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I have read a few threads lately about new retirement communities being built here and there, and feel there is something lacking in the focus of these new ones. Once upon a time, retirement communities were real destination points, places where you could start a new life with others of your type, and without all the maintenance that home ownership entailed. Comfort of the homeowner was paramount, with transport to necessities such as grocery and other shopping, and an active association encouraged homeowners to find their feet in their new communities and meet people. On-site shops, churches, and other similar places kept homeowners from having to drive all over creation in their declining years.
That's all a thing of the past. These new retirement communities are mostly built with one thing in mind - profit for the owner/developer by selling houses. They still don't get it - or maybe they do but that's not their objective. Ninety percent of retirement communities now being built offer suburban-style homes, centered around a token clubhouse that offers anything from a couple of meeting rooms and a pool, to something a bit more elaborate, but not much. Transportation of any kind for the residents is not considered, nor is closeness to medical or other needs. It's all about selling houses. Find a cheap piece of land in the country and put a retirement community on it, seems to be the idea. The main attraction for any home buyer in these situations is lawn care and exterior home maintenance. Sometimes not even these items are maintained by the association. I'm very disappointed with the focus of new retirement communities, which is on selling homes, not on quality of life for the buyer.
Sorry, but this has been one of my rants for a few years now.
I have seen plenty of the places you describe and more and more are being built. At best there are some basic transportation services to healthcare facilities or the local mall.
All builders, past, present, and future are in business to make money. After the builder is out of the picture it is the role of the owners to expand and improve the amenities.
I know of no communities that offer transportation. Where I live, and it was started in 1960, there is transportation available but you will have to make the arrangements and pay for it.
We have an excellent quality of life where I live but it is because of the people adding and improving buildings, activities, and amenities over the years, not just the builder. He started it but they ran with it.
Most communities have condos available for the people that don't want the maintenance. That's what I bought. We also have medical, retail, churches, and restaurants here but you have to get there. For some Safeway and Schwans delivery works for them.
Today's 65 year old is not the 65 year old of 1965. That is why you hear Active Adult and 55+ and not so much senior or retirement used. These places are no longer God's waiting room. Today we have more and more people in their 50's moving in.
I think your complaint should be with the boards that are running these communities and not the builder. It is the boards responsibility now to expand, improve, maintain, and offer what the current residents want. The builders focus has always been on selling homes and offering as much as is needed to sell those homes.
Last edited by thinkalot; 05-24-2017 at 12:07 PM..
I am in Ohio and the Otterbein network of senior communities are still like that. Our mom lived in one for 14 years and went from independent to assisted to skilled nursing unit there before she passed 12 years ago. It was a wonderful supportive community which became like family to her. Lots of support and fun and companionship for residents.
This company has expanded out to offering small short-term rehab/skilled nursing sites now as well.
There are a few more in my area that I know about that offer all that. But I have to agree, many call themselves ''senior communities'' but really are just HOA condos that allow 55+ residents only.
I am in Ohio and the Otterbein network of senior communities are still like that. Our mom lived in one for 14 years and went from independent to assisted to skilled nursing unit there before she passed 12 years ago. It was a wonderful supportive community which became like family to her. Lots of support and fun and companionship for residents.
This company has expanded out to offering small short-term rehab/skilled nursing sites now as well.
There are a few more in my area that I know about that offer all that. But I have to agree, many call themselves ''senior communities'' but really are just HOA condos that allow 55+ residents only.
A great many people are trying to find what FeelingLow describes but instead all they find are the cheap condo and cottage 55 plus communities located in the middle of nowhere. Sadly many don't fully understand the differences until they move in.
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Profit is the first priority, as in any business. In order to profit, however, you have to build what people want. Most of the people I know (relatives) that are in their 70s and up prefer the quiet, simple, and more private living that they had in their long-time home. They just need to have some confidence in their ability to get help when needed. In other words, a small single family residence with devices at key locations to summon help if needed. May parents are 87 and 85, still living in a SFR on 5 acres in a rural area that they love. I was just there two weeks ago planting about a 1/4 acre of vegetable garden for them to water and harvest over the summer as I do every year. Their mowing is probably 1/2 acre, and while it takes some effort to get onto the riding mower, he still enjoys it.
Today's 65 year old is not the 65 year old of 1965. That is why you hear Active Adult and 55+ and not so much senior or retirement used. These places are no longer God's waiting room. Today we have more and more people in their 50's moving in.
This is an interesting point and so true - that "today's 65 year old is not the 65 year old of 1965."
One of the main problems seems that there may be a lack of cohesiveness of the population dwelling at the development and they possess a wide variety of needs, many of the needs not shared by many or most.
It's sad to hear that so few services, courtesies, and activities are being offered at so many of the developments. And what a disappointment to move in, and only then to realize or discover that many of the services and activities one had hoped for and hoped to depend upon are missing or not offered to any extent or barely developed or dropped because of lack of interest by many dwellers.
And it seems that because today's 65 year old is not the 65 year old of 1965 - you are saying that developments have needed to lower the age groups of the development to 50's in order to fill up the development? And also because more people are retiring in their 50's?
Last edited by matisse12; 05-24-2017 at 01:54 PM..
The last community that we visited was just south of Houston, Texas, and it was little more than a group of houses built around a "pond," really a 3 feet deep puddle about the size of 3 house lots, and a clubhouse a little less than the size of one of the McMansions we used to laugh about that were being built in the 90's. It was not gated, just a complete bad economic situation (for the buyer, anyway). This is what the Del Webb communities have come to. From their start as complete lifestyle places, they have degenerated (in my mind, anyway) to little more than just another neighborhood.
Florida has a few more comprehensive settlements, but these also are from an older era when offering more to the senior was commonplace. It seems the "older active adult" now needs to be able to function in the community just as he did when he was working - drive everywhere, find his own activities, and get himself to his own medical appointments. He just doesn't have to mow the lawn.
I wouldn't mind a community being in the suburbs or in the country. In fact, I would prefer it not to be in an urban area. But I would love a place like The Villages, with its own shopping, town square, clubhouse, etc, that you could get to on a golf cart (I really love the idea of being able to drive a golf cart everywhere I need to go inside the community and get a lot of what I need or want inside the community), but in Arizona or California, not Florida. I don't want to live in Florida.
Last edited by luzianne; 05-24-2017 at 02:28 PM..
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