I have always wondered where everyone lived once they retired due to all of the marketing that has been done to retirees-even entire magazines are devoted to relocating retirees. Because of experience with our clients I have seen that they tend to stay within driving distance of family. According to this census study, this confirms that the majority of retirees are simply using this information to buy 2nd homes or vacation properties. Developers now are changing focus to a "local" level. Single-story townhomes here in Wayne County are also very popular with retiring locals. Give us a call to find out more about these neighborhoods.
Developers Home in on Retirees Who Stay Near Home
It’s a myth that most retirees pull up stakes and move to Florida or Arizona. In fact, retiring close to home is the norm rather than the exception.
An AARP analysis of U.S. Census figures from 1990 and 2000 shows that nine out of every 10 Americans 60 years and older were living in the same county they’d lived in five years before the surveys were taken; more than three-quarters had even lived in the same house.
Savvy developers are recognizing this reality and finding ways to benefit from it. Pulte has opened 53 Del Webb active-adult retirement communities since 2001, many of them in states not considered retirement meccas: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, and Illinois.
Dave Schreiner, a vice president for Pulte homes, says his company started out building retirement villages in Arizona and California, where they served a minority who wanted to leave home in favor of a warmer spot. But by the mid-90s, Schreiner says, the company had switched its focus to building retirement villages near population centers all over the country.
“It's perceived to be a trend, but really, we were just catching up," says Schreiner. "There was a market there always; it was just a market that hasn't been served."
Source: USA Today, Adam Edelman (06/11/2007)
Monday, June 18, 2007
Asheville Bans Gated Communities
In an attempt to make the city of Asheville, NC more open to traffic and an attempt to make the city available to all classes of people, they have banned the use of gates and security at the front of new neighborhoods. Do you see this as a good thing or a restriction of choice? Builders want to provide gates because this is what home buyers want -to feel safe or at least have the appearance of safety. Opponents to the ordinance also feel that this will contribute to urban sprawl, just pushing development outside of the city. Just on the surface, using the law of supply and demand, the current owners of homes in gated communities just received a huge increase in their property values as the ordinance does not affect current gated or already approved communities.
by Joel Burgess, JBURGESS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
published June 13, 2007 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE — The City Council voted Tuesday to forbid new gated communities, following through on concerns the developments make the city less of a community.
The ban passed by the council on a 5-2 vote applies to future developments, which would no longer be allowed to restrict access to only residents and their guests, done usually with gates or security workers
“I’m not for them because I think it is segregation by class,” said Heather Rayburn, one of two people speaking at a public hearing before the vote. Both spoke for the ban.
Rayburn, the president of the Five Points Neighborhood Association, said developments with gates offer good things, such as green space and a sense of security.
But they also hamper “social connectivity” and traffic flow and rarely have affordable housing, she said.
The council action also forbids new gated developments just outside municipal borders where Asheville exercises zoning control.
It does not affect existing gated developments or those already approved by the city.
Voting to approve the ban were Mayor Terry Bellamy, Vice Mayor Holly Jones, Brownie Newman, Bryan Freeborn and Robin Cape. Jan Davis and Carl Mumpower voted no.
Supporters of the ban have said it would keep Asheville from fragmenting along class lines and would help traffic flow.
Gated developments add cars to access roads without adding to the overall traffic grid, they said.
“I just don’t want Asheville to become a series of gated communities, especially with the more high-end neighborhoods as they continue to be developed,” Mayor Terry Bellamy has said.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Cape and Davis tried to insert an amendment to allow gates in rare cases.
Reasons could have included stopping speeding traffic through residential areas and protecting poor high-crime neighborhoods.
“The developments will move outside the city to take advantage of what Asheville has to offer but also that exclusivity,” Davis said.
The Rev. Christopher Chiaromonte, a City Council candidate and the other person to speak for the ban, said gated communities were based on fear.
“Gated communities are just a manifestation of our own fear and fear breeds fear,” Chiaromonte said.
by Joel Burgess, JBURGESS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
published June 13, 2007 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE — The City Council voted Tuesday to forbid new gated communities, following through on concerns the developments make the city less of a community.
The ban passed by the council on a 5-2 vote applies to future developments, which would no longer be allowed to restrict access to only residents and their guests, done usually with gates or security workers
“I’m not for them because I think it is segregation by class,” said Heather Rayburn, one of two people speaking at a public hearing before the vote. Both spoke for the ban.
Rayburn, the president of the Five Points Neighborhood Association, said developments with gates offer good things, such as green space and a sense of security.
But they also hamper “social connectivity” and traffic flow and rarely have affordable housing, she said.
The council action also forbids new gated developments just outside municipal borders where Asheville exercises zoning control.
It does not affect existing gated developments or those already approved by the city.
Voting to approve the ban were Mayor Terry Bellamy, Vice Mayor Holly Jones, Brownie Newman, Bryan Freeborn and Robin Cape. Jan Davis and Carl Mumpower voted no.
Supporters of the ban have said it would keep Asheville from fragmenting along class lines and would help traffic flow.
Gated developments add cars to access roads without adding to the overall traffic grid, they said.
“I just don’t want Asheville to become a series of gated communities, especially with the more high-end neighborhoods as they continue to be developed,” Mayor Terry Bellamy has said.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Cape and Davis tried to insert an amendment to allow gates in rare cases.
Reasons could have included stopping speeding traffic through residential areas and protecting poor high-crime neighborhoods.
“The developments will move outside the city to take advantage of what Asheville has to offer but also that exclusivity,” Davis said.
The Rev. Christopher Chiaromonte, a City Council candidate and the other person to speak for the ban, said gated communities were based on fear.
“Gated communities are just a manifestation of our own fear and fear breeds fear,” Chiaromonte said.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Home Prices Fall-First Time in 16 Years!
Home prices fall 1.4 percent over last year
Prices of single-family homes edge down in 1st quarter for 1st time since 1991; Detroit and San Diego lead declines.
May 29 2007: 10:10 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes fell in the first quarter from a year earlier for the first time since 1991, the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index reported on Tuesday.
The quarterly index dropped 0.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 and was down 1.4 percent from the first quarter of 2006.
"The fall of the national index into negative territory, after more than 15 years of positive annual growth, is a reaffirmation of the pullback in the U.S. residential real estate market," Robert J. Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC, said in a release.
"The national index was yielding solid returns as recently as a year ago," he added. "First quarter 2006 growth rates were up 11.5 percent versus Q1 2005, a sharp contrast to the returns we are seeing today."
House prices in March fell in 13 of the 20 metro areas covered by the index, S&P said in the release.
The composite month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.3 percent to 200.89 in March from February and was down 1.4 percent from March 2006.
S&P said its composite month-over-month of 10 metropolitan areas dropped 0.4 percent in March to 219.54, or a 1.9 percent year-over-year decline.
Detroit and San Diego posted the biggest annual declines of 8.4 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively.
Phoenix and Las Vegas have seen the largest price slides from their peaks. In September 2005, Phoenix showed a 49.3 percent growth rate and Las Vegas jumped 53.2 percent in September 2004. Those cities in March had respective price drops of 3 percent an 1.6 percent.
Sluggish home sales have hit the nation's largest homebuilders such as Centex (Charts, Fortune 500), Pulte (Charts, Fortune 500) and Hovnanian (Charts, Fortune 500).
Prices of single-family homes edge down in 1st quarter for 1st time since 1991; Detroit and San Diego lead declines.
May 29 2007: 10:10 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes fell in the first quarter from a year earlier for the first time since 1991, the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index reported on Tuesday.
The quarterly index dropped 0.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 and was down 1.4 percent from the first quarter of 2006.
"The fall of the national index into negative territory, after more than 15 years of positive annual growth, is a reaffirmation of the pullback in the U.S. residential real estate market," Robert J. Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC, said in a release.
"The national index was yielding solid returns as recently as a year ago," he added. "First quarter 2006 growth rates were up 11.5 percent versus Q1 2005, a sharp contrast to the returns we are seeing today."
House prices in March fell in 13 of the 20 metro areas covered by the index, S&P said in the release.
The composite month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.3 percent to 200.89 in March from February and was down 1.4 percent from March 2006.
S&P said its composite month-over-month of 10 metropolitan areas dropped 0.4 percent in March to 219.54, or a 1.9 percent year-over-year decline.
Detroit and San Diego posted the biggest annual declines of 8.4 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively.
Phoenix and Las Vegas have seen the largest price slides from their peaks. In September 2005, Phoenix showed a 49.3 percent growth rate and Las Vegas jumped 53.2 percent in September 2004. Those cities in March had respective price drops of 3 percent an 1.6 percent.
Sluggish home sales have hit the nation's largest homebuilders such as Centex (Charts, Fortune 500), Pulte (Charts, Fortune 500) and Hovnanian (Charts, Fortune 500).
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