Why We’d Live In The Desert

It’s the best of both worlds.

Tucked against the Santa Rosa Mountains, Trilogy at La Quinta is only 35 miles from Palm Springs. If you’re an active adult, bring your golf clubs, shopping bags, backpacks and hiking boots because there’s going to be a lot to do. The area is renowned for world-class shopping, resorts and fine dining establishments. The surrounding mountains are filled with deep valleys and dramatic ridges ideal for hiking, mountain biking, camping, horseback riding and exploring by Jeep. The nearby National Parks are great adventure destinations.

But what if you, or your significant other, like nature okay just as long as it stays the heck outside? What if you’re an adult who simply prefers to be slightly less active? Well, in that case, feel free to gaze out at the scenic backdrop from among resort quality amenities and lifestyle activities not typically expected at active adult communities.

A master planned 55+ active adult community, Trilogy at La Quinta offers dozens of clubs, events and fun activities. In addition to sports and fitness, there are leisure and social activities, so there really is something for everyone. Whether it’s picking up another language or re-allocating your investment portfolio, expanding your photography or refining your wine tasting and culinary skills, it’s all available to you. There are neighborhood barbecues, philanthropic events, and Club Med trips to Mexico.

The Center for Higher Learning offers highly accredited instructors and guest speakers, some of whom are Trilogy residents.

The Coral Spa is a complete full-service spa offering the latest body treatments, massages, waxing, tinting, manicures and pedicures.

The Santa Rosa Club includes a state-of-the-art fitness center with cutting edge weight and cardio equipment, and aerobics and dance studio for low-impact aerobics classes, yoga and pilates. The indoor lap pool and walking track offer refuge from the hot desert summer days. There are craft and hobby studios, a ballroom, a theater, a computer lab, a library and billiards. Or have a nice cup of coffee and read the paper in the Café Solaz. Incidentally, the café’s fruit smoothies are a great way to end a workout session.

The Azul Restaurant & Bar is a great place to enjoy a relaxing lunch and a cocktail with friends, or an elegant dinner with your significant other.

Or maybe you want to actually cook an elegant dinner with your significant other? Top tier amenities don’t mean much if your “dream retirement home” turns out to be some cookie cutter tract home. Rest assured that Trilogy’s developer, Shea Homes, continually ranks among independent reviewers such as J.D. Power & Associates as the best active adult builders in the country. One tour through the community and it’s easy to understand why, the diversity of housing, exterior façade options, and sophisticated attention to detail given to every aspect of the community is outstanding.

Homebuyers in Trilogy at La Quinta can select from 12 single-family ranch-style floor plans that range from 1,381 to 2,789 square feet. The Shea designed homes are built with some of the latest luxurious finishes and high-end upgrades such as granite countertops, gourmet kitchens, spa-like bathrooms and expansive great rooms. Customization options include optional sunrooms, patios, wine cellars, cigar rooms and more. Many of the homes offer casitas and 3-car garages.

And if you’re concerned about the environment even though you don’t want to go traipsing around in it, Shea’s “green” building process incorporates eco-friendly materials and energy saving systems such as solar panels, Energy Star appliances and the use of sustainable building products. After all, decadent doesn’t have to be destructive.

Buy your Rio Vista dream retirement home now?

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.