Read The Fine Print, Then Choose

Sun Herald

Sunday February 24, 2008

By Fran Molloy

RETIREES are migrating to a growing number of luxury retirement resorts in holiday destinations along Australia's east coast, downsizing their city homes and using the cash to upgrade their lifestyle to permanent holiday status.

Attracted by new developments featuring low-maintenance designer villas and extras such as pools and golf courses, empty-nesters in their 50s are moving much earlier than their own parents, who often struggled to maintain large homes until ill-health forced them into a nursing home.

Catherine Graham heads Seniors Housing Online, a directory service listing about 1200 over-55 property developments nationally. She says there's been a revolution in the retirement living sector, driven by baby boomers with a different attitude to money than their frugal parents.

More than three-quarters of her website visitors are looking for a resort-style village setting, with 19 per cent wanting some low-level support services and only 6 per cent seeking high levels of care. "If they eventually need extra care, they want it to be discreet and more like five-star hotel services," she says.

Glossy brochures feature couples walking on beaches, fiftysomethings working out in designer gym gear or using laptops; there's no mention of ageing or illness. Few resorts have medical facilities or onsite assisted care options; those are features of the less trendy retirement village market, rather than these gated resorts.

Luxury retirement housing falls into different categories and a complicated ownership and fee structure can hide the real cost of these properties. Many promise strong capital gains though typically costs are kept low with a "deferred management fee," where an annual fee covering a portion of the capital costs of community facilities is deducted when the property is sold.

Kaye Fallick, publisher of the About Seniors web portal, warns that people "need to read and understand the contracts and get independent advice" before they sign up.

COASTING ALONE

Other options the mid-north coast:

? Broadwater Gardens, Port Macquarie

www.broadwatergardens.com.au

? Carnegie Cove, Port Macquarie

www.carnegiecove.com.au

? Aevum Golden Ponds Resort, Forster

www.aevum.com.au

? Halliday Shores, Hallidays Point

www.hallidayshores.com.au

? Tea Gardens Grange, Tea Gardens

www.teagardensgrange.com.au

Couple find coast is clear

ALAN KENMARE says he had always wanted to live by the coast but never dreamed he would be able to afford it.

These days, he and his wife Pam walk along Black Head Beach every day - just minutes from the three-bedroom villa they bought in September last year.

Alan says the guest bedroom is large enough to accommodate their daughter and her four children when the family come for weekend visits. "The kids love it, it's given them a great holiday location," he says.

The couple raised their family in Sydney's Picnic Point but after 32 years there decided to move to Mount Annan, hoping to slow down before retiring.

They ran a food distribution business but found they hadn't moved far enough. "The traffic was shocking, it just seemed to get busier each year," Alan says. They discovered the Halliday Shores retirement resort by chance. Less than a year later, they moved in. "We don't regret a minute of it."

© 2008 Sun Herald

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