Fact: More than 17,000 homeowners voluntarily walked away from their houses during the prime of their retirement years and moved to an Erickson community.
By Thomas Shrader
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
Why would they walk away?
Why would so many thousands of people do something “today,” and “in the prime of my retirement” that generations past considered something only suitable for “someday in the future when I ‘need’ it?”
These 17,000 are normal, everyday people who worked hard, raised families, saved for the future the best they could on their middleincome salaries, who loved their houses, and love their vibrant, involved lives. And yet the trend is clear.
In distinction from a generation ago, these people looked at the various retirement options available to them with fresh eyes, weighing the positives and negatives.
The Easy Decision—Stay in Your House. But Is It the Best Choice?
They key is looking at your options with “fresh eyes.” A recent poll suggests many homeowners in their 70’s mistakenly shield themselves from considering any lifestyle option associated with the generic label of “retirement community.” The result is that communities tailor-made for retired people at the height of their energy and initiative get clumped in with Assisted Living and Nursing Care facilities which are tailormade for retired people who need help of various levels.
The new breed of homeowner—the breed who takes even a modest amount of time and initiative to research and visit the various alternatives now available, find just how outdated those popular misconceptions are. The 17,000 people who moved from their houses to an Erickson community—a population on pace to reach 20,000 in 2008—are just one example of this clear new trend.
One Out of Two