Purchasing
- Your first home
- Your next home and move
- An investment property
- A vacation home
Refinancing
- To tap your home equity
- To save money
- To avoid rate increases
- To lower monthly payments
Home Equity
- Loans and lines of credit
- Finance major expenses
- Consolidate Debt
- Invest
Senior Communities Offer Great Prices and Activities
Senior housing communities
offer adults 55 and older a place to
live where they are comfortable, have
fun and do not have to lie about their
age. Emmet Pierce, staff writer for
the San Diego Union Tribune, wrote “Boomtowns”
in an article, July 16, 2006, about
how older adults feel at home in these
newer senior housing communities. Activities
and lower
prices are selling points for these
communities.
Part-time receptionist, Sharron Rowley,
64, and her retired husband Dave, 77,
are enjoying life in the age-restricted
Ocean Hills Country Club. They moved
about 18 months ago from a condominium
in Coronado Cays.
“Rowley said living in the gated,
security-patrolled community gives her
a sense of safety. ‘It is pristine.
Everyone is friendly. I like the feeling
of safety. I walk early in the morning
and sometimes late at night and I never
worry.’”
The Rowleys were not planning on moving
out of their condominium in Coronado
Cays until someone offered an “obscene”
amount during the height of the San
Diego real
estate market. A friend told the
Rowleys to visit the Ocean Hills Country
Club. One visit and the Rowleys were
convinced that this would be their new
home.
Lisa Labey, the real estate agent who
sold the Rowleys their Ocean Hills home,
said that the properties are governed
by a homeowners association and range
in price from $375,000 to more than
$800,000.
“Don King, a real estate agent
who sells homes in Rancho Bernardo’s
55-plus communities, says active-adult
housing can be a bargain. ‘In
age-restricted communities, because
the population of buyers is limited,
properties
tend to sell 10 to 15 percent less
than non-restricted communities,’
he said.”
Besides the lower costs, residents are
attracted to senior communities for
its activities and sense of belonging.
“In addition to golf, ‘there
is a lot of bridge playing, sewing,
photography, a computer club, ballroom
dancing, folk dancing, something for
everybody really,’” Labey
said.
As a result of the lower
housing costs and community amenities,
senior communities, such as Ocean Hills
Country Club, are experiencing great
business in an otherwise cool market.
“They come from all over. We have
people from New York and Chicago and
New Jersey,’ Labey said.”
The Rowleys enjoy spending time on the
community’s golf course, relaxing
while watching the golfers. “When
I retire, maybe we will take up golf,”
Rowley said.
Senior communities give their residents
exactly what they need, lower prices
and a friendly sense of belonging.