Retirees make shorter-distance moves; want services close by

The American Dream used to be: find a decent job, raise some kids, support your community, fix up your house and then when you retired, dump it all and move to Florida.

Retirees are still moving to Florida, but surprisingly not so much.

According to US Census data, in 1990 one of four retirees sold it all and moved to the Sunshine State.

From 2005 to 2010, that number dropped to one in seven.

Just two years ago, only 1.6% of retirees 55-65 moved across state lines. Less than 2%.

What’s the reason for this trend?

Who knows? Hurricanes? Alligators? Fire ants? Warmer weather up north? All those shiny new casinos?

Perhaps because people are living longer, they are not ready to uproot their lives entirely and move away from family, friends, etc.

But those retirees are downsizing and moving further away from large cities to cash in on their existing homes and to save on a newer home in “exurbia” – a place further away, and less expensive,  than suburbia.

As a real estate broker and agent, there’s a tremendous marketing opportunity here to capture this demographic – a demographic with money and fewer credit problems we might add.

Because not only are many retirees moving shorter-distances, they are also more likely to prefer amenities that don’t require much driving.

With the IDX/Lifestyle search engine SpatialMatch, you can promote your real estate office as the one that can help these retirees find a smaller home that is close to the places they will frequent – such as golf courses, community centers, doctors, chiropractors, hospitals etc.

With its enormous database saturated with over 100 layers of neighborhood information, the SpatialMatch tool can display all those important locations in relation to the type of home they desire.

And the display is very easy to understand, all color-coded and laid out on an interactive map. Distance indicators included.

“This group is going to be less prone to driving across town for their needs whether it’s groceries, prescriptions or visits to the doctor,” said John Perkins, CEO of Home Junction Inc. , which developed SpatialMatch. “The savvy real estate pro is going to address this need by promoting the fact that they have this very useful tool to help retirees find an ideal location that cuts down on the time they need to spend driving around in their car.”

Today’s retirees are probably more active than their earlier counterparts. But in their golden years they want to be active doing the things they like to do.  Sitting in traffic is not one of them.

With the SpatialMatch search engine embedded on your site combined with a full IDX, you have the flexibility to address the concerns of many demographic groups, even one that’s just not ready to live under a palm tree.

To read a Reuter’s news service article about this new trend, click here.

For a tour of how SpatialMatch can help you offer solutions for every age group, click here.