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Just picking folks brains again. If you're considering an active adult community and have a fixed amount to spend on your residence... would you consider living in a smaller residence in a community that really has the type of amenities you are looking for OR is the size of your residence more important to you?
Amenities in a neighborhood or community are, imo, much more important than house/apt. size. Life is not confined inside a home. I found that out by moving from one nearby community (where there was nothing to do--suburban) to another where there is so much to do (in-town). Although I unintentionally added square footage to my house, I would gladly have accepted less to live in a community like this. In fact, when this place is too big for me in a few years, I will likely stay in this town in a smaller place. But that's me...I thrive on things to do especially in the evening and I cannot drive far due to a mobility issue. I also cannot sit too long and so vegging out in front of the TV or laptop is not good for me. Even if I do nothing more than take a safe evening walk on the town campus I'm good.
I tend to be a person who uses HOA amenities, and we're intending to downsize (a little) in retirement, so I'd probably vote for more amenities. It depends on what the amenities are, of course, and just how small the living quarters would be.
The trick for you will be figuring out which amenities to include, since everyone seems to like different things.
Amenities are more important. This is the smallest place (less than 1/3 the size of last home) I have ever lived in but there is so much more to do here.
If only 1 or 2 people why would you want more than 1 bedroom? I am not a hotel for friends and relatives. All of the extra space I've had before such as a work shop or library are amenities where I live now. A bigger place is more money to purchase, more taxes, higher HOA fee, higher utilites, higher insurance.
I don't want more room to put stuff. It took too long to get rid of the stuff I had before.
While I don't want a bigger place (we have 2200 sq feet now in our pre-retirement home).. because there's more to clean (bwah!)... I DO like that I can have my own space in the house with my husband.
We can be doing two different activities (he's an audiophile) - and not disturb one another.
Community amenities are important - but I"m clearly not convinced that living in an HOA is the ticket for us. I think we're rather hire out than feel like renters in a place we own.
I want amenities within several miles, but they don't have to be amenities offered by the association where we live. When I say amenities, i mean such things as groceries, gas, vet, doc, hospital, restaurants, etc.
The only amenity I am really interested in, as far as a housing community, would be a clubhouse that I could use for entertaining a large group now and then.
I do not like swimming or being in a jacuzzi with other people, so such things as that are of no interest to me. Also, I am not interested in group activities. If I want to take a yoga class, I would like to have a studio within a few miles.
Space is definitely more important to me that on-site amenities. But in any case, I don't want to live more than 5 miles or so from the basics (groceries and gas).
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
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Although I have gotten into larger quarters lately I did think seriously into retireing into a 400 sqft. home.
Amenities are definitely important and I held out to wife untill she came up with the mountain view and central air and dishwasher that she desired in a community that offered all the amenities that I desired. So now I am accepting a house with 1400 sqft. although it is harder to keep cleaned up.
We moved from a split level home - 3 living levels + basement + attic - to a 1900 sf single level on a slab with not a lot of attic space and I love it! We do have 2 bedrooms, but one of them I made into my craft room. It is so nice to be able to do laundry and carry it directly to the bedroom without going up 2 flights of steps! We also had about 1.5 acres of land and now have about 1/6 of an acre. Hubby decided that he didn't want to to have spend hours mowing the lawn after retirement and more time on his hobbies and interests. Plus this house is big enough for me to have to clean! There are larger ones in here, but for the life of me I can't figure out why someone would want something that big.
As far as the original post, there are a lot of activities here as well as amenities, but so far we really don't use them much since we are both still working. But I'm glad to have them available so that once we do retire we can take advantage. Plus being together 24/7 would probably drive us nuts, so we are able to take advantage of different interests, yet still not have to drive to far points. With buildup of our community, as well as other family communities, we are gaining a large variety of shopping in the area so don't have to go far for that either.
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