Retiring Boomers Flock to Rural Areas

Source: ConsumerAffairs.com
Date: January 27, 2008

Many baby boomers contemplating retirement are looking for something besides a gated community in the Florida sunshine. After all, this is the generation that defied convention, and those attitudes extend to choosing a place to live once they complete their careers.

While Florida and Arizona continue to rank at the top of the list of retirement destinations, some non-traditional retirement locales, such as North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, are becoming favorite spots as well, according to Pulte Homes' annual baby boomer survey.

A MetLife Mature Market study found that 25 percent of retiring boomers say they plan to stay in a different region of their current state.

A number of rural areas are drawing retirees' attention, offering a break from the hustle and bustle of the urban areas where their jobs are located. In Virginia, a rural peninsula called the Northern Neck, surrounded by Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, has drawn an influx of retirees and boomers who have purchased second homes, with an eye toward retirement.

In the last five years, baby boomers from Washington, Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk and other East Coast cities have been buying up property – some for weekend homes but an increasing number for full-time residences.