Entries Tagged 'Aging In Place' ↓

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Homesellers that are targeting the active adult market, those adults that have just entered their senior years but are still going strong, are still doing well according to the the National Association of Home Builders. These markets are a little different to sell into as the buyers typically are not in a great rush like a family relocating or needing a bigger house due to a new child.

But when they come to buy money is much less of an issue. They are more willing to buy or build before selling their previous home. And cash at closing typically is not an issue. With more than 25 percent of the population of the United States over 55 this may be a market to explore in your community.

Yet the active-adult segment is not suffering as much as the new-home market as a whole, says Gopal Ahluwalia, vice president of research at the National Association of Home Builders. “The current factors, especially high prices, have been affecting the first-time buyers more than anyone else, and it has gotten more difficult for them to buy because the problems with subprime loans have made lenders tighten credit standards,” Ahluwalia said.
The over-55 market is not feeling the same pressures because so-called active adults are not in a “supply market” - that is, in most cases, they are not in a hurry to buy a house. “When these buyers get into the market, they come in with higher income, deeper equity and already are living in a house that has gone up in value over the years,” he said. via San Jose Mercury News

Well, the Baby Boomers are no longer babies, in fact the human bubble of births is now turning to their retirement years. For those interested in housing and real estate, the need for quality senior housing is going to expand significantly in the coming years.

In the past, financing for senior housing was hard to get for developers, but at a recent convention for the Mortgage Bankers Association, that was the topic of the day. And money is flowing into the sector at an amazing rate.

The growing senior population represents an opportunity for commercial lenders, she said. Until recently, senior housing was viewed as a niche market best left to specialists. Today “you have the parents of the boomers, who are in their 80s, and they are among the biggest users of senior housing,” Scott said. “This is a market that is skyrocketing.”
Curt P. Schaller, director of real estate originations for Merrill Lynch Capital Healthcare Finance, said the senior housing business is changing, even though many lenders have been slow to recognize it.
“A lot of people don’t realize how big the senior sector is,” he said. “Senior housing is looked at as an ugly stepchild. It is a significant player. Valuations are through the roof. Occupancies are up.”
Angela Mago, senior vice president and national manager for KeyBank Real Estate Capita, said there is plenty of capital available for senior housing loans. New types of products are emerging, such as for-sale homes sold in tandem with assisted-living units. “You are going to see multiple levels of care.”
Mortgage bankers were urged to do their homework before loaning money for senior housing. James J. Piecznski, co-president for health care and specialty finance at CapitalSource, a commercial finance firm, said his company looks for “good quality operators.” via SignOnSanDiego.com

Aging baby boomers in suburban markets will stagnate these markets in the coming years according to a report issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The reason why, when people turn 50 they tend to move less. By slowing down the velocity of the market, there will be less opportunities to buy and motivation for young families to come in.

“Baby boomers are moving into age groups where they’ll be much less mobile,” said Michael Fratantoni, a senior economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “With that aging-in-place phenomenon, portions of the country that are not used to having large senior populations will gray very quickly.”
According to the study, homeowners are less likely to move after they reach 50. About 27 percent of the people age 25 through 30 move in a given year. By contrast, fewer than 10 percent of those 50 and above move at all, and fewer than 5 percent move to a different state.
Those baby boomers who will move in the coming decades, Fratantoni said, are likely to be the most affluent and educated.
Those who remain, he added, will have lower incomes and less education. “So there’s likely to be a greater demand on services,” he said.
The effect will be felt most keenly between 2010 and 2030; by 2030 the whole baby boom generation will be older than 65. via the Austin Stateman

Anecdotally, when my wife and I first married, we moved into a community that was graying quickly, much along the lines of the article describes. While we loved our neighbors, they were all like favorite aunts and uncles, we craved living in a community with people our own age, issues, and concerns. When we moved to a neighborhood that had these characteristics, we were, and are, in heaven.

The additional tax burden for the younger families in communities that gray too quickly are fierce. Seniors typically consume more public resources, and as a community grays the politicians are quick to garner votes with increased senior benefits. The younger families then have to pick up the slack and pay a higher tax burden for the opportunity to live in that community.

Newsweek has an interesting feature on senior housing this week, with a special emphasis on the Del Webb division of Pulte Homes. The focus on cities they are creating such as the Sun City Festival just outside of Pheonix. The concept of senior housing is changing rapidly as the baby boomers mature. They are not prepared to go into senior housing that previous generations have used.

I grabbed this outake that has some very interesting facts on what the baby boomers are expecting in their retirement.

When it comes to housing, boomers have had a fabulous run. Consider: in 1950, when the first boomers were still preparing for kindergarten, the average newly built home measured just 963 square feet, one third of U.S. houses lacked complete indoor plumbing and 45 percent of Americans lived in rented dwellings. Today new homes average 2,434 square feet, the homeownership rate is nearly 70 percent and many baby-boomer homeowners lounge in spalike master baths, luxuriating beneath multiple shower heads and soaking in jetted tubs with horsepower rivaling the original Volkswagen Beetle’s.

Even today, as the great real-estate boom of the early 21st century shifts to a buyer’s market, baby boomers are still sitting atop trillions in equity generated by swollen home values. And as the oldest boomers hit 60, the real-estate industry stands ready to help this first wave cash in. Some boomers will follow the traditional route, retiring to updated versions of “age-restricted” sun-belt communities. Others will stay in their current locations, trading down to smaller houses or outfitting their existing homes to accommodate their aging bodies. Some of the wealthiest boomers will toggle between multiple homes—a lifestyle some are leading even before retirement.

Read the rest at MSNBC.com.

When looking to do a remodeling job on your home remember that a large part of the population are going to be retiring soon and they will be looking for homes that will allow them to age in place. What that means is that the homes should be designed so that an elderly person will find convenience by buying your home over another.

There will be 76 million baby boomers retiring and all will not want to go to assisted living facilities. Most in fact will want to remain in their own homes. If you make your home friendly  to those looking to age in place, you may find that the resale value will increase and the ease of selling will be worth the extra expense that you incur during the remodel.

Aging in place means building and remodeling homes so this group, age 50 and older, can stay in their homes comfortably, safely and independently as they age, regardless of physical challenges.

From larger faucet handles to wider doors to fake lawns, baby boomers are looking for products that are easy to use, easy to navigate and easy to maintain over decades of in-place living.
“People want to live in houses, not institutions,” said William Owens, president of Owens Construction in Columbus, Ohio. “And the idea in aging-in-place homes is you can’t tell it’s for the aging.”
Easy to use
With ever-increasing physical challenges, baby boomers want easy-to-use products, such as better lighting, bigger light controls, easy-grip handles and cabinet hardware, adjustable shower heads, seats and bars and bathtubs with textured bottoms. via Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

The National Association of Homebuilders has recognized that  many people who are  aging are not planning on going straight to the nursing home. They want to remain in their home for as long as possible. To help these people, and also to make sure that the  work will be done correctly, the NAHB has created a new certification, the Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS).

They also have a new brochure out to help those who are looking for help in modifying their home for the eventual aging in place process to help make the house as accessible as possible.

Some of the recommended items are:

• Figure out how much money you have to spend on the home modification project.
• Seek referrals from friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and others who have had similar work done.
• Contact trade associations such as your area’s local Home Builders Association or Remodelers™ Council (see www.nahb.org).
• Check with your local or state office of consumer protection and the local Better Business Bureau.
• Verify the remodeler has the appropriate license(s) in your state.
• Look for professional designations such as CAPS, Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR) or Graduate Master Builder (GMB).
• Ask your professional remodeler for a written estimate of the work to be done based on a set of plans and specifications. Be prepared to pay for this package.
• Select a professional remodeler with plenty of experience with your type of project. Remember, lowest price does not ensure a successful remodeling project.

If they move at all.

Information coming from  AARP shows that seniors tend not to move,but if they do they relocate to a smaller city that resembles the city they came from, just a more  accessible version. My parents relocated to coastal Carolina as it allowed them the same amenities of the region they left with the  access to a college town, beaches, and year round golf.

“That’s the national myth. The reality is … most people don’t move,” she said. “Community is incredibly important to our older citizens. They feel connected to their community.”
A quieter part of a major metropolitan area anchored by a large city, often in a warmer climate, is a popular relocating-retiree choice.
“Generally, people are moving from metropolitan counties where there are dense populations to other metropolitan counties that are less dense,” said Ron Manheimer, director of the University of North Carolina’s Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville, N.C.
Seventy-one percent of people age 60 and over who have relocated to another state in the five years leading up to the 2000 Census settled in metropolitan counties, Manheimer said, citing statistics from a forthcoming book that he edited: the second edition of “Retirement Migration in America,” by Charles Longino.
These days, the county’s top county for new retirees is Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes Phoenix. In that five-year period, almost 69,000 people 60 and over settled there.
“People want all the amenities of the big city; they just don’t want to live in it,” Manheimer said, noting that the availability of shopping, major airports, cultural attractions and medical services figure into the decision on where to relocate.

Read the rest at the Real Estate Journal .

Three Colorado counties - Douglas, Park and Summit - were among seven across the country that saw the number of their senior residents double between 1990 and 2000, according to a census report, “65+ in the United States,” released Thursday.

The increase of retirees in a community can be a huge benefit but also add the costs to the community if they are not prepared. The old saw that you retire to Florida or Arizona is no longer as many folks are heading to the communities where their children and and grandchildren live.

I live in a community like this and it is a nice blend. There are subdivisions that are dedicated to senior living. The homes are designed with aging in place and are very well appointed.

“Some places are seeing a rapid increase in the age of their populations because (younger) families are leaving,” said Richard Suzman, director of the behavioral and social research program at the National Institute on Aging, which commissioned the report. “In other (places), retirees are moving to be closer to their children and grandchildren.”
The other counties where the senior population doubled during the 1990s were Nye, Nev.; Sumter, Fla.; and James City and Prince William, both in Virginia. via the  DenverPost.com