Recently I spend a week down in Destin Florida. Of coarse I had to check out the real estate market.  Riding around I sure did see a lot of For Sale signs on a lot of really nice properties.
A local broker says the property and lot sales dropped big time in the third quarter of 2005 and have leveled out at a much lower level.  He reckons it will stay that way for another two years or until the new regional airport opens.  I do bet with a new larger airport that will help spur things up a bit.

 Destiin is such a beautiful area and a lot of people have second homes there. To them, if they are long term holders, it shouldn’t matter much. We talked with an owner at the condo community we were staying. She is from Oklahoma and has owned here unit since it was new, about 30 years ago.  They visit about twice a year and do not rent out their property.  She has such a low initial investment, it really has paid off for her.

Plenty of properties to rent for a week or longer in Destin even thought rental rates seem to be holding up very well.   But I know Destin had become so hot, a lot of people were into flipping.  I know several people who says they would put down a pre construction deposit and then were able to sell at a double closing when property was ready for a big profit.  Those days seem to be over for the time being.

Destin will come back so a bargain hunter could start looking now.

Many retirees are getting a second home to live in part of the year and keeping their current home. Or if you live in a nearby metro like Atlanta for example, you could make several trips down as often as you like, and either rent out your unit or not.

Just spotted this news article and just about fell out of my chair.

 Levitt & Sons, the Florida-based developer of two Seasons communities in north metro Atlanta, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday in Fort Lauderdale, leaving hundreds of Georgia homeowners and dozens of prospective homeowners hanging in the balance.

The announcement late Friday capped weeks of uncertainty after Levitt stopped all construction work on its Georgia properties and laid off workers.

With communities at Lake Lanier and in Laurel Canyon near Canton under active construction, the Levitt hiatus pitched a number of would-be residents into a holding pattern with temporary living arrangements and stored belongings as they await the communities’ fate.

Wow!

More:

It seems I hear more and more about St. Simons Island Georgia as a vacation spot, a second home location and now a great retirement place.

St. Simons Island is part of the legendary Golden Isles near Historic Brunswick, Georgia, St. Simons Island lies between Jekyll Island and Sea Island.

Marsh’s Edge is a full service senior community located on the beautiful Saint Simons Island.  From the photos on their web site, it looks simply gorgeous, with lakes and live oaks around the property.  Already a vacation and second home destination, Marsh’s Edge is in the midst of legendary golf courses, distinctive boutiques, art galleries and antique shops.

I can imagine living here without the worries about home maintenance, yard work and other chores.  It would be like being on vacation all the time. The Wellness Center includes senior friendly exercise equipment and an indoor swimming pool.

Continuing Care Retirement Community

This is a Continuing Care Retirement Community. CCRCs are so named because they address the entire continuum of care with healthy seniors moving into independent living apartments, but having the security of knowing they can “age in place” thanks to assisted living and skilled nursing services on site.

A big part of Marsh’s Edge is the regular retirement community living. They have a good variety of accomadations including:

I think a trip to check out Marsh’s Edge on St. Simons Island would be interesting and worthwhile.

Since about the mid 1990’s, there has seen a sharp increase in retired people moving to North Carolina. Due to several reasons, there are many Northerners who are now choosing North Carolina over other Southern states.

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We have heard these cities in PA are attractive and popular  place to live. 
Verona, Newtown, Chambersburg, Warren, Meadville, Wernersville, Pittsburgh, Shrewsbury, Lancaster, Ephrata, State College PA.  Any comments or additional info on these or other PA towns to retire to?

I have a friend who lives in Atlanta but just bought a waterfront lake property in Alabama. I am starting to do some research on surrounding larger lakes in AL and will post the info here. 

Most people stay put when they retire, or just move out to a small town within 100 miles of where they have lived.  If that is the case, then California is and will be a huge retirement state.

Amador County, the Monterey Peninsula, Nevada County, Orange County, Mariposa County, San Luis Obispos County, San Diego’s North County, Madera County, Palm Springs and Riverside County, Butte County - Paradise, Santa Barbara area, Sonama County - Santa Rosa, Tuolumne County, and San Bernardino County CA.  These areas are prime areas for folks to retire.

Please scroll down this page and give us your comment where you would like to retire to and why?  What are the best areas?   What are the up and coming areas that would be good for retirement living? 

Just returned from a trip to Lake Hartwell Georgia.  Beautiful day on the lake.  Saw many lake homes and cabins along the shoreline as well as many undeveloped areas.  The couple we visited has had their lake front cabins for years.  They are retiring but do not plan to live their full time but just make more visits during the week from their home in Hamilton Mill near Atlanta.

The good part about being retired is that you can visit the lake during the week when it is much less crowded and the party makers have long gone.  So they are just going to “Retire” to the lake during the week.  They say they may entertain more at the lake house as they have more time to do so.  The 24 foot pontoon boat was a blast.

So I learned that a retirement home does not only have to be full time. They are enjoying theirs whenever they want to.

Lake Havasu City seems nice.  I visited there once when on vacation and thought is was pretty neat.   We visited the casinos, saw the London Bridge and went to an English pub right by the bridge and enjoyed a Pims cup.  But is was 122 degrees (no kidding) so you would have to like the warm weather.  The Colorado river was beautiful.  Does anyone know of an neighborhoods in the area suitable for retirement?

I heard some of the ghost towns in Nevada were now being reclaimed by Seniors? Anyone have any info on which towns these are.

Did you know that no town or city in Vermont has more than 50,000 population.  That means VT is a whole state of small towns! It is beautiful. Just returned from spending 4 days driving around VT and checking it out. Burlington has the University of Vermont and two other colleges. It has Church Street which is a great place to hang out and visit some nice places to eat. The Vermont Teddy Bear factor is there and not too far away is the original Ben and Jerry’s.  Burlington is located on Lake Champlain which provides some wonderful sunsets!

 Stowe is a mountain resort and this is a photo I took of the main street.  Right up the hwy is the gorgeous mountains and even more so if you visit during the leaf foliage season as I did.

I feeling after spending a few days is that Vermont is an absolute wonderful place to visit. Maybe even to live in during the Summer months.  But everyone I talked with said it gets REALLY COLD.  I bet it does with that wind coming off Lake Champlain.  So I have good memories of my five day visit and really enjoy it.  But I don’t think many people will be retiring there, at least not moving there to retire, because of the cold Winters.

 Any thoughts from anyone familiar with VT?

Located 30 miles North of Atlanta up GA 400, Dahlonega is at the base of the North Georgia Mountain.  For anyone moving from Metro Atlanta Dahlonega is worth a visit and consideration of a place to move to.   It is far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city, yet your could meet your Atlanta friends for lunch. With the way the growth is heading north, you should be right at home sooner than you like.

I will to going to Burlington VT next week to seek the leaf foliage.  I know Vermont has a lot of small towns that would be a great place to live and would like to visit some.  We plan to do a lot of driving, maybe up hwy 100 and then one day up to the North toward Montreal. 

If you know of any good small towns that I could review while in VT, please let me know.  If you have retired in VT, let us know where you live and what the area has to offer.