55+ north georgia

[MotleyCrew]

Georgia is now moving up on our interest list. We also would love a smaller retirement home with a 2 car garage. We could easily live in 1100 square feet, 2 bed 2 baths. The lower 100'S would also be well within our budget. There are quite a few "Baby Boomers" that will not be retiring wealthy and looking for smaller alternatives.
Please keep our email address in your book.
Thanks

[gt50conv]

I am strongly considering moving to the Brunswick GA area and would love to find a nice 55+ community but no matter where I look I qualify as I am already 63 but my son, who is disabled, can't continue to live with me because he is only 43. I am not his caretaker as he is able to take care of himself but he does need my support, in fact, as I get older he is taking care of me. I can't do all the house maint. stuff by myself anymore. I think we will look for a non age restricted place so that we can continue to take care of each other.

[normie]

Great question for me, we are currently shopping for a 55+ community. May I also suggest that you post this on the Retirement Forum on city-data.

Here are the things we're looking for:

We want to be in a middle class/upper middle class neighborhood. (Low income housing is wonderful, and if that's what you're building my hat is off to you. However, since you asked, that's not what we're looking for.)

1. Most important! Near a large medical center. If you can provide a shuttle service to the hospital and shopping, that would be a real plus.

2. Almost as important: near an interesting town, with things to do. The type of town that has a college with adult education courses, volunteer opportunities, many different churches, town festivals. A town like Dahlonega would be perfect.

3. Also important, but negotiable: near a large grocery store, a pharmacy, and other stores. Being within an hour's drive of a mall would be helpful.

Amenities we are seeking:

Community center with a work out room and pool. If you have 2 or more pools, make one pool adults only. Visiting grandchildren deserve a place to play... but they are annoying, too.

We don't care about golf or tennis. Coffee shops and restaurants are nice, if you're building a large community.

Group activities and classes, if you are planning a larger community.

Nice views from every unit. Let's face it, the older you get the more likely you are to be sick and homebound for days at a time. A nice view helps the time pass.

Walking trails are very important, especially when recovering from an illness. Create several of them in varying lengths and difficulties. Have at least 2 very easy ones, because people recovering from cancer and other serious illnesses will use them a lot and they deserve a change of scenery. It's nice to have a destination (a trail that goes to a lake, or a small garden, or even just a collection of birdhouses). One place we like has scattered sculptures along the pathways. These aren't expensive works of art, just intriguing concrete shapes with holes and blobs and other details that are fun to ponder as you walk by them every day. Another place we like created a mini golf course. They aren't expensive to build and they're great exercise for people in recovery.

We aren't seeking a large house--we want to downsize, so we're looking for 1300-1500 sf. We want a small bit of land that we can garden (maybe 500-800 sf) and otherwise we want the landscaping handled by a gardener. We would prefer being in a 1-story unit with an attached garage. We want to avoid stairs as much as possible. I would suggest a mix of smaller town homes and large sfrs scattered throughout the village. Many of our friends still like living in a big sfr. But we would choose to live in the smaller townhomes.

Gates are ok, I guess, but gated communities pay more for their roads, so I think we'd rather do without them.

Have an assisted care facility nearby... and if you are planning a large village, a convalescent home.