Do You Really Want To Live In A 55+ Community?

[Purslane]

I'm not looking forward to moving back to civilization but if/when we do, it will almost certainly be to a 55+ community. I'm going to check out the HOA close and do my best to verify enforcement of the rules. I won't moved into one if I can't (or don't want to) live by their rules and I'll dang sure raise hell if others don't. I may even volunteer to join the HOA board to ensure enforcement.

Serious question....why the certainty on moving to a 55+ community if/when you have to move?

 

[Car-Guy]

Serious question....why the certainty on moving to a 55+ community if/when you have to move?

Today I don't live around many people. Only time I see my neighbors is when we happen meet along the fence line on our tractors. When/if I do move back to a populated area, I don't want to be around a bunch of kids or even young adults. So, when the time comes, I'll be looking for a nice and well maintained 55+ community that enforces the rules and keeps the younger and noisy out.

I still remember the days of living in an apartment (I'll never do that again) and the days when we lived in a suburban neighborhood with a mix of families. Typically, the ones with kids or younger families caused all the problems. The older folks kept to themselves, for the most part.

 

[FiveDriver]

Re : 55+ HOA --

Much of the stuff the video mentions are things I'd want an HOA to keep in check. Neighbor's Grandkids staying for 2 weeks, big dogs running loose, too many cars in driveway, keeping up the landscaping.

I wouldn't want to see any of that in an Active Adult Community.

 

[Purslane]

Today I don't live around many people. Only time I see my neighbors is when we happen meet along the fence line on our tractors. When/if I do move back to a populated area, I don't want to be around a bunch of kids or even young adults. So, when the time comes, I'll be looking for a nice and well maintained 55+ community that enforces the rules and keeps the younger and noisy out.

I still remember the days of living in an apartment (I'll never do that again) and the days when we lived in a suburban neighborhood with a mix of families. Typically, the ones with kids or younger families caused all the problems. The older folks kept to themselves, for the most part.

On those accounts we can agree. I bought more house than I needed for this last working stint, (which will end up being 5 years), because it was located in an older, established neighborhood made up of mostly older, retired folks who had built their homes in the 1980's-90's and then lived in them for decades. I knew it was a good fit when I saw people trying to write down my license plate number because I kept driving slowly through the area.
I could not get my mind around apartment living. The noise, the parking lot, the restrictions, lack of privacy, etc. It would have saved me a lot of money, about 120k by my calculations but I just could not do it.

 

[AudiDudi]

We spend several winter months in a 55+ resort. Being childless, I enjoy not having kids around all the time.

 

[audreyh1]

In our neighborhood children are allowed to visit up to 30 days a year. Young families with children often visit their grandparents during the holidays. Not busy here in the summer though - too hot.

There is another development across the street - same developer. This one is not 55+, mostly families with children, working/commuting adults and the homes are much larger. Maybe twice as big! You have to do your own yard maintenance. We occasionally hear loud parties or fireworks.

 

[Purslane]

Re : 55+ HOA --

Much of the stuff the video mentions are things I'd want an HOA to keep in check. Neighbor's Grandkids staying for 2 weeks, big dogs running loose, too many cars in driveway, keeping up the landscaping.

I wouldn't want to see any of that in an Active Adult Community.

I have another house in a different state that has an HOA. I bought that house with the intention to live it only while I fulfilled my 5 year employment contract. For complicated reasons I decided not to sell it when I moved on to my next 5 year gig. I will sell both houses eventually though.
I remember reading the covenants and restrictions and being very put off by them. But then I realized none of the things that were 'outlawed' in the CR document were things I would do. The more thought about it the more I understood that I was much more likely to report an HOA crime than commit one. And it seemed like a good way to protect my property values until I could retire and move out of of the city. My biggest pet peeves would be NOISE, cars parked everywhere and animals running loose. The HOA takes care of that.

 

[Purslane]

In our neighborhood children are allowed to visit up to 30 days a year. Young families with children often visit their grandparents during the holidays. Not busy here in the summer though - too hot.

There is another development across the street - same developer. This one is not 55+, mostly families with children, working/commuting adults and the homes are much larger. Maybe twice as big! You have to do your own yard maintenance. We occasionally hear loud parties or fireworks.

I know. Major party pooper but I do not like fireworks. Leaves a mess in the road and across the lawn, goes til midnight or later, generally accompanied by bad behavior and is a fire risk. What happened to good old fashioned sparklers? Aren't those enough?

 

[audreyh1]

I know. Major party pooper but I do not like fireworks. Leaves a mess in the road and across the lawn, goes til midnight or later, generally accompanied by bad behavior and is a fire risk. What happened to good old fashioned sparklers? Aren't those enough?

Yeah at least it’s in the other subdivision and we hear it in the distance and no mess around here.

 

[FlaGator]

Switching from the HOA gripes to the 55+ topic...

When I decided to downsize, I looked seriously at a famous "lifestyle community" in the Panhandle. One friend bought there and was happy, another was considering it. The one considering it ultimately declined saying they didn't want to be around people who thought they would live out their drunken beach vacation dreams for the rest of their lives. That didn't sound so bad to me , but I bought elsewhere, and that was a secondary factor.

I ended up in a neighborhood that is a mix of retirees and young families, and I'm looking forward to it. Immediate neighbors are retired, unpretentious, just looking for a warmer place than where they came from. The families with kids are a few doors down. Their youngsters are well-behaved, playing outdoors and active. I haven't lived in a 'hood with young kids since I was one decades ago, and it's fun to see them play. When they start to drive and are doing donuts in my yard, that may change

 

[Koolau]

Lived in for decades a townhouse with a HOA...the secret is to serve on the board yourself.

I'd likely never choose a 55+ community.

What if something happens to a kid and we have to take in grandkids?

There are upsides and downsides to every living arrangement. I'd likely not plan my retirement living arrangements on the possibility that I might have to take in grandkids but I see your point (it's a negative for a 55 community.)

 

[Koolau]

All our last three homes were in HOA neighborhoods, fortunately none were too bad, and the current one is completely reasonable.

TBH the last one was decent, it was the residents that were unreasonable PITAs - I went to a couple meetings where they screamed at the volunteer HOA board for hours. Mostly they wanted lower dues and way more services, often services that would benefit a minority of homeowners. It was ridiculous.

As a side note, that last neighborhood was on a good sized manmade lake - properly maintaining a lake and keeping non resident fishermen off is an expensive proposition. Just as I wouldn’t live on a golf course neighborhood, I wouldn’t pay dues to maintain a private lake again either.

At our annual meeting, there's always at least one person who wants to rag on the board, but the rest of the group more or less shuts them down. Nothing is perfect (and our board is no exception) but our board is generally fairly responsive and not over bearing. YMMV

 

[ncbill]

There are upsides and downsides to every living arrangement. I'd likely not plan my retirement living arrangements on the possibility that I might have to take in grandkids but I see your point (it's a negative for a 55 community.)

And what if my spouse dies?

I might want to pull a Bill Belichick and find me some hot young thing at my local college!

 

[Midpack]

I ended up in a neighborhood that is a mix of retirees and young families, and I'm looking forward to it.

+1. That’s exactly what we chose 6 years ago, and we’re happy with the choice. We’d rather live in a mixed gen neighborhood, I’d say ours is 2/3rds working families with kids and 1/3rd retirees. For those who don’t want other peoples kids around, in our experience very few kids play outside anymore, we don’t see kids outside much. Kinda sad to me. When we were kids were were outside as much as possible.

TBH even though we loved the floorplans and amenities we chose against a 55+ community, looked at several. The HOA fees were high, and the rules were stricter than most HOAs in our experience. We also didn’t want to end up socializing with people who complain about their health, or narrow minded uninformed politics all day. Yes I know that’s not all seniors but it’s noticeably more common than with the general population. And finally we visited some 20-30 year old 55+ communities where the median age was much higher and properties and amenities don’t look like they did when new. They were “active adult” communities when they were new too. As the video noted, if and when you want to resell your property in an older 55+ community, your resale price won’t be very good - new retirees will buy in the newer 55+ communities just like you once did. YMMV

 

[old medic]

NOPE.....

 

[audreyh1]

And what if my spouse dies?

I might want to pull a Bill Belichick and find me some hot young thing at my local college!

55+ community doesn’t prevent you from having a much younger spouse. Now if you start to have more kids that’s another matter…..

For people downsizing it’s easier to find smaller homes in a 55+ community. Especially if you prefer a smaller yard and yard maintenance taken care of. And single story homes.

 

[YB88]

I think this stuff is somewhat situational. I just moved into a 55+, first time in an HOA for me, and like others have said, none of the stuff they rule against is stuff that I would do, and I really like the fact that the neighborhoods are all well kept and tidy. Everyone is very friendly here; you walk down the street where I used to live and generally people carefully avoid eye contact and move along. Here people greet each other with a smile, sort of a small town feeling in that way.

In terms of resale value down the road --- the community I just moved into was started a bit over 20 years ago. The house we just bought is 20 years old. We were in a bidding war to get it. Others we've talked to experienced the same thing. There's a fair bit of turnover here, but in our area (Puget Sound, WA state) there aren't that many one-story houses anymore. Some people come to this community because their kids are working in the region and they want to be near to them and their grandchildren. Of course all of these dynamics could change by the time that we (or our heirs) ultimately sell this house, but my point is that it's not a new community and it's still very popular.

There's no one-size-fits-all, but at this point we're happy to be here.

 

[FiveDriver]

I know. Major party pooper but I do not like fireworks. Leaves a mess in the road and across the lawn, goes til midnight or later, generally accompanied by bad behavior and is a fire risk. What happened to good old fashioned sparklers? Aren't those enough?

Fireworks ?? Yeah, they're fun......just ask this guy's widow !!

Summerville, SC, Man Dies After Lighting Firework on Head

The victim, 41, who suffered an extensive head injury, was pronounced dead at the scene, a block party, the Dorchester County Coroner reported.

www.firehouse.com

 

[More Cowbell]

DH and I went to Sun City in AZ ages ago to clear out DMIL’s house after she passed. Sun City was like a ghost town, but then again it was August in AZ. The house and grounds were nice enough, but it wasn’t for us. HOAs were never for me because of all the rules, and that was one factor when choosing our home 30+ years ago. Proceeds from the sale of DMIL’s house were used to remodel our single-story home for aging in place.

 

[Koolau]

And what if my spouse dies?

I might want to pull a Bill Belichick and find me some hot young thing at my local college!

When someone from the HOA asks - tell them she's the maid. You're doing extensive cleaning now that your wife is no longer in the picture. They might buy it.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Locally 55+ communities are more expensive and seem to hold their value. My condo complex is probably 70% seniors. There’s very few kids because originally they were not allowed in 1978 so the rules are written so that they can’t play in the courtyard or on any of the grass. They can’t ride bikes, etc.

They can use the pool only if an adult is there. I didn’t want to live in a condo with lots of families. A friend of mine did and it was awful. She sold after a few years.

 

[jollystomper]

While I would not choose to live in a 55+ community in our current situation, I do not know what the future holds. As I mentioned in the "what do you like about where you live" thread, we enjoy having enough space where our noise does not bother the neighbors (nor theirs bother us), but close enough where we can get to know our neighbors. We like having kids around of all ages. We have an empty nest, but our house is large enough so that if our kids have a need to stay with us for an extended period of time, we have the ability to support that. Just last year our youngest had 4 months between old lease expiring and new lease beginning, and we were glad we could help him out letting him stay here in between the leases.

We had a bad taste dealing with HOAs in our first purchased home, a condo. Long story short, the management company embezzled much of the maintenance funds and the head eventually ended up serving jail time for it. However, that is not to stay we would avoid them again, we would just be very careful to review their rules. One just does not know what the future may dictate.

 

[Out of Steam]

I live in an HOA, and most areas in S.Fla look better if they are vs. the alternative. As far as 55+, the home that backs onto mine had never been an issue, until we had a rental family in there a couple of years ago.

In regions where HOAs are the norm, communities without them (like ours) appear to collect people who would simply be unable to live under an HOA. Even after three recent house renovations within a block of us, and another going slowly, there are still a couple of houses that close which are badly deteriorated.

They seem to be either people who have aged out of caring for their houses, or rental houses where the landlord paid a quarter of the current price, has spent nothing in decades, and isn't going to start while they still have a paying tenant.

It's unclear whether our 50-60 year old neighborhood is on the cusp of reinvestment or in long term decline. Interest in the houses is high, and the community pool has been renovated, but the nearby commercial strip is struggling.

In the future, I'm not sure I would buy into a suburban neighborhood here without an HOA.

 

[folivier]

We lived in a 55+ community for a few years but got tired of the kindergarten drama.
Our condo is gated and not a 55+ community but the vast majority of owners are our age or older. And the only drama is from the much younger ones who are mostly renters.

 

[ychuck46]

No HOA for me ever.

I agree completely. Never want to be under the thumb of the kinds of people who want desperately to be on an HOA board. The vast majority are power hungry and just want to tell others how to live their lives.

Another reason I would never move into a 55+ community is that most do not allow you to own the land your home is situated on; rather you are subject to a lease/rent situation. That's mean you are also subject to lease increases that can be onerous.