A semi-retired boomer’s Florida house doubled in value in 7 years, so she sold it and downsized to travel more

• Barbara White downsized to a 55+ community after selling her Florida home for a profit.
• Demand for retirement communities is rising as older Americans seek active adult lifestyles.
• White likes the amenities, the proximity to family, and the freedom to travel more.

When Barbara White decided it was time to sell her four-bedroom house and downsize, it helped that she had 40 years of experience as a real estate agent to inform her search.

Still, it wasn't easy to find her next home. After selling her property on Amelia Island in North Florida in July 2024 for nearly $500,000, she moved into a rental for six months while continuing to look for a smaller place closer to her two sons.

Finally, she bought a newly built, two-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot home in a new 55+ community about 200 miles south in Brevard County. She moved in last February. Crucially, she was able to use cash from her home sale to buy the new house, which she got for a bit less than its listed price of $250,000.

White, 72, is part of a surge of older Americans moving to retirement communities. Over the last decade, there's been an explosion in demand for age-restricted "active adult" or independent living, particularly in the Sunbelt. Perhaps the country's most famous retirement community, The Villages, has become one of Florida's fastest-growing metro areas.

As Americans live longer, healthier lives, they want to retire in "aspirational" places that focus more on activities, hobbies, and community than healthcare, said Bob Kramer, founder of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC).

"As people are living longer, you have people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are just looking for a lifestyle alternative," Kramer said.

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White has found it easier to make friends in a community full of older people, and she's taking advantage of some of the amenities and programming, including water aerobics.

She's also relieved to live in a smaller home with about half the square footage of her last home and much less stuff filling it — she donated much of her old furniture to a family in need. She made a generous profit on her home sale and feels like she got a good deal as a buyer. Her previous home sold for $481,000 after she bought it seven years earlier for $243,000. The house doubled in value largely because of Florida's pandemic-induced population boom, which pushed home prices way up across the state.

"Everybody from the Northeast was moving down to Florida. And every time you turned around, people were overbidding on the properties," she said.

These days, White is semi-retired from her career as a realtor. She sold a few homes this year, but she's only taking referrals and not actively seeking work. With Social Security and some savings, she feels financially secure. So she uses the income she makes from real estate to travel as much as she can. This past summer, she went to Norway. In recent years, she's visited Prague, Budapest, and Vienna for the Christmas markets and gone island hopping in Greece in the summer. Sometimes, she wishes she could sell everything and travel full-time.

But for the time being, she's happy with her slower pace of life in her new home.

"I keep busy doing nothing," she joked. "The days and the weeks go pretty quickly."