Why would people want to live in a 55 plus community?

boliverchadsworth

boliverchadsworth

Member
I have researched this a lot ....and I agree with this person this is for your information only I don't care if you have an opinion or comment or not...take it or leave it.

Why would people want to live in a 55 plus community?
When we first moved to one, the reasons were simple.
  • We wanted to use the pool without brats jumping over our heads and barely missing us and splashing us.
  • We yearned for the quiet that kids rob us of.
  • We thought it would be safer and well protected.
  • We were under the impression that seniors were mature and would gather well and it would be a great community.
None of that turned out to be the reality.
  • Senior communities aren’t void of bratty kids. They bring their grandkids to the pool.
  • Senior communities aren’t quiet. Most have relatives living with them who make more noise than kids.
  • Senior communities are far from safe. Hookers and drug dealers and swindlers frequent these communities and prey on lonely seniors, often ripping them off.
  • Seniors are often so immature you have senior bullying, senior gossip, senior cliques, you name it.
We found that this was the worst apartment complex we had ever moved into. So we bought a home and now have everything we dreamed of.

Our friend lives in one of these communities still, though, He hates the petty bitches that click and cluck over all their gossip. He hates the angry men, who have no testosterone but still try to act tough. He hates the bickering, the lies, the deaths all of it.

I wouldn’t live with seniors again if the government paid me to. I’ve never seen a more dysfunctional community.
 

I live in a 55plus community. I am happy here, I feel safe. I do not have to worry about maintenance only the interior which is helpful being that I am a widow. I love to hear the children happily playing in the pool. I do not listen to gossip, I have great neighbours and although I do not mix a lot I am happy to help out when needed.
It takes all sorts to make a community, you obviously chose one that was not suitable for you.
 
Ha ha, boliverchadsworth, you nailed it! I spent 3 years in an ”over 55” complex after the all ages Apt I was happy in for 12 yrs went downhill fast after a management change.
There weren’t too many grand kids at the new pllace, but if I wanted to use their much advertised pool I had to screen the dead bugs floating out of it first. It has just about all the qualities you mentioned, including a crime filled neighborhood, cars stolen etc. Barking dogs, loud tv from deaf neighbors. On & on.
Went back to a mixed age place, been here for 4 years, like most things about it.
 
Warrigal said:
Glad I'm still living in the house we built in 1966.
Also glad we never decided to build a pool in the back yard.
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I miss the pool in the back yard where my daughter learned to swim...where I fell asleep on an air mattress and looked liked a lobster for the next month....so many memories...son throwing a party when we were gone and finding beer bottles in the bottom....many many days gone by...
 
RobinWren said:
I live in a 55plus community. I am happy here, I feel safe. I do not have to worry about maintenance only the interior which is helpful being that I am a widow. I love to hear the children happily playing in the pool. I do not listen to gossip, I have great neighbours and although I do not mix a lot I am happy to help out when needed.
It takes all sorts to make a community, you obviously chose one that was not suitable for you.
Click to expand...
That is the same experience my mother had in her 55+ community. She was over 70 when she moved there. I think she liked a bit of the gossip because it was harmless and kept her socially engaged. I visited often and it was very quiet. I never saw anyone at the pool, even on Saturdays.

She actually said it was the best place she'd ever lived. I do respect that every community is different and that everyone experiences something different.
 
I think that would apply to any community or apartment building. My son lived in apartment buildings with the same issues and he was in his twenties. It is a people thing. Of course, if you live in a house with some space between you and your neighbors you shouldn't have those problems. Or you can live in a community where everyone gets along great, then someone new moves in and starts trouble.
 
To be honest, I'm surprised it took you until your senior years to find out the truth about people in general. It only takes one selfish family to spoil things for everyone.
I live in a block of apartments which are intended for older people, but they all have grandchildren. I do think it would be better if families bought a really large house and all lived together. It would make life easier for them and for their neighbours.
 
I live in a 55 plus apartment building. It is very quiet. Due to that darn Covid there are no coffee mornings and no "Happy Hour" on Friday. It is sort of dead around here. I see some folks love the 55 plus places and some folks hate 'em. I think the secret is how much cash you are willing to fork out every month for you accommodation. Expensive places tend to have more educated folks, more bells and whistles and more social outlets and the building are built of cement and are sound proof.

On the other side of the market are the cheap places built of wood where you hear your neighbour's TV or the slamming of their kitchen cabinets. Cheap places tend to be near busy streets and don't have any parks around them.

There is only some general statements. Each to their own I say. If you love your place, congratulations! If you hate your place, time to move because life is short and you should enjoy your senior years.
 
Well, you don't care if anyone has a comment. However, I'll go anyway. My mother who didn't like noise (even that of her own children) loved the park they lived in the last 18 or so years of her life. She always said it was quiet and they were in the back, on a corner with undeveloped land behind them. Sometimes she said kids went around on bikes in the summer but nothing noisy. One woman she knew in the park had a couple move in and then "snuck" in her one of her kids and spouse with their kids and they seemed like trash.

I kind of like the idea of senior only. To me it feels safer. I don't know. The house I owned and lived in was terrible. Harassing jerk behind me and as a single female, it seemed like I was some sort of anomaly.
 
katlupe said:
I think that would apply to any community or apartment building. My son lived in apartment buildings with the same issues and he was in his twenties. It is a people thing. Of course, if you live in a house with some space between you and your neighbors you shouldn't have those problems. Or you can live in a community where everyone gets along great, then someone new moves in and starts trouble.
Click to expand...
kat, when I owned the house, I swear it was more noisy than this apartment. Basketball playing, kids, but that wasn't the worst of it. The jerk to the side of me on every half baked holiday put his stereo outside and blasted it from 10am to 10pm. The guy behind me played his stereo outside also and had a very loud surround sound TV. That place was a nightmare for me. I should have never stayed 7 years.

Oh and then the punk kid in the house that backed to my front yard got a drum set.
 
The building I live in is seniors and disabled tenants and is pretty quiet. I have no complaints about noise. My floor is so quiet that sometimes I walk out in the hall to make sure there are other people still living here! The noisiest it gets is when my neighbor's visitors come to take him shopping. It is a mother and child and they both run through the hall and yell and shout inside and outside. I had to look at the adult to be sure she was an adult after seeing her run through the hall and make so much noise along with her preteen daughter. Yeah, it irritates me but I just turn up my music!
 
I looked into senior housing a few years ago. The biggest put-off for me was the price. Some charge between $3500 and $6500 A MONTH. Of course, that depends on the amenities included, most of which I would not avail myself. I'd call the low end "vanilla boxes" which is an open floor plan living room, dining room - no appliances or amenities. If one wanted to spring for the higher end - sometimes a laundry and/or gym is available and a meal or two is included. Still not worth it to me.

As for noise - if your neighbors are hard of hearing, they may play their TV or radio loudly. Also many seniors babysit their rambunctious grandkids frequently.
 
no danger of me writing a really long post......bullit points

17 or so non comments ...wonder how many I would get if I solicited remarks. 2,,,?? maybe 3 ? --4.04 for gas yesterday...brother in law retired to germany ..9.00 a gal.--so strap in kids-
 
I think I would like a 55+ community if it didn't cost a lot and if it wasn't like the bad ones mentioned. I remember reading one ad for a 55+ condo place and it said they had a hundred clubs like walking club, cards, etc. I would like to have some human interaction, but maybe it is better to live separate and go to a senior center for interaction.
Maybe since most of my interactions for the past few decades have been with coworkers, and naturally people have to behave with some self-restraint at work, I might have forgotten how bad some people behave.
 
It can't not be great if one is a rebel as in being cool as hippies do. Only to fill the vent systems with his wild weed as if he was in my apartment while enjoying his escape from reality over indilgencimg heavy duty smoking challenges with himself at my mind and body takeover.
I reported it for years until this year it has stopped yet a buzzing of my intercom has taken its place.....a reminder I'm sure if everytime he must go out in the cold to carry on his soul journey to continue his rituals for his comfort to avoid having to go through life's issues and problems of having to live in his life with the means of his unhappy choice to not be evicted Each means someone as management had to tell him who was complaining of his excessive amount of weed he needs to keep his high- Ness at a full vent level of keeping his neighbors out of his hair by knocking them out of commission for that day that no one can function with their chores. Should I say anymore, on same floor as me near the laundry room and elevator and art residents art room.
I've said enough, even though he rings my bell to revenge me and well, wanting to strangle me for sure.

Still breathing......so far......can be Down right dangerous living like this ........ the management come and go.....too busy and females would be most on his side since he can be a Henry the 8th sort of chap.......
 

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