It Took Us 10 Years to Move to an Active Adult Retirement Community!

My wife and I lived in a beautiful 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath home on half of an acre. But, we felt stuck in our suburban home. At age 58, we were the only retired people in a whole subdivision of 25 homes! And, we were starting to feel a little out of place in a neighborhood filled with kids and young families.

We were good friends with our neighbors, who were 10 years younger than us and still working. We had even gone on 6 cruises with them! We went out to dinner with them most Friday nights. But, during the week, we were stuck at home with nowhere to go except maybe the occasional lunch outing.

We Wanted More Out Of Retirement!

Our city of Johns Creek had opened a new senior center. We joined and became active members. I even served on the activity committee. It gave us a little taste of how we liked doing things with people closer to our age; people we related to a bit more.

This was better, but not enough. We wanted more out of retirement life!

We began looking around, considering our options. We knew we wanted to move somewhere that was not the suburbs – someplace that was not work and kid-centered, like our current neighborhood.

So, we took our time visiting Big Canoe and Bent Tree in the mountains. We checked out Destin at the beach and a few small towns nearby. We decided a small town on the outskirts of our metro area would be nice; kind of the best of both worlds. We could still visit the burbs, be close enough to have lunch with our friends and make it back home without too much trouble.

But still, nothing was jumping out at us.

An Active Adult Community?

We discovered active adult communities – a relatively new concept to me and my wife. We found 4 or 5 around our metro area and decided to take a few tours. There were some active adult communities by Del Webb and other builders close by. So, we signed up for the program where you visit a community and stay in a villa for 2 to 4 days to see what it’s like. We did this three times!

My wife and I really liked the concept of an active adult community. And, the locations were perfect. It would give us a welcoming community right off the bat. A lot of other people, just like us, were moving there in droves!

We Still Felt Stuck

Reality seemed to set upon us and we froze up. We realized we would need to downsize and get rid of a lot of stuff. And, what about selling the home we had lived in for 26 years? The real estate market was currently down. This was going to be a lot more work than we expected; a major upset to our lives. There were just so many unknowns.

So, we procrastinated. Our excitement about moving waned.

Over time, we got rid of stuff that we no longer needed. It took numerous trips to shredders and Goodwill. We sold some items on Craig’s List and gave away what we could.

Before we knew it years had gone by.

One day, we made another visit to the active adult community we had liked the most. When we came back home, we finally made a decision. At age 67, we would finally make our move.

We hired a buyer’s agent to help us find a home in our Del Webb active adult community, looked at new homes, and priced all the options. The agent said we should consider resales; My wife and I settled on a 2,777-square-foot ranch.

Finally Unstuck

Now, 10 years later, we realize we should have moved a little faster. We love living here and it’s going on two years since we have been here.

Why did it take us so long?

Moving and changing is hard, but it turns out it was something we managed very well. We adapted to our new home and community almost right away. And, we never looked back. My wife and I know we made the right decision and feel for people who are stuck in the suburbs after retiring and do not quite know what to do.

Moving to a home and a community better suited to making you happy is the way to go!

Are You Ready To Get Unstuck?