The interior of the community center at Sun City Anthem in Las Vegas.  There are indoor and outdoor pools, exercise rooms, game rooms, class rooms, health care facilities, a restaurant and spectacular views.

Questions to ask yourself about Sunbelt retirement Retirement communities in the sunbelt states have come a long long way from the dumpy little boxes that the Del Webb corporation built  in Arizona a couple of decades ago.  Then, the tiny one bedroom retiree homes were substitutes for living in a trailer park.  Maybe there was a pool in the community, but mostly the idea was to build something cheap for older people with limited incomes. Today, many age-restricted communities are like country clubs.  The homes are spacious, even luxurious--with prices to match.   The amenities seem endless.  And homeowners' fees get higher with each "extra" within the community.

Luxury retirement vs. economy class

With a little scouting around, it is possible to find other less luxurious retirement communities with fewer amenities and significantly lower price tags even in major retirement centers like Las Vegas and Phoenix.  Ask yourself:  Do you need an onsite health care facility?  Do you need an onsite golf course?  Do you need an onsite billiards room?  An onsite restaurant?  

The most important factors to consider before you move to a sunbelt retirement village are:

 1.  What you really need to have within the community 

 2.  What you are willing to pay for it

  3.  What you can find outside the walls in the larger city or town where the retirement development is located 

City life, Country Life

The other big question to ask:  "Is living in a big city like Vegas or Phoenix best for you?"   Some builders are now moving out into lower cost areas with their newest retirement villages.  For example, there is a retirement village being built in Mesquite, about 40 miles up the road from Las Vegas.  The cost?  Significantly less than at comparable communities in Vegas.  The amenities are similar.  For more details about retiring to Las Vegas, click here.

Some retirement communities allow potential homeowners to rent a villa for a few days within the community to "test drive"  the experience of living there.  Ask the builder about this.  

Snowbird Villas

Phoenix and some areas of Florida offer retirees different choices: communities that are basically winter escapes for snowbirds.  Come March they empty out as everyone goes back home.   Other retirees live year 'round in Arizona and Florida --but, boy, it is sizzling hot in the summer in both areas.  Las Vegas, which also has long, scorching hot summers, does not have many seasonal snow bird communities.

Hot Summers Mean Living Indoors

If you are someone who enjoys being outdoors you will find that in the hot summers of Nevada and Arizona, you will spend 4 or 5 months every summer living inside in air conditioning.  It is simply too hot to go outside for any length of time.  And in Las Vegas where winter weather can be freezing, you will spend a couple of more months every year inside.   For some people this is not a problem, but it is for other retirees.

NOTE:  All names on this site have been changed to protect individual privacy.  The stories are real, the names are not.