Buying a home is always a big deal. Buying a dream retirement home is a bigger deal. For most of us, this is the last home we’re going buy – so choosing wisely in terms of location and timing is “mission critical”. While nobody ever wants to buy a home that will lose value, it’s especially important to carefully consider your investment at this point in your life. Why? Because, let’s face it, there’s always the possibility that no matter how active your adult lifestyle, there’s the chance that when we’re really old (it’s the mileage that gets us…) we may have to opt for “assisted living” – which can be very expensive. Having a home that’s a valuable asset could be the difference in levels of care and comfort if/when that time comes.
Yes – this consideration is a total buzz kill for retirement planning. We’d all rather look at glossy brochures of active adult communities with ideal golf courses, pools, Jacuzzis, and spas, blah, blah, blah. Who wouldn’t? But let’s be honest with each other – retirement planning is about understanding ALL the possibilities, positive and negative, and plotting accordingly.
Of course, if you’re already looking at your retirement in this light, that makes the decision whether or not to buy that dream home kind of scary. Sure, the housing crash means that prices have dropped – but have they dropped all the way? If they have dropped all the way, which areas are likely to rebound the most?
Well, the bad news is that things are still tough all over. The good news is that it looks somewhat like we hit bottom and home values might be rising again. If you’ve spent any time at all looking at real estate web sites and all of the associated graphs, you probably noticed that the bottom of the trough is right about where it was in 2000. You’ll probably notice that the very last bit of the line points up from that low point. The actual numerical value seems to change by location, but all of the graphs we’ve seen do seem to agree on the trend.
According to AOL real estate, for Rio Vista CA that up tick represents a .03% increase in value from February to March 2010. No, not exactly Earth shattering, but radical upheaval isn’t what we want in home values. Steady growth in value is what we’re after, right?
What this means to you is that you can buy a beautifully appointed home at, say, Trilogy Rio Vista, right now for about what you would have paid way back in 2000. It also means that if you wait too much longer, that home will cost you significantly more when you do make the purchase. We don’t know about you, but we’d rather get the ideal home for less money now than wait and pay more for it.
And what you get for the price is amazing. Staying with Trilogy as the example, you’re buying into a complete 55+ active adult community with resort quality amenities for well below what you would probably expect to pay. Trilogy homes are beautiful inside and out, with a variety of models and styles that offer plenty of versatility, comfort, and style. Trilogy Rio Vista offers a wide variety of activities and planned trips along with a community center, exercise gym, pool and arts and crafts studio. The Vista Clubhouse is 27,000 square feet! There’s an indoor pool, lakes to stroll, golf and tennis to play, or clubs to join – so you can truly enjoy your retirement and not worry about your home retaining its value because you bought into a highly desirable community when prices were depressed. Check it out for yourself, talk to your realtor and make an appointment to see Trilogy at Rio Vista – you’ll be glad you did.
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