The Challenge: 55places.com faces the challenge of a lack of specific market insight data tailored to consumers interested in 55+ developments, making it harder for retirees to make informed decisions about purchasing homes across states.
The Solution: To address this challenge, 55places.com plans to provide consumers with comprehensive market insights specific to 55+ developments with the help of ATTOM, empowering retirees with essential data that has previously been unavailable.
The Impact: Implementing market insights on 55places.com is expected to help retirees make sound financial decisions when searching for a place to retire and for homes in 55+ developments, providing reliable information to navigate purchasing homes in communities that suit their lifestyle.
Retirees often make the huge decision to move across states to retire in developments that cater to buyers 55 years or older. Not surprisingly, this decision can be overwhelming.
Not only are these retirees buying a home (rarely a stress-free or easy endeavor in itself) but they are often doing so a thousand miles or more from where they live.
“Most of these people are moving across country,” said Marston Gould, vice president of growth marketing for Neighborhoods.com, which runs the national online platform, 55places.com, providing consumer information on 55+ developments.
“They’re moving from New Jersey to Florida or California, and Idaho to Arizona,” Gould said. “And one of the things that’s very important to them about making that decision is what’s it going to cost?”
And this is precisely the sort of data that 55places.com now intends to provide to consumers with the help of ATTOM.
What’s been missing for consumers is market insight data specific to 55+ developments. This data can help relocating home shoppers understand important trends in these communities, such as if home prices have been rising, how much competition there is among buyers and if the homes are typically selling above the listed prices.
In early 2024, the company plans to roll out the first of its market insights on 55places.com, using data supplied by ATTOM.
Initially, the company will post the following insights: the number of homes sold; the median sales price; and the average number of days homes remain on the market, as well as some other key data points. Gould said the company eventually will expand these insights using data from other sources to include information on HOA fees, the price of square footage over time, property taxes and property insurance.
“The idea is that we’re going to help consumers understand the trends in these markets over time, and we’re going to be adding more information so that they can make good decisions,” Gould said.
These insights will be unique, Gould said. Although consumers can find general housing data for an area on other national sites, like Zillow and Redfin, what stands out about 55places.com is that the information is specific to 55+ developments.
The company was able to isolate data for 55+ developments because it has already mapped out specific geographic areas, known as polygons, where the developments are located.
This project has been no easy task, however. Gould said the data had to be standardized from the raw data initially reported by multiple listing services. Local standards used to count a sale and report other housing data can vary. With fewer than 50 employees, the company could devote only a limited amount of staff time to the project, Gould said, and would have been hard-pressed to complete this project without ATTOM’s help.
“One of the nice things about ATTOM is that they really do have the most comprehensive, real-time accessible data compared to all of their competitors,” Gould said.
55places.com was founded in 2007 around a kitchen table by Bill Ness, a former sales manager with Pulte Homes right after the Great Recession struck, with the idea that homebuyers are not only shopping for a specific type of home but also the right neighborhood.
The platform provides detailed information about 55+ retirement developments, including what’s for sale in each community, the estimated cost range, insights about the neighborhood and surrounding area, amenities, among other information. The company has also developed a nationwide referral network of Realtors with experience selling homes in 55+ communities.
Relocating retirees are often shopping for homes in 55+ communities in places they’ve visited only once or twice on vacation, if at all. So, Gould said, these house hunters need reliable market data and help from qualified Realtors.
“In our industry, it’s very different because over 90% of the customers who are buying in 55 plus communities are buying a home thousands of miles from where they currently live,” Gould said.
“They don’t know the town, and they typically don’t have time figuring out what part of the city or area is going to serve their lifestyle needs,” he continued. “And so, we’ve worked with these agents to find the ones who really do understand their locations well enough to be able to help someone.”
55places.com gives retirees the tools to narrow their search for a perfect home, first, to a region, then to a state and city, and finally, to the perfect neighborhood and home itself. The market data supplied by ATTOM adds more to the toolbox, helping buyers make sound financial decisions as they hunt for the retirement home of their dreams.
About 55places
We’re changing the way people 55 and older are searching for their perfect next place. With a national network of hand-selected real estate experts, plus comprehensive information, unbiased content, and on-the-go insight about thousands of communities across the country, we’re a trusted resource paving the way from here to home. Whether you’re interested in a low-maintenance single-level residence, an active lifestyle or age-qualified community, an intimate enclave, or anything in between, we can help you make your next move the best one yet.
