traditional housing. Unlike working adults, retirees can choose where they live without the restrictions of a job. Thus, a potential retired active adult home buyer can live almost anywhere. With an estimated 74 million people headed for retirement over the next 20 years, the scope of the potential active adult housing market is tremendous. If, as expected, about 20 percent of the retiring Baby Boomers relocate to another state, that will result in about 15 million interstate migrant retirees over the next 20 years. In contrast, only about 4 million Silent Generation retirees (the Baby Boomers' parents) moved to a new state after they retired.

Retirement Communities

Because the scope of the potential active adult home buyer market is so large, it also indicates that the cost of marketing a housing development may be quite high. This cost, however, can be mitigated by marketing only to those potential migrant retirees who are most likely to relocate to the community where the active adult development is located. This targeted marketing strategy involves determining what will attract Baby Boomer retirees to the active adult development.

Using data about the retirement behavior of those Baby Boomers who have already retired and the retirement behavior of the War Babies (those born between 1941 and 1946), we believe that future Baby Boomer retirees will be amenity migrants, not sun migrants. Unlike their parents (the Silent Generation), retiring Baby Boomers are looking for more than a warm place to relax. For Baby Boomers, retirement is the beginning of the second half of their lives. They are looking forward to pursuing personal interests and goals which they had to postpone because of jobs or children. In short, they are selecting their retirement destination because of a lifestyle they desire.

Resort Retirement Communities

For these amenity migrants, it will be the lifestyle of the community where an active adult development is located that will first attract retirees, not the development itself. In marketing such a development, it is essential to place an emphasis on marketing the lifestyle of the community. The first step in developing a targeted marketing plan for an active adult development is to identify the lifestyle of the community where your development is located. Points to keep in mind when doing a lifestyle assessment include:

Don't try to be everything to everybody.

Identify your competition by assessing your community's amenity strengths and weaknesses.

Identify amenities that enhance the lifestyle desired by your potential Baby Boomer retirees.

Recognize that Baby Boomer retirees want to live among people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

Green is growing. For many Baby Boomers, the environment is king.

Once you have completed a lifestyle assessment, you are ready to undertake a targeted marketing campaign. Key points of this campaign include:

Focus advertising on people who want the kind of lifestyle that your community offers.

Cooperation is key. If you want to attract Baby Boomer retirees, make it easy.

Marketing your active adult development requires more than simply placing advertisements.

Once interest has been indicated by a response to your advertising, develop and use online resources and tools to keep potential homebuyers appraised of developments.

Use ambassador groups of existing retirees.

Develop and use a customer relations management system.

Currently, the average person retires at age 63. This indicates that some of the War Babies and Baby Boomers have already retired. However, not as many people as expected have retired during the last several years. which shows that an increasing number of Baby Boomers are postponing their retirement and are waiting for an economic recovery before making their decision. This is analogous to water building up behind a dam. If the dam were to break, a flood would ensue. Similarly, when sufficient confidence in an economic recovery occurs, many of those Baby Boomers who have postponed retirement will decide to retire, and the active adult housing market will experience a flood of relocating Baby Boomer retirees.

When this will happen? That date is subject to speculation, but most experts agree it will occur by 2011. Because of the time required to collect the market research for producing and implementing a successful targeted lifestyle marketing campaign, developers that prepare now for the inevitable flood of Baby Boomer retirees will have the best chance of attracting them. Now is the time to plan a lifestyle marketing campaign for your active adult development.

Sharon Lee Metz is President of Lifestyle Marketing and Sales Group, LLC. She is in the process of relocating to Lexington from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Retirement Communities

Retirement Communities are not what they were in the past and in many cases - there is a clear line which defines a quality retirement community based on the lifestyle of the buyer.  The baby boomer 55+ new homes buyers are far more active and looking to retire to a resort with amenities which provide a wonderful and active lifestyle.  These new "active adults" have helped create a new type of retirement community - those which feature world class resort amenities available as part of your daily routine.

Here is a look at Trilogy Life by Shea Homes

Living at Trilogy is like like visiting a resort...without that looming check-out date. From delicious restaurants to PGA Tour-quality golf courses to championship tennis courts to Resort Clubs with full-service spas that inspire awe, Trilogy is your home to the best amenities in the business.

To learn more about some of our amazing resort-like amenities, navigate the items below or select a community from our "Locations" button above. Better yet, schedule a visit so you can experience what we have to offer in person.

Retirement Communities and Retirement?

Someone recently asked me what I planned to do when I retired. "Retire?" I asked. "I'm not planning to retire!" I can't think of anything much worse. What would I do if I weren't pursuing my passion? Yes, my work is my passion and I hope to be pursuing it for many more years.

Sure, I like to travel, just not for long periods of time. I don't play golf. I do mess around in my garden, but this only takes a few hours of my week. I love to read, but I couldn't read all day, every day. I want to continue writing books and articles and speaking to groups about my favorite topics. But, I want to do all of this when I want to do it!

Learn More about Retirement Communities

Does this sound familiar? As a Baby Boomer, what is in your future? Do you have a vision of your life ten, twenty, even thirty years down the road? What does your next chapter look like? If you are like most Boomers, you may be searching for a new career. You may have a desire for personal reinvention. If you need some help, I highly recommend Ellen Freudenheim's book, Looking Forward, An Optimist's Guide to Retirement. Ellen offers a wealth of information and ideas on this very subject.

Been there, done that…

We Boomers have always been anti-authoritarian, idealistic, self-empowered, and willing to embrace change. Is it any wonder the world is sitting on the edge of its seat waiting to see what we're going to do next?

We've paid our dues: went to college, got married, had kids. But now it's time to leave our comfort zones behind. It's time to get involved again. In fact, a recent study found that 25 million Boomers already do volunteer work.

What is in your future? Have you planned for it? Are you prepared for it? Believe me, this isn't just about money. It's about life your life!

What brings you pleasure? What have you always wanted to try but kept putting off? Would you enjoy volunteering your time to work with kids, build a house, rescue animals? Would you like to go back to school to finally get that elusive degree, or just study something that you've always wanted to learn?

The reason why

The reason I'm asking these questions is this. Do you know that a lot of people, in both the public and private sectors, are spending a lot of time visioning, planning, and developing programs for us post-retirement Boomers? Yes someone is making decisions about your future! Has anyone asked you what YOU want? Haven't you always resisted and resented anyone telling you what to do? In his book, Prime Time, Marc Freedman says, "Transforming the aging of America will require new ideas and new policies and a new constituency for change…"

If we don't want to be part of the herd being driven into those boxes, what are we going to do about it? Isn't it time we begin speaking up? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be told where I'm going to live when I'm 80. I don't want to be told how much money I can make without incurring a penalty. We may have to revert to the stand up, sit in, drop out, protest-anything-resembling-authority people we were in the sixties and seventies. I want to drive the ideas that go into creating those new policies, don't you?

Come on Boomers! We've changed every decade we've lived in thus far. Is that really going to change as we turn sixty...seventy...eighty? We must leave apathy in the rocking chair: step up, speak out, and create programs and opportunities that will work for our unique generation. Don't wait for someone else to do it for you.

Once again, Boomers, it's up to us to make a difference!

Click to Learn more about Resort Retirement Communities

Linda Thompson is the author of Every Generation Needs a New Revolution, How Six Generations Across Nine Decades can Find Harmony and Peaceful Coexistence, Planning for Tomorrow, Your Passport to a Confident Future, a common sense approach to life planning; and A Caregiver’s Journey, You Are Not Alone, a survival guide for working caregivers. To find out more about Linda’s presentations, workshops and publications, visit LifePathSolutions.biz.

Active Adult Communities – on the Rise

Active Adult Communities – on the Rise

By Senitra Horbrook
 
Communities catering to active adults are springing up in rapid numbers. Research from the National Association of Home Builders found that more than 100,000 units constructed in 2008 will be targeted to this growing niche market. Growing just as fast are the number of adults 55 and older, which is expected to
exceed 85 million by 2014.
 
But if they build it, will active adults come?
 
So far, they have and the reasons why active adults are choosing age restricted communities are quite
varied.

“We wanted to downsize and get something smaller,” said Beverly Massi, a 68-year-old who sold a single family home on one acre in Elmer, NJ nearly two years ago, to move with her husband to a school converted to condos for active adults in Clayton, NJ. 
 
“This particular one was cost-effective and more reasonable than anything else around. We had been looking at another community nearby. Then it opened and the taxes were out the ceiling, before we even moved in. The maintenance fee was also high. Then we found this, and it has worked out fine. We’re good.”

Rich Shakarjian, Director of Sales for J.S. Hovnanian & Sons, which currently has three active adult communities in Southern New Jersey, has noticed that location plays a large role in choosing an active adult
community.
 
“They want to stay close to where they currently live or they’re moving here to be closer to their kids or to a brother – to be near family,” Shakarjian said. “It’s also interesting that a lot of our active adults are still working, so they’re still not moving too far from where they’re
working.”
 
Selecting that perfect location is the next big decision, and active adults base that choice on a number of factors. According to the American Housing Survey data provided by the National Association of Home Builders, most buyers (77 percent) chose a new home in a particular age-restricted community because they liked the home’s look and overall design. Twenty-eight percent chose a community, so they could be close to friends and relatives. More than half of all new buyers in 55+ communities move within the same county as they currently live.
 
“Active adult buyers know what they want, and they want everything in their home,” Shakarjian said. “Even though they’re downsizing, it’s not like they really want to give anything up.” 
  
Other well-liked features include a second bedroom on the first floor and a nice, large, open kitchen with an island, all of the amenities, and an eating area.
 
“They want a nice, big, family room or great room and they also want a study. A lot of them are still working and they still want an office,” Shakarjian said.
 
Community amenities are also an important consideration for many active adult homebuyers. Communities that include outside maintenance and snow removal, as well as a clubhouse with exercise equipment, are popular. At the Clayton condo community Massi lives in, there is no yard work. In addition, the school’s old gymnasium is in the process of being remodeled into a recreation center with a sauna, a pool
table, and exercise equipment. 
 
With so many variables to consider in choosing an active adult community, be diligent and do your research. Review each potential community carefully. Massi advises others like herself to choose wisely. “Think about things like taxes and amenities. We got to pick everything that was inside. Know what your options are.
 
“I wish we had done some things differently. We picked out granite in the kitchen and two baths; we don’t need granite in the bath. We could have cut some expenses, but we made money on the house that we sold, so we had money to spend, so we upgraded a lot.”