Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, seniors are looking forward to their retirement to relax and travel the world. But since the health crisis prevented all people from embarking on unnecessary travels, elderlies are now focusing on acquiring their "forever home."
While some seniors choose to move closer to their children and grandchildren, more wealthy baby boomers buy properties in the same area as their friends.
Real estate pros told The Wall Street Journal that baby boomers are willing to move in the same neighborhood or housing development as their peers, even if it means driving hundreds of miles away from the place where they meet.
Why Baby Boomers Move With Friends?
One reason why retirees choose to live closer to their friends is to re-create or preserve their social circles back home.
According to real estate agents, a group of friends from the same country club in San Diego recently purchased seven units at the Pendry Residences in Park City, Utah. Another seven couples from Silicon Valeye acquired lots next to each other in Creek Tahoe in Nevada.
Michael Solomon, a marketing professor at Saint Joseph's University studying the baby boomer generation, told the news outlet, the trend of moving in the same community with friends is baby boomer's way of avoiding ending up in a nursing home.
"They want to look for a surrogate for that kind of community support that they would have had with their family as they grew older," Solomon said.
"It's a support network. It's also driven-maybe subconsciously-by wanting to avoid the specter of being stuck by yourself in a nursing home," he added.
Instead of spending their golden years in care facilities like how their parents did, baby boomers look for homes in places where they can age gracefully. Most of them target areas with lower taxes and offer easy access to amenities like the beach or golf course.
Once they are settled in, they encourage friends to join them in the community. Most of the time, this trend also occurs in a group of friends who choose the place together.
Baby Boomers Selling Their Homes
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, many seniors realized that 2020 is an excellent year to mark their retirement and finally take a step back from the crazy and chaotic world of business and work in general.
According to Pew Research Center, at least 28.6 million baby boomers drop their jobs during the third quarter of 2020 alone.
According to Real Estate Consulting chief demographer Chris Porter, other seniors just realized the lockdown and quarantine are the perfect time to live their lives to the fullest.
"They said [they were] going to retire in a year or two anyway, and now it just seems like the right time," Porter told realtor.com.
The pandemic also encouraged baby boomers to sell their primary homes and move to more affordable locations.
"Retirees might be able to cash out on pretty significant equity in their homes and find something more affordable or maybe find something better for the same price in a location that's generally more affordable," Porter explained.
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