Affordable – “that can be afforded; believed to be within one’s financial means”.  The concept of affordable housing is gaining more attention across the country as a slow economic recovery sets in not only for seniors but for all demographics in the United States.  While affordability is typically defined on a local and regional level, [...]

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Everyone else is raising the retirement age, why isn’t America doing it yet?  Greece is raising its retirement age as it copes with its financial mess, Germany and Denmark are at 67, the U.K. is raising theirs to 68 and now it seems France is going to be raising theirs as well based upon pension [...]

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Think the Baby Boomer demographic is simple to reach effectively?  Think again.  Last Friday, a workshop entitled “Marketing to Boomers and Beyond: How to Build Your Business with the Mature Consumer,” was held in New York City to address this and other related mature marketing issues, including the latest demographic trends, research findings, and how [...]

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By Doug Fullaway, President and COO of Vigilan Unemployment seems to be stuck around 10% and foreclosures are reaching record levels, casting a dark cloud over the business of senior living. Prospective new residents are more uncertain than ever about moving. Centers work hard just to hold census levels. And while there are signs things [...]

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This week seems like its the day after last night’s party.  Tired, frazzled (hung over?), picking up the pieces, trying to figure out exactly what everything meant that happened and figuring out how to move forward.  The passage of the healthcare reform bills last week is good for seniors and for Americans. There will always [...]

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As a regular watcher of CNBC, I have been looking forward to watching “Boomer$!” and have seen some of CNBC’s other documentaries and thought some of them did a very good job at outlining the topics that they were covering.  I felt the best was David Faber’s “House of Cards” which did a great job [...]

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Fashion trends historically start in Europe and make their way to the US…are retirement trends the next trend to jump across the pond?  The list of countries that are examining raising the retirement age or ones that have already raised continues to grow.  Spain recently announced that it has approved a plan to raise the [...]

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President Obama gave his state of the union last night and talked about the economy, jobs and infrastructure.  During President Obama’s address, he mentioned his Middle Class Task Force (MCTF) which is proposing more support for caregivers by providing counseling, training, help with transportation, and temporary respite care for those who need assistance or if [...]

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It’s that time of year for our version of top trends to look for in Senior Housing & Living in 2010.  With 2009 in the rear view mirror, our Senior Housing Trends in 2009 was view by over 5,000 people last year and was quoted by a number of students, researchers and politicians both nationally [...]

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Do recent events warrant cautious optimism or are we being pollyanna?  Some of the news / transactions below show recent activity that trends towards a more positive outlook for both Senior Housing and the broader market: The August 2009 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes show the rate of decline in home prices is slowing – The [...]

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It’s no secret that many existing senior apartment complexes and newly constructed age restricted communities are suffering but what about the consequences, real or perceived, of opening these facilities up to a 55 and under crowd?  A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel entitled “Vacancies force senior apartment complex to open doors to all ages”, [...]

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Is the residential housing market starting to bottom out?  Possibly.  The National Association of Realtors announced last week that the median U.S. price in July was $178,400, down 15% from a year earlier.  Realtors and the media are already trumpeting a bottom based upon increased sales over the last month or two but we’ll need [...]

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