The Problem With Nextville

Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by Barbara Corcoran drops this month and I was given a copy by the publisher to review. You should also know that Barbara was kind enough to provide a quote for the advertising of my book, Florida for Boomers: A Guide to Real Estate.

Nextville is less "how-to" guide and more of a "find yourself" or "figure out whats right for you" guide. Barbara basically breaks boomers down into eight possible different lifestyle categories such as "following your passions", "living green", "losing yourself" for the soon to be ex-pat, as well as those who will choose to "stay put".

While actual "how-to buy" advice isn't as meaty as you might have hoped, there are plenty of checklists and quizzes to help guide the boomer who isn't quite sure where they want to end up or what they want to do with the next quarter century. The main strength and value of the book is that it does a great job of exploring several out of the ordinary places to think about spending your time.

Which leads me to my only bone to pick with the book. In Chapter 1, "Forget Florida" Barbara is clearly highlighting what the media is making everyone "think" is the trend, that nobody is moving to Florida anymore. The media wants everyone to believe that Florida is dead as a destination. Forget it, it fell off the map!

However, and believe me, I hear it from people everyday, folks are still researching and moving to Florida more so than any other state. There's even a book reviewed by the Wall Street Journal this weekend which chronicles the lives of folks who have moved to The Villages, located in, yup, you guessed it...Florida. (This book is called Leisureville...Leaving me wondering what's with all the "villes"?)

For good measure how about some search engine stats to back me up (Data is from Wordtracker):

Estimated Daily Searches:

Florida retirement communities: 51
Georgia retirement communities: 12
South Carolina retirement communities: 9
North Carolina retirement communities: 11
Tennessee retirement communities: 4
Virginia retirement communities: 12
Texas retirement communities: 23
Arizona retirement communities: 26
Nevada retirement communities: 4
New Mexico retirement communities: 7

You can clearly see above that interest in Florida still out paces most other states by quite a wide margin.

Lastly, and then I'm done picking on this fantastic book (I promise), is that someone needs to tell the publisher that postcard book covers are sooooo 2007 :)

How To Make Sure A Retirement Community Lifestyle Is Right For You

TopRetirements has a good article here that talks about the pros and cons of retirement community living.

A compilation of input gathered from boomers who have lived the community experience, the article does not try to scare you from exploring the active adult retirement options available to you, but it does give you some things to think about before making a decision.

As with anything there are good things and bad, and what is good for you may not be good for someone else. So when reading the article, don't just rely on what someone else experienced, think about how the experience fits your 'ideal' lifestyle.

image credit: nickgraywfu at flickr

Boomers Want to See the Green Choices

The Chicago Tribune has a good article here on Boomers choosing to "go green" when shopping for new homes and communities.

But, this is only after their specific lifestyle and convenience needs are met. The article compares the choice to "buying a Lexus Hybrid instead of a Toyota Prius".

I've written about Boomers exploring different ways of going green here before, and no doubt it will be a noteworthy trend in years to come. Developers interested in the boomer market better get their green home plans and designs together!

No Guarantees When Booking Flights with Struggling Airlines

Before 2006, if you were to purchase airline tickets and before taking your flight the airline were to go out of business, other airlines were required by law to honor your ticket.

Well, that's not the case anymore since Congress let this law lapse.

So with today's rash of airline failures and bankruptcies, you may not only have to research your airfare online, but also the health of each airline your considering flying with.

Everywhere a Travel Magazine for Everyone

Tired of all the usual travel magazines covering the same places from the same point of view? Then check out Everywhere, a new "2.0" travel magazine.

Everywhere Magazine is comprised completely of "user generated" articles, that is, articles are submitted by readers/freelance writers/travelers and editors select the best of the submissions to put in each issue.

A 1-year subscription (6-issues) is $24.99. If you think that is a bit much you can read the issues online for free.

Hat tip to Rohit Bhargava of Influential Marketing blog for this awesome find.

Mount Vintage Plantation Getaway Deal

I get several emails a week from different retirement communities and other developments offering deals to come and stay with them for a few nights to check the place out. I like to share some of the best deals here with my readers.

Today I got an email from Mount Vintage Plantation in North Augusta, South Carolina. Gorgeous place from the pictures on their website.

"We invite you to join us for the grand opening of the new nine at Mount Vintage. Designed by world-renowned golf course architect Tom Jackson, the new nine is a superb addition to the beautiful layout of the current 18-hole course also designed by Jackson.

Call 888-271-3330 to schedule your personal tour of the Mount Vintage community."

The deal in the email was for 3 days/2 nights at $69. Looks like it might only be good for March. Give them a call and check it out if you're interested.

Boomers Heading to Montana and Wyoming

Image Credit: JohnMuir of flickr

In recent weeks there have been several articles in major newspapers and media talking about boomers who are looking to the Rocky Mountain West, including the states of Wyoming and Montana, for retirement.

Because these destinations aren’t as popular as say, Florida, its hard to find quality information on retirement communities in those states.

To be sure, there aren’t a lot of retirement communities in those states. A big reason for this is that people heading to these states are often looking for larger pieces of land (acreage) and a little bit of solitude that comes with that.

A couple places to help in your search for information about real estate and communities in Wyoming and Montana:

First check out The Land Report Magazine. They have a search box (right side of the screen) Type in “Wyoming” or try “Montana” if that suits you. This magazine has stopped publishing unfortunately, but their site is still up and has a lot of good info.

Next, check out the Yahoo! Directory for Wyoming and Montana real estate:

Montana

Wyoming

Searching in other search engines for Montana or Wyoming retirement communities doesn't bring up very good results, but you're welcome to try it.

Find Arizona Retirement Communities On Our New Site

In the last couple of years, as Florida has fallen out of favor a little bit because of high prices, high taxes, high insurance, and hurricanes, more and more boomers have been thinking about Arizona for their new retirement community.

I've talked to several boomers who have made the move from the Northeast to Arizona, and even some who went to Florida first, and they all love the climate and the Arizona retirement communities they found.

If you are also considering Arizona for your retirement plans, I've got great news. The next edition of the for Boomers book series will be Arizona for Boomers: Guide to Retirement Communities.

Feel free to click the link and check out the site. It's a work in progress, and we'll be adding more articles and resources each day to help you find an Arizona retirement community. I don't have an ETA on the book yet, but rest assured we'll keep you posted.

Boomers Go Green With Cohousing

No doubt about it, green is in. And not just the color...the movement. And why shouldn't it be baby boomers at the forefront?

Read about the Wolf Creek Lodge [via TreeHugger] in Grass Valley, California. The Wolf Creek Lodge is a "Cohousing" community for active adults. If you've never heard of cohousing, here's a description from the Wolf Creek website:

"Cohousing communities are small-scale neighborhoods that provide a balance between personal privacy and living amidst people who know and care about each other. Individual dwelling units enjoy convenient access to shared space including a common house with facilities such as a gourmet kitchen, dining room, laundry facilities, guest rooms, library and sitting areas, and workshops. Each home is entirely self-sufficient, complete with a kitchen, but residents often prepare common meals together in the kitchen of the common house."

The environmental benefits of cohousing are achieved through the sharing of resources and space.

While there are currently less than 100 cohousing communities in the United States, look for that number to grow as boomers look for ways to go green and also look for alternatives to the traditional retirement community concept.

Bloomberg: "Market to get worse in '08"

On the heals of my post the other day about possible real estate market optimism for 2008, Bloomberg has a report today saying things will get worse in 2008.

According to some experts quoted in the article hope for a turnaround in 2009...at best. Bad news for homebuilders, mortgage lenders and the like.

Good news if you're a boomer looking to get a good deal and don't have a house to sell first.

Boomer Golf News

Wanted to let you know about a new website BoomerGolfNews.com.

The goal of this new site is to cover the world of golf as it relates to the largest segment of the population playing golf, baby boomers.

Look for articles and features on boomers still making a living on the tour, ways you can enjoy the game more as well as improve, new courses to check out in your travels and more.

Try Mahalo For Online Travel Research

Online travel research can be pretty frustrating, especially if you've never been to the destination your headed and don't know much about the area.

For example, try searching "Las Vegas hotels" in Google. Now, some of what comes up for you may be relevant, but a lot of it is not. This is simply because this search engine result page (serp) is based on an algorithm, with little to no human attention paid to what is displayed.

Mahalo is a new human-powered search engine that uses...you guessed it...ACTUAL people to create their serps.

This is great for the baby boomer who just doesn't have the time or patience to sift through spam search results mixed in with relevant content. If you search for "Las Vegas hotels" in Mahalo, you actually get listings of Las Vegas hotels as well as websites for further research (ie: Frommers, Fodor's, etc.). What a concept!


Check out Mahalo's Travel page today. And who knows, you might just get hooked and start using it for all your web searches. Plus, if you happen to search for a topic not in their results (remember, Mahalo's results are being built by hand and not every possible destination or search term is covered yet) you will be shown results from various other search engines.

Baby Boomer Jobs

Forbes.com has an article/slideshow featuring seven "ideal" jobs for Baby Boomers.

Obviously not all of them will appeal, but you might get some good ideas. I especially like the prospects of "Move Specialist" Wellness Coach", and "Travel Coordinator".

Boomers version of "Born to be W-i-i-i-ld"

Sort of off topic but who could resist. The best laugh you'll have today. Enjoy:

Forbes ranks three Carolina cities "most affordable"

If you're a baby boomer thinking of retiring to the Carolina's or buying a second home there, you won't only be choosing a great location, but it might make sense financially. Forbes just ranked three Carolina cities "most affordable" as far as real estate is concerned.

My next book, Carolinas for Boomers due out later this year will give you all the information you need to find a place and buy in the Carolinas.

Read more:
Forbes ranks Raleigh as 12th most affordable real estate market - Triangle Business Journal:

Florida for Boomers featured in Miami Real Estate Update

I'm proud to say that Florida for Boomers has just been featured in Mark Zilbert's Miami Real Estate Update newsletter. For those of you not familiar with Mark, he is one of the premier condo brokers in South Florida. He has been featured on the Today Show, 20/20, The Wall Street Journal, and I interviewed him about his boomer clientele for Florida for Boomers.

Here's what Mark had to say in his newsletter:

Florida for Boomers: A Guide to Real Estate Author Ryan Erisman has created a great new guide to buying real estate in Florida. It's targeted at Baby Boomers, however, it's a well-written overall guide that will suit anyone. The book teaches you everything from finding a real estate agent to understanding how property taxes work. Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

NYtimes.com: "When you buy before its built"

The New York Times has been coming through with some good (relevant) articles for boomers relocating or buying second homes. Today, they tackle the process of buying a new home or condo before its built.

"Buying into a development before construction has begun is not a new phenomenon, but with the slowdown in the real estate market — and in condo sales in many areas — the rules are changing. A few years ago, the incentive to condo buyers was clear: You would buy early, sit back and, by the time the building was in place, be pretty certain that the unit’s value had increased substantially. But the days of buyers lining up for a condo in a building that might be years from completion are long gone — and developers are facing a new reality."

Read the full story

Baby Boomer Moving and Housing Trends

Good article at seniorjournal.com on where baby boomers are moving to. The article suggests that most boomers will be moving "across town" rather than to other parts of the country.

Read the article here

So, where are you moving to?

Baby Boomer Home @ International Builders' Show (IBS)

BOTMblog visited the 2007 International Builders' Show in Orlando yesterday. Over the next few days I'll be bringing you the highlights of the show, products that you may want to incorporate into your new retirement or second home.

But today, I want to share with you the IBS Show Village "Baby Boomer" home, built by Nationwide Custom Homes.

From the show brochure:" About 78 million Baby Boomers looking for value along with luxury, space and comfort may find it the the likes of this home by Nationwide Custom Homes. This 4,568 Square foot beauty showcases a first-floor master suite with double spa tub and a second-floor family space built around a game room, office and home theater."

Looking at it, and even standing in it, you'd never guess that this was a modular home built primarily in a factory and assembled on site. It was very impressive.

I'll add interior pictures to this post when they are available. For more info: http://www.housingzone.com/index.asp?layout=noclamp&articleid=CA6334780