Downsizing and upgrading is the preferred lifestyle choice…

Picture this. The children left the nest years ago, rooms which had once been occupied with activity now remain empty and the most commonly used parts of the home are the kitchen and living room.

The garden’s too big to manage and, if you’ve got a swimming pool (used mainly by the grand-children) weekends are spent cleaning it.

You yearn to spend more time enjoying life’s simple pleasures, taking the caravan to remote locations, seeing friends and family, keeping fit and entertaining, but substantial capital is tied-up in your home and property, discouraging opportunities to live life to the full.

Sound familiar?

Like many Australians who are entering their retirement years, the idea of downsizing to a smaller home to free up capital might sound daunting, but it’s a trend many “Lifestylers” have adopted, and never looked back.

blv_billiards_11 Lifestyle Villages are popping up all over Australia, however it’s worth investing the necessary time into researching your options as not all Lifestyle Villages are the same.

Some aged-care and traditional retirement villages have begun adopting the term “Lifestyle Village” as part of their business offering and for this reason it’s common to assume all operate by the same principles. Further on, we’ll see how they differ.

Businesses like the award-winning Western Australian outfit, NATIONAL LIFESTYLE VILLAGES have defined the term “lifestyle” and succeeded in cultivating a resort-style community-culture for active people.

Reinforcing the sentiment in their messaging, the Villages are targeted at over 45s (instead of the usual ‘55’ minimum age) who are “too young, too fit and too healthy for a ‘traditional’ retirement village”.

Independent surveys conducted by National Lifestyle Villages consistently found four of the most commonly sought attributes customers wanted from a home and surrounding neighbourhood were security, affordability, companionship and a sense of community or belonging. Low maintenance and owning a “brand new home” were close contenders.

Lifestyle and freedom underpin the main differences between the two industries.

Village mentality – traditional versus lifestyle
Traditionally, retirement villages have catered to people around the average age of 80 who need round-the-clock care and on-site medical assistance. They’re a vital and necessary facility but very different to a “lifestyle” village with an entirely different culture and feel, which also covers mental and physical health. The average age across the National Lifestyle Village network is 59, with some still actively participating in the work-force.

At Lifestyle Villages, you’re likely to find a group of ladies training for the ball-room dancing competition or baking sweets for a good community cause. Similarly, you might find a posse of gents playing a competitive game of bowls or enjoying a responsible drink on the porch, any time of the day! They are very mobile and most own vehicles.

Centrelink’s rental assistance is available to National Lifestyle Villages residents on a full or part-pension, exit fees are much lower than a traditional retirement village and facilities for visiting family and friends are ample including generous parking and leading edge Club rooms for quests to enjoy.

How does a “true” lifestyle village work?
Using the National Lifestyle Villages model as an example, residents own their home and lease the land it sits on (for up to 60 years). Homes are a willable asset and the benefits associated with the land-lease model means residents can enjoy “resort-style” living in a secure, gated community and benefit from on-site facilities that they’d never imagine affording while living in a suburban residence.

The Village is managed from the ground up. National Lifestyle Villages, for example, has professionally-managed and well-equipped Clubhouses, spas, saunas, heated swimming pools, tennis and squash courts, bowling greens, libraries and barbeque areas – and that’s just scraping the surface. In this sense, true Lifestyle Villages differ from retirement villages (or those masquerading as Lifestyle Villages) in that the facilities encourage a physical and socially active lifestyle.

National Lifestyle Villages’ latest development, Tuart Lakes – Rockingham, will be their flagship Village and plans are underway to build an architecturally designed eight million dollar clubhouse that will be one of the best ever seen in Australia. Walking trails and natural bush-land, like most of the Villages, frame the idyllic location.

Fully re-locatable completed homes (which cost much less than a standard brick and tile home) are ready in under eight weeks – which means a seamless move-in from time of offer, building and installation at site.

The benefits of expedient construction are three-fold. Financial pressure is lessened, allowing buyers to align settlement of their new and old homes, eliminating rental costs and reducing the need for bridging finance.

We’ll discuss the merits of this home-model in a future article.

National Lifestyle Villages manages seven Villages across the state, each with individual attributes and subtle differences. The people that own the Villages, run the Villages, with open-forum visits from National Lifestyle Villages’ Chief Executive, a likely occurrence.

What’s consistent is the Village camaraderie where “communities are built within communities”.

“At every Village, romances have blossomed, marriages celebrated and new friendships found.”

It’s a way of life adopted by hundreds of Western Australian “lifestylers” who are spreading the word like wild-fire!

For more information on National Lifestyle Villages visit, website www.nlv.com.au or call 1300 45 55 65.

Our Thanks to Berlinda Conti for introducing us to National Lifestyle Villages