Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9407150004
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: JEFF DEBELL LENGTH: Long
In 1988, two years after Bob House retired from RCA and a year after they had begun looking for a home in the valley, the couple moved to Roanoke County.
``I'll sign an endorsement for the Chamber of Commerce anytime,'' Bob House said.
``It's beautiful. There are tremendous facilities. There are lots of nice people.''
Among people who move to a new locality after retiring, the Houses are typical in having selected a place they first visited as travelers. In a study of ``migrant retirees'' living in Western North Carolina, sociologist Bill Haas of the University of North Carolina at Asheville found that 80 percent regarded previous visits as the most important factor in deciding where to settle.
``Hence, tourism and retirement relocation are interrelated,'' Haas
wrote in a report for the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, which is a part of the university.
Less typical was the Houses' selection of the Roanoke Valley, which is not known as a retirement center.
Some think it has the stuff to be one, however: a relatively mild climate with distinct seasons; low taxes, crime, traffic congestion and living costs in comparison with large urban centers; cultural attractions such as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Center in the Square; extensive health care services; and the scenic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
All are among the criteria mentioned most by retirees who relocate, according to the American Association of Retired Persons and other sources. Such retirees are sometimes called "amenities migrants." They increasingly are choosing nonurban and even rural areas to settle in.
"They want to get far enough away so they won't be zapped by Disney," said Leon Harper, a housing specialist with the AARP.
``I think the valley is missing the boat,'' said Susan Williams, executive director of LOA Area Agency on Aging in Roanoke. ``These are people who can pay for services. It's something the economic development people should look at.''
If they do join the chase for migrant retirees, economic developers will go after a relatively small part of the retirement community. Eighty-six percent of Americans prefer not to move when they retire, Harper said. Of those who do move, half stay in or near the same community.
Harper said only 5 percent or 6 percent of retirees can afford to go anywhere they want. However, they tend to be relatively affluent and therefore an attractive market. And there will be significantly more of them when the baby boomers start moving into the 65-plus years around 2010.
Tourist-oriented Asheville is not waiting. The area has a burgeoning community of retirees from elsewhere - many of whom first visited as tourists - and the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement was opened in 1988 to serve them.
It operates a College for Seniors in which 350-400 retirees a year take courses ranging from fiction to folk art, from Chaucer to computers. There are a number of other programs, too, including several that involve retirees as mentors and tutors at the scholastic and collegiate level.
``This area attracts very active, service-oriented retirees,'' said Carolyn Williams of the center staff. ``We do not attract a Florida type of retiree. People do not come here to relax.''
They'd be atypical retirees if they did, according to Loretta Buffer of the Virginia Center for Active Retirement at Virginia Tech. She said 90 percent of retirees are ``not nursing home candidates.''
Instead, they're heterogeneous in their interests and eager to be involved in the community.
``We're looking to provide opportunities for them across the board,'' said Buffer, who is co-founder and co-director of the center. She also is a professor of family and child development at Tech.
In ``Retirement Places Rated,'' a book by David Savageau and Richard Boyer, Blacksburg placed No. 1 in Virginia and No. 20 in the nation in terms of available services, living costs, safety, climate, housing and leisure activities. The town also did well in Money magazine's 1992 retirement community ratings.
To capitalize on the publicity, the Virginia center and the town of Blacksburg are planning a ``Retire Blacksburg'' exposition aimed at selling the community to imminent retirees who live elsewhere. They'll be invited to visit for several days of workshops and informational programs about the town and the advantages of living there.
Similar programs are presented in other communities around the country. UNC-Asheville's North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement recently completed its third annual Retirement Weekend in cooperation with Signet Financial Services and Where to Retire magazine.
It's an idea the Roanoke Valley would do well to explore, said Williams of the LOA. ``To my knowledge, nothing has been done to say, `Hey, wait a minute, this would be a good group of people to get.' It would be great for the economy.''
Sociologist Haas' research bears her out. Calculating that weekly living expenditures by his study sample alone added up to $14.1 million per year, he concluded that the collective annual figure would be more than $116 million for all people 65 and over who had moved into Western North Carolina in the past five years.
According to the Census Bureau, the median net worth of Americans age 65 and over was $73,500 in 1988. The AARP's Tom Otwell said 82 percent of older Americans owned their homes free and clear in 1991.
More than 33 million Americans are 65 and over, the Census Bureau says, and they make up 12.8 percent of the population.
By the year 2030, according to bureau projections, people 65 and older will make up 20.2 percent of the population. There will be an estimated 70.2 million of them.
Americans can expect to live an average of 17.4 years after reaching 65, Otwell of the AARP said.
He said the modern retiree wants to apportion that time among relaxation, work, learning and service. He isn't interested in whiling away the golden years in a porch rocker.
Roanoke County retiree Bob House agrees. ``That'll kill you,'' he said.
He and his wife choose instead to attend Mill Mountain Theatre productions, visit historic sites in Virginia, and to busy themselves as volunteers - with the LOA, the Science Museum of Western Virginia, the AARP and Festival in the Park, to name a few enterprises they serve.
``You can do just about anything you want,'' Bob House said. ``We find the people who live here don't realize what's available to them.''
by CNB