Pro/Con of over 55 communities

[Anonymous]

I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

My other female childless friends, single and not, are clamoring for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

My other female childless friends, single and not, are clamoring for this.

I think it would violate Fair Housing Act, since you can not discriminate against a buyer or renter based on the presence of a child. I think places like Leisure World and Laguna Woods get around it by basing the minimum criteria on age to buy (55+ which is typically beyond the child-rearing years), but perhaps there is a statutory carve-out for retirement communities.

[Anonymous]

My grandmother lives in one and loves it...she likes all the activities and amenities and she is an extremely social person.

[Anonymous]

My MIL lives in one and she has a neighbor who is a single 55 year old that was just waiting to turn 55 and buy in. The neighbor works nearby and walks to work and likes the safety and security of the place.

[Anonymous]

The Villages! Have you seen Some Kind of Heaven? https://www.somekindofheaven.com/ You can check it out on Hulu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

My other female childless friends, single and not, are clamoring for this.

I think it would violate Fair Housing Act, since you can not discriminate against a buyer or renter based on the presence of a child. I think places like Leisure World and Laguna Woods get around it by basing the minimum criteria on age to buy (55+ which is typically beyond the child-rearing years), but perhaps there is a statutory carve-out for retirement communities.

I was right - there's a statutory exemption for communities where "at least 80 percent of the units must have at least one occupant who is 55 years of age or older."

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_housing_older_persons

Personally, I think the law should change to allow a development for childless singles and couples. Let the market decide if such a community would be popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Villages! Have you seen Some Kind of Heaven? https://www.somekindofheaven.com/ You can check it out on Hulu.

The Villages are way too political. Lots of the 55+ communities have bans on political signage and flags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

My other female childless friends, single and not, are clamoring for this.

I think it would violate Fair Housing Act, since you can not discriminate against a buyer or renter based on the presence of a child. I think places like Leisure World and Laguna Woods get around it by basing the minimum criteria on age to buy (55+ which is typically beyond the child-rearing years), but perhaps there is a statutory carve-out for retirement communities.

It's interesting because I know several families with elementary aged children and they are 50. The husband is one couple is already 55. The other 3 will be 55 by when their youngest kids are in middle school (7th grade). So this notion that you are done child rearing by 55 may be pushed a bit!

One the flip side, my one cousin who had a baby at 20 is a 53 year old grandmother raising her granddaughter after her kid bailed on the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All fun & games that your adult children or grandchildren cannot live with you even temporarily. until there is a death, medical situation, or other emergency.

Had a 10- year old client that couldn't move in with her only remaining family, grandparent, after her parents were killed by drunk driver. Girl had to stay in foster care until grandmother could sell the 55+ house.

I was just about to post something similar, though not as tragic. If you have grandchildren or friends with kids, no matter the reason or emergency, they won’t be able to stay with you, for even one night. The type of people who live in these communities will aggressively enforce all the rules and will make sure any little guest you have GTFOs by curfew.

So if a friend or your kid is in the hospital or sick and their child needs a place to stay? Nope. They better get out.

Maybe that’s fine with you. But I’ve seen it in action and think it’s quite bizarre.

OP here, this is not a daily thing in the community I am considering. A sub 55 member of the family or visitor can stay 30 days. I'm the early retiree age I won't be having grandkids likely anytime in the next 10 years. I'd be long gone from this property by the time I needed help with my day to day.

OP, this is not a thing in the community where my dad lives. It’s good that you’re looking into all of the different variations.

[Anonymous]

The way in is you marry a 55 year old man, oops he died. You get to stay. Might be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Villages! Have you seen Some Kind of Heaven? https://www.somekindofheaven.com/ You can check it out on Hulu.

The Villages are way too political. Lots of the 55+ communities have bans on political signage and flags.

PP here. I know — I was being a bit facetious. 😊 Whenever I think of 55+ communities, all I can think about is The Villages. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 36 and childfree and I would LOVE to live in a 55+ community. What a wonderful way to be in a peaceful, quiet place with people with common interests.

Someone should make a community for singles and DINKs, say ages 35 to 55. I bet there would be huge uptake.

My other female childless friends, single and not, are clamoring for this.

Me again. Part of the appeal is the houses are designed to not be super big (less to clean) but still have nice finishes and nice big kitchens. Basically they are specifically designed for UMC DINKs. Most of the houses we are looking at, we can afford, easily, but we don’t want to buy that much house, or the kitchens are tiny and sad in smaller houses. We also want an HOA that does our (pref tiny) yard which is common in 55+. We want a small nice house. That’s common in the 55+ communities. The fact that there’s rarely screaming kids is a bonus but not the main selling point for me. People with kids tend to want bigger houses though. If you design them small and high end you probably wouldn’t need to age discriminate. People would self-select.

[Anonymous]

My in laws live part time in a 55+ community in Arizona. They have always really liked it, but during a recent visit they talked a lot about the people there who have died recently. My FIL, who is generally pretty cheery, seemed a bit down when he called it a place where people go to die. There aren’t any young, vibrant people there to counteract that impression once it sets in.