By now you have heard Boomers are turning 65 starting now. There is much talk of delayed retirements because of the bad economy and because of the financial conditions that have wrecked havoc on our retirement savings. However time marches on and as we Boomers enter the mid 60s, our retirements will be happening at increasing rates, no matter what.
The times are ones of austerity and tight budgets. Looking at the costs of retirement is a necessity. If you are a Boomer looking for a lower cost of living in retirement, then finding affordable housing without reducing your quality of life would help. Housing is one of the largest retirement expenses. So where can one find places for affordable retirement in towns and cities that boomers want to live in.
Affordable retirement communities are listed in this article. By communities they are talking affordable towns and cities, not specific retirement communities, but the article gives some mid size towns and cities like Asheville NC, Bellingham WA, Charleston SC, Fayetteville AR, Gainesville FL to name a few.
As far as actual affordable retirement communities, being a specific property rather than a town or city, here are 194 Affordable retirement community listings in the database of 55CommunityGuide.com.
Boomers looking for affordable retirement homes should consider moving to a small town to find reduced living costs as well as Cheaper retirement homes available in small towns.
In this article a Realtor lays out the case that you may get a better price on your retirement home purchase using a Buyer Agent.
The AARP just cames out with their list of Affordable Cities for Retirement. Three cities from Texas: San Antonio, Houston and Austin are in their top 10 Most Affordable Cities for Retirement list. This AARP study included cities of at least 100,000 and compared cost of living, job market, and expenses like average cost of groceries, health care and transportation. It also looked at housing costs as a portion of income. Other affordable cities from their top ten are: Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh PA, Buffalo NY, Rochester NY, Nashville TN, Louisville KY, Birmingham Alabama.
Best Cities for Boomers (CityRetirement.com) points out many of today’s retiring seniors are opting for city sidewalks over country roads, thanks to an ever-growing list of amenities. Plus, many people find that the pace of city life helps them think younger and maintain their interest in life as they age.
College towns are also very popular Boomer towns and offer a great value with lots of amenities. Boomers have a lot of reasons to retire to a college town.
Retiring overseas is also know to be among the most affordable retirements.
So these are some of the resources Boomers may use to locate affordable places, communities, towns and cities for their retirement homes.
Additional tips:
- Buying home resales are normally cheaper than buying new homes from the builder.
- Tips for Buying a Home in a 55 Plus Community
- Buying on the outskirts of the metro area is cheaper than the closer in communities
- The government has many perfectly nice independent living communities that are income qualified.
Originally posted 2013-11-08 15:41:18.