Thinking of retiring is like standing on the beach looking at the open sea…

My wife and I retired in 2017, way back in the pre-pandemic era. At that time we lived in 2000 square feet of big brick home with a large yard and a two car garage! (Of all the things I’ve ever lost, I miss my garage the most!)

Then, along came the big bad wolf! He huffed and he puffed—and we sold the house to him! Happy to see it behind us and retirement in front of us, we suddenly felt as if we were standing on the beach, looking at the open ocean!

Where to from here?

My lovely wife retired that year, and then, very near to her retirement, my company offered me a juicy severance package! We paid off our debts and prepared to follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City to seek the wisdom of “the wizard.”

Our most important concern was not having less income, but rather, how to have less outgo!

Retiring while being debt-free takes away much of that ominous feeling about the situation. Sadly, not everyone is so fortunate as we, but with the proceeds from selling, we paid off the debts and kept enough to find a “retirement starter home.”

The questions remained: Where? What size home? Purchase or rent? How about an apartment? Senior living? Adult only? We needed some good wizardly direction.

The wizard, as it turned out, was our daughter

Of course, there were those few hours where we discussed why not just stay put in the big house!

But, could we continue to support our mansion-on-easy-street? If so, for how long? There was also the question of—why should we stay put? What need do we have of four bedrooms and two baths? (But what about the garage!?) Oh well, my tears will dry.

True, I could find another job. Well, I could! I think?

She—planned when she would retire, my company decided for me, which raised the question: if we have enough to live on as retirees, why struggle to start new employment with another 9-5 PITA?

So the question was not—should we retire, but—where do we retire?

The answer to that was greatly simplified by the fact that our youngest child—our little girl, had recently married and relocated to the east coast of Florida, about four hours south of us. So, instead of Dorothy and Toto returning to Kansas, we followed the yellow brick road to Ormond Beach, FL, to see their new home.

That was when the great and mighty Oz (our daughter), conspired with her mother to see what living arrangements might be available in the area. Could they find a community that would accept a new curmudgeon-in-the-making and his lovely spouse!

Finding The Aberdeen Community Lollipop Guild

So off we set on a long circular trek from Ormond Beach, out through the surrounding environs of Daytona Beach, and back again to Ormond. The last stop made was to a 55+ community called Aberdeen (see the feature image at the top).

Aberdeen was, without doubt, the best kept and most attractive of all the communities we visited. Fortunately, for me, there was only one home available for sale at the time. so the danger of living there was minimalized.

“There’s no way we are living in a trailer park!” I said.

“It’s not a “trailer park,” our daughter replied. “It’s a 55+ manufactured home community. Stop being so negative!”

It was me against mom and daughter, so to remove the complexities of decision making, discussions, negotiations and to make a long story short:

There’s No Place Like (Our manufactured) Home!

Buy What It Is—Make It What You Want

We met the Lollipop Guild representative at the clubhouse and began our tour of the property; a beautifully kept community.

At the one-and-only home available at the time, we met a very sweet lady in her early 90s. She lived in the home with her husband from the time it was newly purchased twenty-five years prior. Sadly, her husband died some years prior, and she was selling her home to live her remaining years with her children.

Positive 1) So, a twenty-five year old home with one owner; that makes it a relatively new home, as homes like it go. Also, it was a Jacobson (top-of-the-line) manufactured home.

Positive 2) The only thing of current value was the eight-year-old roof.

Negative 1) The greatest and most expensive drawback was that it was totally original, i.e., EVERYTHING was old. — Besides the early 1990’s interior that included the deep pile carpet, strips on the walls, plastic-extruded cabinets, outdated bathrooms, and where there was no carpet; linoleum covered floors.

Negative 2) The old AC unit, hot water tank, single-pane windows, landscaping, cracked and lifted driveway, interior and exterior doors, and some bathroom plumbing, where all due for replacement.

RUN FORREST, RUN! Was our first impression.

But wait, wait! First allow me to say this:

My dream-retirement home would have a large room with lots of windows overlooking trees and pretty scenery. A room wherein I would sit at my desk, write, read, and pursue my hobbies amid the sunshine and beauty of nature.

So it was in this aspect alone where the Ginny’s little home captivated me.

(Click Image To Enlarge)

When we walked into the sun-room, there they were: nine large windows, six of which overlooked a small lake teaming with fish, birds, and other wildlife, surrounded by well-kept-lawns and multiple trees including magnolia, willows, maple and water-oak. The scene was idyllic! 

The house would, of course need to be gutted, so I did, at first, reject the idea. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about the nearly twenty feet of windows that our desks would sit next to with the beauty of all that nature just outside.

But…the price was a bit high for all that needed to be done.

There’s No Place Like ( our manufactured) Home

So there you have it? This is where YOU realize that you actually have options fully dependent upon your personal situation and circumstance. Yes, we could have searched for the “ideal” home in the “ideal” location, all move-in ready! But at what price; would it be to our taste; what more would have to be done after move-in?

In a manufactured home community, you purchase a home and pay rent for the property it sits on. So, to my thinking, “Do I want to pay a mortgage, ‘AND’ pay rent?”

As was mentioned, the community is beautiful, well kept, and offers numerous amenities, and here was a home that would need a tremendous amount of work. A task that I have the skill to do most of myself.

So I made Ginny an offer much lower than her asking price. An offer where with we could afford to pay cash! NO MORTGAGE!

Why? Because I wanted that sun room.

Well, she and my wife fell in like with one another, and, she accepted our offer on the premise that we would take care of the home-of-many-memories for her and her husband.

Not Every Home Purchase Requires Rebuilding

Don’t get me wrong. There are many beautiful homes for sale in Aberdeen, and many are at least partially, if not totally remodeled.

Our, or I should say, my desire, was to take the shell of the home and make it what ‘we’ wanted, rather than searching for a home designed to someone else’s taste that we could accept, but likely change anyway.

At that time, ours was the only home for sale here in Aberdeen, but now there are plenty move-in-ready homes to consider throughout the area, although we recommend Aberdeen above the all others.

Take a look at Aberdeen’s listings.  Statistics show that over the next several years, as many as eleven thousand new retirees EVERY DAY will be seeking a retirement residences. Hopefully, some of you will find a great place like this to settle into.

So if you’re thinking about central Florida, check it out! It’s close enough to Orlando to be comfortably separated from it, but still easy access to all the fun just an hour south of us.

What Should You Make Of All This?

Well, I’ll tell you what! When I was still in the workforce, whenever anyone mentioned retirement, I noticed that everyone had a different vision of it. Of course, like so many others I said, “I’m going to work until I drop!”

Instead, I worked until I was dropped.

As to where and how we would retire, well, as I said earlier, the only thing I’d ever envisioned as I “looked out at that open ocean,” so-to-speak, was that room with the windows! That was my entire retirement dream. You also have yours.

Beyond that, well, mountain or valley, north or south, east or west, I really didn’t care. The important thing was that we ended our working life on a high note, and let life take us wherever it desired.

So, one final note:

Regardless of your wealth or lack thereof, your retirement will be what you make it, and regardless of whatever else you do, approach retirement with skepticism and speculation, rather than anticipation. Because, as Forrest so aptly put it:

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get!”

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