Golden rush is on for senior housing

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Florida is overrated. Arizona is nice, but the summer days are scorchers. California is beautiful but way too expensive. And Hawaii? Forget about it.

As baby boomers -- the nation's largest segment of the population -- begin to ease into their retirement years, these are the answers more and more are giving when it comes to the paramount golden-years question: "Where do you want to retire?"

Their conclusion is they would rather stay put, according to two studies by AARP and the National Association of Home Builders and Countrywide Homes.

"These seniors are not looking to migrate; they want to stay close to their family and friends," said Jack L. Haynes, executive vice president of the National Builder Division at Countrywide Homes, based in Plano, Texas. "But they are also looking for different types of lifestyles we have never seen before."

That was the case for Mary Gesiakowski and her husband, Gerald. The Illinois natives moved last year to a single-family home in a new retirement community, Grand Haven, in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville. The Gesiakowskis' new home is less than an hour's drive from where they have raised their two children.

"We wanted to stay close because of our children," said Mrs. Gesiakowski, 57. "And they wanted us to stay close. They are not happy when we go out of town for too long."

The Gesiakowskis are typical of the NAHB/Countrywide study, which also has found:

Nearly half of buyers desire to be closer to children, grandchildren and other family.

Convenience is a major plus for senior buyers. More than three-quarters of the builders have developed communities for those 50 and older in close proximity to shopping centers, with many homes close to churches or medical facilities.