housing

Can you imagine all the retirement communities that are going to have to be built to accomadate the boomers?

Where do you envision yourself living in your retirement? Peprhaps you're already retired. What type of community do you live in?

I think I would like to stay in my home as long as my spouse is living. Should something happen to him I think I'd like living in a big home with a bunch of women.

It would be important that I be near a small town so I could walk to do errands and get to know the members of the community.

My husband retired six years ago.

As long as we'll be able to we will always want to live in our present home. We really love it here. The yard work upkeep is horrendous because of all the trees and leaf clean up in fall. But as most older people here do, we can always hire it done if we need to.

Well both of us retired five years ago while we were still in our early 50s and had the energy to keep up with maintaining this house we built. As time has moved on (we've lived here in our dream house now 10 yrs.) we find we would like to spend less time maintaining this huge yard....also with just the two of us we don't need this much room really. It's been wonderful having all this space but we're now talking about downsizing. We want to buy/build a home in a 55+ adult community. A rambler with everything on one level plus a full basement.

The next step beyond that will be an actual retirement community where there is a continuum of care...independent living, assisted living, nursing home, etc.....that will be where we spend "the autumn of our years" !

We are retired and will probably stay right where we are. We live in a condo in the middle of Honolulu and most things are within blocks of us...such as shopping, markets, doctors, banks, etc.
Very convenient!

My husband and I both took early retirememt because of our health, although both of us a doing quite well right now. Four years ago we moved into a beautiful apartment in a 55+ community. At the time, my husband's prognosis was still iffy, and I wanted to be settled in a place I could remain by myself if necessary. Thank God it has not been necessary.

We both love where we live now. We've lived in the same town for 30 years, so we have a lot of friends around here. I don't think either of us could ever live anywhere but in New England.

Jackie, what makes it a 55t community? I'm curious. Do they offer activities?

In the 55+ community I reside in it merely means there must be someone in the home thats 55+ and usually means no children at all. We do have a few kids that visit their grandparents for the summer and thats allowed. Usually the 55+ communities offer many ammenities for the resdents but not all of them do....These are exceptionally clean and quiet places to reside.

Currently we are living a rural area, but it is very likely that we will be returning to a vital urban center, as we miss the multicultural aspects and the stimulation of city life. I lived in big cities up until 12 years ago, and we did what he had to do with retreating to a quiet rural area 10 years ago, after a short stint in a small city(Santa Fe). Rural doesn't necessarily work for every person of so-called "retirement" age(see my post above about retirement in general) - for some of us it is better to be around a variety of people in a stimulating environment! It's very possible that we might be moving back to San Francisco - we are being seriously considered for a low-key apartment manager's position in a good area of the city. SF has excellent public transport too, and is very walkable. Before we moved to New Mexico, my husband lived in San Francisco for 17 years, and I there for 14. It's still a cool place. The apartment managing position would allow us to have our housing taken care of(and a parking spot which is worth its weight in gold there)in a high-priced housing market. We love San Francisco, and this coastal person is ready to move back to being near the water! If the San Francisco situation doesn't pan out, we would look to move into Santa Fe itself. We do property caretaking, so we might be able to find something there in that department too.
We are just too far out in the country(beautiful as it is)for my taste - we have to drive a minimum of 18 miles to get anything, and 27 if we want a better choice!