There’s a great article in Newsweek about how retirees, baby boomers in particular, are driving the recovery of the housing market. Read the full article here.

Seems buying a home a few years before you actually plan to retire, even in this economy, isn’t such a crazy idea after all:

“According to the National Association of Realtors, people over 55 bought 21 percent of the homes that were sold in 2008, up from 13 percent in 2001. Now, roughly one out of every four baby boomers owns either a vacation home, land, or a rental property in addition to the home that they live in. And some shoppers are looking for transitional homes that they can vacation in now and settle into when they are ready to retire.”

There are definitely great deals to be had across the country. If you can afford to carry two homes for a while until you make the retirement full time, now might be a good time to consider taking the plunge.

Despite a struggling economy, and inaccurate reports that Florida’s population shrunk in 2008, central Florida retirement communities led the surge in helping the state maintain and even grow slightly its population numbers.

Between July 2007 and July 2008 Florida only added just over 100,000 residents. While this is the slowest growth rate the state has experienced since the 1940’s, growth is growth. And its certainly better than the decrease in population that many pundits wrongly predicted.

Flagler, which was the fastest-growing county between 2000 and 2007, jumping from 49,832 to an estimated 93,568, is expected to continue to expand at a rapid rate, to 103,500 by 2010, Smith said. Its coastal location, proximity to Jacksonville and relatively low cost of living, as well as the presence of the large Palm Coast development, contribute to its high ranking, he said.

Other rapidly growing counties are Sumter, which owes its surge in part to … the increasing number of residents at The Villages retirement community, and Osceola County, which receives spillover from nearby Orlando.

Source: http://news.ufl.edu/2008/03/27/florida-population-2/

Reynolds Landing

We just posted reviews of three communities over at GeorgiaforBoomers.com

Linger Longer is the developer of Reynolds Plantation, Reynolds Landing, and Achasta.

Reynolds Plantation and Reynolds Landing are both located an hour outside of Atlanta and Augusta. Both of these adjacent communities revolve around the golf lifestyle.Reynolds Plantation is the newer of the two communities, as Reynolds Landing actually began in 1986 under a different name before being bought by Linger Longer in 2005.

Achasta is located in the North Georgia Mountains about an hour from Atlanta as well. However the focus here is more on the mountain lifestyle.

Just posted a review of Nextville over at Boomers On The Move.

Overall a great primer on where to live and things for boomers to do with your life after retirement.

The book is written by Barbara Corcoran, NBC Today Show real estate correspondent, well known founder of the Corcoran Group.

We’ve just posted the transcript of an exclusive interview with Doug Rietz, founder of the Moving to the Duke City Group on Duke City Fix. (FYI “Duke City” is a nickname for Albuquerque NM.)

You can read the full interview on New Mexico for Boomers.

Here is Part I and Part II of the interview.

For Boomers Media is pleased to announce the launch of Texas for Boomers.

Texas for Boomers is being developed as a hub of information for baby boomers thinking of relocating to the Lone Star State.

In addition to community listings and real estate information, the blog will carry posts by local experts and boomers who have already relocated to Texas.

For Boomers Media is pleased to announce the soft launch of Nevada for Boomers.

All the functionality is in place and look for several guest posts in the coming weeks and months about the current state of the Nevada retirement community and real estate markets.