For many people, retiring comes with the expectation of moving, whether that’s to downsize, seek out warmer (and less rainy) weather, or a combination of both. That also means making the decision about whether to buy an existing home or build your own.
Building a new home can save you money and increase your quality of life in the decades after retiring, and we can help with that.
What features can you get with a Reality custom home that are perfect for retirement?
When it comes to planning a new home out for retirement, it’s important to consider beyond your current needs; what will you require in a home 20 or 30 years from now? Building a home that’s already accommodating of those needs — or, at least, easily adaptable to them down the road — will save you an immeasurable amount of grief later on.
To start, our homes are made ADA ready.
Our main bedrooms’ standard door width is larger than normal at three feet, big enough for wheelchair access. This is also true of our utility rooms’ hallway-facing doors.
We also give you the option of ADA-compliant toilets. These toilets are taller than standard toilets, reducing stress on knees and the possibility of losing balance when getting up or sitting down as you age. Both those things have the potential to significantly affect your health, so something as simple as an ADA toilet can make a huge difference in your quality of life.
There are other facets of a home that we often take for granted until we’re unable to use them with ease, or at all. Obviously a standard, low toilet is one that can have life-changing negative effects resulting from a fall or frequent stress on the lower body, but there’s other parts of a home that aren’t as dramatic yet still can affect your everyday life. For example: door handles.
That might seem silly, but that’s exactly why they’re so important — they’re the exact kind of feature you don’t notice until they become an impediment.
Knobs, which are usually the standard on most doors, are completely fine for most people of most ages. But as you get older, the thumb and hand are usually the first place where arthritis hits — often long before you’re even to retirement age. That can make the motion of turning a door knob painful. As people tend to go in and out of their house many times a day, that’s many times a day where you could experience pain from something as simple as a door knob. Thus, a small tweak to that can mean a vast improvement in your quality of life.
With that in mind, at Reality Homes we have door handle offerings that are levers, not knobs. Something as simple as a handle where you push down instead of twisting can have a disproportionately positive impact on your everyday life.
Lastly, we also offer LVP flooring — or luxury vinyl plank flooring — in wet areas of the house such as the bathroom. This material is waterproof, but better-suited for wheelchairs than standard vinyl is.
What other attributes make a Reality Homes custom home ideal?
It’s not just the physical interior features of a Reality Homes custom home that makes it ideal for those planning on retiring in one. Our homes go beyond that, with qualities that are well-suited for the financial aspects of retirement.
Reality Homes custom homes’ typical equity is substantial— usually at least 20%. Naturally, this helps with your retirement account.
On top of that, our homes have standard physical characteristics that minimize expenses associated with housing. For example, all our homes are solar ready. This makes it much easier for you to adopt solar energy which, after the initial installation cost, almost immediately saves you money. The earlier you switch to solar, the more you’ll save.
On a related theme, our homes are built with energy efficiency as a top priority. This will of course save you money on utilities, something that’s especially helpful in retirement.
Between quality of life and financial well-being, Reality Homes custom homes are well-suited for those planning their retirement. After all, if your home is the heart of your retired life, you want it to be the foundation for your best retired life — and we want to help you make that a reality!
