If you’re a senior looking for a great place to retire, you may be in luck. Ambitious developers have been overproducing luxury senior living facilities to plan for the huge number of baby boomers reaching retirement age. Many of these great facilities have not been able to fill up yet, which means now could be an ideal time to find a bargain on an incredible new senior home.
Understanding the Current Situation
To understand why now a particularly attractive time to find a senior living facility, it’s helpful to know what’s going on in today’s environment. Most developed nations are expecting a massive increase in the retirement population over the next several years. And that’s all due to a very important group of people: Baby Boomers.
Baby Boomers, or those who were born between the years of 1946 and 1964, form a huge segment of the population of developed nations. Many families were putting off having children during WW2 and the Great Depression, so as soon as both of those were over, the population began to skyrocket.¹ But now, baby boomers are getting older. In fact, American Baby Boomers are currently retiring at a rate of around 10,000 per day², with other developed countries seeing very similar retirement booms.
A lot of businesses have seen opportunity in this growth of the senior population, and they have reacted by building new and luxurious senior living facilities. But businesses don’t always get things perfect. It can be hard to anticipate the exact number of people who will be looking for properties in the future. In many cases, developers have built up too many senior living facilities too soon³, leaving a number of amazing properties still unsold.
How Does This Benefit Today’s Seniors?
The senior housing boom is excellent news for those looking for properties for two reasons. First of all, it means there are a large number of brand new and luxurious resort-style facilities on the market. It’s a lot nicer to move into somewhere that is new and sleek than old and decaying, and these new facilities are more easily able to offer all of the amenities seniors could need.
Some people still associate senior living with dreaded nursing homes. However most new facilities are certainly looking to change that stereotype, providing more of a vacation resort style experience with great opportunities for socialization, fun activities, and individually tailored levels of care.
It’s also a great time to look for senior housing because there could be a unique opportunity to find some excellent deals. As mentioned, many developers produced too much new housing due to the retirement boom and still have properties they need to sell. In order to entice people to fill these properties quickly, they often offer great discounts. If you’re not too picky about a new property, older senior developments still need to fill their occupancy as well, and those can have even greater bargains.
How To Find The Best Deals
Whether you’re looking for an independent senior living community, an assisted living facility, a beachfront retirement condo, or anything else, there are options available. One of the easiest ways to get started in finding a great senior property at a great price is to look online.
Searching online is the quickest way to see all of the options that fit what you are looking for. It’s also a great way to compare the pricing of multiple properties so you can make sure you go with the best deal available. Just make sure to do your research carefully. Make sure you understand exactly what each facility offers, try to read reviews if you can, and even request talking to some of the other residents in the community if possible. That way, you’ll make sure that you and/or your loved ones are going to the perfect new senior home.
[1] https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/8yebu_sm36il2lrgoaf3ww2
[2] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032216/are-we-baby-boomer-retirement-crisis.asp
[3] https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/8yebu_sm36il2lrgoaf3ww2