Planned Adult Communities are characterized by clusters of apartments, condominiums, manufactured homes, or other single-family units that are built around a core of services or amenities. Residents can own their homes and properties but must abide by certain codes and restrictions that are developed by a governing body or homeowners association.
These communities are ideal for singles as well as couples and are based on a built-in social system, activities and the sense of security that is reassuring to seniors. Moving to a senior planned community can be a good way to ease the transition from a large home to an environment with more services.
A typical community might be designed around a golf course or other recreational facility. Facilities built around golf courses, tennis courts, pools, hiking and biking trails etc. provide active and fun ways to spend retirement years (a perpetual summer camp for grown-ups).
Most communities of this sort have a minimum age but if you prefer to live in a place where there are people of all ages such resort communities do exist. If, on the other hand, crying babies and yards full of toys have lost there appeal, there are plenty of places where residents must be fifty plus.
People who move into resort communities are typically young (meaning sixty rather than eighty), healthy and active. They are not thinking twenty years ahead to a less active period but want to enjoy the here and now.
Resort communities are what they are, and they won’t change to meet your changing needs. If you become injured, ill, or have a change in circumstances, the only real option open to you is to sell and move on. Many residents who move away for these reasons move to be closer to their kids.
Source: Moving Mom and Dad by Sarah Morse and Donna Quinn Roberts
And Everything You Need to Know About Retirement Housing by Joan Cleveland
Return to Master Article List
Copyright 2005 Retirement Housing Options. Do not copy without permission.