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Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Despite images of retirees lounging on Florida beaches and playing on Arizona golf courses, many middle-aged and older Americans plan to stay right where they are when they hit their golden years.
Forty-three percent of 45- to 65-year-olds anticipate remaining in their current residence throughout their retirement, according to an Ipsos/USA TODAY survey of 1,170 adults in that age bracket conducted Aug. 30 to Sept. 5.
At the same time, home values that have recovered from the mid-2000s housing bust appear to be leading a smaller but growing number of people to set their sights on other regions of the country, with 33% of those in that age range saying they'll move. Another 24% aren't sure what they'll do.
“The vast majority of older adults want to stay in their homes and communities,” says Rodney Harrell, director of livability thought leadership for AARP. “They want to be near their family and near their church” and friends.
But Hans Nordby, chief economist of CoStar, a research firm for commercial and multifamily real estate, notes that in the past year home values finally surpassed their previous peak by some measures. That, he says, will likely prompt more older Americans to sell their houses and move either within their communities or to other regions.
Lisa Rhodes, 58, and her husband, Lee, tried to sell their four-bedroom house in Dauphin, Pa., several years ago but were offered $70,000, below the $100,000 or so they paid for it. Now that the housing market has recovered and the couple spent about $70,000 in upgrades, Lisa figures it’s worth more than $200,000.
Lisa Rhodes, 58, and her husband, Lee, tried to sell their four-bedroom house in Dauphin, Pa., several years ago but were offered $70,000, below the $100,000 or so they paid for it. Now that the housing market has recovered and the couple spent about $70,000 in upgrades, Lisa figures it’s worth more than $200,000.
That, she says, is giving the couple the confidence to pull the trigger and move to Concord, N.C., in a few years after they spend some time traveling the country in a recreational vehicle.
“There’s just nothing here to do,” she says, adding they would also like to ride their new motorcycles year-around. “We don’t like the cold weather anymore.” And they want a smaller house with less upkeep now that their three adult children are grown.
Concord, she says, is a quaint town where people are friendly and the weather is warmer but not too hot. Although an older daughter, son-in-law and 5-year-old grandchild live in the Dauphin area, Lisa says she and her husband can visit often. “It’s only seven hours from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.”
The Carolinas and Georgia are gaining some on Florida, Arizona and Nevada as top retirement havens, says Jon Rork, an economics professor at Reed College who studies senior migration. The Carolinas don’t tax Social Security income and Florida doesn’t tax withdrawals from retirement accounts. Patrick Beagle, owner of WealthCrest Financial Services in Springfield, Va., says lower taxes is the chief reason many of his retiree clients move to other states.
Of the Americans who plan to pull up stakes, 42% say they’ll head to a different state while 22% plan to get another home in-state, in many cases to downsize, the Ipsos/USA TODAY survey shows. Fifty-four percent of all the prospective movers say their next home will be smaller.
Aaron Buck, 48, of Menominee, Mich., a stay-at-home dad, would like to remain in the area when his wife, Kirsten, a doctor, retires if his two kids also decide to live in the region after they finish school. He cites its great fishing, beaches and biking, though he says the couple might spend part of the winter in a warm-weather state such as Florida. But they’re bent on moving from their six- bedroom house — which Aaron spends about 20 hours a week cleaning — to a smaller house or condo.
“It would mean more hours for fishing” and other activities, he says.
A coming wave of Baby Boomers who plan to downsize but stay in big Northeastern or California cities will strain housing supplies in those areas because restrictive zoning laws now limit the development of condos or smaller homes, CoStar’s Nordby says. But he predicts zoning officials ultimately will approve a crop of new complexes that are restricted to 55-and-older residents and so don’t burden local school systems with added costs.
If all the older Americans surveyed by Ipsos/USA TODAY who are dreaming of retirements in new houses or far-flung regions realize those visions, it too, would mark a significant shift. From 2012 to 2016, just 3% to 4% of Americans 65 and older moved annually, according to Census figures.
“There’s a much bigger number who say they’re going to move and then don’t,” Rork says. “It’s the hassle, the physical cost, and the psychological cost of leaving friends behind.” Many respondents to the Ipsos/USA TODAY survey who plan to retire in place cited the fact that their mortgages are paid off and they don’t want to incur new housing expenses.
Kysa Gilkerson, 58, of Brookings, S.D., a retired animal researcher, and her husband, Jim, live on their farm along with their son and daughter-in-law, grandchildren and parents — four generations in three houses on the same property. Temperatures are routinely stuck below zero for much of the winter, leading her to sometimes consider moving south.
“I come home and kick off my frozen clothes and wished I lived in a warmer climate,” she says. But, “I am tied to my family,” she adds, noting that she provides daycare for some of her grandchildren and helps her elderly parents. “I can’t imagine that I would actually move.”
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