May 2000


	4 S E N I O R S O R A N G E C O U N T Y . C O M

	Welcome

Silver Edition...
News & Issues for the Mature Market

Barbara Delgleize
Seniors Real Estate Specialist

May 2000

REAL ESTATE MATTERS
May 2000

Boomers Planning On Active Retirement

A whopping 91 percent of older baby boomers—those now aged 48-52--expect to be happy during their retirement years and a majority of them say they are better prepared financially and emotionally for retirement than their parents were, according to a new nationwide survey by Del Webb Corporation of “Sun City” fame.

Older boomers are nonetheless fretful about affording a lengthy retirement. More than 60 percent of the 800 people surveyed believe they won’t have enough money to retire at age 55 and approximately 20 percent plan to work at least 20 hours a week after they “retire.”

Half of the boomers surveyed didn’t know how much money they will need to retire. Nearly 40 percent of those who did know expect to need $500,000 or more. Smaller cohorts expect to need as little as $250,000 or more than $1 million to be able to retire.

Education is on boomers’ minds as well. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said they plan to go back to school during their retirement years.

Source: Del Webb News

Life Stages of Tomorrow's Seniors

Now approaching their late 40s and early 50s, today's baby boomers will encounter a number of lifestyles as they age, including the following situations:

	Back-to-work. Boomers will have the option of making later-in-life career changes and working part-time or at home.
	Care-giving. Adult boomers will be assisting their elderly parents with long-term care decisions and, in many instances, providing care to the older generation.
	Empty nesters. Baby boomer seniors are expected to have ample free time and financial resources for recreational activities, luxury shopping and extended travel.
	Single Living. Divorced or widowed seniors can adopt an independent social lifestyle later in life. Most of the boomer-generation senior singles will be women.
	Retirement. More than 40 million people in the United States will be retired for two decades or longer.

Source: Guide to Retirement Living, Summer/Fall 1999

Fight Back: Home Repair Scams

Elderly low-income seniors long have been a favored target among home repair scam artists, who sell unnecessary and overpriced "home improvements" and even go so far as to attach liens to the homes of seniors who refuse to pay for shoddy or incomplete work, according to the National Consumer Law Center. Seniors can protect themselves from unscrupulous contractors by following these tips:

	Never purchase home improvement services from a door-to-door contractor or on the basis of a television commercial.
	Always get a second estimate for the same job from another contractor before you sign a contract for work to be performed.
	Always get a written contract or estimate that describes the job, the price, the hourly rate for any additional work and the contractor's clean-up responsibilities.
	Get references and call them.
	Visit other job sites to review work previously preformed by the contractor.
	Watch out for bait-and-switch tactics and shady financing schemes.

Source: National Consumer Law Center

Early Payments Benefit Lender, Not Borrower

Sending your monthly mortgage payments to your lender a couple of weeks early each month might sound like a smart-money way to pay less interest over the life of your home loan. In fact, early monthly payments simply give the lender free use of your money until the date when your payment is due. Loan payment tracking systems typically record your payments on the first day of the month, regardless of when you send your check or have the payment withdrawn from your account. That means making monthly payments early doesn't reduce the total interest you'll pay over the life of your loan. By the same logic, borrowers who pay late, but within the grace period (usually 15 days) get free use of the lender's money. This system is counterintuitive because it penalizes early payers and rewards late payers, but that's the way it works.

Source: "When Should Seniors Prepay Their Mortgages?" Jack M. Guttentag, June 1, 1999.

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