Where are all the Boomers going?



The following are excerpts from two of many articles I have found that address baby boomer retirement. I believe we need to examine the boomers and adjust our community values to both attract and accommodate the "new" generation of retirees. Currently more than 75% of our property owners are retired and relatively affluent. Strip mall and hotel developers are not going to reinvigorate our residential community and return home values to where they should be. If we wait for outside interests to create some sort of commercial presence in five to ten years from now, we may miss an opportunity to make our own changes that we will most likely have to make eventually, if we want to remain a viable community. The 2010 census shows that Longboat had a shift in demographics where the number of residents decreased by 41% in a decade. The generation that made Longboat great are no longer here. We need to find a way to welcome a new generation.  The boomers are the answer and we need to find a way to bring them to our community.


Retiring Boomers Impact Demand For Housing

By MARCI SHATZMAN, October 11, 2009

Jeffrey Katz has been selling real estate for seven years to house hunters in the adult communities, and in the past two years he's noticed something new. "Boomers are focused on how old the community is," said Katz, who's with REMAX/Advantage in western Boynton Beach. They think a new community will attract younger seniors. "They want to be among their contemporaries and not their parents' [generation]," he said. Katz said 90 percent of his clients are Baby Boomers who are moving here to retire or buy a second home.

Baby Boomers take on Retirement


May 2, 2010 By Joni
 
The active lifestyle that baby boomers have enjoyed throughout their working life continues into their retirement life. It isn’t enough to just be not working anymore. They demand more from life. Everything this generation does is studied and surveyed. They were the first to be targeted by market analysts and set new standards for generations to come. How business markets to the boomers has also changed. The priorities set by the boomers, no matter what the venue, have become the standard across the country.


The activity level of the newly retired has also impacted our communities. Well known for their activism in political and social issues their entire lives, this generation has brought that energy to their personal lives as well. No longer is a house in the suburbs enough. Now communities are being built to once again feed the need of this aging generation. These communities include a wide variety of amenities to attract these seniors. Fitness centers, walking trails, social outlets and hi-tech security systems are the new standard for these neighborhoods. Convenience to shopping and community centers located nearby is a must. Golf courses, complete with a country club atmosphere, are hi-lights that are very attractive to the active senior and not to be ignored.

We are at a difficult juncture between two generations that has a particularly profound impact on retirement and second home communities. Longboat Key is unusual in that it is almost entirely retirement oriented. On top of that the climate encourages a majority of the residents to seek cooler places for much of the summer. Additionally, aside from the village at the north end, a predominance of large condominium complexes and the lack of a viable community center do not contribute to a sense of community. Each condominium is in a sense self-sufficient. We have wonderful clubs and organizations that are made possible by the efforts of dedicated individuals. We have the Key Club that is the jewel of the island. However, the club is more exclusive than inclusive because of high membership costs that prevent a majority of Longboat  residents from finding a sense of community there. Times have changed. Boomer studies are revealing that the next retirement generation wants to belong. They are active and social.

Longboat Key offers an unusually attractive shopping experience only a few minutes away at the circle and downtown Sarasota. Many thriving retirement communities would love to have such sophisticated shopping so close at hand. I lived for a time in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. On a good day it might take an hour of fighting traffic congestion to reach shops in Beverly Hills. And those were weekdays.

What we do not yet have to offer the boomers is that sense of being part of a vibrant social and active community. Yes we have amenities but they are underdeveloped. We need to open up our beaches to perspective residents. Bike riding on this island is at times dangerous. I have been in many communities that have in the past decade adjusted to the times and created new and attractive activity experiences for their residents. Perhaps the time has come to also change with the times. It could be fun.

Too Far Horizons

This past week three individuals either emailed or called me after reading my column in the LBK News advocating immediate rejuvenation of our user-friendly community quotient. In the column I said that the village was a wonderful place to live with lots of social activities and welcoming neighbors.

Dennis from Ohio is 71 and stays at the Far Horizons a month every winter. He is now ready to retire and is looking for a place to live. After reading my column Dennis called me to ask about houses for sale in the village at the north end of Longboat. During our conversation he expressed agreement with my statements that when he visits Longboat he feels isolated and lonely as there are no apparent ways to meet people outside the small group of fellow tourists staying at the resort. Dennis wishes there were things to do on Longboat that would enable him to enjoy the company of others. At the end of our conversation Dennis said that he is now actively looking for a home in the village expressly because of the sense of community that exists within the village.

Bill and Anne emailed from Rye New York. They also read my blog which turned up on a Google search about retirement communities in Florida. Bill and Anne subsequently called after I returned their email. Bill and Anne found exactly what they were looking for in my description of the rich social interaction that thrives in the village. They inquired about specific social activities in the community and about being dog-friendly. I told them about dog-thirty which occurs at 5:30 each afternoon where all the dogs bring their humans to play and socialize. Since then I have received two more phones calls asking about specific houses in the village that are for sale. I have referred them to a real estate agent familiar with the village.

All three of these people are ready to move here now and they want to live where there are things to do with others. This is far different than the model being advanced in the new vision plan where tourism is touted as the essential element in the financial wellbeing of Longboat Key. Where in fact the very model being advanced in the new vision plan would drive away the three people I have been talking about. They do not want to live in a motel. They want to find a welcoming community where people do things together. Tourist do not do things with residents.

Dennis and Bill and Anne are ready to buy homes today and become residents of Longboat Key today. The plan being put forth in the vision plan targets affluent tourists in their 40s and 50s as future home buyers. Unless they can find high paying jobs in the area, it will be decades before they get here. Dennis, Anne and Bill are here today with their checkbooks in hand.

I agree that we need to be looking ahead and cultivating future residents in all our marketing. But the vision plan is a Too Far Horizon for today and our community’s immediate and short-range plans and needs. When real estate agents market our island to perspective home buyers today, they should be able to brag about all the wonderful things to do on Longboat, and all the friendly neighbors they will get to know.

The vision plan looks too far into the future to be of any real use in today’s economics and community aspirations. Ask yourself how many years you think it will be before some brave developer builds a motel or hotel on Longboat Key. Ask yourself if you would relocate into a community with markedly more tourism and tourism related businesses. Ask yourself if you would like to see significantly more people on the beach, on the road and in our restaurants. Ask yourself if you would prefer to see people moving to Longboat in the very near future, or wait until the tourist based vision plan finds investors willing to build new motels or open new stores to the extent that Longboat is a tourist attraction, and then wait another twenty years for the tourist's kids to leave home.

I believe the proposed vision plan relies too heavily on horizons too far distant into an unpredictable financial future. I feel we need to find ways to attract residents to our community right now. To me the best way to do that is to show Dennis, Anne and Bill that Longboat is a friendly community with many community oriented activities that promote friendship and meeting new people. Dennis, Anne and Bill already think that Eldorado is to be found in the village at the north end of Longboat Key. We welcome them.

All Together Now

The median age of Longboat Key residents is 68. We are an upscale residential community composed  for the most part, of retirees, many of whom spend only a few weeks a year on the island. Whether we like it or not that is our major demographic, and we as a community must deal with what we are.

I read a comment in one of the newspapers some time ago that used the term "Deadboat Key". I have spoken to several real estate sales people who have said that younger home buyers do not want to live on Longboat because it is "unfriendly" and there is nothing to do. Is that true?

I live in the village. Here, the residents are out and about in the neighborhood. It is a friendly welcoming enclave of modest homes. Every month we have a village get-together and potluck dinner. Anyone is welcome. The village has several activity groups and a lively social network. I have lived in the village over 25 years and it is the best place I have ever lived. Most of my friends and neighbors share my appreciation for the kicked-back friendly intimate lifestyle we enjoy.

I believe Longboat needs to become more user-friendly. Even though some people do not want our island to be known as a community of affluent retired people, that is what we are if you look at our population.

I have always supported the tennis center because I believe it enriches the lives of hundreds of our residents and offers a popular social activity to visitors and perspective home buyers.

Even though tennis is a good physical activity, along with golf and of course swimming in the beautiful gulf, many of our residents may be interested in less strenuous activities such as Bocce Ball and other outdoor activities requiring less stamina than tennis. Our climate may discourage many residents from participating in the more active social activities such as golf or tennis much of the year. Perhaps a few town Bocce Ball and shuffleboard courts with shaded seating might allow residents to get out more and find social interactions year-round.

I want to promote many more community activities that draw the residents together, provide more social activity choices and improve our image as a great place to live and buy a home.

The town has an infrastructure fund with proceeds from the tourism taxes collected by the counties. Perhaps a small portion of those funds might be used to create and promote social activities on Longboat to be enjoyed by all. Other communities such as "The Villages", an upscale planned retirement community on central Florida, have a robust social activities infrastructure that is well attended and supported by the residents.

Here are a few ideas I have that might be worth examining:



Bocce Ball courts can add utility to our existing parks at relatively little cost. Shaded seating affords residents the opportunity to exercise and meet other island residents in relative comfort year-round. Perhaps the town could organize league play and even an invitational tournament that would attract off-island players to our island as the triathlon drew hundreds of contestants to Longboat for a day.

I have a friend who moved from Longboat to "The Villages" several years ago, and is still happy with their decision. My friend loves all the community social activities that are available. Weekly dances in the village squares are very popular as are outdoor activities. We have ample room in one of our parks to install an outdoor dance floor with appropriate LED lighting. Add a DJ and you have a starlit evening to enjoy.

Longboat has no centralized organization to promote and manage community activities. Perhaps we need one. It is a lot of effort for our residents to sponsor activities which tend to be restricted to a particular condominium association or neighborhood. Perhaps we might all enjoy more community-wide activities. The St. Jude's luncheon and various other fundraising functions are always well supported.

If the town managed weekly potluck dinners in the park then they would be able to manage attendence each week. If the town installed numbers of shaded outdoor picnic tables and benches in the public areas, perhaps more people would organize activities in the parks. With a median age of 68, I doubt that many of our residents want to have to stand in the hot sun to be a part of an otherwise enjoyable community social gathering.

I believe our community needs to find more ways to come together and to offer an expanded living experience to residents and visitors alike. Perhaps local government is the most able to create and organize community resources in an intentional effort to grow our community.

We need to be a part of the competition to attract the baby boomers to Longboat. The current retiring generation has different asperations than the people who built our community a generation ago. The boomer's aspirations are more active, and if one looks at "The Villages" they want an increased sense of community.

We can easily increase social interaction on Longboat in a number of ways. Certainly a community center will be a major asset in attracting new residents. In the meantime, there are many other activities that can be organized.

Perhaps the vision plan might address community activities more and pay less attention to the tourists.