An Active Adult Community Blog

Winter tends to linger in the Midwest. It is sometimes as if the cold seeps into your bones, spurring many to boost their thermostats to keep their home feeling warm and cozy.

If you are a new zero-entry homeowner, you may be concerned about energy costs during these chilly months. If you want to save on your heating bill but can’t do a lot of home repair or upgrades on your own, the following energy-saving tips can be useful.

Contrary to popular belief, getting older doesn’t mean getting set in our ways. Anyone, at any age, can make positive life changes. Each of us can benefit from stepping back and evaluating our lives in order to focus on where we want to go next. Here are some of the major changes that many of us experience as we move into our fifties and beyond.

Maintaining a close group of friends as you age can be difficult. Something that starts off as easily as knocking on a front door asking if so-and-so can go play can turn into scheduling dinner with a friend three weeks in advance—and then rescheduling two times. As interests change and people move on in their lives, friendships tend to go by the wayside in favor of jobs, kids, and family. 

Outdoor living provides comfort, relaxation, and enjoyment that’s hard to beat. Fresh smells, cool breezes, and warm sunshine provide the perfect backdrop for dinner parties, morning reading sessions, and laughter with friends and family. While you might be used to having a deck for this purpose, there are benefits to having a patio with a concrete slab instead. Contrary to what you might think, this feature doesn’t have to be drab and boring. 

Active adult communities provide some distinct advantages over remaining in the family home after the kids have moved away. When researching your options for your next home, it’s important to separate myth from fact. Here are five common myths about active adult communities. 

With an empty nest, you’ve decided it’s time to move into a home that better fits your new lifestyle. The question now is what type of home that is. While the simplicity of moving into an existing home is appealing, you have specific wants and needs for your next home that you don’t want to compromise—and might not be able to find in the limited choices available on the market. 

You could build your custom dream home and get everything you want down to the last detail. However, that means you need to be ready to commit to the work of planning every last detail as well as paying the premium price that comes with a custom build. There is a middle road, however: purchasing a new personalized home. 

Are you a recent empty nester wondering what you’ll do with all the extra space in your current home, or are you simply tired of shoveling your long driveway in the winter? Maybe it’s been several years since your kids moved out and on with their own lives, and you feel lonely or out of place in your current neighborhood without them. 

As you’re preparing to build your new home, one of the major decisions you’ll need to make is the type of foundation you want for your property. When choosing between a slab and basement foundation, there are several factors to consider. It’s important to evaluate your personal needs and select the design that’s most practical for your lifestyle. Here are a few assessments to help you decide: basement or no basement.

You found your dream home, settled in, and suddenly, 25 years (or more) have passed! Your life is dramatically different now, and you want a home that reflects it. As any veteran homeowner knows, there’s one major obstacle standing between you and your dream home: applying for the mortgage. Don’t worry, though! It’s just like riding a bike—and you don’t even need a helmet. 

You’ve got an empty nest now, and you’re torn. Should you stay in your family home and remodel it or sell your house and move into the home of your dreams? Here are some of the benefits of each option to help you decide what to do with your empty nest.