Retire Where? Group: Messages by bill55places

I've been out of town for the last couple weeks down in Arizona looking at great retirement locations. Most of my search was concentrated around 55+ active adult communities around Phoenix, Tucson and Green Valley.

It was fascinating to see the progression from the original Sun City community (started in 1960) to the newest active adult communities. A lot has changed in the last 50 years! One of the newest Del Webb communities is called Sun City Festival. It is really nice but it is a ways out in the desert.

I'm curious: when looking for a place to retire would you prefer:

A) A neighborhood/community that is in a good location but has older homes and not as nice of amenities.

or

B) A brand new community with new homes and state-of-the-art amenities but in a location that feels isolated from larger cities, shopping and restaurants?

Let's hear your thoughts!

Bill
55Places.com

Hey All!

I am leaving tomorrow to look around at a bunch of active adult communities around the Phoenix, Tucson and Green Valley areas of Arizona. I'm actually not yet age-qualified to live in many of the 55+ communities around there but I am doing a lot of research for my website. I will be down there for about 5 days and I hope to view 3-4 communities a day. Since I can't hit them all, I was hoping to get some input from people in the know about the "must-see" communities.

I am going to look at both new and resale communities. I am very interested to see how the concept of 55+ living has evolved from the original Del Webb Sun City that opened in 1960.

I heard Sun City Festival in Buckeye and Mission Royale in Casa Grande were definitely worth a look (for new construction). Does anyone have some thoughts about others places I should check out while I am down there? I'm always looking for new and exciting communities for retirement living!

Bill
55Places.com

There has been some talk lately about some 55+ communities who are considering lowering or abandoning their age-requirements. Apparently, some people think this will help increase sales. Personally, I don't think that would have much effect. Sales are down everywhere and it is not as if lowering or getting rid of an age-restriction is going to suddenly increase sales. But I guess real estate is all localized so maybe there are some places out there that would benefit form this.

Wall Street Journal article

NJ.com article about some builders scrapping plans for age-restricted communities

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Bill
55Places.com

Interesting article: view link

What is everyone else planning?