Retirement should be a time to celebrate. More time to travel, to spend with family, to enjoy your hobbies. More time for whatever you want.

But there are two major factors that go into being able to do what you want: where you live and how much savings you have. One of the best ways to control both of those is to downsize your home.

Selling your family home can be a difficult decision but doing so may offer a nice addition to your nest egg, and you can choose wherever you want to live for your rightsized new retirement life.

Tips for Finding Independent Living Retirement Communities Near You

In many cases, a great way to start the process of researching new places to live is with an internet searches such as “senior living near me” or “retirement communities near me.” If you’re using the world’s most popular search engine, Google, this may result in three types of listings:

• Local results: If you see a map and a bunch of yellow review stars, you’ve found the local results. These are listings from Google’s business profiles of communities Google has deemed close to you, with positive reviews. Of course, something like senior living can often be an odd thing to review, so these local results aren’t you’re only choice.
• “Standard” listings: Scroll past the local results and you’ll find the main Google results for communities near you. Disconnected from Google’s business profiles, these are links directly to websites that Google thinks will be relevant to you. This is a great opportunity to click each listing, research it a bit, then return to the results.
• Ads: You can tell which listings in your search results are ads because they’ll be tagged with the bolded word “Ad.” Don’t discount these simply because an organization paid for you to see them! On the contrary, if an organization considered this worth advertising on, it means they take you and themselves seriously, and are willing to prove it with their wallet.

 

Clicking through each of these listings can give you a nice short list of senior living near you worth considering. Now it’s time to do your research and to determine what, exactly, you want out of such a community.

For example:

• Do you want high-end amenities and services?
• A full schedule of activities and even excursions?
• Fine dining options always available?
• A single family home, townhome, cottage, apartment, or other type of living space?
• To do your own landscaping and other chores like snow removal, or have it handled for you?
• Included healthcare services should you ever need a higher level of assistance?
• Less of any of these particular services for a lower cost?
• More luxury than stated here at a higher cost?

Read on for more tips on finding the best retirement community for you in your area.

Amenities Wherever You Go

The decision to choose a single retirement community over another, if they are both in a location you like and a cost you’re comfortable with, often comes down to the amenities offered. If you’re looking for specific types of amenities, such as fitness centers, swimming pools, art studios, crafting workshops, or others, it can be difficult to make a decision if one community has some preferred amenities while another community has others.

When this happens, you may need to travel further down the Google list to try to find one that offers everything you’re after. Or, you may decide that it’s worth spending a bit more money than initially planned in order to fulfill all your amenity desires. After all, the hope here is that you’ll never have to move again, and you want to make sure you’re as fulfilled as possible.

There also may be those rare opportunities where you come upon a network of retirement communities. An example is Acts Retirement-Life Communities, which manages 28 campuses across the United States. Three of those campuses happen to be so close together in Montgomery County, PA that residents are able to share their amenities. Shuttles take residents back and forth between them, creating access to multiple swimming pools and fitness centers, different restaurants, and other amenities that may exist at one of the campuses and not the other. In this instance, residents gain access to three sets of amenities in one.

“Near Me” Independent Living for Seniors Doesn’t Have to Mean What You May Think

Many older adults feel they have no choice but to stay local when they transition from an existing home to a retirement community. This is, of course, why web searches for “independent living for seniors near me” is such a popular search term! They may have family nearby and are looking in retirement to spend more time with grandkids, not less.

But even if you do find a wonderful senior living community near you, it doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the wonderful types of freedom associated with being retired, which include being able to travel whenever you’d like.

Some communities are part of a larger network. Acts Retirement-Life Communities is one such organization, where there are 26 lovely communities across the country. One of the benefits of Acts is that you can treat the whole network as one giant community. What that means is that you are welcome to visit and stay at any of the communities within the Acts network. Live in Maryland but want to vacation in Florida? Or North Carolina? Or visit near a relative in Georgia? You can! Acts can provide you a room and access to all the amenities of any of the communities.

This means choosing an organization like Acts ensures more freedom than you’ll probably ever actually use. No matter what your local retirement community offers, you can fully enjoy having a safe and affordable place to stay, whether you’re simply paying a short visit or taking a longer vacation. In this way, your ability to enjoy your retirement and all the things that go with it, such as visiting places you were never able to while still working, isn’t limited but instead enhanced – and all without putting a travel budget dent in that nest egg.

Peace of Mind, Near You or Wherever You Go

A common fear many have about retirement is being able to access high-quality healthcare if ever needed. We may worry that the healthcare options near us aren’t ideal, or that we’re too isolated from specialist medical facilities. We may simply not want to move into a community only to have to move again should we need a higher level of care like assisted living, requiring transferring to a nearby assisted living facility.

During your research, you may have come across continuing care retirement communities near you. This is potentially the solution to that healthcare concern.

CCRCs are retirement communities that provide a full spectrum of healthcare. What this means is that you can enter as an independent living resident, living in your own home, playing tennis each day, taking trips into the nearest city to see a show or enjoy a museum. But, should you ever need a higher level of care, additional services such as assisted living and skilled nursing are available right there on the same campus. You don’t have to move anywhere, and typically you don’t have to pay any more cost either. You are already taken care of, should you need it.

Additionally, networks of CCRCs offer an even greater advantage. If, for example, you live at an Acts community, and decide to take us up on our offer from the section above to visit a community in a different area, you not only get to take advantage of all that community’s amenities, you can also feel safe knowing your protected should anything happen to your health. Our healthcare experts will be there to assist you with whatever you need, should you need it, and we can help transport you back to your main community. This offers massive amounts of peace of mind for retirees who would otherwise be worried about healthcare issues or emergencies while on the road, allowing you to truly enjoy yourself while at your home, or your home away from home.

“Near Me” Isn’t Restrictive When You’re Part of a Family

Whether you want the freedom to travel with ease, want to enjoy all the different amenities you love, or want to ensure you’ll always have the best healthcare options open to you no matter where you go, joining a retirement community network like Acts is a perfect choice. Suddenly, you don’t need to feel limited by a web search for “retirement communities near me.” Your reach has become significantly enhanced.

Now, it’s simply time to start researching. Conduct your search — type in “senior living near me” and start assessing. Take note of the campus, the lifestyle, the amenities, the costs, the housing options. Then make a short list and start visiting the campuses! Please note that many communities may not include costs right on their site, which makes sense, the pricing structures may depend on certain selections and choices. Don’t be put off by requests for contact information to receive costs or other details — this is common, and allows both you and the community to more easily determine if you would be a good fit.

Happy researching!