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Old 03-09-2015, 01:35 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,089 posts, read 83,961,306 times
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My sister lives in a 55+ and loves it. I get a little creeped out when I visit her. Everyone is OLD. EVERYONE. Where I live there are kids skateboarding in the street, there are little kids on the playground in the park across the street, kids riding bikes...

When I drive through her community, which is bigger than a square mile, it's like that scene in Return to Salem's Lot where the boy and the man are walking through town and there's no one around, but all the vampires are watching them and whispering from behind the blinds.

On the other hand, there is a golf course in the middle for people who enjoy that, they constantly have activities, bus trips to Atlantic City, ceramics and other craft-type classes, and it's less expensive than living in a normal condo complex.
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Old 03-09-2015, 02:34 PM
 
36 posts, read 58,351 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
... it's like that scene in Return to Salem's Lot where the boy and the man are walking through town and there's no one around, but all the vampires are watching them and whispering from behind the blinds...
Oh my gosh, I laughed so hard when I read that about Salem's Lot. I get what you mean.

Clearly from all of the helpful posts, there is quite a range of opportunities. Very exciting stuff! We're a pretty active couple. My favorite thing to do where we live is spend time in the kayak or out playing in the lake. We exercise, ride our bikes, lots of gardening. (most of the almost 1 acre yard is now perennial gardens). I want to be somewhere that I can interact with people who have varied interests, there is SO much to learn from others.

Thanks again. I've now begun the research into the areas within a few hours of Casper. Let the fun begin!

Namaste,
S
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Old 03-09-2015, 05:43 PM
 
Location: On the East Coast
2,361 posts, read 4,848,953 times
Reputation: 4103
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paka View Post
The above post is excellent and something I hear from our "Uno's" women all the time (yes, one of our groups is for singles, either divorced, widowed or never married). They LOVE the fact the have "social interactions" available without having to invite someone into the privacy of their home until they get to know them really well. That is a Godsend to some, but like others say "I'm not your nurse, and I am not your purse".....to each their own!
Let me also add that singles are very welcome. In the first 8 houses on my end of the street 3 of them are single women and the other 5 are couples. We all get along great. Our street has several get togethers throughout the year, including in the summer where everybody kicks in a bit for the main meat and then everyone else brings something. People will sing, play games and just basically mingle and chat. It's good to be able to see a bunch of people at the same time. All are welcome.

There is also a singles club, and a widows group that gets together for lunches. Guys get together for their activities (pool, poker, etc.) and women have their groups as well. Although there are some women play poker and men play MahJongg! Nobody seems to care if you are single or part of a couple. Husbands and wives are definitely not "joined at the hip" as I say, although there are also lots of things for couple as well including several dance clubs. There is also a large wine club that attracts everybody. Hubby belongs to the woodworkers group and is amazed how many women are active in that, many of whom never touched a wood project before in their life. One of the newly widowed ladies on our street is deeply involved in the group that puts on all kinds of plays and these people are close to professional. That's the nice thing about people from all over coming together, you will find experts or near experts in almost everything you need or want.
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Old 03-09-2015, 05:57 PM
 
Location: On the East Coast
2,361 posts, read 4,848,953 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ByebyeWisconsin View Post
Oh my gosh, I laughed so hard when I read that about Salem's Lot. I get what you mean.

Clearly from all of the helpful posts, there is quite a range of opportunities. Very exciting stuff! We're a pretty active couple. My favorite thing to do where we live is spend time in the kayak or out playing in the lake. We exercise, ride our bikes, lots of gardening. (most of the almost 1 acre yard is now perennial gardens). I want to be somewhere that I can interact with people who have varied interests, there is SO much to learn from others.

Thanks again. I've now begun the research into the areas within a few hours of Casper. Let the fun begin!

Namaste,
S
I wish you luck in your search! Unfortunately I have seen 2 communities like that, one up in Delaware that we looked at, and another one in Florida. Nope, not for me! Told hubby that was the kind of place that gives all 55+ a bad name! And luckily they are rare. You can easily see what it will be like just by driving through the community. The good ones will have lots of people out walking, walking dogs, or just chatting. Where we are going has tons of things going on. In fact we have already made friends there and I was on the phone today with complete strangers who were willing to tell me about their experiences with painters. I feel like they are new friends. This community has a monthly pot luck dinner and we happened to be there for the January one and our friend invited us to it. We spent the whole time talking to various people who came over to introduce themselves and find out if we were building and where. Hubby even hooked up with 2 guys who kayak and are looking for others to go with them. Every one of them were so friendly that I felt welcomed already and we aren't even closing until 4/13. I am so looking forward to getting involved. This one isn't near as large as what we are leaving, but that is OK and I think we will fit in well.

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Old 03-10-2015, 05:08 AM
 
Location: Manhattan
664 posts, read 803,080 times
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My two cents.

There's a 55+ community that just sold its last unit less than a mile from where my parents live. Last year, I took them there on a Sunday after church to check out the open houses, in an effort to nudge them closer to the idea of downsizing, particularly into a maintenance-free home (and most of the residences there are stand-alone houses with their own yards).

While we were there, I ran into one of my high school teachers -- now retired himself -- jogging with his new wife and their dog. It was quite a lovely afternoon of looking at house after house, and they even served us refreshments.

Little did I expect, however, that it would be ME being given the aggressive sales pitch.

The next day, my old teacher called me and asked "So when are you moving in?" I thought he was joking, but he was not. Apparently there was some hot talk right after we left about this "New York TV guy" moving in. I said "That's crazy -- we were looking for my parents, not for me! I'm only in my 40s!"

However, as my old teacher explained, that's precisely what made me such an attractive candidate. In an effort to prevent the community from turning completely into a "retirement" village, they're selectively targeting, in his words "affluent, urbane, middle-age, uh, 'confirmed bachelor' types like yourself who at this stage in your lives will probably never have kids."

In other words, they're willing to bend the rules for rich gay guys to add a little spice and appeal to an otherwise stale demographic.

That being said, I did briefly consider buying into the community. It does have its appeals: spacious, gorgeous homes ... maintenance-free ... being in a condo community, much more security than a regular house, for those weeks at a time when I'm here in New York.

BUT ... do I ghettoize myself by restricting my neighbors to (primarily) people of retirement age?
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Old 03-10-2015, 06:28 AM
 
Location: Florida
23,155 posts, read 26,068,004 times
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Don't understand how the rules can be bent without losing the 55+ designation.
There are percentage allowances for under 55 but that would not be bending any rules and most communities are very careful in how they "spend" that allowance.
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Old 03-10-2015, 11:14 AM
 
554 posts, read 741,428 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paka View Post
<Snip!>
To respond to your questions: I have experienced ZERO negatives having lived here almost 7 yrs now. We LOVE the place (NOT FL, we are in San Antonio TX) Del Webb Hill Country Retreat. There are others on this thread that have been interested in checking us out and have, so you might want to gather info from them as well (pros/cons) but we LOVE it here. Yes GREAT range of ages....from the 55 up to the 90's with MANY older being almost (if not more) active than some of us.

Family/Children visits are "limited" to 90 days per year (meaning no can stay more than 90 days at a time in a given year...which is really a LOT!!!)

We all have grandchildren and family that visits, but NO one under the age of 19 allowed to LIVE here, no school buses in our area, and LOTS of freedom from late night noise, graffiti, other kid related issues. We love it here, and think that again, if you like the ABILITY to live in an age restricted community with LOTS of social type activities to take advantage of but want to be able to pick and choose, this kind of "retirement" is wonderful! We travel internationally without concerns of our home because most of our neighbors have the key, all look out for each other, and we are all able to get in contact with each other at a moments notice should something be needed.
Thank you for taking time to provide this specific information about "Hill Country Retreat" ... I've been online and looking at that community! From everything I've seen (pictures and descriptions), this might be an ideal place for DW and me. We're currently in Santa Clara (CA) and will be leaving, shortly after we retire full-time, in 2-3 years.
Having come from a few miles North of where y'all are, I can testify that the Texas Hill Country has some of the most-beautiful ("beauty" being in the eye of the beholder, of course! ) scenery in the whole State, if not the Country.
It's good to know about "visitation privileges" there, because most of our Families are from either North California, or Central Texas (around Austin). Having the younger ones visit wouldn't be that much of a problem - unless they wanted to stay too long.

For us, the time to plan for relocating is now. I don't want us beginning our relocation search by waiting until after we retire. Of course, DW does not want to think about it either, except when our current low-life-neighbors fire-up their professional-grade sound system in their back yard, and other neighbors want to make sure we hear their style of "music" too. Then, she's ready to move, tomorrow!

If I may ask, Paka, can you tell us about any "surprises" you might have encountered, either prior-to, or during your relocation and acclimation to "Hill Country Retreat"? I'd sure like to know as much as possible about the place, should we ultimately decide to buy-in there.

Many Thanks! - I hope I haven't committed some unpardonable blog/thread sin by asking! ... TC
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Old 03-10-2015, 12:02 PM
 
11,558 posts, read 12,000,052 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkalot View Post
You are completely wrong about the most expensive offering the most. I live in the original Sun City. We get the most for the least amount of money of all the 55+ communities. The most expensive have the nicest homes but that's about it. I know people leaving some of the "nicer communities" because there isn't that much to do for the amount that they pay. Many people in Sun City have lived in other 55+ communities before they moved here.
I had at one time researched Sun City and Sun City West, couldn't afford SC Grand.

Do you know if they still charge new residents (non renters) $3,000 upfront for recreational facility maintenance?
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Old 03-10-2015, 12:24 PM
 
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
10,305 posts, read 7,894,366 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCTelevisionWriter View Post
In other words, they're willing to bend the rules for rich gay guys to add a little spice and appeal to an otherwise stale demographic.

That being said, I did briefly consider buying into the community. It does have its appeals: spacious, gorgeous homes ... maintenance-free ... being in a condo community, much more security than a regular house, for those weeks at a time when I'm here in New York.

BUT ... do I ghettoize myself by restricting my neighbors to (primarily) people of retirement age?
If you genuinely liked what you saw and you're sure you're never going to have kids, why not? You're just as "ghettoized" in most typical single family home neighborhoods, which skew heavily toward families with kids. And you're not going to be growing any younger.
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Old 03-10-2015, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Oxygen Ln. AZ
9,319 posts, read 18,690,831 times
Reputation: 5764
Quote:
Originally Posted by katie45 View Post
I had at one time researched Sun City and Sun City West, couldn't afford SC Grand.

Do you know if they still charge new residents (non renters) $3,000 upfront for recreational facility maintenance?
I believe they do still charge the fee. We felt it was worth it considering how low the property taxes are here and all the recreational activities they offer. Our HOA fee is far below most communities here as well.
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