Blogging Your Way to Your Retirement Community

Bloggers Providing Deeper Insight into a Retirement Community’s Lifestyle

            Poinciana, FL (Oct. 11, 2011) – It’s no secret. The internet has changed the way people are searching for their next home. Experts estimate that upwards of 90% of all potential home buyers now begin their search online. As such, builders are investing heavily to give their website visitors plenty of information about their homes and in the case of 55+ active adult communities, their lifestyle.

            Builder websites may be a great starting point for information, but as with most marketing tools, they tend to focus on home designs, community amenities and activities, and special offers to visit or discounts on homes.

            But now, social networking has brought another dimension to the search process, especially as it applies to how the 55+ market evaluates a particular community’s lifestyle. Community bloggers. And if the idea of someone 55 and older blogging seems unlikely, you’re in for a big surprise. Search the term “senior blogs” and you’ll find page after page of sites dedicated to 55+ readers on topics ranging from health and dating, to finance and employment, to travel and yes, retirement housing.

            Recently, one builder actually recruited and included community bloggers to its website. Avatar Holding, builders of the Solivita and CantaMia active adult communities in Florida and Arizona helped its community residents create the “Living Younger With Me” blog found at www.solivita.com/younger-next-year. The blogs, posted by three different residents, chronicle their participation in community events, their relationships with new friends, community attributes, local activities, a much more. Together they have collaborated on more than 300 posts.

            Anyone following Gabby Thomas’s blog can learn about one of her biggest problems – staying on a consistent exercise schedule. The retired principal from Brooklyn, New York then goes on to discuss her participation with the morning “Splash & Go” water exercise class. She also touches on many of the things her family and grandchildren enjoy when they visit Solivita, located near the Orlando theme parks.

            John Robinson from Meriden, Connecticut also contributes vignettes about many of the activities he and his family-members participate in when they visit Solivita. But he also will share some stories about this “pet-friendly” community or its hand chime choir. John is also a veteran and he delivers a poignant story about a scholarship program for ROTC graduates created by Veteran’s Club of Solivita where he serves as a Director.

            If you happen to be a nature lover, you might find Ginger Allain’s blog educational. A retired librarian from El Dorado, Kansas, Ginger is an outdoor enthusiast and she often blogs and posts pictures of the abundant wildlife that also calls Solivita home. She also shares frequent stories about her new neighbors and their involvement in the community, including the 46 residents who joined the Solivita Travel Club on its recent trip to Alaska.

            This is just a sampling of blog topics that provide prospective residents with a much deeper understanding of what goes on behind the scenes at Solivita. And the posts are not just a monologue. Comments abound. Gary and Eva responded to one post with the comment:

WOW...Gabby…now I can see what we are in store for. I hope our building process goes as well as yours and Joe. We are on the corner of Villa Park. Love your Pics.

Diahann responded to another with:

I am soooooo jealous of all the fun you guys are having down in Solivita and can’t wait to visit. What in the world is pickleball? Only in Florida can you have so much fun!!!

Louise posted:

Enjoyed READING all of your BLOGS and it seems that U all have so much fun down there.

            Retirement expert Gene Warren of TW+A Research in Phoenix estimates that as much as 20% of the Baby Boom population will move to another state when they retire. That gives this new wave of active adult community bloggers and audience of about 16 million people who are looking to find out more about the community of their choice – before they relocate.

            Just as the internet changed the way American’s shop for a new home, the explosion of social networking among the 55+ population is now redefining the way they can find out more about the active adult communities they are considering.

            Research from the Internet & American Life Project of the Pew Research Center shows the number of social networkers aged 50 and older came close to doubling from April 2002 to May 2010, a surge that far surpassed the growth rate of new younger users.

            Blogging. It’s not just for the young. It’s for the young at heart too.

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