AZ 55 & older communities

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slavey

New Member
I am new here, 70 yrs, single F & moving to the Phoenix AZ area. I'm wondering what it's like living in one. Are there people who stay all yr long or just those that go seasonally? So many are for sale & I wonder what makes people sell them. Also many for rent... I am very confused & need any advice I can get. Thank you in advance, Shirley
 

Phoenix is a large area of very old cities all merged by the newer growth. The area is filled with workers as well as us older retirees.

I lived close by in Casa Grande AZ about 35 miles south and separated from the Phoenix area by Native American lands. We moved to Ohio about three years ago and I have been working to get back to the southern Arizona area again. I do lke the low humidity, the frost free winters, and the help for retirees the communities and state does offer. My wife and kids don't want to move back to the desert west. I do plan on getting there one way or another. Snow bird may be the only way possible.

I have never lived in a retiree place. I don't want to live in a structured operation. I might decide on a Condominium for a residence and then have visiting nurses and helpers come to me.

One quick and not too expensive way to see the area is a visit. Rent a place for a month or so. If you are still driving, spend time driving around and visiting some of the offered areas. That is the way the wife and I got started. We had a Realtor that took us into our price range locations and that include several areas in the Phoenix cluster and Casa Grande a few miles south, where we finally bought.
 
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Thank you so much Bob. I will look at the Casa Grande area.
 

slavey said:
I am new here, 70 yrs, single F & moving to the Phoenix AZ area. I'm wondering what it's like living in one. Are there people who stay all yr long or just those that go seasonally? So many are for sale & I wonder what makes people sell them. Also many for rent... I am very confused & need any advice I can get. Thank you in advance, Shirley
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I live in the West Valley, and I am here year round. Some areas do have a lot of snow birds, and so you will see a lot of cars from Utah, Wyoming, etc. Two suburbs, Sun City and Sun City West are 55+. SCW, the newer of the two, has over 16,000 homes, so there will always be a lot of them for sale or for seasonal rental.

I enjoy having everything I need close by. Including great medical facilities.
 
Thank you! I keep thinking they tried it & didn't like it. Also lot fees are so high, much higher than property taxes & I thought that might be what makes them sell. I'm hesitant to live in a community because I smoke & feel terribly out of pace everywhere I go. Do you think property values increase at all in these communities?
 
What do you mean by "lot fees"? Is that the same as HOA dues? As for all the resales, remember that this is a place for older folks, and some pass away and others can no longer live independently, plus the normal reasons to move. The good news is that there are a lot of estate sales to go to!

I have been here about a year, and, according to Zillow, the value on my home has gone up $30k. I checked a couple of others in Sun City, and Zillow is predicting 8% increase in the comming year
 
There's a couple of people on here who live in Arizona... and also there's a couple of people who live on 55 plus, communities ( not necessarily in AZ tho'...hopefully they;ll see your post..

Welcome to the forum!!!
 
Thank you again! On Zillow some of the realtors call them HOA fee's & others call them lot fees. You answered another question I had about whether or not your allowed to hold estate / garage sales in the parks. I suppose that depends on the individual rules in the different parks though & something to inquire about when looking. Do you go to alot of sales?
 
I think many times they are for sale because the owner died or could no longer live unassisted. After all, they are senior communities so older residents would mean a higher mortality rate.

To me, a drawback of any restricted community is that the resale would be limited to a group who "qualify." Seems like it would take longer to sell a property, though I have no way of knowing.
 
slavey said:
Thank you again! On Zillow some of the realtors call them HOA fee's & others call them lot fees. You answered another question I had about whether or not your allowed to hold estate / garage sales in the parks. I suppose that depends on the individual rules in the different parks though & something to inquire about when looking. Do you go to alot of sales?
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When you use the term "park", I gather you are looking a mobile home parks, where you would in fact pay lot fees. Sun City and Sun City West do not have mobile homes, mostly single family with some condos/multifamily too. In both, you would pay HOA fees, which vary. I'm in SCW, which is way west of downtown Phoenix, and Mesa is on the East side.

Note to C'est Moi - Most homes in my little community sell in 30 days or so
 
Thank you! That needs to be considered also. Along with that I'm not sure banks are eager to give loans on these homes because you own the home but rent the land it's on. I'm a cash buyer but many are not. Many plus's but many negatives also. Thank you again. This is turning out to be very insightful.
 
Thank you! That explains a great deal.... I prefer not to pay either lot fee's or HOA fee's. But do not like the thought of being TOO alone at my age. My kids are in VA, WI, MN so I'm looking to be around elderly people like myself.
 
HOA means some one will be coming around to see about the streets and landscaping. They also take care of making sure painting is kept to accepted levels.

I have had both tough and not so tough HOA units. I would prefer not having such debts but it does help keep up the locality. Some areas with no HOA over-site can turn into poor painting, trashy yards, old cars in the front yard, neglect in general. I have seen that in all parts of this country.
 
Yes, I was in an very upscale HOA for 8 yrs. When the housing market took a dump people moved out & rented to gov subsidized people to assure they'd get there rent check. It got really ugly, 2 & 3 family's in a home etc. Doesn't always work out the way we expect it to.
 
We lived in SCW for 14 years in a one story townhouse. It was a condo, so exterior maintenance was handled by the association. There are over 100 clubs in the community, so there are many opportunities to make friends.
There were some snowbirds and many like us who were sunbirds that lived there year round. We knew a few who were snowbirds without leaving the state. They wintered in SCW and went to the Arizona high country in summer. Elevation makes a huge difference in climate. The valley around Phoenix is at 1100' and Flagstaff is up at 7000'. Flagstaff gets snow in the winter.
 
OOOPS, sorry for stupid question. Sun City West. Thank you for the info. Need a really good income to afford all that & I'm limited. Thank you so much for sharing.
 
You don’t necessarily need a ‘senior place’ to move to in Arizona. My daughter (40) lives in this neighborhood in Scottsdale that are all patio homes (I think that’s what they are) and consists of mostly seniors and her and a couple others who are younger. She loves it, house is always watched over by the seniors, she gets lots of offers to have her walk their dogs while she’s walking and location, location, location can’t be beat.

Also, great question you’ve asked, my hopes and dreams are to move to Az in the next year or two. Keep us posted on what you find!

debbie in Seattle
 
Are these affordable homes or real expensive. I will check this out when I get down there. Leaving 4:30 am Sun the 7th. Driving alone. Pray for me please. I'll log back in when I'm settled. Please keep the suggestions coming. God bless all of you & thank you so much!!!
 
We are not high income. Check Zillow for price ranges. There were some affluent folks there, but Sun City Grand across the highway was much more so.
 
There are two aspects to this. The first is the idea of 55+. Many, many years ago I visited my Aunt and Uncle in such a community and even though I was a mere "pup" at the time, I knew it was what I wanted.The commonality of circumstances means you will have friends ready to "do something" Wednesday afternoon rather than the "working" environment of, "Let's get together Saturday night". My view - the bigger the better. The more people, the greater the possibility of trying new stuff (very important).

The second is the site built vs manufactured and own the land vs rent the land. The best for you depends on your fiscal situation and your plans for the future. That is always a very personal decision requiring a lot of thought.
 
Thank you for your thoughts Ray. Very much appreciated.
 

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