45 + retirement communities?:) (55, pensions, move, gorgeous)

[us2indaup]

My husband recently retired due to his health, but neither of us has reached the required age of 55 to live in a retirement community. I know there are a few retirement communities where the minimum age is 45 - does anyone have any info about these? Not especially interested in Florida or Arizona, and we are thinking maybe a Park Model home in a RV community.

[forest beekeeper]

Do you really need a separate 'retired folks' community to live in?

I got my pension at 42, lots of folk work in career fields where they qualify for pensions after working 20 years and some of them retire at that point.

In my case, we moved to Maine and bought a farm.

[us2indaup]

Not necessarily a quote "retirement community", unquote, but we'd like to be someplace with planned activities, a clubhouse, organized outings, and maybe private security.....stuff like that. Some senior communities even have their own assisted-living and hospice services, which would be a great comfort to me. It appears our only viable option is to find a temporary retirement area, live there until we're 55, then move to a senior community.
Any other suggestions, anyone?

[brightdoglover]

A lot of 55+ communities have a mandate to make a certain number of their units available to people under 55. I'm not sure how the mandate works, or if it's a state thing, or what, but I bet they'd be thrilled to get 45-year-old people, and not people with small kids.

[MotleyCrew]

You might want to check out the Vistancia Trilogy by Shea Homes. I know they have a certain percentage of people under 55 that they will let purchase. I know of a few 45 year olds over there. We also have the Vistancia Village which is where we decided to park and it is a family community with tons of activities for both adults and kids. We are 55 and could have lived on either side, but we like this community just as much as the one across the road. The ammenities are resort like. The club house here is beautiful and we have a water slide and 3 pools, walking trails that are paved and lit, tennis courts, basketball and at Trilogy (age restricted) they have a gorgeous golf course and a restaruant that is very posh. Please check it out online. www.trilogylife.com or Vistancia - The difference is real. Best of luck to you.

[normie]

Hot Springs Village, near Hot Springs, Arkansas. My parents lived there for more than 20 years. They have tons of activities, as well as medical facilities, assisted living, and even nursing home facilities. You can buy a house on a lake for next to nothing. There's no age requirement--it's a retirement village that has some families and even a school system. (Reality is that there is no work in the area, so it's mostly retirees.) There are some down sides to the area too (isolated location, insects, hot summers)--if you are interested there has been a lot posted on HSV in the Arkansas board. My parents absolutely loved it.

[sillynilly]

Try the Delaware boards lots of places there .

[knoxgarden]

Take a look at Fairfield Glade near Crossville, TN. There are two parts to it, a retirement community and a resort. I don't know if there are age restrictions on the retirement side.
This is the retirement community:
Official Fairfield Glade Website. The Premier Retirement Community on the Cumberland Plateau in Crossville, Tennessee.
This is the resort:
Wyndham Resort at Fairfield Glade, located in Fairfield Glade, Tennessee
There are medical facilities in Crossville and you're only 45 minutes from West Knoxville which has a large number of excellent hospitals, tons of shopping.
It's in a gorgeous natural area with a mild climate. Four distinct seasons but never really hot or really cold.

[faithfulFrank]

We recently bought a home in The Plantation in Leesburg Florida. Awhile ago it was voted by money magazine as one of the top 3 retirement communities in the country.

Although it is a 55+ community, they can have up to 30% of the owners be below 55. In fact, my wife and I were both in our 40's when we bought....(I turn 50 next month.) Our ages were never even asked.

I recently talked to a couple in their 20-30's who bought a home....they do not plan on having kids, and wanted to live in an active adult community.

In my neighborhood, there are many working age couples who own there. It is NOT an old folks home by any means.

Frank D.

[rubytue]

We have a planned community right out our backdoor that has all the amenities of a retirement community, but its just your run of the mill planned community. Its called Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace, MD. If you are into golf, the LPGA championship is played there every June