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You can seemingly come across a Del Webb 55+ community in the south every 50 miles or so (kidding, of course). And their Sun City properties are their largest sites.
Wonder how the demand for these is as the homes get older and older? I would think most seniors would want a newer property that is as close to maintenance free as possible. Combine that with a smaller audience for them, as boomers give way to gen Xers, and they seem a terrible investment.
As a Gen X'er, we will most likely be investing in one once one of our mothers need to be closer to us. That way we can be close enough to help, but not have an in-law under the same roof. I can see investors buying them up and updating them for rental income - almost like renting a space at a retirement community. There is big money in retirement living. My father in-law used to build and run retirement communities (apartment style), he was bought out by a big investor group and made more than I could have imagined. Seniors love the sense of community and really enjoy being around others in the same stage of life.
Wonder how the demand for these is as the homes get older and older? I would think most seniors would want a newer property that is as close to maintenance free as possible. Combine that with a smaller audience for them, as boomers give way to gen Xers, and they seem a terrible investment.
I don't see it that way. Seniors that are really trying to minimize total maintenance tasks to keep track of would likely go for a condo. All of them will be knowledgeable enough to realize that maintenance is a cost of any home, regardless of how you pay for it (either you pay a premium price for new construction with a longer initial expiration date for things like roof, hvac, or higher monthly dues to have some of these taken care of for you). A resell isn't necessarily a larger maintenance burden. The last three homes I purchased all had the big ticket items replaced within just a few years before my purchase and couldn't possibly be lower in maintenance than homes that are decades newer; that's just a matter of the buyer looking for a home that's been well maintained -- or, as alternative, simply paying a little lower price for a place that needs a new roof and hvac with a reno budget going in. It can all be done prior to moving in with a little planning. We are also seeing this trend of newer construction not exactly being maintenance free. And, once low maintenance and a single family house are identified as buying criteria, the one-story homes in most of these communities are about as low maintenance as one can get without going for a condo.
Also I think people want to compare peak totals of one generation to another, without keeping in mind it is all cyclical in nature, not to mention the fact that depending on how someone defines the birth year definition, someone could be considered a young boomer or an old GenXer, etc. There is not a hard cut off of people born in the last boomer birth year that separates them from buyers in the first GenX birth year, its a much smoother transition, more like an overlap effect.
People talk about boomers as if it is this giant tsunami of people with huge influence on the world, but the peak of the wave was about 15 years ago. So, the upcoming home buying peak of Gen-Xers will be greater than the down-wave position of boomer sellers. It ebbs and flows but so does the housing market in general for other factors.
Overall, 55+ would never be a reason for severe property value loss, because worst case scenario all they would have to do is modify a piece of paper that defines the age restriction and problem solved. Its not like building a home on some land then finding out the area is riddled with sink holes or whatever.
I am an "older Gen Xer" my siblings are all Baby Boomers. Everything else being equal (same town, same schools etc) my class in school closed 3 schools after we graduated due to declining enrollment, and my graduating high school class was HALF the size of my siblings. That is a BIG drop off in population and I have to think it was not contained to my (large) town on Long Island.
Current class size (many years later!) is 25% smaller than mine was, and again - the school districts up there do not change their boundaries and there is only one HS in the district.
I am an "older Gen Xer" my siblings are all Baby Boomers. Everything else being equal (same town, same schools etc) my class in school closed 3 schools after we graduated due to declining enrollment, and my graduating high school class was HALF the size of my siblings. That is a BIG drop off in population and I have to think it was not contained to my (large) town on Long Island.
Current class size (many years later!) is 25% smaller than mine was, and again - the school districts up there do not change their boundaries and there is only one HS in the district.
Time will tell I guess.
I think class size depends on what part of the country you are looking at. There are many parts of the country that can not keep up with the demands as class sizes continue to grow. The NE has a large population that is moving out, while other parts of the country are growing at a fast rate.
I think class size depends on what part of the country you are looking at. There are many parts of the country that can not keep up with the demands as class sizes continue to grow. The NE has a large population that is moving out, while other parts of the country are growing at a fast rate.
I am not talking about comparing one part of the country to another - or even one town to another. That's why I started off saying EVERYTHING ELSE BEING EQUAL - my boomer sibling class sizes were TWICE the size of mine - there's no more apples to apples comparison than a school district whose boundaries never change and that only has one high school. They graduated almost 800 students each, I graduated 400. The current total population of the school is 1200 (I checked) so it's even smaller than when I graduated (about 300 hundred per class). I'm not sure how I can make what I'm saying any clearer.
Yes, I get that migration patterns change, that doesn't change the fact there are considerably less people in my age group than in people 2-25 years older than me.
All this said, those homes will always have an appeal, my parents were happy to build a house but could have just as easily ended up in Heritage Pines which is an established 55+ community, they wanted a small one story home and all the maintenance dealt with.
Really, really good read. thanks for understanding the premise of my inquiry and posting an excellent, relevant exploration of this matter.
Good stuff.
there really seems to be a multi-pronged issue here, not only concerning civil rights but the market value as well, amenities offered as well as resources.
Really, really good read. thanks for understanding the premise of my inquiry and posting an excellent, relevant exploration of this matter.
Good stuff.
there really seems to be a multi-pronged issue here, not only concerning civil rights but the market value as well.
Really, there is no civil rights issue. Just compliance with civil rights requirements.
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