klaus
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Jun 7, 2011, 8:26 AM
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The unique spirit of adult lifestyle communities
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I am often asked why marketing an adult lifestyle community is so radically different from marketing a regular subdivision. The answer, quite simply, is that adult lifestyle communities revolve primarily around social interactions between the residents and the joy of shared leisure pursuits. The old adage that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ has never been more meaningful than it has when describing life in such a community.
Regular subdivisions certainly have a social component, but that component is much more broad based than the social component of most adult communities. A regular subdivision may have older people as residents, but it also has younger people, as well as people of different racial, occupational and ethnic backgrounds. Most people who live in a regular neighborhood are still working and often have children. So the social intercourse includes jobs and kids, both of which can be divided into many sub-categories.
In adult lifestyle communities the residents are generally retired or semi-retired and their children are grown and out on their own. This condition leaves a huge block of time that the residents of such communities generally pursue through social activities with friends and neighbors within the community.
These activities can range from anything like playing golf, hiking, bird watching, tennis, and water sports to more sedentary pursuits like cards, crafts, book clubs, etc. The point is that residents of an adult lifestyle community generally have two things in common. One, they tend to have a lot of leisure time on their hands; and two, they’re inclined to share that leisure time with others within the community. That’s why so many adult lifestyle communities assume a spirit of their own, which very often is evident in the way the community feels and how the residents interact.
What’s more, the denizens of adult lifestyle communities tend to be relatively more affluent than regular subdivision residents because a smaller percentage of their income is needed to maintain their lifestyle. Not having a mortgage or kids at school really makes a big difference.
Thus marketing such communities revolves around activities other than work or child rearing. It’s about how best to use one’s newfound leisure time and discovering commonalities with one’s neighbors. It’s not unusual for such communities to have parties or to plan special events that include most residents. Holidays like Christmas, New Year’s or Thanksgiving provide venues around which to organize such parties.
Since a move to an adult lifestyle community often involves relocation to an unfamiliar area, it’s important for potential purchasers to have as much information as possible about the community’s surroundings. The most important consideration by those contemplating living in an adult community is proximity to useful amenities. These include shopping, healthcare, social and leisure amenities. The most commonly asked questions include, “where’s the nearest store or the nearest doctor?” And given that most individuals living in adult communities have a lot of time on their hands it’s important to highlight as many nearby leisure amenities as possible. There are adult lifestyle communities located in the middle of nowhere, but these do not tend to be very mainstream and often attract purchasers because of low price.
And speaking of price, it generally doesn’t play as big a role in the purchasing decision as do the social considerations. The big players in this industry, companies like Del Webb, are well aware of that fact and design their homes more according to their prospective residents’ lifestyle needs than to price.
There is both a quantitative and a qualitative difference between marketing new home subdivisions and marketing communities geared to active adults. Quantitative in terms of the relatively long time it takes mature purchasers to make a decision, meaning that adult communities need to attract a lot more prospects in order to achieve a sustainable level of sales. Qualitative, in that those who do visit such communities with a view toward purchasing a retirement residence tend to be very discerning in their desires and purchase accordingly.
Klaus Rohrich is President and Creative Director of Taylor/Rohrich Associates Inc., a marketing and advertising firm that specializes in niche marketing retirement real estate developments
http://www.maturitymarketing.com.
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