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Go over to the caregivers forum and listen to the people who are trying to deal with aged parents who refuse to move even when their living arrangements are completely unsuited to their current abilities. So it doesn't surprise me in the least that retirees don't want to relocate, even to another home in the same area.
I certainly hope we don't continue to perpetuate the idea that it's a good thing for elders to want to "age in place." It's seldom a good or safe idea for them and it certainly isn't for their families, unless they are willing to bear the entire burden of the cost by hiring professionals to come in and care for their health AND the upkeep of their homes.
Moving to a more suitable place in the same community is not what the OP is talking about. I have no intention to relocate, but would be fine to move to a different house in my area
Many people are forced to live in places they do not like for employment. Do I like living in Indianapolis? I don't hate it, but I'm here because the economy is good. If I was retired, I wouldn't plan to be in a landlocked state with virtually no recreational water, bad winters, and little in the way of natural beauty.
The places that have the most job opportunities usually coincide with the most desirability to live there. I'm doing everything I can to ensure I can be able to afford to retire in a major metro area. I don't want to spend my golden years sitting in a rocking chair in some boring area.
My wife and I both in our mide 80s, are permanent in our home. It is a 3,700 sq. ft. luxury 4 level home. Neither of us can safely navigate stairs any more, so we put in 3 chair lifts so we ride between floors, very safely. It is much more home than we can take care of any more, so we have a housekeeper come in Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have someone that uses our tractor with a mower deck to mow our lawn, and our weed eater to weed eat it, and our leaf blower to clean it up that handles our one acre of landscaping. We actually have 5 acres with 4 acres of rail fenced pasture and a metal pole barn/stables. Let neighbors use it for a couple of horses so we don't have to have it mowed in season.
Our small town, only has an independent grocery store, a decent hardware store and a building supply that we use. Buy parishable groceries locally, and to save about 40% plus locally or drive 50 miles to large national grocery stores which would cost 2 hours driving time and an hour and a half buying and loading groceries and save an additional 20% plus,, so we order our non perishable groceries from Walmart.com. Order today and a week later or less FedEx puts the order in our wagon on the front porch and we just wheel it into our kitchen to open and unload. It is amazing that we can buy things on line from Walmart, cheaper than it sells for in the store. We can find a lot of things on line from them, that we cannot buy in their store or other national stores. Example one item we buy 2 packags a month. Costs $8.95 locally each. Walmart store costs $5 each. Or buying on line we can buy a double size (a months supply) for only $6.66. Save nearly $12 over buying locally, or about 35% less on line from Walmart. Takes 30 to 40 minutes a month for a months supply of non perishables (we have a nice pantry room to hold supplies right off the kitchen). We save about 3 hours time, and one heck of a lot of energy, and $15 in gasoline to order on line and get it delivered for free in addition to all of the money we save. About anything we buy, we can order on line and have it delivered to us. We have not made a shopping run out of town in 1 1/2 years.
When you add up what we spend on houshold help, yard care, upkeep on the house, taxes and insurance, we get by for about the same amount as it would cost for an apartment somewhere locally and a heck of a lot less than what it would cost in a major metro area. In addition the county who keeps track of sales prices in the area, says the home prices jumped 12 1/2% in our area last year, and as a decades long real estate broker, I know what is going on and agree with them. Appreciation was way more than our total cost of owning this free and clear home. So we actually came out ahead by far living in our home rather than moving into a condo, etc. The house lost no value, when the real estate market crashed in many parts of the nation a few years ago. Not real estate bubble here.
In the living room we have a 25 ft high window wall, and big windows on all south facing windows. Even with heat protecting glass, in the winter the sun warms the house along with super insulation our utility bills are about the same as they would be in an apar tmet or less. In summer as the sun moves north, we get very little heat imput through the windows. Our home is locted in the county, across the county road from the best part of the city itself. There is an aquafer under our area, and our well is directly into the source of the city water and only costs to pump it. We have a full 12 station sprinkler system, so we don't have to worry about watering the yard.
We have a fantastic view of the Bear Tooth Range of the Rockies, from our major rooms. We have deer in our yard all the time, rabbits, and other small animals. My wife even watched a cougar pass through our yard one day. Birds flock in so we enjoy watching wild life around our home. Closest houses about 300 feet for privacy all on large 5 acre lots, and a 300 acre farm field wrapped around on two sides of our property. Our home sits back 500 feet from the country road on a strip of land we own between our house area, and the road.
We have a top medical system here, which is good enough it is one of only 7 that are affiliated with the May Clinic. Doctors that have been here over 20 years, both top end doctors. A medical clinic and a small hospital, both in one building and nearly new with top equipment just over a mile from our home. When you need a specialist it is an hours drive away. They have tele conference medical facilities, connected to both our huge medical complex in Billings and the Mayo Clinic at the hospital. They hook you up to any test equipment needed, and the specialist 50 or hundreds of miles away can evaluate you. The medical system has won numerous awards for it's quality of care. If we need the big hospital, the system owns 2 medical helicopters with great teams manning them and a heliport at the medical facility on both ends. In addition as the are the major medical facility for half of Wyoming and the western Dakotas and a big part of Southern Canada, they have 3 Turbo Prop medical transport planes with full medical and flight crews ready to go around the clock. The doctors are treated and paid enough, once they get here they don't leave until they retire in nearly all cases. It is not a big churning staff change as in so many parts of the country.
We last week, added another safety feature to our lives. We added emergency call buttons to our life which we carry everywhere. One button, and we can call for help of any type anywhere in the country. It has a GPS so they know exactly where we are when we push the help button. We chose GreatCall as it is included on our new Cell Phones. We have both in one unit, and costs about what the button costs anywhere else. We may never need it, but it is nice to know you have it, if you suddenly develop problems which even though we are healthy we know we may need something like this someday. We could be driving down the Interstate somewhere, and feel an emergency come on. Pull over, push one button and be immediately in contact with the help we needed, and they would know where we are at the time so they can call the appropriate people. It is recommended to day for elderly active people, and we finally decided it is time to get it.
Why would we want to give up our home, and move somewhere else? Like a lot of people we know around the country, we like what we have, and our life here. A lot of people like us, refuse to move. We may have to adapt our homes with stair lifts as we have, grab bars for safety as we have, and other changes, but there is no need any longer to have to give up something you really love, just because you age.
I know this is a long post, but I want you to know, how a lot of older people live today and are very contented with where we live. There are solutions to make it possible, we did not have 20 years ago as we turned 65.
If you happen to live in a rural area, and have the financial, social, and medical support that you need, aging in place is a viable option. However, from what one reads, that is not always the case for the majority of individuals in this country.
Yes it was an interesting read. Some of what they used as study material confused me. The beginning had these obscure figures of population of seniors to access to transportation nodes. The singled out NYC as all alone and didn't bring other major populations of the same size. I know there are a few that equal NYC in population.
I have a couple of observations though that might cause some discussion.
1)
Quote:
Living on a fixed income makes owning an automobile challenging and
increases the need for affordable alternatives. AAA (formerly the American Automobile
Association) reports in “Your Driving Costs 2011” that the average annual cost of owning
an automobile and driving between ten and fifteen thousand miles ranges from $7,600
to $8,700. These estimates are based on an average fuel cost of only $2.88 per gallon
and will increase as fuel costs continue to fluctuate.8 For a senior living at or below
the poverty line as defined by the Census Bureau ($10,458 for a single person), the
average cost of owning an automobile would consume 78 percent of income. For low income
seniors as defined by AARP ($15,697 for a single person), the cost of owning an
automobile would consume 51 percent of income.
Yes owning an automobile is a bit expensive if you are using it a lot it goes up. I just don't see seniors in the age bracket of 80+ doing 10 to 15k of driving. That I think is excessive and unrealistic but I guess it is trying to make the point that it is expensive to be a senior and still driving. Part of the mobility study thesis.
2)
Quote:
After age 55, the vast majority of Americans stay
put: Only about 5 percent change residences, and
fewer than 2 percent move between states each
year. That trend is expected to continue, based on
the preferences expressed in surveys by AARP and
others. In 2010, AARP carried out a large-scale survey
of adults age 45 and over. More than 85 percent of
respondents strongly or somewhat agreed with the
following statement: “What I’d really like to do is
stay in my current residence for as long as possible.
Among seniors age 65 and older, the percentage
strongly or somewhat agreeing with the statement
increased to 88 percent.
This absolutely substantiates the point of the original thread topic. It actually even gives the numbers that we expected based upon who was interviewed in the thread topic study.
After age 55, the vast majority of Americans stay put: Only about 5 percent change residences, and fewer than 2 percent move between states each year.
This absolutely substantiates the point of the original thread topic. It actually even gives the numbers that we expected based upon who was interviewed in the thread topic study.
Emphasis mine. If 5% per year are changing residences, then about half move between ages 55 and 65 and a little under 10% will have moved out of state. It is hard (maybe impossible) to know how many in state moves would be considered relocation. Where I am, I see a lot of people move from suburban "schoolkid neighborhoods" to a nearby home better suited for retirees (smaller, single floor or at least first floor master) and a few move to the mountains or the beach - all in state moves.
Made the big move to our permanent retirement home 2 months ago we bought for vacations a couple of weeks a year 3 years ago. My exploration company was aggressively looking for oil price collapse"package" volunteers that had enough years for medical insurance and good severance so I took the plunge at age 58. I had planned to retire just two years later anyway when my pension maxed out. If I had stayed most likely no severance package, just quitting so I didn't have much to lose. I did enjoy my job as a geologist/geophysicist but I really felt more of a "home pull" from the vacation house in Puerto Rico than the long time house in suburban Houston.
So far I love it, don't really miss the States at all, just the kids back in Houston and other relatives and friends, although they've been invited to visit. (shouldn't be too hard to lure them with a pool overlooking the Caribbean!).
Despite the debt problems it's by far the most developed and modern of all the Caribbean Islands with modern freeways (we can get the the major city and capital San Juan's airport in less than 40 minutes), Sams' Club and Walmart 3 miles away, and fast internet and HD Dish TV at reasonable prices. Also, cel phone services are all in the US system so free calls included in your unlimited plan (Puerto Rico is treated like a US state although really a semi-self-governing Commonwealth). The place has nearly perfect weather in the mid 70s to mid 80s everyday we've been here and wonderful sea breezes, haven't once turned on the A/C.
The people are wonderfully friendly although with many you have to talk to in pidgeon Spanglish (I have two years HS Spanish that occasionally comes back - but I'm working on improving it!) - most folks take many years of English in school but outside of San Juan or those working with tourists don't get much chance to practice it and they lose it as they get older. Many though, with them being US citizens, have vacationed or even lived for years in the USA and have good English. Most public places you will find someone to help you translate.
I was a bit concerned moving here full time with the uneasy situation with the US Congress working out a Greece-like bail-out bill which will help ease the yearly debt servicing but impose a mainland-dominated review board (I think 6 Americans and only 1 Puertoriquenian) which may effectively take away the internal independence to act as a nation with only trade and defense dominated by the USA they've had since the Kennedy administration. So far the people have been very friendly and fortunately seem to be able to separate the American people from the American government.
I came across this little article and thought we could revisit the topic again with a fresh view and approach.
I won't leave the area for a few good reasons.
1. Cops don't hassle me (Live out of vehicle)
2. Business don't hassle me (No, don't park at Walmart anymore)
3. Free wifi like mad in this area. (Starbucks, Library, Community Center, Walmart)
When I do retire, I'll volunteer at the local humane society. but no need to move as finding a sweet deal like I have now will be a PITA...
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