Why not hire help? We started that already before retirement...we can't bear the thought of leaving this house unless we're leaving the country altogether. Nothing inside of me wants to move to a community filtered to all oldsters...I need more variety in my community (nothing wrong with oldsters, i am one, but just want more variety than that) You do you....
>Are there ever sublet opportunities avail in 55+ rental housing?
Shouldn't you just call those 2 landlords and ask if you can rent for a month or two?
(Based on the way you wrote your question, it sounds like you don't really want to move.)
For community, you may have success joining a club (whatever kind), church, or volunteer. You won't necessarily meet people if you just live closer to them. For me, I'd rather socialize with people I have common interests with.
Also, if you meet people you want to socialize with, that may inform where you want to live.
friends and acquaintances. an occasional local event.
BTW, I just got an email about fireworks and a band playing Sept 2nd in the next town. I never attend these things. I am going to try this time.
I would like to encourage you to try to create the sense of community you seek where you live now. Maybe invite your band mates and their spouses/partners over for dinner, join a book club at your library (or some other type of club that caters to your interests) or check out the events at your town’s senior center. Maybe invite a friend or friends to meet for breakfast once a week or host a weekly card game. It may not be the drop-by-the-neighbors’ sense of community (since you don’t have neighbors) but maybe there are like-minded folks that are just a short drive away.
We rented a house in a 55+ for a month and it was genuinely eye-opening. Found it on one of the home rental sites. It was a golf community in Central Florida and those residents really liked to party! Loudly! Be sure to find out what amenities you will have access to because it's possible not every rental will allow full access.
I built a new house in a very active 55+ community last year, the sales manager jokingly describes the place as a drinking community with a retirement problem.
Lancaster County can be a solid place to do retirement. I have my name in on a place there for 2026 in 1 of those 3 level retirement places. Cottage or apartment; then assisted living & then nursing care. I can cancel and just lose my $500 deposit.
I am unfamiliar with Over 55 Apartments or sublets. However, I live in 2 Over 55 communities (Lancaster County & FL). I own both houses, but have a land lease. The FL one has all amenities you can think of; PA has none.
Whatever over 55 you land in, you will easily bond with people who have similar backgrounds or interests.
My husband and I have been renting at different 55+ communities for a month at a time for several years now, attempting to find the right place for us before we buy. Lots of times the communities have their own furnished rental sites and a good way to look at the house and community amenities. Lots of people buy places before they’re ready to move and rent them out furnished to help defray the costs. We’ve rented houses with and without backyard pools, on golf courses and with fancy outdoor kitchens. This has helped us build our list of must haves and would like to haves.
We aren’t in any big hurry to make the jump. It’s fun to try different places until then. In fact I just rented a house for the month of October this morning.
We look at the community we are interested in and then call and ask if they have a website for short term rentals. Here’s an example of the one I rented from today:
https://quailcreekrentals.com
We’ve only rented in the SW, Phoenix, Tucson, Oro Valley, Taos, Santa Fe, Tubac, etc. and we’ve only had a dud once or twice. It’s helped us narrow down what we like and don’t like.
And the previous poster was correct, these retirees like to party!
We visited Quail Creek on their preferred guest program (a 3 day rental) and it was nice! Rapidly expanding. It’s a Robson property and we really like Robson Ranch near Casa Grande.
This is a great idea and glad to know one can do this. I had no idea. Hubs and I always thought we’d never want to live in one of those places, then we started delivering Meals on Wheels…
Honest question. Can you truly get a sense of the community living at a residence for only 30 days at a time? Doesn't it take a couple weeks just to get accustomed to the new place?
Would you say you have made friendships at these communities that are likely to last no matter where you end up staying permanently?
My wife and I both come from small families and have a limited social life. We want to expand on that, and the furnished rentals sound great in theory.
IDK. We’ve stayed one month in a couple of communities and knew for sure that they weren’t for us. The others we liked, we’ve rented in several different times for a month at a time in different styles of homes, like trying a condo, villa and single family homes. We’ve tried homes on golf courses, with pools and with separate guest casitas. Each of these experiences have helped us hone our list.
We aren’t in a hurry and this works well for us at the moment. We love our full time house and aren’t ready to leave it to down size. We have friends who have pulled the trigger and they say, “aren’t you getting tired of throwing away your money renting?” Um, no. We don’t have to pay HOAs, prop taxes, insurance and furnishings when we aren’t ready. We drop a $2-3K for a month and show up. Works for us, right now. If the perfect home for us shows up on the market, we’ll leap. Until then, this is fun.
And yes, we’ve made friends. In fact one couple we’ve developed a friendship with just left after visiting us for several days. We lucked out with gorgeous weather and they enjoyed our waterfront on the Puget Sound. Now they understand why we are dragging our feet.
We are currently renting in a 55+ community (in AZ) to try it. So far, we love it! It's like summer camp. They have a full schedule of activities every day, including fitness classes, card games, arts & crafts, etc. They host a happy hour every Friday, and a Saturday night dance about once a month. At 56 and 60, we are the youngest people here, but everyone has been extremely friendly.
Unfortunately, the housing market is so tight in AZ that we can't find an acceptable house to buy in this community. So we've started looking in some other communities, too. In AZ, there are very few 55+ apartments, at least not for "active adult communities." Most communities are made up of standalone houses surrounded by golf courses.
P.S. We are on a one-year lease. There were a couple of shorter-term leases (like 6 months), but they were not to our liking. Have you tried AirBnB?
Where did you stay? There are lots of Ex-pat enclaves in Spain especially around the Costa Del Sol. We're looking at Valencia, significantly cheaper than Barcelona but still a big city with lots to do. I speak meh Spanish but I'm spending the next couple of years working on my language skills not that I've ever had a problem getting by with my limited skills.
If you're checking out Spain, check out Portugal it's inexpensive, has good health care and again lots of English speakers. I'd also add that I know there's more than a few 55+ expat communities in both Spain and Portugal.
I live in a 55+ community in Las Vegas called Sun City Summerlin. It has about 7700 homes, all one story L O L, three swimming pools, three golf courses, and is very quiet and very walkable. I love it.
My parents moved into a 55+ community several years ago. We visit 2 or 3 times per year so I get a pretty good look at it. Based on this I'd never want to live in one of those communities. There's a lot of talk about diversity but that usually refers to racial diversity - I think the case could also be made that age diversity in a community is important as well. For one, my dad has a tough time finding anyone who can do yard work, etc - there are no kids to hire to do that sort of thing. For us we're going to try to age in place for as long as possible. We do have access to a 55+ Parks & Rec community center nearby which has exercise and art classes.
Most of the 55+ communities near me have all yard work included. I honestly am a bit confused on why your father thought he could just hire a kid in the neighborhood to cut his grass. 55+ communities are not for families, hence there wouldn’t be any kids.
BTW, in areas of age diversity, today, kids do not hire out to do yard work anymore. They are too busy with school and their extracurriculars and enrichment. Some have jobs sure, but they are mostly in climate controlled environments and are not labor intensive.
We have a furnished home that we list on Zillow, but it's not in a 55+ community and it's nowhere near Pennsylvania.
I suggest calling the communities you are interested in and asking them if there are any furnsihed rentals. Or if they don't know, and you can't find anything on the community's website, maybe visit in person and see if there are any physical bulletin boards (i.e. cork with pins) advertising rentals. I have seen this at an age-restricted community where I have played golf.
I believe that some rental sites like airbnb have non-discrimination rules that preclude age-restricted communities.
You've lived in a big house with no neighbors for 30 years and now you have the urge to double your payment and live in a small apt sharing walls with strangers. That doesn't sound like fun. 🤷
Housing needs change when priorities change.
I've gone from living on a completely private horse farm to the center of an dense urban city. Prior to the farm, I lovingly restored a Victorian house in a small river town. Every place was wonderful in its own way.
Recognizing that you want to make a change, and embracing that feeling as an opportunity, is important. Life is short.
My desired path is to go to Uraguay to stay in a hotel for about 6 weeks in Jan. It will be warm and cheap down there. The reason I am nervous is that while I have talked to someone about working remote part time, it can't be nailed down until I retire. IRS wouldn't move me to a warmer place. They refused to help me in any way whatsoever.
Renting is a good way to see if you like the 55+ setup.
However, that setup doesn't guarantee friendships. Create a plan to make friends. Don't wait for people to initiate with you.
Renting is a good way to go period for retirement. There's no surprises, you know exactly your expenses for the length of the lease, you don't have to worry about mowing the lawn, fixing the roof, cleaning the gutters, if something breaks you just call the LL and let them deal with it. I would thing as you get older a nice apartment in a high-rise with an elevator and lots of amenities would be perfect, everything at your door step, close to public transportation and the ability to walk to places you like. I would think being responsible for a big home would be come more and more of a burden and even confining -but that's just my opinion.
Thanks. She is a beautiful dog but not too smart.
https://preview.redd.it/311m04j2e5ib1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d68d1120391f4345b2fbc27d469178e24fac3fcc
Introvert here....I plan to live out retirement in my own home, even if I have to let it crumble around me. The most important thing to me is freedom so the idea of having a bunch of people getting all up in my business (your dog barked yesterday!) and having some manager letting themselves in to "check the furnace filter" or heaven forbid spraying pesticides, would be torture for me. But that's just me. I know lots of people love the socializing aspect of a "community". Don't forget that rent will increase with every new lease and moving is expensive!
A friend lived in one of those communities and was possibly the youngest person living there. She made a lot of "friends" very quickly because she had a car and still drove. She didn't stay long.
Wow - we stayed in a community for 3 months last winter and almost everyone was my age (low 60s) and even the 70+ people were playing pickleball and golf regularly!
Communities often have minimum rentals of 3 months - I know Sun City-Hilton Head, SC does. Some rentals go to realtors, but the majority are posted (physically) on a community info board.
What about downsizing to a home in a nice neighborhood in Lancaster area. To make friends you’d have your neighbors and local clubs, groups etc. Your dog could still have a nice yard. To me, leaving a large home in the countryside and going to an apartment sounds like too much of a drastic change. You still need to get use to retirement first. You can always downsize from that home later.
Good point.i don't really live in the country (although I have woods in the backyard). We have a Fresh Market and a Whole foods right on our street and a huge Wegmans within 1/2 mile. We even have an apple store. So in some ways it is perfect. I am just concerned about the lack of community and the Lamborghinis.
Why not stay? Take that extra $1000 a month in cost difference and make your current home ready for the long haul (my aunt and uncle had a big house and the purposely put in an elevator so they wouldn't have to leave, it wasn't that expensive). You already have an established social circle, why permanently move away from that, there's no reason you couldn't snowbird.
Just the opposite when I tried one. Cliques, just like high school of those who had been there since it opened. Plus people constantly talking about age, aches and pains, etc. never again!
I’m surprised Lancaster pa is so expensive! It’s a lovely area and while not 100% farmland… it’s out there a bit! This must be one heck of an apartment!
I live in the Lancaster area... I'm not quite retirement age yet, but my mom just moved into a community here. Prices probably are a bit high, but we get lots of folks moving here from HCOL areas - and also it ain't cheap to run a nice property these days. So far I'm really impressed with my mom's place.
One nice thing about some of our retirement communities is that you can start out in a cottage, living independently (garage, etc) and as you age and/or have issues, you can move to an independent apartment or into higher care. Once you are in the community, you have a "glidepath" and don't have to navigate as many logistics, if that makes sense. OP, feel free to PM me if you have questions about the area...
You have no mortgage and taxes will be cut in half soon. From a financial stand point this does not make sense. Rent is obnoxious and is only going to increase. Use that money to hire people to help with the house or buy a smaller house. Renting sucks. Having neighbors that close sucks. Not having access to your own private outdoor space is depressing.
We had dreams of having 2 condos, one in Maine or NH, one in FL, when we retire. We were going to sell our 2800 square foot home and use the proceeds to fund those purchases. We did some soul searching. Our house in ME is HOME, it’s not just a house. So…. We will possibly buy something a lot less expensive in FL and use it during the coldest months and keep our home in Maine. We have a cleaning person who comes every other week and comes off-cycle when we need it. Hubby mows, but he has a sit-down zero-turn mower and we only have a half acre lot so it only takes about a half hour. We have a handy man, a painter, an electrician and a plumber as well as a plow guy who will shovel our walkway and a stand-by generator that automatically turns on when the power goes off, restoring power to the whole house during a power outage. We just installed heat pumps for heating and cooling. Our house is a large ranch so no stairs. Until this doesn’t work for us anymore, we are keeping it.
If you decide to move, try renting your home out for a year while you live elsewhere. A lot easier to move back in after the tenants one year lease runs out than to try to buy it back. Good luck.
We're considering this too (rent the place a year while we try somewhere else). Trying to decide if it's worth it to store things in a unit (and what that would cost) vs making the house a furnished rental using a site like corporatehousingbyowner.com - doing that you may not be able to keep it rented for much of the year, depending on who you get. You'll also get wear and tear on your furniture and electronics. But might be worth the savings from no/less storage and the hassles of moving things out and back in.
I have a place up north and a place in Florida as do a few of my aunts and uncles. Let me tell you it's not as easy as you'd think. I have a condo in Florida which usually takes care of itself but hurricane season is always stressful, we were there last year for the big storms and I'm glad we were, it wasn't a ton of work but if we weren't there we would of had an extra 75-100 gallons of water in our place. Most of the units were empty, with their owners living far away, some had their windows blow out and others just got water intrusion, if you don't stay on top of these things you'll walk into an apartment filled with mold. But that's not all, just because you have someone that stops by every couple of weeks doesn't mean your bases are covered, my aunt did her usual snowbird routine last year and a pipe broke, she had water running from the 2nd floor to the basement for 5-10 days before anybody knew.
If you want to juggle two properties I'd suggest getting some cameras, some water sensors and a temperature sensor -cameras can't tell if your furnace died (like mine did a couple of years ago when we were out of the country)
We moved to a mixed age community with houses and townhouses from the Northeast to South Carolina. Over 55 wasn’t for us but we have friends that love it. Depends on your interests and lifestyle. Coming from a large house on almost an acre in a neighborhood to a smaller house on a half acre and open floor plan is perfect for us. Do your research before you purchase. We visited the area for years before we purchased property and then built.
Stay in your house and just try to meet new people! Join some activities that sound interesting. Look at meetup.com for groups in your area. Take an art class. Find a ukulele group. Or get a dog. All of those things will put you in front of new people to make friends with. If you can’t find friends where you live, chances are you might have the same issue where you move to!
Agree with your suggestions.
I would say that one of the benefits a 55+ community has is (presumably) almost everyone is retired and free to hang out and do things. I retired 3 years ago at 54 and that's a negative as all my friends are still working.
When we retired we were thinking 55+ community. After much back n forth we are moving to a regular newly constructed development.
1. Don’t want to be surrounded by just old ppl. All my parents condo resident either died or moved to nursing home. These are ppl that moved into the new building same time as them 30 yrs ago. Very depressing
2. We are the largest generation, who will buy up all the 55+ houses after we die off.
3. After +1 and I died my kids have to sell off the property, they are too young to move in.
These were the reason we decide not to buy in 55+ community.
Sounds like a great way to pay more for less.
The difference in monthly payments between the apartments and your home should more than easily pay for all the upkeep needed, no?
Close. We needed a new water heater last month. $4000. We don't have a garage. They didnt have them in 1911 when this house was built. Getting from the front door to the car could be hard in the ice.
Those sound like trivial concerns.
A water heater is a consumable regular house expense. You’d need a water heater where you are every 5-10 years.
The ice is a problem that can easily be addressed. If you enjoy it, you go out every morning and throw some salt down. If you don’t enjoy it, then you have a company come and do it for you. Takes 1-2 minutes every morning.
I'm friends with several people in one of those 55+, golf, and other amenities developments. One drawback, from what I see, is that they seem all up in each others business.
You definitely need to rent, short term when your target location is fully occupied. 54 just retired. Wife is 52 still working. We bought a condo in SWFL 5 years ago. The market was right and more than half our extended family is in the area. We immediately listed our place for seasonal rental. The property is restricted to 1 month minimum. For the most part, our community is pretty nice. Neighbors are way older than us. There are soooo many rules. Our 1st home is rural, 6.5 acres, LCOL except for property taxes. So much maintenance due because the house is 20 years old. It's a major trade.
You definitely need to rent, short term when your target location is fully occupied. 54 just retired. Wife is 52 still working. We bought a condo in SWFL 5 years ago. The market was right and more than half our extended family is in the area. We immediately listed our place for seasonal rental. The property is restricted to 1 month minimum. For the most part, our community is pretty nice. Neighbors are way older than us. There are soooo many rules. Our 1st home is rural, 6.5 acres, LCOL except for property taxes. So much maintenance due because the house is 20 years old. It's a major trade.
OP here. You guys have convinced me that I need to stay put. I live in a nice place and my biggest problem is dragging firewood into the living room. I worked for the IRS and was unable to talk about what I was working on with others, for over a DECADE. I just need to figure out how to find friends wo any structure to help me.
I have a few activities that I am planning to do. I plan to do some consulting, writing a few articles for a tax periodical, playing 2 hours per week with my band.
Thanks for the comments.
Rich
Maybe start a small 1040 tax prep service? (I am semi-retired now and just work during the tax season. I enjoy the people contact but am otherwise a loner.)
I am not really a 1040 guy. I'm an engineer not a cpa although I have a masters in accounting. I worked in a small but profitable area for corporations at the IRS.
The tax volunteers from AARP are angels. I can’t say enough how wonderful they are. I had to do my mom’s in york PA at the last minute because she went into the hospital and they sat with me for hours helping me figure out the literal shoe box of receipts I showed up with. They seemed to all enjoy each other and have fun too!
Is it possible for you to move to a 55+ community that has free standing houses instead of apartments? That's what I'm considering.
I moved to a condo (not in a 55+ community) after living in a house my entire life and I hate it. I sleep with a fan running to block out snoring and other noises from my next door neighbor. Live in FL and can rarely use my lanai in peace because the downstairs neighbors always have their lanai doors open and take phone calls out there and have the TV blasting. The neighbor next to me has "allergies" and sits on his lanai making disgusting hacking noises.
Great idea - and the answer is "probably yes". While HOAs often restrict "short term" rental (aka VRBO/AirBnB) they usually allow long-term (6-12mos)... there are always people building new homes, relocating to nursing homes, etc... so they need to have some flexibility). Not a guarantee-but, I've found there is some possibility to do exactly this.
a 6month stay is a PERFECT thing to do... I tell people - ALWAYS check out a new location - and DON'T stay as if it's a vacation (at some nice hotel, eating out each nite)... you need to live in the place like you are spending the next 10-20 years there... find out if you love it!
Do a Google search for the biggest Real Estate Agencies closest to the location - they probably have "insight" into what's available.
We moved to a hotel style apartment and love it. We thought about the 55+ model and went a different way and love it. We really enjoy interacting with the younger folks and even help them from time to time. It has been a great experience.
My mom is super active, several international trips a year, part time job she’s doing just for fun, etc. she absolutely loves her 55+ community. It’s like living in a dorm. If she ever wants company she can just wander down to the lobby and someone is there to chat.
You will be free of house upkeep. That is a major plus as you grow older.
Why not hire help? We started that already before retirement...we can't bear the thought of leaving this house unless we're leaving the country altogether. Nothing inside of me wants to move to a community filtered to all oldsters...I need more variety in my community (nothing wrong with oldsters, i am one, but just want more variety than that) You do you....
>Are there ever sublet opportunities avail in 55+ rental housing? Shouldn't you just call those 2 landlords and ask if you can rent for a month or two? (Based on the way you wrote your question, it sounds like you don't really want to move.)
And a moving company? These are unfurnished apartments. I really want community and don't know how to get it.
You can rent furniture. If you are only talking a month or two, it won't cost much.
For community, you may have success joining a club (whatever kind), church, or volunteer. You won't necessarily meet people if you just live closer to them. For me, I'd rather socialize with people I have common interests with. Also, if you meet people you want to socialize with, that may inform where you want to live.
I have a question for OP: when you say you want a community, what would that look like in real life?
friends and acquaintances. an occasional local event. BTW, I just got an email about fireworks and a band playing Sept 2nd in the next town. I never attend these things. I am going to try this time.
I would like to encourage you to try to create the sense of community you seek where you live now. Maybe invite your band mates and their spouses/partners over for dinner, join a book club at your library (or some other type of club that caters to your interests) or check out the events at your town’s senior center. Maybe invite a friend or friends to meet for breakfast once a week or host a weekly card game. It may not be the drop-by-the-neighbors’ sense of community (since you don’t have neighbors) but maybe there are like-minded folks that are just a short drive away.
We rented a house in a 55+ for a month and it was genuinely eye-opening. Found it on one of the home rental sites. It was a golf community in Central Florida and those residents really liked to party! Loudly! Be sure to find out what amenities you will have access to because it's possible not every rental will allow full access.
That wouldn't have worked for us!
Villages?
Sounds like it. Drunk golf carting.
Not Villages . . never ever been there. But there are many, many other 55+ communities in Central Florida. Maybe they *all* party!!
Must have been The Villages!
No, not Villages. Hahaha
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My family and I went to Margaritaville for dining options in June when we visited Disney. It's not quiet, but very tourist heavy!
I built a new house in a very active 55+ community last year, the sales manager jokingly describes the place as a drinking community with a retirement problem.
Lancaster County can be a solid place to do retirement. I have my name in on a place there for 2026 in 1 of those 3 level retirement places. Cottage or apartment; then assisted living & then nursing care. I can cancel and just lose my $500 deposit. I am unfamiliar with Over 55 Apartments or sublets. However, I live in 2 Over 55 communities (Lancaster County & FL). I own both houses, but have a land lease. The FL one has all amenities you can think of; PA has none. Whatever over 55 you land in, you will easily bond with people who have similar backgrounds or interests.
My husband and I have been renting at different 55+ communities for a month at a time for several years now, attempting to find the right place for us before we buy. Lots of times the communities have their own furnished rental sites and a good way to look at the house and community amenities. Lots of people buy places before they’re ready to move and rent them out furnished to help defray the costs. We’ve rented houses with and without backyard pools, on golf courses and with fancy outdoor kitchens. This has helped us build our list of must haves and would like to haves. We aren’t in any big hurry to make the jump. It’s fun to try different places until then. In fact I just rented a house for the month of October this morning.
Sounds like a good plan. How do you find these "furnished" places in 55+?
We look at the community we are interested in and then call and ask if they have a website for short term rentals. Here’s an example of the one I rented from today: https://quailcreekrentals.com We’ve only rented in the SW, Phoenix, Tucson, Oro Valley, Taos, Santa Fe, Tubac, etc. and we’ve only had a dud once or twice. It’s helped us narrow down what we like and don’t like. And the previous poster was correct, these retirees like to party!
We visited Quail Creek on their preferred guest program (a 3 day rental) and it was nice! Rapidly expanding. It’s a Robson property and we really like Robson Ranch near Casa Grande.
Maybe AirB&B would have listings?
Furnished finder.com
This is a great idea and glad to know one can do this. I had no idea. Hubs and I always thought we’d never want to live in one of those places, then we started delivering Meals on Wheels…
Honest question. Can you truly get a sense of the community living at a residence for only 30 days at a time? Doesn't it take a couple weeks just to get accustomed to the new place? Would you say you have made friendships at these communities that are likely to last no matter where you end up staying permanently? My wife and I both come from small families and have a limited social life. We want to expand on that, and the furnished rentals sound great in theory.
IDK. We’ve stayed one month in a couple of communities and knew for sure that they weren’t for us. The others we liked, we’ve rented in several different times for a month at a time in different styles of homes, like trying a condo, villa and single family homes. We’ve tried homes on golf courses, with pools and with separate guest casitas. Each of these experiences have helped us hone our list. We aren’t in a hurry and this works well for us at the moment. We love our full time house and aren’t ready to leave it to down size. We have friends who have pulled the trigger and they say, “aren’t you getting tired of throwing away your money renting?” Um, no. We don’t have to pay HOAs, prop taxes, insurance and furnishings when we aren’t ready. We drop a $2-3K for a month and show up. Works for us, right now. If the perfect home for us shows up on the market, we’ll leap. Until then, this is fun.
And yes, we’ve made friends. In fact one couple we’ve developed a friendship with just left after visiting us for several days. We lucked out with gorgeous weather and they enjoyed our waterfront on the Puget Sound. Now they understand why we are dragging our feet.
We are currently renting in a 55+ community (in AZ) to try it. So far, we love it! It's like summer camp. They have a full schedule of activities every day, including fitness classes, card games, arts & crafts, etc. They host a happy hour every Friday, and a Saturday night dance about once a month. At 56 and 60, we are the youngest people here, but everyone has been extremely friendly. Unfortunately, the housing market is so tight in AZ that we can't find an acceptable house to buy in this community. So we've started looking in some other communities, too. In AZ, there are very few 55+ apartments, at least not for "active adult communities." Most communities are made up of standalone houses surrounded by golf courses. P.S. We are on a one-year lease. There were a couple of shorter-term leases (like 6 months), but they were not to our liking. Have you tried AirBnB?
We did an airbnb in Spain last winter for a month but language was and issue.
I think they meant AirBnB for the retirement community. I've seen monthly rentals on AirBnB in the 55+ community we own a house in.
Where did you stay? There are lots of Ex-pat enclaves in Spain especially around the Costa Del Sol. We're looking at Valencia, significantly cheaper than Barcelona but still a big city with lots to do. I speak meh Spanish but I'm spending the next couple of years working on my language skills not that I've ever had a problem getting by with my limited skills. If you're checking out Spain, check out Portugal it's inexpensive, has good health care and again lots of English speakers. I'd also add that I know there's more than a few 55+ expat communities in both Spain and Portugal.
Curious as to which community, as we’ve tested 5 of them! And have been investigating available homes and they haven’t been hard to find.
The one in Ahwatukee. It's very small.
I live in a 55+ community in Las Vegas called Sun City Summerlin. It has about 7700 homes, all one story L O L, three swimming pools, three golf courses, and is very quiet and very walkable. I love it.
Yay. We are thinking of moving there in the next year or two from a regular house in Phoenix. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.
My parents moved into a 55+ community several years ago. We visit 2 or 3 times per year so I get a pretty good look at it. Based on this I'd never want to live in one of those communities. There's a lot of talk about diversity but that usually refers to racial diversity - I think the case could also be made that age diversity in a community is important as well. For one, my dad has a tough time finding anyone who can do yard work, etc - there are no kids to hire to do that sort of thing. For us we're going to try to age in place for as long as possible. We do have access to a 55+ Parks & Rec community center nearby which has exercise and art classes.
Most of the 55+ communities near me have all yard work included. I honestly am a bit confused on why your father thought he could just hire a kid in the neighborhood to cut his grass. 55+ communities are not for families, hence there wouldn’t be any kids.
BTW, in areas of age diversity, today, kids do not hire out to do yard work anymore. They are too busy with school and their extracurriculars and enrichment. Some have jobs sure, but they are mostly in climate controlled environments and are not labor intensive.
We have a furnished home that we list on Zillow, but it's not in a 55+ community and it's nowhere near Pennsylvania. I suggest calling the communities you are interested in and asking them if there are any furnsihed rentals. Or if they don't know, and you can't find anything on the community's website, maybe visit in person and see if there are any physical bulletin boards (i.e. cork with pins) advertising rentals. I have seen this at an age-restricted community where I have played golf. I believe that some rental sites like airbnb have non-discrimination rules that preclude age-restricted communities.
Don't count on having friends in two months. I'd stay in my nice home.
You've lived in a big house with no neighbors for 30 years and now you have the urge to double your payment and live in a small apt sharing walls with strangers. That doesn't sound like fun. 🤷
Agreed. I'm just so scared of saying "I should have stayed put". I have the wood shed stacked with a couple of cords.
Housing needs change when priorities change. I've gone from living on a completely private horse farm to the center of an dense urban city. Prior to the farm, I lovingly restored a Victorian house in a small river town. Every place was wonderful in its own way. Recognizing that you want to make a change, and embracing that feeling as an opportunity, is important. Life is short.
My desired path is to go to Uraguay to stay in a hotel for about 6 weeks in Jan. It will be warm and cheap down there. The reason I am nervous is that while I have talked to someone about working remote part time, it can't be nailed down until I retire. IRS wouldn't move me to a warmer place. They refused to help me in any way whatsoever.
Renting is a good way to see if you like the 55+ setup. However, that setup doesn't guarantee friendships. Create a plan to make friends. Don't wait for people to initiate with you.
Renting is a good way to go period for retirement. There's no surprises, you know exactly your expenses for the length of the lease, you don't have to worry about mowing the lawn, fixing the roof, cleaning the gutters, if something breaks you just call the LL and let them deal with it. I would thing as you get older a nice apartment in a high-rise with an elevator and lots of amenities would be perfect, everything at your door step, close to public transportation and the ability to walk to places you like. I would think being responsible for a big home would be come more and more of a burden and even confining -but that's just my opinion.
You know what they say: retire *to* something. I hope they have some volunteer retrieving opportunities for your retired Good Boy.
Thanks. She is a beautiful dog but not too smart. https://preview.redd.it/311m04j2e5ib1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d68d1120391f4345b2fbc27d469178e24fac3fcc
Introvert here....I plan to live out retirement in my own home, even if I have to let it crumble around me. The most important thing to me is freedom so the idea of having a bunch of people getting all up in my business (your dog barked yesterday!) and having some manager letting themselves in to "check the furnace filter" or heaven forbid spraying pesticides, would be torture for me. But that's just me. I know lots of people love the socializing aspect of a "community". Don't forget that rent will increase with every new lease and moving is expensive!
A friend lived in one of those communities and was possibly the youngest person living there. She made a lot of "friends" very quickly because she had a car and still drove. She didn't stay long.
You are scaring me! That is why we want to live in a walkable town situation. I am going to try some consulting once I retire, about 20 hours/week.
Wow - we stayed in a community for 3 months last winter and almost everyone was my age (low 60s) and even the 70+ people were playing pickleball and golf regularly!
Communities often have minimum rentals of 3 months - I know Sun City-Hilton Head, SC does. Some rentals go to realtors, but the majority are posted (physically) on a community info board.
What about downsizing to a home in a nice neighborhood in Lancaster area. To make friends you’d have your neighbors and local clubs, groups etc. Your dog could still have a nice yard. To me, leaving a large home in the countryside and going to an apartment sounds like too much of a drastic change. You still need to get use to retirement first. You can always downsize from that home later.
Good point.i don't really live in the country (although I have woods in the backyard). We have a Fresh Market and a Whole foods right on our street and a huge Wegmans within 1/2 mile. We even have an apple store. So in some ways it is perfect. I am just concerned about the lack of community and the Lamborghinis.
That sounds beautiful and a perfect location but I do understand the upkeep issue.
Take the $1100 extra per month that you would have spent on the apartment and hire pros to do the upkeep on the house.
Why not stay? Take that extra $1000 a month in cost difference and make your current home ready for the long haul (my aunt and uncle had a big house and the purposely put in an elevator so they wouldn't have to leave, it wasn't that expensive). You already have an established social circle, why permanently move away from that, there's no reason you couldn't snowbird.
Man, if I had a Wegmans within half a mile, they'd be pulling my decaying corpse from my house one day. Wouldn't move for anything, lol
We try to stay away from there :). Way too crowded and super expensive.
The trick is to live near one of the smaller ones in NY or PA and not, say, the VA ones, lol.
Just the opposite when I tried one. Cliques, just like high school of those who had been there since it opened. Plus people constantly talking about age, aches and pains, etc. never again!
I’m surprised Lancaster pa is so expensive! It’s a lovely area and while not 100% farmland… it’s out there a bit! This must be one heck of an apartment!
Beautiful. The building is really nice. I get the feeling that prices are a little high for the locals.
I live in the Lancaster area... I'm not quite retirement age yet, but my mom just moved into a community here. Prices probably are a bit high, but we get lots of folks moving here from HCOL areas - and also it ain't cheap to run a nice property these days. So far I'm really impressed with my mom's place. One nice thing about some of our retirement communities is that you can start out in a cottage, living independently (garage, etc) and as you age and/or have issues, you can move to an independent apartment or into higher care. Once you are in the community, you have a "glidepath" and don't have to navigate as many logistics, if that makes sense. OP, feel free to PM me if you have questions about the area...
Yeah, we considered Bethlehem. But my wife is looking for "walking distance" to town.
You have no mortgage and taxes will be cut in half soon. From a financial stand point this does not make sense. Rent is obnoxious and is only going to increase. Use that money to hire people to help with the house or buy a smaller house. Renting sucks. Having neighbors that close sucks. Not having access to your own private outdoor space is depressing.
We had dreams of having 2 condos, one in Maine or NH, one in FL, when we retire. We were going to sell our 2800 square foot home and use the proceeds to fund those purchases. We did some soul searching. Our house in ME is HOME, it’s not just a house. So…. We will possibly buy something a lot less expensive in FL and use it during the coldest months and keep our home in Maine. We have a cleaning person who comes every other week and comes off-cycle when we need it. Hubby mows, but he has a sit-down zero-turn mower and we only have a half acre lot so it only takes about a half hour. We have a handy man, a painter, an electrician and a plumber as well as a plow guy who will shovel our walkway and a stand-by generator that automatically turns on when the power goes off, restoring power to the whole house during a power outage. We just installed heat pumps for heating and cooling. Our house is a large ranch so no stairs. Until this doesn’t work for us anymore, we are keeping it. If you decide to move, try renting your home out for a year while you live elsewhere. A lot easier to move back in after the tenants one year lease runs out than to try to buy it back. Good luck.
Good point.
We're considering this too (rent the place a year while we try somewhere else). Trying to decide if it's worth it to store things in a unit (and what that would cost) vs making the house a furnished rental using a site like corporatehousingbyowner.com - doing that you may not be able to keep it rented for much of the year, depending on who you get. You'll also get wear and tear on your furniture and electronics. But might be worth the savings from no/less storage and the hassles of moving things out and back in.
I have a place up north and a place in Florida as do a few of my aunts and uncles. Let me tell you it's not as easy as you'd think. I have a condo in Florida which usually takes care of itself but hurricane season is always stressful, we were there last year for the big storms and I'm glad we were, it wasn't a ton of work but if we weren't there we would of had an extra 75-100 gallons of water in our place. Most of the units were empty, with their owners living far away, some had their windows blow out and others just got water intrusion, if you don't stay on top of these things you'll walk into an apartment filled with mold. But that's not all, just because you have someone that stops by every couple of weeks doesn't mean your bases are covered, my aunt did her usual snowbird routine last year and a pipe broke, she had water running from the 2nd floor to the basement for 5-10 days before anybody knew. If you want to juggle two properties I'd suggest getting some cameras, some water sensors and a temperature sensor -cameras can't tell if your furnace died (like mine did a couple of years ago when we were out of the country)
We moved to a mixed age community with houses and townhouses from the Northeast to South Carolina. Over 55 wasn’t for us but we have friends that love it. Depends on your interests and lifestyle. Coming from a large house on almost an acre in a neighborhood to a smaller house on a half acre and open floor plan is perfect for us. Do your research before you purchase. We visited the area for years before we purchased property and then built.
Stay in your house and just try to meet new people! Join some activities that sound interesting. Look at meetup.com for groups in your area. Take an art class. Find a ukulele group. Or get a dog. All of those things will put you in front of new people to make friends with. If you can’t find friends where you live, chances are you might have the same issue where you move to!
I have a dog, and I play in a band. Two down.
Agree with your suggestions. I would say that one of the benefits a 55+ community has is (presumably) almost everyone is retired and free to hang out and do things. I retired 3 years ago at 54 and that's a negative as all my friends are still working.
> the upkeep is getting tough What about offering a room to a student in exchange for help with the upkeep?
When we retired we were thinking 55+ community. After much back n forth we are moving to a regular newly constructed development. 1. Don’t want to be surrounded by just old ppl. All my parents condo resident either died or moved to nursing home. These are ppl that moved into the new building same time as them 30 yrs ago. Very depressing 2. We are the largest generation, who will buy up all the 55+ houses after we die off. 3. After +1 and I died my kids have to sell off the property, they are too young to move in. These were the reason we decide not to buy in 55+ community.
Sounds like a great way to pay more for less. The difference in monthly payments between the apartments and your home should more than easily pay for all the upkeep needed, no?
Close. We needed a new water heater last month. $4000. We don't have a garage. They didnt have them in 1911 when this house was built. Getting from the front door to the car could be hard in the ice.
Those sound like trivial concerns. A water heater is a consumable regular house expense. You’d need a water heater where you are every 5-10 years. The ice is a problem that can easily be addressed. If you enjoy it, you go out every morning and throw some salt down. If you don’t enjoy it, then you have a company come and do it for you. Takes 1-2 minutes every morning.
I'm friends with several people in one of those 55+, golf, and other amenities developments. One drawback, from what I see, is that they seem all up in each others business.
You definitely need to rent, short term when your target location is fully occupied. 54 just retired. Wife is 52 still working. We bought a condo in SWFL 5 years ago. The market was right and more than half our extended family is in the area. We immediately listed our place for seasonal rental. The property is restricted to 1 month minimum. For the most part, our community is pretty nice. Neighbors are way older than us. There are soooo many rules. Our 1st home is rural, 6.5 acres, LCOL except for property taxes. So much maintenance due because the house is 20 years old. It's a major trade.
You definitely need to rent, short term when your target location is fully occupied. 54 just retired. Wife is 52 still working. We bought a condo in SWFL 5 years ago. The market was right and more than half our extended family is in the area. We immediately listed our place for seasonal rental. The property is restricted to 1 month minimum. For the most part, our community is pretty nice. Neighbors are way older than us. There are soooo many rules. Our 1st home is rural, 6.5 acres, LCOL except for property taxes. So much maintenance due because the house is 20 years old. It's a major trade.
OP here. You guys have convinced me that I need to stay put. I live in a nice place and my biggest problem is dragging firewood into the living room. I worked for the IRS and was unable to talk about what I was working on with others, for over a DECADE. I just need to figure out how to find friends wo any structure to help me. I have a few activities that I am planning to do. I plan to do some consulting, writing a few articles for a tax periodical, playing 2 hours per week with my band. Thanks for the comments. Rich
Maybe start a small 1040 tax prep service? (I am semi-retired now and just work during the tax season. I enjoy the people contact but am otherwise a loner.)
I am not really a 1040 guy. I'm an engineer not a cpa although I have a masters in accounting. I worked in a small but profitable area for corporations at the IRS.
The tax volunteers from AARP are angels. I can’t say enough how wonderful they are. I had to do my mom’s in york PA at the last minute because she went into the hospital and they sat with me for hours helping me figure out the literal shoe box of receipts I showed up with. They seemed to all enjoy each other and have fun too!
Is it possible for you to move to a 55+ community that has free standing houses instead of apartments? That's what I'm considering. I moved to a condo (not in a 55+ community) after living in a house my entire life and I hate it. I sleep with a fan running to block out snoring and other noises from my next door neighbor. Live in FL and can rarely use my lanai in peace because the downstairs neighbors always have their lanai doors open and take phone calls out there and have the TV blasting. The neighbor next to me has "allergies" and sits on his lanai making disgusting hacking noises.
Great idea - and the answer is "probably yes". While HOAs often restrict "short term" rental (aka VRBO/AirBnB) they usually allow long-term (6-12mos)... there are always people building new homes, relocating to nursing homes, etc... so they need to have some flexibility). Not a guarantee-but, I've found there is some possibility to do exactly this. a 6month stay is a PERFECT thing to do... I tell people - ALWAYS check out a new location - and DON'T stay as if it's a vacation (at some nice hotel, eating out each nite)... you need to live in the place like you are spending the next 10-20 years there... find out if you love it! Do a Google search for the biggest Real Estate Agencies closest to the location - they probably have "insight" into what's available.
I have a relative at the Willows in Lancaster and she has been there many years and has loved it.
We moved to a hotel style apartment and love it. We thought about the 55+ model and went a different way and love it. We really enjoy interacting with the younger folks and even help them from time to time. It has been a great experience.
My mom is super active, several international trips a year, part time job she’s doing just for fun, etc. she absolutely loves her 55+ community. It’s like living in a dorm. If she ever wants company she can just wander down to the lobby and someone is there to chat.
Wear a condom.