As one who has managed to endure her tenure in the Arizona Winter Visitor housing market, I find it necessary to share my knowlege and understanding of this specialized industry with those who may be considering Arizona for their retirement years. With so many homes on the market, it can be overwhelming to siphen through all the various websites, brokers, and craigslist postings which give only a worms eye view about home buying options mainly highlighting a one dimentional perspective based upon square footage and curb appeal.
For those seeking the carefree retirement lifestyle many have enjoyed in Arizona's 55+ Land Lease and Real Estate Communities there is so much more to explore before jumping in and spending their hard earned resources and precious golden years.
The answer to your retirement dreams might be best prefaced by a few important questions:
1. What retirement type are you? (Take our quiz: visit website) Do you need to stay busy? Enjoy planned activities? Are you artistic or crafty? Want to water color or play cards? Like bus tours or casinos? What are your interests? Do you enjoy a lot of socializing or prefer a more private quiet lifestyle? Are you a computer/technology nut or just hang out in the billiard hall or by the pool? Want to share your knowledge and experience teaching a class or civil volunteer? How much time do you plan on spending in our sunny State? Will that change over time?
Many who are beginning their journey of the retirement lifestyle in Arizona by first leasing a home in one of our retirement communities. Besides If you are just getting your feet wet and perhaps just discovering latent talents such as china paintingFirst, one must determine, the amount of time they plan on spending in Arizona, the level of activity and type of retirement lifestyle they may seek, not to mention the various types of housing (land lease or real estate, park models or manufactured homes, apartments, condos, patio homes, townhouses or residential single family homes).
The purpose of this blog series will be to explain the range of lifestyle types and costs, property types and communities, information access portals, overview various levels of civil and consumer rights and Arizona housing laws which are as diverse as the housing choices and which levels of consumer protection are discriminatory toward non-resident "snowbirds".
For those beginning their research and who may be planning a short term rental in an Arizona retirement community their are 5 questions one should ask before sending a deposit or agreeing to rent a park model, manufactured home or 55+ real estate property.
