Leisureville Takes A Look Inside The Villages

Lots of people who visit and read this blog regularly originally came here because of information I have posted about The Villages retirement community in central Florida.

Well, The Villages just got a little more famous. This past weekend the Wall Street Journal published a review of Leisureville: Adventures in America’s Retirement Utopias.

One of the “utopias” chronicled happens to be The Villages. You can also read an excerpt of the book here.

Leisureville comes on the heels of another “ville” book called Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by Barbara Corcoran.

I’ll have a review here and on Amazon.com after I’ve read Leisureville. If you’re looking for solid advice on buying a home and living in The Villages don’t forget to check out The Villages Florida Book.

The Problem With Nextville

Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by Barbara Corcoran drops this month and I was given a copy by the publisher to review. You should also know that Barbara was kind enough to provide a quote for the advertising of my book, Florida for Boomers: A Guide to Real Estate.

Nextville is less “how-to” guide and more of a “find yourself” or “figure out whats right for you” guide. Barbara basically breaks boomers down into eight possible different lifestyle categories such as “following your passions”, “living green“, “losing yourself” for the soon to be ex-pat, as well as those who will choose to “stay put”.

While actual “how-to buy” advice isn’t as meaty as you might have hoped, there are plenty of checklists and quizzes to help guide the boomer who isn’t quite sure where they want to end up or what they want to do with the next quarter century. The main strength and value of the book is that it does a great job of exploring several out of the ordinary places to think about spending your time.

Which leads me to my only bone to pick with the book. In Chapter 1, “Forget Florida” Barbara is clearly highlighting what the media is making everyone “think” is the trend, that nobody is moving to Florida anymore. The media wants everyone to believe that Florida is dead as a destination. Forget it, it fell off the map!

However, and believe me, I hear it from people everyday, folks are still researching and moving to Florida more so than any other state. There’s even a book reviewed by the Wall Street Journal this weekend which chronicles the lives of folks who have moved to The Villages, located in, yup, you guessed it…Florida. (This book is called Leisureville…Leaving me wondering what’s with all the “villes”?)

For good measure how about some search engine stats to back me up (Data is from Wordtracker):

Estimated Daily Searches:

Florida retirement communities: 51
Georgia retirement communities: 12
South Carolina retirement communities: 9
North Carolina retirement communities: 11
Tennessee retirement communities: 4
Virginia retirement communities: 12
Texas retirement communities: 23
Arizona retirement communities: 26
Nevada retirement communities: 4
New Mexico retirement communities: 7

You can clearly see above that interest in Florida still out paces most other states by quite a wide margin.

Lastly, and then I’m done picking on this fantastic book (I promise), is that someone needs to tell the publisher that postcard book covers are sooooo 2007

How To Make Sure A Retirement Community Lifestyle Is Right For You

TopRetirements has a good article here that talks about the pros and cons of retirement community living.

A compilation of input gathered from boomers who have lived the community experience, the article does not try to scare you from exploring the active adult retirement options available to you, but it does give you some things to think about before making a decision.

As with anything there are good things and bad, and what is good for you may not be good for someone else. So when reading the article, don’t just rely on what someone else experienced, think about how the experience fits your ‘ideal’ lifestyle.

image credit: nickgraywfu at flickr

Boomers Heading to Montana and Wyoming

In recent weeks there have been several articles in major newspapers and media talking about boomers who are looking to the Rocky Mountain West, including the states of Wyoming and Montana, for retirement.

Because these destinations aren’t as popular as say, Florida, its hard to find quality information on retirement communities in those states.

To be sure, there aren’t a lot of retirement communities in those states. A big reason for this is that people heading to these states are often looking for larger pieces of land (acreage) and a little bit of solitude that comes with that.

A couple places to help in your search for information about real estate and communities in Wyoming and Montana:

First check out The Land Report Magazine. They have a search box (right side of the screen) Type in “Wyoming” or try “Montana” if that suits you. This magazine has stopped publishing unfortunately, but their site is still up and has a lot of good info.

Next, check out the Yahoo! Directory for Wyoming and Montana real estate:

Montana

Wyoming

Searching in other search engines for Montana or Wyoming retirement communities doesn’t bring up very good results, but you’re welcome to try it.

Boomers Go Green With Cohousing

No doubt about it, green is in. And not just the color…the movement. And why shouldn’t it be baby boomers at the forefront?

Read about the Wolf Creek Lodge [via TreeHugger] in Grass Valley, California. The Wolf Creek Lodge is a “Cohousing” community for active adults. If you’ve never heard of cohousing, here’s a description from the Wolf Creek website:

“Cohousing communities are small-scale neighborhoods that provide a balance between personal privacy and living amidst people who know and care about each other. Individual dwelling units enjoy convenient access to shared space including a common house with facilities such as a gourmet kitchen, dining room, laundry facilities, guest rooms, library and sitting areas, and workshops. Each home is entirely self-sufficient, complete with a kitchen, but residents often prepare common meals together in the kitchen of the common house.”

The environmental benefits of cohousing are achieved through the sharing of resources and space.

While there are currently less than 100 cohousing communities in the United States, look for that number to grow as boomers look for ways to go green and also look for alternatives to the traditional retirement community concept.

Thinking Florida? Be sure to check out On Top of the World

Wanted to let all Boomers on the Move readers know about this great community in Central Florida…

When you’re On Top of the World you’ll discover truly unsurpassed, active adult living in scenic Ocala, Florida. Amid gently rolling hills, magnificent horse farms, majestic oak hammocks and crystal clear springs, On Top of the World Communities brings every homeowner Excellence Above All…conveniently located in central Florida near Tampa and Orlando. We have choices and amenities you won’t find anywhere else.
Keep reading… or Visit Community Website

Forbes ranks three Carolina cities "most affordable"

If you’re a baby boomer thinking of retiring to the Carolina’s or buying a second home there, you won’t only be choosing a great location, but it might make sense financially. Forbes just ranked three Carolina cities “most affordable” as far as real estate is concerned.

My next book, Carolinas for Boomers due out later this year will give you all the information you need to find a place and buy in the Carolinas.

Read more:
Forbes ranks Raleigh as 12th most affordable real estate market - Triangle Business Journal:

The Villages, Florida: A Complete Guide

Do you know what the internet’s most searched for Florida retirement community is? It’s The Villages, located in central Florida. The internet is loaded with information about The Villages but sometimes searching online can just get overwhelming.

To solve this problem, I’ve put together a complete 117 page guide for The Villages at: TheVillagesFloridaBook.com

You’ll find a ton of great information including a complete detailed community overview, useful links, information about buying a home in The Villages, what it costs to live there, golf in The Villages, and much more. Check it out.

Retirement "Spotlight Shines On The Sun Belt"

(Photo from answers.com)
Found this article in Investor’s Business Daily about the Sun Belt being the ideal destination for retirees.

“Florida and its beaches remain a popular place to spend the sunset years, yet the current hottest retirement destination doesn’t even have a coastline: It’s Arizona.”

A study by a University professor spotlights the top areas the over 60 set are moving to. “According to Wake Forest University professor Charles Longino, a gerontologist who studies the migration of people 60 and older, the top retirement destinations for Americans are the counties that include the following metropolitan areas:
• 1. Phoenix.
• 2. Las Vegas.
• 3. West Palm Beach, Fla.
• 4. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• 5. St. Petersburg, Fla.
• 6. Fort Myers, Fla.
• 7. Tucson, Ariz.
• 8. Los Angeles.
• 9. Sarasota, Fla.”

I had planned the first follow-up to Florida for Boomers to be Carolinas for Boomers. But after seeing this perhaps Arizona for Boomers will be the next book in the for Boomers series. Stay tuned.

Thinking of starting a new business when you retire?

If you are, I’ve got good news. Several top states for retirement are also ranked as the most business-friendly states.
Here’s the top five: 1) Virginia (it’s for lovers…and businesses) 2) South Carolina 3) Florida 4) North Carolina and number 5) Utah

Read the full story

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