Retirement Home Planning Tips

Posted on: 10 December 2015

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Living in the American northeast can take a toll on your body, especially with its long, cold winters. As a result, more people are considering purchasing a home in the south for when they get older. The homes that they are purchasing are designed for aging bodies, with minimal stairs and stable areas where people can navigate slowly even when using a walker. However, getting that retirement home in the warmth takes a decent amount of planning. Here are some planning tips in order to make sure that you can get your dream retirement home as smoothly as possible.  

1. Do All of the Hard Work While Both You and Your Spouse are Still Mobile

The first thing that you want to do is make sure that you have an idea of where you would like to live long before you actually hit retirement. You want to have a solid plan in place and an estimated date of when you would like to move. Otherwise, you risk putting off the challenges of selling your current home and moving to a new place until you or your spouse are no longer mobile and the job is much harder. Get your house ready to sell within the first few years of your retirement. Put in the travel needed to find your perfect retirement home while you are still able to easily walk around. Making sure that you complete these tasks early on in the retirement process greatly increase the chances that your dream retirement home will become a reality. 

2. Lock Into Low Rates

If you choose to rent a condo rather than purchase a home because it has all of the space that you need and a great location, make sure that you have a lawyer look over the contract before you sign. This will allow you to make sure that you are locked into the rate at which you sign and won't have to suffer a price hitch. Having a lawyer that you know that you can call for assistance before you even start the home or condo-renting process will make things easier when the time comes to complete a contract. 

3. Spend Down

During the last few years that you spend preparing for retirement itself, do everything that you can to push as much money into your 401k as possible, especially if your employer has a matching rate. You should hopefully have been saving for retirement for an extended period of time, but the last few years before retirement itself can be enough to generate enough employer-matched money to make finances a little bit easier.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in retirement homes (such as The Cedars).