This week, I am heading out to Arizona — the state where the 55+ active retirement community as we know it was started. I plan to tour many of the more popular active adult communities around Phoenix, Tucson and Green Valley. Along the way, I plan to chat with many residents about their experiences in the various communities and to meet with local real estate agents about the state of the retirement market in Arizona.
A lot has changed since the first active adult communities were started in Arizona over 50 years ago. Along the way, builders have catered to the changing needs of active adults to offer the latest in popular home designs and upgrades, all the while providing a socially active and physically engaging lifestyle. It is evident that this phenomenon has a wide-ranging appeal to many older adults. By my calculations, in the areas around Phoenix, Tucson and Green Valley there are over 150,000 residences in age-restricted communities. Every year that number continues to grow as more Baby Boomers approach retirement age and seek a retirement lifestyle that meets their social, leisure and physical requirements in a warm climate.
In this challenging real estate market, builders are becoming ever more creative at wooing the latest crop of retirees with new and exciting amenities that range from higher learning centers, demonstration kitchens and state-of-the-art fitness centers. Today’s retirees are no longer content with a nice golf course and a few hobby rooms. They want a community that allows them to stay physically and socially active.
Over the next several days I hope to gain a better understanding of what has made Arizona such a popular retirement destination over the last 50 years. Additionally, I will tour some of the latest active adult communities such as Sun City Festival, Mission Royale and Saddlebrooke Ranch to see how builders are molding their communities to meet the ever changing needs of the up-and-coming soon to be retiring Baby Boomers.
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I saw an interesting statistic the other day that said an average of 10,000 baby boomers per day will hit retirement age over the next twenty years. In a similar article, the number of boomers using the net to research retirement living options grows in a like fashion.
Those stats only give rise to the importance of this website and what a brilliant idea it is. My hat is off to you Bill for having the foresight to create this fascinating look into age restricted communities and what they have to offer.
I understand you were in the original Sun City recently and hope you got a chance to see where it all began. One of the truly unique differences from virtually all of the others (save half of Sun City West) is that we are unincorporated and that we are a self-contained, self-governance community.
Our living costs are low, our amenities abundant and we flourish based on residents giving back to keep us a great place to retire to. As you point out in other articles, not everyone can afford to retire. What is amazing is the number of folks who buy in Sun City, keep working, yet give freely of their time to keep our volunteer infrastructure alive and well.
Keep up the good work on this site. I would love to see the blog pick up steam and comments coming in from other retirement communities. Having lived in the cold all of my working life, there is no question life is better in the sunshine and warm climates.