The Best Small Towns for Retirees | Topouzis & Associates, P.C.

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August 19, 2019

The Best Small Towns for Retirees

The Best Small Towns for Retirees

There is a rather unfortunate tendency among older Americans to seek out the cheapest locations for themselves to retire, given that in retirement the funds for living tend to be on the dwindle. Often this will mean finding a city in which to live, so as to defray costs at the price of comfort. But there’s little question that a good number of people would prefer a different sort of living—the small town treatment. And it turns out that there are some areas on the cheaper end of the home-price spectrum that offer retirees these small town benefits—among them a location in our service area: Dunedin, Florida.

In a recent report by 55places, which bills itself as a resource for information about active adult communities, the organization took a look at the affordability of smaller communities in the United States to determine where people entering retirement might most easily be able to relocate in order to achieve that less-hectic lifestyle. The researchers used data from the U.S. Census in order to take stock of metropolitan areas throughout the nation where the population numbered up to 55,000—also using rubrics to eliminate particular locations based on crime rates, extreme real estate prices, and a too-high cost of living. This brought the number of potential small-town retirement sites down to 215. Among those that remained, the researchers used 12 data points including average home sale price, tax friendliness to retirees, active adult communities, local health care options, job growth, median cost of living, and so forth.

Also included in the report was a survey of retirement-age Americans, which gauged the beliefs and hopes they had for retirement. When asked how much they want to pay for their retirement home, 30 percent of respondents indicated they wished to pay $200,000 or less. 62 percent wanted to pay $300,000 or less.

Whatever price a retiree pays for a home, it’s important they achieve clear title. At Topouzis & Associates, P.C., we perform title searches and remedy problems of title in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and, importantly, Dunedin, Florida. We back these services with title insurance for both lenders and owners. Contact us if you’re considering purchasing a new property, whether for yourself or as an investment, so we can help ensure that you achieve true ownership of your property without having to deal with unforeseen hassles arising from problems created by someone else in the past.