Better Think About Buying Now!Buying Now Ensures A Choice Location and Rental Income Helps Pay for
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As Baby Boom generation ages, more and more of us are thinking of retirement homes. Dreaming of communities in country, close to golf, theatre, art galleries and forested hillsides. Or maybe your dream is of Florida sands, palm trees and year-round heat. In either case, you’d be well advised to act on your dream sooner rather than later.
It’s a simple matter of economics and supply and demand. Real Estate prices are trending upwards. Property values appreciate annually. There are only so many award-winning, really choice resort retirement locations. And baby boomers are getting ready to snap them all up.
Take Mt. Meadows in Ashland, Oregon. This resort retirement community on 31 acres has run out of property with only 26 units left to sell and 14 more on resale market. Named "Best Small Active Adult Retirement Community in America" by National Council for Senior Housing and one of 100 "Best Master-Planned Communities" by Where to Retire Magazine, Mt. Meadows is a good example of kind of premier community most retirees are looking for.
In addition to its familiar and comfortable design – just like an old-fashioned neighborhood – Mt. Meadows is special because it offers investors private ownership of its condominium residences. This preserves a buyer’s capital; includes ability to sell at any time or to enhance income through a reverse mortgage; and, enables purchasers to leave property to their heirs. The owners also control management of development. There is no "corporate headquarters" dictating increased fees or changes in popular policies.
Not all retirement properties are structured in this manner. In many cases, investors are buying a "building". In these single-building retirement developments, residents are housed in an apartment with a very small kitchenette. The building has a lobby and a dining room; and, occasionally meeting rooms or a library.
Residents often do not "own" their apartment units, and there can be "buy-in" fees in addition to monthly charges in these buildings. A vast majority of retirement facilities and developments in country are corporate owned. Changing economic conditions or a change in management can influence staff, policies and fees for facility residents.
It is incumbent on investors to review many kinds of retirement developments, their management structures and financial models, before deciding where to buy. It is wise to include family accountant, financial advisor and/or attorney in these considerations. But there’s one more thing to think about…
We’ve all heard real estate’s golden rule: It’s all about location, location, location. And that’s why it’s important to start looking for your retirement home now and to be ready to purchase once you find your match. Premier locations are being developed, and soon won’t be available to buyers. That’s reason enough for most 50 year-olds to start looking tomorrow.
Getting into your dream retirement home with very little down and utilizing rental income to help finance purchase is an even more compelling reason to consider investing in a retirement home today. There are several scenarios that come to mind. You may have recently become empty nesters and are considering downsizing your long-term family home – in which you have considerable equity. This is one of very few times in life that IRS allows you to take your profits, up to $500,000, tax free. You can buy a smaller, more inexpensive home with some of profits, and use a portion of remainder as a down payment on your dream retirement home. Depending on down payment, monthly rental fees may just cover mortgage payments, helping pay for home until you are ready to move in.
