Investment & Financial Articles
Title: Thinking About a Resort Retirement Home?
Author: Charlie McHenry
Article:
Better Think About Buying Now!
Buying Now Ensures A Choice Location and Rental Income Helps Pay
for the Home
As the Baby Boom generation ages, more and more of us are
thinking of retirement homes. Dreaming of communities in the
country, close to golf, theatre, art galleries and forested
hillsides. Or maybe your dream is of Florida sands, palm trees
and year-round heat. In either case, you'd be well advised to
act on your dream sooner rather than later.
It's a simple matter of economics and supply and demand. Real
Estate prices are trending upwards. Property values appreciate
annually. There are only so many award-winning, really choice
resort retirement locations. And the baby boomers are getting
ready to snap them all up.
Take Mt. Meadows in Ashland, Oregon. This resort retirement
community on 31 acres has run out of property with only 26 units
left to sell and 14 more on the resale market. Named the "Best
Small Active Adult Retirement Community in America" by the
National Council for Senior Housing and one of the 100 "Best
Master-Planned Communities" by Where to Retire Magazine, Mt.
Meadows is a good example of the kind of premier community most
retirees are looking for.
In addition to its familiar and comfortable design - just like
an old-fashioned neighborhood - Mt. Meadows is special because
it offers investors private ownership of its condominium
residences. This preserves a buyer's capital; includes the
ability to sell at any time or to enhance income through a
reverse mortgage; and, enables purchasers to leave the property
to their heirs. The owners also control management of the
development. There is no "corporate headquarters" dictating
increased fees or changes in popular policies.
Not all retirement properties are structured in this manner. In
many cases, investors are buying a "building". In these
single-building retirement developments, residents are housed in
an apartment with a very small kitchenette. The building has a
lobby and a dining room; and, occasionally meeting rooms or a
library.
Residents often do not "own" their apartment units, and there
can be "buy-in" fees in addition to monthly charges in these
buildings. A vast majority of retirement facilities and
developments in the country are corporate owned. Changing
economic conditions or a change in management can influence
staff, policies and fees for facility residents.
It is incumbent on investors to review the many kinds of
retirement developments, their management structures and
financial models, before deciding where to buy. It is wise to
include the family accountant, financial advisor and/or attorney
in these considerations. But there's one more thing to think
about.
We've all heard real estate's golden rule: It's all about
location, location, location. And that's why it's important to
start looking for your retirement home now and to be ready to
purchase once you find your match. Premier locations are being
developed, and soon won't be available to buyers. That's reason
enough for most 50 year-olds to start looking tomorrow.
Getting into your dream retirement home with very little down
and utilizing rental income to help finance the purchase is an
even more compelling reason to consider investing in a
retirement home today. There are several scenarios that come to
mind. You may have recently become empty nesters and are
considering downsizing your long-term family home - in which you
have considerable equity. This is one of the very few times in
life that the IRS allows you to take your profits, up to
$500,000, tax free. You can buy a smaller, more inexpensive home
with some of the profits, and use a portion of the remainder as
a down payment on your dream retirement home. Depending on the
down payment, monthly rental fees may just cover mortgage
payments, helping pay for the home until you are ready to move
in.
In another scenario, buyers can use the proceeds from a 1031
exchange to fund the purchase price or down payment on a
retirement home. To qualify for this tax exemption, you must
rent your retirement home out for a couple of years. That
fulfills the IRS requirement that you move money from one
investment property to another property intended as an
investment. At that point, or any thereafter, you can sell your
primary dwelling and "convert" your investment property from a
rental into your new primary dwelling - thus avoiding any tax on
the entire transaction. If you use equity from your existing
home, or the proceeds from a refinance to fund the down payment,
you get into your dream retirement home without any significant
outlay of your personal capital. And if you rent the property
until you are ready to retire and move, your renter's money
helps pay for the home.
What should investor's look for in a retirement home that they
intend to rent before occupying? Again, location is a priority
consideration. Most retirement homes are located within an
hour's flight from the buyer's previous, principal residence.
Most are located in areas that have a mild climate; outstanding
recreation, cultural resources and health care facilities; and,
are easy to get to - like many parts of Southern and Central
Florida, known for their retirement communities, and like
Ashland, Oregon - where Mt. Meadows is located. Ashland is home
of the Tony Award-winning Ashland Shakespeare Festival, Southern
Oregon University and the Mt. Ashland Ski Resort.
A mountain-side college-town, Ashland has been named one of the
Top 10 Small Art Towns by John Villani in his book The 100 Best
Small Art Towns in America. It boasts some of the best
restaurants in the Northwest. The area is close to nine lakes
and three major rivers including the wild and scenic Rogue and
Klamath Rivers. And, there's a major airport served by three
airlines just minutes away in Medford. Wal-Mart and a host of
other shops, from outlet stores to boutiques and galleries, are
just five minutes away.
In addition to location, buyers should consider their own unique
financial circumstances. Purchasing a retirement home is a
strategic decision with implications for the future. It is
important to maximize the flexibility and minimize the financial
burden of such a purchase. Resort retirement developments that
allow residents to purchase their properties provide superior
flexibility and a number of creative ways to allocate the costs.
Sometimes the adult children of a retiring couple will fund the
purchase price or down payment for a Mt. Meadows condominium -
and their parents pay a monthly "rent" that covers the mortgage
payment and fees. In this scenario, the kids share the
depreciation of the unit for tax purposes - as well as the
appreciation in real dollars for future profit.
In another version of this model, well-off parents gift their
adult children and wives with the maximum $10,000 allowed - tax
free - on an annual basis. The children then use these funds to
make the down payment on the retirement property - which they
own. In other cases, residents have "loaned" their adult
children the funds necessary to purchase a Mt. Meadows unit,
then left the property to their kids in their wills. The value
of the property in these cases is calculated based on the day of
death, and thus the heirs avoid any previous profits or
appreciation.
However you decide to fund your resort retirement home, the time
to start looking for a premier property that offers you and your
family the maximum in flexibility and investment potential is
right now. In fact, savvy buyers can get into a retirement home
in a number of creative ways and even leverage rental income to
help make monthly mortgage payments until they are ready to move
in.
About the author:
Freelance Writer in Southern Oregon
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