How many trips to Arizona before deciding on a Retirement Community? (Phoenix: extended stay, sales)

[Blanco111]

I will be traveling from New York next August to stay at three retirement communities and to visit several more. I have two realtors, one for Phoenix area and one for Tuscon area who I hope will make optimum use of my time. The trip will cost more than $1,000. I had originally planned to move when I turned 66 in a couple of years. But I suppose I could move earlier. I am single but do have a dog to consider (so he'd have to travel in the winter). Then there is the selling of my current house. The locations of the house I'm living in now and my previous house were pretty much dictated by my job situation. The options for Arizona are wide open which makes choosing a lot harder. I'm hoping when I'm down there, one retirement community will jump out from the rest as being right for me.

I was just wondering how many times people from out of state travel to Arizona before deciding on a retirement community there. I've read through all the posts in this forum I could find about the various retirement communities in Arizona. Originally, I was planning on a retirement community in Florida, but I decided the humidity would be too much for me. I'll have to see how I can handle the heat in Arizona.

[William Gordon]

Back in the late 90's my wife and I were trying to get a handle on where to retire. My folks had originally bought a lot in Lake Havasu and were planning on retiring there. They visited friends in the original Sun City AZ and immediately came back to Minnesota, sold there home there and the lot in Lake Havasu and moved to Sun City.

We too were figuring Florida would be it for us, but I finally broke down and visited my folks (it took three years). I had no interest in being around a bunch of old farts, but the first day I came to Sun City I fell in love with it. My wife came the next trip and Florida was off the radar screen.

For the next three years we shopped Sun City properties; Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Tucson and Sun City Summerlin in Las Vegas. All were newer and nicer...and more expensive. The original Sun City just felt right, like a comfortable pair of old jeans.

We are just average working folks who wanted a more simple way to live...Sun City offered that and way more. In 1999 we bought a house and rented it out till we turned 55. We've now lived in Sun City for 12 years and I will just say, it has been everything and more than we expected.

I've written volumes on age restricted living and while they all have similar options, there are vast differences in how they are run and what they offer. Shop around and get a feel for what seems to fit your wants and needs. Prices are all over the ballpark and obviously that will help you narrow the field.

If you haven't visited it, 55places is a website focusing on age restricted living and is perhaps the best resource on the net for online comparisons.

Happy hunting...it's half the fun of getting here.

[gbpakrfan]

How many trips? Well, for us it was a grand total of one. We had planned a vacation trip in April that got derailed by a medical issue, so we ended up coming down in May. As I said, it was pretty much strictly a vacation trip, but we did hook up with a realtor prior to arriving.

Long story short, we ended up buying a place. Best decision we ever made...

[jamies]

Depending on your finances and situation you might consider waiting until you actually retire. Then move to where you think you'd like and just rent for awhile. Or even take an extended stay hotel suite for a month or two. Big cities usually have executive apartments you can rent by the month.

Then look around, make some overnight trips to nearby towns and see what fits you best.

You are not usually going to find your dream home in a week or two trip. And I wouldn't spend possibly hundreds of thousands and not be happy, or get ripped off.

Example. We are looking for a summer home in Flag. I live about 3 hours away. We go up there every couple of months for a weekend and I watch the MLS but haven't found what we want yet (well there's the six million dollar ranch, that'll work... brother can you spare a dime). Next summer we are going to get a month to month rental and spend the hot months mostly up there. That will give us time to really look around, and or maybe decide to build. I prefer fixer uppers that have good profit potential - those don't just fall in your lap over a week long trip, usually.

You might get to Phoenix and decide you can't stand it and would rather live in Seattle. Best to find that out before you buy. IMHO.

[jamies]

PS - Nevada touts itself as this great place to retire and the fact it doesn't have income tax. What they don't say is property taxes are high, sales tax is high it costs a LOT to register cars, a minimum license to open a small home based business in Clark County (Vegas) is $650. And so on. They "get" you one way or another.

Arizona has under 5% income taxes, some counties like Mohave our sales tax is only 6.5% not the almost 10% like many areas, if your car is over I think 20 years old, it is I think $9 a year to register. I pay $142 a year insurance for my old truck, and about $360 for my 2012 car. Our property taxes can fluctuate, that's an issue.

But there's a lot more to consider than just location.

[Blanco111]

Originally Posted by William Gordon

Back in the late 90's my wife and I were trying to get a handle on where to retire. My folks had originally bought a lot in Lake Havasu and were planning on retiring there. They visited friends in the original Sun City AZ and immediately came back to Minnesota, sold there home there and the lot in Lake Havasu and moved to Sun City.

We too were figuring Florida would be it for us, but I finally broke down and visited my folks (it took three years). I had no interest in being around a bunch of old farts, but the first day I came to Sun City I fell in love with it. My wife came the next trip and Florida was off the radar screen.

For the next three years we shopped Sun City properties; Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Tucson and Sun City Summerlin in Las Vegas. All were newer and nicer...and more expensive. The original Sun City just felt right, like a comfortable pair of old jeans.

We are just average working folks who wanted a more simple way to live...Sun City offered that and way more. In 1999 we bought a house and rented it out till we turned 55. We've now lived in Sun City for 12 years and I will just say, it has been everything and more than we expected.

I've written volumes on age restricted living and while they all have similar options, there are vast differences in how they are run and what they offer. Shop around and get a feel for what seems to fit your wants and needs. Prices are all over the ballpark and obviously that will help you narrow the field.

If you haven't visited it, 55places is a website focusing on age restricted living and is perhaps the best resource on the net for online comparisons.

Happy hunting...it's half the fun of getting here.

Florida and Arizona seem to be the state's with the most retirement communities. I wonder why other states don't have nearly as many.

After thinking it over, if I survive my August visit, I realize I'll have to rent a house in Arizona. Not three years though. More like 3 months, if that. I don't like paying rent. I will most likely sell my current home first.

I have been using that web site. In fact, that's how I got my realtors. I wish there were more GoPro type video tours of retirement communities online. I don't mean the commercial ones. I've found a couple of such videos on YouTube, and they helped me get a better picture of the areas where they were taken.

[Blanco111]

Originally Posted by jamies

PS - Nevada touts itself as this great place to retire and the fact it doesn't have income tax. What they don't say is property taxes are high, sales tax is high it costs a LOT to register cars, a minimum license to open a small home based business in Clark County (Vegas) is $650. And so on. They "get" you one way or another.

Arizona has under 5% income taxes, some counties like Mohave our sales tax is only 6.5% not the almost 10% like many areas, if your car is over I think 20 years old, it is I think $9 a year to register. I pay $142 a year insurance for my old truck, and about $360 for my 2012 car. Our property taxes can fluctuate, that's an issue.

But there's a lot more to consider than just location.

No income tax is a great lure. My problem with Nevada was the retirement communities seemed too small and the amenities lacking. Same with Washington.

[William Gordon]

It really is hard to get a feel for any community from written commentaries or even video's. Being there and seeing it up close and personal is way better. Living it for short period is of course the best option, but not always available (some age restricted don't allow rentals).

This morning I was on TalkofSunCity, and came across a thread I wrote months back. Sun City AZ is unique in many ways but perhaps none more obvious than the housing options. It took 18 years to build out and the styles of homes and prices range from the mid 40's to 500k.

Rather than waste anyone's time here, i'll just post this link to Sun City housing. You can read it if interested.