Retirement Media Facebook page is now online. Retirement Media Inc. is our parent company and it’s Facebook will include the most comprehensive up to date info on many retirement issues including retirement communities, where to retire to, small towns, boomer info and more. We will be updating this Facebook page often with some interesting information from all of our sites. Please visit Retirement Media and become of Fan today!
We used to go on vacation to Bar Harbor Maine around Labor Day. We would fly from Atlanta up to Boston, take a rental car for the drive up. It was always exciting. We would usually stay just outside of town towards Acadia National Park. Acadia Park has camping and cottages and just wonderful walking trails. Cadillac Mountain is there and you can see forever from the top. Take Ocean Drive along Maine rugged coastline that runs along that area and you can see the “blow holes” shoots water up in the sky when it hits the rocks with a mighty force at Thunder Hole. In Bar Harbor you have a quaint town with shops and restaurants and more cottage type homes, and even a park with a band stand. My wife always said she would like to live in Maine at least for some period of time when we retire.
Booth Bay Harbor is another nice small town in Maine further South on the coast. We were booked to visit on Sept 12th, 2001. The planes got ground and Delta had to give our money back. We never had made that trip, but it is on our list to check out.
Some of the most popular small towns in Maine are Bar Harbor, Booth Bay Harbor, Camden, Castine, Ellsworth, Falmouth, Hampden, Newry, Old Orchard Beach, York County ME. Of coarse the bigger cites Portland, Bangor, Portsmouth. Maine’s coast is beautiful Kittery to Eastport, Western Maine has lots of small towns. Southern Maine is doing well.
A visit to check out Maine’s small towns would be a wonderful vacation. Vacations sometiime turn in to a “let’s move here” decision. Of coarse Northern Maine has long
Winters so many people have seasonal homes for the Summer and head to other places like Florida for the Summer.
Photo courtesy of the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau
Southern Living Magazine’s October issue just came out and has a great Southern Cities Review section which reviews Asheville, Louisville, Austin and Pensacola. If you can pick up a copy I think you will find it interesting like I did, if you are a fan of city reviews.
Asheville NC is well know as a great retirement town. It is a college and trendy downtown with boutiques, art galleries, organic markets, bookstores, and is walkable. You are surrounded by majestic mountains that offer sightseeing, hiking and day trips. Sounds good to me.
Austin TX is well know as a young person place with it’s music, urban loft living and a lot to see and do. But these same traits are attractive to seniors.
Louisville Kentucky’s downtown is right on the river and is a well keep secret of a really neat place to visit (and live). Art galleries, shops and entertainment. In May Derby week is really something to behold (I have been twice!).
Pensacola FL downtown has a rich and long history evident with it’s brick streets and Art Deco buildings. Very walkable downtown square.
source: Southern Living Magazine
According to the Baltimore Sun, Erickson Retirement Communities file for Bankruptcy, Chapter 11. This senior living developer has 23,000 residents in communities around the US. According to the article, sounds like their is going to be some kind of buy out or restructing, but residents have questions since they pay a large fee upfront to live in these communities.
Buyer beware is the watch word.
Would you like to see what living in an active adult community or other retirement community is really like? One visit gives you a taste but staying over night at the property and using their facilities, joining their activities and meeting and speaking with some of the existing property owners does give you a much better feel for the property. Eating at local restrurants and visiting the local grocery to see how it is, looking for entertainment also gives you a feel for the area.
Well you may be interested to know that many of the active adult communities offer a “Vacation Getaway” program where you may visit their community for between 2 to 4 nights in most cases. You would stay in one of their vilas or model home, use their golf cart to get around, use their activities center including pool, exercise room, etc.
These active adult communities are offering this Vacation Getaway program so that you may really get interested in their community and want to live there. There are some strings attached, like you must live 100 miles away form the community and you must agree to take a tour with a sales agent. However these are not high pressure “timeshare” type deals and are really enjoyable. There is a reasonable fee charge per day for your stay and many communities give you a coupon for a free dinner at a nice restaurant.
Almost all the largest 55 plus community developers offer this Vacation Getaway program.
If you are a member of Facebook, seach Del Webb and you will see their page. Then click on the Explore DW tab at the top of the page. They list the Vacation Getaways at many of their communities across the country. We did the one at Lake Oconee GA for two nights and had a great trip.
Robson has a preferred guest program that includes 3 nights at one of their communities.
There are many other programs but they change all the time. Just search “retirement community vacation getaways” on google and you will find more.
Another month, another visit to 55+ communty at the lake. Life is good. This time Mary Ann and I visited the Del Webb community at Lake Oconee Georgia that was started about two years ago. We did the vacation getaway for two nights staying in one of their villas. I think the price was about $190 including tax for the two night stay.
We arrived Sunday at about 3pm which is their check in time. Sandy greeted us with big smile and good conversation at the sales center. We met George our sales counselor and set an appointment for 10:30 the next day to meet with him and get the tour. We followed Sandy over to check us in the villa model where we stayed. It was clean and looking good. The villas seem bigger once you actually stay in one. We jumped in the golf cart in the garage and headed to the lake front. There was several boats at the community docks including 5 or 6 pontoon boats. It seems everyone has one. We walked up to the covered pavilion which was large, including a fireplace, many sets of tables and chairs, an outdoor grill and a nice view of the lake and docks. On the way back, we saw the 80 sots for boat and RV storage with an automated gate and some of the walking trails.
Next we took the golf cart up to the clubhouse, oops I mean the Amenities Center. Bob met us at the door (expecting us?) and gave us a tour of everything. Tom lives at the community and works part time, moving from Michigan via Canton GA. The indoor pool was lovely, outdoor pool and spa also, giant ballroom with kitchen, game room, exercise room, pool room, craft room, etc. But where was all the people? It seems Sunday night is a slow time at the amenities center which is expected.
We head back to the villa and then head out to one of the restaurants mention by George, the Big Catch. Mary Ann had a fish sandwich and I enjoyed a fish reuben sandwich, which were good. Sleep well.
Next morning we made coffee and had cereal and toast. The villa has all appliances, micro and toaster. We meet up with George and after chatting got the overview. This community will have 850 properties and about 130+ have already sold. The sign in the lobby says 11 sales in the last 40 days. We let George know Bob already gave us a tour of the Amenities Center the day before. Most of the people who bought homes come from all over. I was surprised to see so many states represented by yellow pins in the map of the US where people are from. Must have been 25+ states or more, mostly in the Eastern half of the US (and some from overseas).
Next we toured the models. George got us started with the first one to show us what was included and what was an upgrade. It starts with the smallest and then every model gets bigger. Must have been 7 model homes we toured. At first we thought we needed a basement, but after touring the models, we changed our minds. You can get a loft and upstairs bath if you need more space, and at a lot better price. George offered to show us a home with the loaf and Mary Ann said she would like to see it. George really was very helpful and not pushy at all. I think Mary Ann was ready to sign up for the Vernon Hill with the Loft. I agreed that was our favorite. Another feature we really liked for the sunroom and why not add a screened porch to boot? Yes, that would do it.
We spend about 2.5 to 3 hours and before leaving George presented us with a card for $50 credit at Filet’s, the fancy steak house at the corner of Linger Longer Road, and two tickets to the movie theater. We had our evening planned.
So we drove hwy 44 up to the town of Greensboro which I don’t think we have ever visited. It has interesting little downtown of antique stores, sidewalks and restaurants. We asked a local for a place to go for lunch and she pointed across the street to Yesterdays. Since we were going out for steak later, we both got vegetables. We loved this place. Southern style food, fried okra, squash casserole, fried green tomatoes, collard greens, etc. Of coarse they had meats and fish also. All at a very reasonable price. Out tab was $10 for both our meals.
Back to the villa to take a nap. Then to the Amenities Center where a group was out playing Pickleball. You play with paddles kind of like ping pong but on a court smaller than a tennis court. There were maybe 15 people at this outing. Inside I check my email one of their computers. That night we did visit Filet Steak and Seafood at Lake Oconee Village. Mary Ann got the encrusted salmon and I got the filet. This is a top notch restaurant and we both enjoyed our meals. Thank you George.
Overall I was very impressed with Del Webb at Lake Oconee. No they did not pay me anything. They didn’t even know I have a web site and are not a paid advertiser. We just try to visit with the eyes of someone looking at 55+ community to live in and at age 62 and retired, that just comes naturally.
More retirement homes at Lake Oconee Georgia.
A month ago I had never heard of Lake Lure NC. Then researching Western NC retirement towns, I stumbled upon it, at least on the web. It sounded like a great place to check out with it’s mountains and a beautiful lake. We decided to check it out.
One of our friends recommended The Lodge on Lake Lure, a bed and breakfast right on the lake, as a place to stay during our scout trip. We booked a 3 night stay, actually getting a special of 3 nights for the price of 2 nights. Breakfast included and wine each day at 5pm. Not too bad. We went Monday - Wednesday, returning Thursday.
The town of Lake Lure is a quite charming small town right on Lake Lure, a clear 700+ acres lake right in the mountains of Western NC. Next door is the Chimney Rock park, which is now at NC state park and at the park entrance is the village of Chimney Rock. You can get anywhere in Lake Lure or Chimney Rock in 10 minutes. The lake and beach are actually owned by the town of Lake Lure. Parts of the movie Dirty Dancing were filmed in Lake Lure. The 2006 HGTV Dream House is in Lake Lure.
We toured two communities and spoke with more folks. It seems everyone wanted to move to Lake Lure in 2007, a lot on new developments were started, and then the financial crises hit. There are plenty of lots in failed subdivisions around the area. Also plenty of seconds homes, some may be in trouble. Some of the communities say there are about 50% permanent residents and 50% seasonal residents. People have come from all over, many from Florida to escape the hurricanes, and high costs. You can see the communities and other info about Lake Lure on the page we did at Lake Lure NC
The area was certainly appealing and gorgeous. From the Lake Lure marina we took an hour boat ride tour and enjoyed it very much. Some really large homes and some regular older homes lived in by the locals, make a good mix. Living in a town this small may get take some getting used to by city folks used to Whole Foods, Publics, Targets, and such. I spotted on Ingles grocery store. When my air pressure light came on in my wife’s care, the only place I found was a general store with a gas pump (and a air pressure pump). I ask the guy at the counter if there was a full service gas station or repair shop around and he replied “nope, this is it”. Luckily for us adding some air did the trick and made the warning light go off. But it did bring home the point that living here would be very different from living in a metro area.
Those who have a seasonal home in Lake Lure may have the answer and the best of both worlds. At least they would transition to full time if they wanted or just enjoy the season. I have the feeling it is a buyers market, like it is throughout the country. Maybe more so because of all of the second homes and failed subdivisions.
Lake Lure is worth a trip to check out. A 3 or 4 day trip would make a nice vacation. Vactions sometimes turn in to a “nice to live here” decision.
A site visitor emailed me asking what the differences are in a “Senior community“, a “Over 55 Community” and “Assisted Living Facility“.
Well these terms are confusing to many. In addition to those terms, there are many more.
I would say that people searching for a Senior community are older or are searching for an older person, say 75 years of age or better. The reason I say that is the use of the word “senior” is not used by most baby boomers to refer to themselves or their age group, expect to get a senior discount. So Senior community would refer to retirement communities for seniors.
Over 55 community is used in marketing the newer Active Adult Communities and to Age Quailified communities where at least one person needs to be ago 55 over better, as the marketing people say it.
Assisted Living Facility is for people needing help with the daily chores of living. Usually includes meals, a nurse on duty, and group transportation and more.
So you finally have time to peruse other than work activities. What are some of the hobbies semi retired and retied folks enjoy.
It can be a wide range of things. Whatever you enjoy.
Collecting and/or restoring muscle cars from our youth is appealing to some men. Of coarse outdoors activities like hiking, fishing and hunting are popular. For social activities check out meetup.com to check on groups near you. You may be amazed to see how many qroups and interests there are available to you to get involved.
Many women enjoy gourmet cooking, books clubs, volunteering, and shopping. The Internet is a great source of hobbies and even a hobby unto itself. If you are a book reader, just have to check out PaperBackSwap.com.
Couples like traveling to new places and of coarse cruising is exciting and affordable. Gardening is making a comeback and Victory Gardens are enjoyable and rewarding. Stamp collecting, coin and collecting medals is also making a come back and could be a good investment. Keeping up with your investments becomes a hobby for some. Having time to go to the library and museums becomes enjoyable again. Reading and bookstore visits, attending government and civic meetings, and getting involved in politics are major activities.
Gosh how did we ever find time to work?
Reynolds Signature Communities and Linger Longer Homes, the same people who developed the hugely successful Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee GA, are the developers of Achasta, a mountain retirement community in Dahlonega. My wife spotted the ad for the 2009 Southern Living Idea home that is in Achasta, and we took a ride up from Atlanta to give it a tour. The price is only $5 per person and well worth it. Besides the Idea House, there are three vacant model homes you can tour as well to see how informal mountain living can be.
The Southern Living Idea House was beautiful as you might expect. Designed by Stephen Fuller. It was full furnished and decorated. We liked the openness of the home. The master bedroom is on the main level on this house and all the models we visited. The master bedroom, called the retreat, is open to the outside tower deck. Call tower because fo the 15ft high ceilings. The other bedrooms are on the lower terrace (basement) level. Both level were very open to the decks outside which were covered, plenty of stone, an outdoor fireplace, and nice views of the mountains and natural wooded areas. The kitchen was really unique in that the whole wall was a retractable sliding door that open to the outside deck. It seemed your kitchen was outdoors. I guess you could have a sliding screen door. The family room open up also to the outside deck with a nice seating arrangement around the outdoor fireplace. Same on the lower level with access to the lower terrace. That openess to the outside was the main unique feature of the home it seems to me. It was nice and a feel good experience. There was also an inviting living room. The house flowed well from room to room. The lower level had two bedrooms, an family room, bath and another room. All with high ceiling and nice carpet. There was an upstairs as well with a family type room and again opening up to the outside deck with great views to the mountains.
The Idea House didn’t seem too large but offered many spaces so as not to be crowded. The two other model homes we visited were very nice as well. I asked the attended the asking price of one of the model and she replied $975,000 with the accessories. There were some middle aged couples but most were around my age early sixties. There was a large clubhouse and excellent golf coarse in the community. Achasta is in Dahlonega. From Atlanta take GA 400 north to Dahlonega, turn left on Hwy 60 and go about 4.5 miles and you will see Acasta on the right. For the Southern Living Idea House the HOURS: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. No reservations needed.
One of the most searched terms people use to find our site is “55+ communities in PA“ looking for retirement communities in PA or Pennsylvania. I was surprised that so many people were looking to retire in PA. But my neighbor just took a drive through PA and reports it is full of small towns and peaceful rural areas, that would be attractive to anyone 55+ to retire to. Then I noticed on our site 55CommunityGuide.com a number of attractive retirement communities in PA. including Red Hill, Lansdale, White Haven, Lancaster, Hummelstown, Hershey, Red Lion, Colmar PA.
There is info on affordable retirement community in Red Hill PA.
Also Luxury 55+ condos in Hershey PA.
Sun City Roseville is a beautiful active adult community 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, CA. Situated at the base of the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Sun City Roseville offers an abundance of indoor and outdoor activities including a 50,000 square foot recreation center and 27-holes of golf.
Sun City Lincoln Hills is located in Placer County 30 miles northeast of Sacramento. This strategically located community is within a two hour drive from Lake Tahoe, The Bay Area, and Napa. Lincoln, CA has been noted by Forbes magazine as one of the fastest growing cities in the country due to its wonderful amenities, gorgeous topography, and world-class shopping and dining.
Springfield at Whitney Oaks in Rocklin California, near Sacramento, is a national award-winning gated 55+ active adult community of 868 homes. Nestled 80 miles northeast of San Francisco and just 120 miles southwest of Reno, Springfield at Whitney Oaks is within a two hour drive to the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley wine country. Set amidst rolling hills, Springfield has beautiful views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Sutter Buttes and Sacramento Valley.
Contact Anne Wiens at her web site.
This new community is between Dallas GA and Kennesaw. New Model Homes Now Open & Ready to Tour! Residences now have special pricing, $ 10,000 off standing inventory & ownership includes 2 years club membership dues & 1 year HOA fees.
It is worth a visit to check out if you are looking for 55 Plus communities in the Atlanta area.
Check out at their web site.
These are uncertain times. Some people say we are in a depression or nearing one. Crime is rising and expected to rise even more. If things get more out of control, who knows what may happen.
It is suggested that living in a small town would be safer than living in a city or urban setting. In a small town you would be far removed from city gangs or crime waves. You would probably know and respect your neighbors. You would probably be living a more self sufficient lifestyle, maybe making or growing some of your food.
If things deteriorated in the city, people would start leaving and relocating to small towns or other locations. That is what is happening in Mexico right now, with the drug cartel crime wave and killings, Mexican citizens are relocating to Texas or Arizona to get away. Just pulling up stakes and leaving. The same thing could happen here in the USA. Where would you go?
Knowing your neighbors and respecting and relying on each other, certainly has it’s benefits if things get tougher. Helping each other out and watching out for each other is more likely to take place in small towns.
Being more self sufficient is a trait most people living in small towns have. They don’t have all the services and trades available to pick up the phone and have someone come over to do the job. So they learn to do it themselves. Many people small town residents have gardens so they can grow their own food. They are close to farmers where they may be able to purchase fresh produce if transportation to the grocery and cities break down. Growing a Victory Garden is now “in”. I have started my Victory Garden with Heirlooms seeds in my Square Foot Garden. These Square Foot Gardens can be grown just about anywhere, but having a bit of land sure would be nice.
Many people living in small towns have hunted and fished at some point. Those skills may come in handy. Just as important is being close to the forest where game live.
Real estate values in small towns could hold their own or maybe even increase as more people look to move out of the cities if this crises escalates. Some people already are moving to ‘the country” who have lost their jobs and are looking for more affordable housing.
Of coarse as I have written about before, their are other Advantages of Living in a Small Town.
Many books and articles are available about the best retirement towns, so I took a look.
Kiplinger has it’s best cities for retirement, They start off mentioning Tampa Florida, well you could say Clearwater and St. Petersburg, since the three are almost joined together in one big area. With the real estate bust, I hear you can get a deal on a house these days. I would add Sarasota Florida, a town I have visited several times, as a great place to retire. Sarasota has it all. Kiplinger goes on to name Harrisburg PA, a city I do not know much about. They say Harrisburg has four seasons and PA does not tax retirement income. That sounds good, but not unique. Why city retirement?
Money/CNN has their best places to retire list as well. Some included are St. Simmons Island Ga, Walla Walla WA, Prescott AZ ( and Tucson retirement communities) , Holland MI, Williamsburg VA. Of those I would probably vote for St. Simmons GA (and the Brunswick Golden Isles also) , Williamsburg VA (a good place to vacation as well), and Prescott Arizona, where you could probably get a good deal on a house as well.
AARP has their 5 great places to live. They point out fewer than 5 percent of people 55+ move each year, so this whole exercise may be a mind game. They go on to say Upwards of 90 percent of people say they’d like to stay right in their own communities as they age. I do believe that. Ok, so we are looking close to home. No problem there. The first place they list is Atlanta GA. Hey that is close to home since I live in Johns Creek on the north side of Atlanta. I do agree with their first choice. Portland Oregon is listed and I have heard good things about this area. Well rainy weather may be the exception. Chandler AZ is listed as on their 5 great places to live. Chandler is part of the Phoenix area and everyone knows someone who has retired to AZ. I know there are several Sun City communities there, as we several couples on our last cruise who enjoy living there. Next there is Boston Mass. I have enjoyed visiting there many times but never thought of retiring there. They say retirees love the Abundance of culture and restaurants in Boston, and I certainly do understand the appeal there. Next up is Milwaukee WI. Residents say the only way to “get” Milwaukee—an easy 90-mile train ride or drive from Chicago—is to tour its many distinct ethnic neighborhoods, including German, Polish, Italian, and African American communities, and sample the food at the dozens of ethnic festivals that occur throughout the year.
I would recommend getting the book The 50 Best Small Southern Towns by Gerald Sweitzer and Kathy Fields which I have read and liked.
I looked at other sites but were not too impressed with their random choices. I think it is best to scout these out yourself and spend a little time in several locations.
Powered by WordPress
