You’ve worked hard your whole life, made smart financial decisions, and prepared for this moment: retirement!
Both exciting and frightening, retirement is a major step in the American dream. Like everything you’ve done so far, you need to take your time and make the right plan. That shouldn’t be hard, after all, it’s what you’ve been doing for decades.
Best Places to Retire in Arizona
One of the major decisions you’ll have to make is where to retire. There are many places to retire in Arizona, giving you top-quality retirement choices. With that in mind let’s look at some of the best cities you can choose…
Buckeye
As a suburb of Phoenix, Buckeye, Arizona offers all the amenities of a big city with the community and heart of a small town. This city has several planned retirement communities, including Verrado, which was named the Best Master-Planned Community in the United States by Where to Retire Magazine.
The city of Buckeye has an excellent local economy, driven by outstanding businesses and a wonderful sense of community. You’ll also find engaging community events like the farmer’s market, Buckeye Days, and more! When you want to retire in Arizona to a town with a great community with plenty of character, few places can match Buckeye, Arizona.
Litchfield Park
This is a gorgeous town located very close to the city of Phoenix, giving you quick access to all the events and excitement of the large city. This town has top-quality retirement communities, including La Loma Village and Estrella Estates Gracious Retirement Living, giving you a comfortable home near golf courses, parks, and shopping.
There are many top-notch golf courses nearby, including the Wigwam Golf Club and the Palm Valley Golf Club. This excellent community is packed with activities all year, including the Arts in the Park Concert Series and the Wigwam Festival for the Fine Arts.
Goodyear
The city of Goodyear is one of the most vibrant and exciting towns in the Phoenix area. The town not only has an excellent character, there are many top-notch retirement communities, including PebbleCreek and CantaMia.
When you live in Goodyear, you’ll be able to enjoy all of their wonderful attractions on a regular basis. They have beautiful parks, including the Goodyear Community Park, which has tennis courts, softball fields, and walking trails. With plenty of activities and a welcoming community, Goodyear is one of the best places to retire in Arizona.
Glendale
With comfortable and engaging retirement communities, a vibrant population, and plenty of parks and recreation opportunities, Glendale is one of the best places to retire in Arizona. One of the top reasons to choose Glendale is the excellent retirement communities, such as the Casa del Sol Resort and Palm Shadows. These active retirement communities let you live the life you want while giving you convenient, luxurious living.
Peoria
Peoria is packed with some of the best retirement communities in Arizona. If you retire in Peoria, you’ll be able to choose from places like Palos Verdes Senior Living, Freedom Plaza Peoria, Vista del Rio, and more.
There is so much activity and options for retirees, that Peoria was named one of the top cities for early retirement in 2013. This was the only city in Arizona to make the list, which included places like Virginia Beach and Honolulu. When living in Peoria, you can enjoy affordable housing, excellent amenities, and a vibrant, engaging community.
Scottsdale
Peoria isn’t the only Arizona community to win honors for retirement. Scottsdale earned the honor of the 2nd-best place to retire from WalletHub, a leader in financial research and analysis. Among 150 cities across the nation, Scottsdale ranked 5th for activities and 2nd for quality of life.
It was also among the top third in affordability and health care, making it a viable options for retiring individuals. If you choose Scottsdale, you’ll have many options for retirement communities, including Villa Monterey, Winfield, and Golden Keys.
Phoenix
You don’t have to move to the suburbs to enjoy a comfortable retirement when you can move to Phoenix. There are excellent retirement communities right in the big city, including the Ahwatukee Retirement Village, which has an elegant ballroom, a large library, a game room, and even a woodworking shop. Of course, living in Phoenix, you’ll be part of one of the nation’s top cities, enjoying world-class attractions like the Arizona Science Center and the Phoenix Art Museum.
Retire in Arizona
Contact TK Luxury Group today to learn more about real estate options in these beautiful cities. Our team of experienced Real Estate Agents at TK Luxury Group can help you find the perfect place to spend your retirement.
Whether you love golf or simply enjoy living in a spectacular setting, a home near a scenic course might be a dream come true. With so many Arizona golf communities to choose from, picking the right one can be difficult.
Top Arizona Golf Communities
Arizona is known for its luxurious golf courses, especially those in and around Phoenix’s West Valley.
Our recent blog post about real estate trends in 2016 explains that 2016 might be the ideal year to buy a home because prices are not expected to increase rapidly.
If living in specifically one of the resort-style golf communities is an option for you, you also might want to consider one of these top seven Arizona golf communities, which have been recognized by a variety of sources locally and nationwide.
1. Desert Mountain
A Golf.com site lists Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona, among America’s ten best golf communities.
Among its features are six Jack Nicklaus courses, five separate clubhouses, personal trainers, and planned nature hikes. It is on 8,000 acres in the high Sonoran Desert.
2. Blackstone Country Club
Travel and Leisure.com has recognized Blackstone Country Club at Vistancia in Peoria, Arizona, as one of America’s top 100 golf communities. The clubhouse and award-winning Jim Engh-designed golf course is surrounded by the Sonoran Desert, offering mountain vistas at every angle.
According to Blackstone’s website, members enjoy resort-style amenities and a wide selection of fitness and dining experiences, such as a 24-hour fitness center, lighted tennis courts, pool with private cabanas and children’s play area with water features. Golf tournaments, wine dinners and children’s camps are among the offerings for members.
3. Desert Highlands
Located in Scottsdale, Desert Highlands also is a Jack Nicklaus course.
The golf community features an award-winning clubhouse with formal and informal dining, pool and fitness facility, all nestled into Pinnacle Peak.
In addition to the many golf community options, the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, has one of the most sought after real estate in the country due to its pairing of charm and history with the amenities and lifestyle of a thriving metropolis.
4. Estancia
Opened in 1995, the Estancia Club is located at the northern slope of Scottsdale’s landmark Pinnacle Peak. The Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course offers 7,314 yards of golf.
Golf Digest recognized Estancia among America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 2015-2016.
5. Mirabel
Homes at the Mirabel golf community, also in Scottsdale, Arizona, are in Tuscan, prairie and Spanish-colonial style. The community features a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, 38,000-square-foot Desert Lodge Clubhouse with a variety of activities and dining options, a health spa, salon, pool and fitness facilities.
6. Silverleaf
Located in North Scottsdale, Silverleaf is tucked into the canyons of the McDowell Mountains and surrounded by the Sonoran Preserve. Silverleaf boasts a Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course, custom estate home sites, and a 50,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style clubhouse with spa facilities, resort and lap pools and fine and casual dining.
7. The Boulders
The Boulders in Carefree, Arizona, is one of the first standout luxury residential golf communities, according to a post on Forbes.com naming the 12 best private golf communities. The Boulders features two Jay Morrish-designed desert golf courses, a spa, fine dining and even an entire village, El Pedregal, full of shops, galleries, additional restaurants and a museums.
Arizona Golf Resorts
If you’re just visiting Arizona, you’ll definitely want to check out some of our incredible golf resorts. According to About Travel, the 10 best golf resorts in Scottsdale and Phoenix, include Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa in Litchfield Park and the Golf Club of Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear.
Whether you are looking to buy or looking to sell, 2016 could be your year. Analysts predict that the potential real estate trends in 2016 will show moderate gains in sales prices and a continued growth in home sales. The state of Arizona also is expected to see job growth. That increase in jobs and housing sales, however, is expected to be slow and steady, which economists say is more favorable than a fluctuating market.
Nationwide Real Estate Trends in 2016
Nationally, with economic growth still rising, employment will continue to increase, meaning that people will have more money coming in and will be able to buy their first homes or upgrade to new ones, according to an article by Jonathan Smoke on Realtor.com.
In the article, Smoke explains that real estate trends in 2016 that will have the greatest impact on the housing market include a return to normal after 15 years of abnormal housing trends. Many predict that as millennials continue to buy their first homes, 2016 will be the best year to sell in the near future. He also says that builders will focus on more affordable price points and that higher mortgage rates will affect high-cost markets the most. Finally, costs for rentals are expected to go up higher than house prices; because more than 85 percent of U.S. markets have rents that exceed 30 percent of the income of renting households, it could be more affordable to buy in more than three-quarters of the country.
Commercial Real Estate Trends
Sustained job growth throughout the country and improving credit conditions are expected to help keep commercial real estate activity expanding into 2016, but property prices are likely to slightly decrease after reaching their peak in some major markets, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Lawrence Yun, a chief economist with the NAR, says the outlook for the commercial real estate sector continues to look bright despite the multiple headwinds that have held back the economy in recent months. He said that the expected increases in lending and investment activity will be driven by steady job creation and slightly easier access to credit, according to the NAR news release.
Regional Real Estate Trends
Regionally, several states in the South and West have outperformed the rest of the country in job growth over the past year. Led by strong demand for apartments from faster household formation and rent growth, metro areas in those states are expected to see elevated levels of new construction, which will lead to a slight uptick in vacancy rates, according to the release.
Even though rising occupancy and rents will continue, property prices are forecast to decline slightly in 2016 as the Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates. With cap rates already compressed to very low levels, Yun anticipated short-term rate increases for December, and then again in March, which could slightly temper market growth. However, investments are still expected to continue on an upward trend.
Real Estate Trends in Phoenix, Arizona
New home permits taken out by home builders for Phoenix-area construction were up almost 77 percent in October compared to a year ago and are up more than 46 percent this year versus 2014.
But the volume of new home sales, while up, is not at the same robust pace, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.
The idea that the housing market is steady yet cooling off in Arizona is good news for homebuyers because it means prices are not increasing as quickly.
Sales prices in Arizona have fluctuated up and down all year but have trended upward by late this year, according to the Arizona Association of Realtors.
The gains experienced in 2015 are setting the stage for continued advances in 2016, Lee McPheters, research professor and director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business, said in a news release posted on the Arizona State University website.
“Relative to the majority of other states in the nation, Arizona’s economy will appear quite solid,” he says. “But compared to long term historical growth during past decades, the gains will be somewhat below average.”
Personal income in 2016 is projected to exceed 5 percent growth for the first time since 2011 as wages, employment, and population all continue to increase, according to the release. In 2016, Arizona is expected to be on track to finally replace all jobs lost during the recession.
“Though the 2.6 percent rate is below the long-term average of 4.2 percent, Arizona will likely emerge as one of the top 10 fastest for job creation in 2016,” McPheters said.
McPheters also estimated that population growth could go up from an anticipated 1.6 percent in 2015 to 1.7 percent next year. Though this is only half of the historical average for the state, the rate compares favorably with the nation and neighboring states.
Real Estate Trends in the West Valley
Rebecca Grossman, president of the Scottsdale Realtor’s Association, recently told ABC 15 that slow and steady growth, just as the state of Arizona has been seeing, is ideal. She said the state has been avoiding volatility and an unstable market, which is beneficial. She also said that people are still moving to the state due to its hearty job market, but more construction is needed to meet the demand for housing.
You can still find available homes that are reasonably priced in our part of the Phoenix metro area, known as the West Valley, which includes the growing Verrado community as well as Buckeye, El Mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Surprise, Tolleson, Wickenburg and Youngtown.
For more information about real estate trends Arizona, visit the TK Luxury Group Blog.