Are you Living Your Priorities?

We all have dreams of what we would like to do in life. Making those dreams reality can be difficult without a plan and the determination to see the plan through. Let’s face it, life gets in the way of our dreams and then they just get pushed aside due to more immediate needs. But if we feel short changed, especially as we live out the “second half” of our existence, then perhaps we need a better plan. And perhaps we need to take more definitive action to make our dreams realities.

What are your true priorities? How do you want to live? Where do you want to live? How many more years do you want to keep working? Would you rather be working in a different capacity than what are doing now? Who do you want to be with? What do you want to be doing? What do you want your finances to look like?

Everyone has the right to define their lives in their own terms. Some want to work forever because it is truly their passion. Some would rather sit on a beach or dock or boat. Some want to travel on regular trips in the US or foreign destinations that pick their interests. Never had the time to develop the skills needed to play competitive golf or tennis? Now may be the time before it is too late. Have you always wanted to build furniture, make your own pottery, paint landscapes or sew quilts? How about really learning to cook? Do you want more time to help out an elderly relative or see more of your grandchildren or nieces and nephews? Many find fulfillment engaging in a part or full time volunteer organization that will either make time at home more interesting or enable them to travel to other places at the same time they are “giving back”. Whatever you do, make sure that it is important to you. Living our passion will help provide the drive to make your goals happen.

Daring to dream and to make those dreams come about may be a little scary but exciting and fun at the same time. There are so many excuses to avoid fulfilling our dreams and sometimes not enough motivation to push us along.

It goes without saying for most Americans that finances play a part in reaching our goals and aspirations. By living more simply and with less financial burden in a home within our means, we gain more freedom to spend our time and money in more meaningful ways. In the end it may be the things we do and the people we do them with that will be more important to us than what we have accumulated.

At Jensen communities®, we can help you to “Get in on the Good Life!” with a “Simply Affordable” home that is within your means so that you can live your priorities.

http://www.jensencommunities.com/

A House within Your Means Should be Well Built

While manufactured homes built today can be lavish and extravagant to fit any means and lifestyle, and we do build $200,000 and even $300,000 houses in our flagship communities, many of the homes Jensen sells are just good basic modest homes in the $100,000 range. The new technology of factory construction allows you to get more home for less of an investment especially when sited in a land lease community.

You need to start by finding a good neighborhood and a community owner with a strong track record of reliable resident service, community upkeep and reinvestment back into the infrastructure.

You also want to be sure that there is a strong program in place to ensure that the homes are built and the neighborhood standards are such that things will stay in place. And if no one is around to back them up, where does that leave you?

Equally important is that the home Manufacturer has a reputation for quality and for standing behind its homes after the sale. What types of homes do they build and to what level of quality? Factory builders are not different than site builder in that they have a quality niche that they try and fill.

Jensen communities uses what we call our Traditional, Classic and Premium Standards and matches those price points to certain manufacturers standards so that prospective buyers can more easily determine what they want to buy. Each level offers a well built home albeit at a different price point as well as materials and finishes as the labels suggest.

By its very nature, a manufactured housing land lease community is a long term investment where the best approach is for the owner to “partner” and work together with the residents. What is good for the residents should be good for the owner. The best part is the owner does not simply move on to the next project; they will continue to manage and stand behind the community. The owner has a real vested interest in keeping customers and homebuyers happy. Satisfied customers want to remain in their homes as long as they can and will readily encourage their family, friends and co-workers to buy as well.

If you have not seen today’s manufactured homes, take advantage of your next opportunity to do so. Most people are simply “wowed” at what they see!

With 29 Jensen communities® from New Hampshire to Georgia, including our newest in New Hartford NY (Cherrywood at http://www.cherrywoodcommunity.com/), there may be one in your area or one where you have always wanted to live. Please visit http://www.jensencommunities.com/ or call 800-458-6832 to find out how you can “Get in on the Good Life!”®.

A House Within Your Means without Compromise

You can get the home that you want and not have to give up the American Dream. Very often when people go looking for an easier lifestyle they think of condominiums or even apartments. And they have lived in a single family home for most if not all their lives. Many have never lived with people above, below or even directly beside them. They know that they should move because they just don’t need the big house or yard any longer. They really don’t want to redo the roof a third time or repave the driveway again. The thought of more painting, replacing cabinets, a bath or kitchen upgrade, installing more new carpet, retiling the kitchen or refinishing the living room hardwood makes them think there must be a better way to begin or go through retirement. Never mind getting rid of all the stairs.

While apartments and condo living do take all of the exterior maintenance worries away from you, they are usually a significant compromise in terms of the proximity of your neighbors. Most also are not on one floor so stairs are still a problem like in so many townhouse style condos that make sense for younger buyers with good knees.

A manufactured house on leased land in a good neighborhood is the best of both worlds. You get to live in a single family home on one floor, continue to build up equity by owning the property, have the privacy of your own home but not the big home or yard, have good neighbors around if you want to visit or have them watch your home, and the community own does the heavy lifting with most any significant land or utility maintenance or repair. Most enjoy still getting out in the yard to work that green thumb but not have it be such a chore. A small lot that is easy to care for is a breeze compared to the chore of hours of yard work at the old homestead.

Financially, many scale down to a more manageable number and have little if any loan repayment. The monthly land lease enables the purchase of a less expensive home and allows for extra equity to be invested or saved for other purposes. While a land lease fee is typically more than a condo fee it pays for just that: leasing the land as well as common maintenance and services.

With 29 Jensen communities® from New Hampshire to Georgia, including our newest in New Hartford NY (Cherrywood at http://www.cherrywoodcommunity.com/), there may be one in your area or one where you have always wanted to live. Please visit http://www.jensencommunities.com/ or call 800-458-6832 to find out how you can “Get in on the Good Life!”®.

A House within Our Means Should be a Safe Refuge

It is troubling to hear about so many people being forced out of their homes because of financial trouble. Regardless of whether people got into difficulties due to a lost job, medical bills, or just bad spending habits, people still need a place to live and no one likes to see such turmoil.

A home is a unique investment. It is a financial asset but it is also much more than that. Perhaps more people should value their homes for the intangible benefits that they provide than simply a financial instrument. A home bought with forethought and a long term view can help one’s financial status by allowing them to build equity but this should be a secondary benefit rather than the primary goal. Generally speaking, with time on their side, the right purchase can create equity by paying down the loan as well as by price appreciation and receiving certain tax benefits. But when people focus on only what they can gain from buying their home, some get greedy and create added risks that run against the stability that a good home in a good neighborhood should provide.

Not having a place to live is a terrible position to be in. We have all seen the images of families living out on the streets, in their cars, or in shelters. No one expects to be in this situation but many are today that never imagined that it could happen to them. With the benefit of history and hindsight, isn’t living within our means a more reasonable way to live? Shouldn’t we be providing ourselves and our families with a safe and secure roof over our heads before just thinking about the payoff we can get from our homes? Shouldn’t we be focusing on building memories and enjoying our friends and families in our homes more than worrying about financial gains that will come with patience and prudence?

While patience and prudence don’t sound like a lot of fun, those that do exercise such traits are the ones who are truly independent. They are the ones who own their homes and don’t let their homes own them. They buy and finance what they can reasonably afford and don’t try to “keep us with the Jones’”. By living well within their means and deciding that living within their means is living well, they have established their own high standard of living without the trappings of being overextended. They will always have a house because the house (or the bank) doesn’t own them.

We are taught that we can and should always buy up. In today’s world it is becoming more fashionable to buy right for our own circumstances. This may mean buying down or buying up, but it needs to mean buying a house within our financial means.

Buy modestly to get a start in life.
Buy modestly to have a place to raise your family.
Buy modestly to help you save for future needs.
Buy modestly to live well in retirement.
Buy modestly to get more out of life than being a slave to your property.

At Jensen communities we offer a lifestyle that over 4,600 families consider one of the best. Visit http://www.jensencommunities.com/ or call 800-458-6832 to see how you can Get in on the Good Life!

Adversity Can Create Opportunity

As Charles Dickens began in the Tale of Two Cities, “IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-”.

Boy does that sound familiar for our current times. For too many, these “times” over last several years have been difficult. Too many jobs lost jobs. Too many savings and retirement accounts diminished. Too many companies out of business. The economic devastation has hit most everyone in some way or another.

I was on a Southwest fight once where the steward began the familiar “please be careful when opening the overhead bins because shift happens”. For better or for worse, real estate cycles happen too. And when it does, it all comes down on top of us too. Unfortunately, the more extreme the cycles are, the more speculation there is. That is where people get hurt. The wheeler and dealers help to fuel the market along with those that are just trying to buy a nice decent home to live, raise a family, retire, or perhaps enjoy a second home in a different climate. It is hard to know when to jump in the game and the fear of loss helps let our emotions get the best of us.

Usually buying and holding allow people to wait out a cycle. But with lost income, the bills can pile up even with a financial safety net. For some it is just the duration of the downturn that has become the problem; they could have ridden out six or even nine months, but not years.

For those not deeply hurt by financial troubles, these can be “the best of times” to invest in a home with rock bottom prices and interest rates at still once in a lifetime levels. It can be “the age of wisdom” for those who have been cautious and can now perhaps take advantage of good buys in good neighborhoods. We all know the time is right to buy, but we also know we need to be more prudent in our approach to investing in a new home.

We continue to see many buyers who have been waiting for the right opportunity to get into the housing market, back into the market, or to buy a second home that may have been unattainable at peak prices. For them it is better to buy in a period of low prices rather than sitting and waiting for the absolute lowest price. History may prove their wisdom.

As housing continues to rebuild the momentum lost, we encourage those on the sidelines to carefully consider the options and how investing in a home now in a Jensen community may be right for you. Our staff is ready and willing to listen to your Great Recession story and hopefully be able to offer some suggestions for a more carefree and enjoyable lifestyle.

Jensen is now able to do this in New York State as well with the addition of “Cherrywood” in New Hartford NY to our family of communities. Visit http://www.cherrywoodcommunity.com/ or call 315-793-8900 for more information.

We look forward to hearing from you at one of our 29 East Coast locations. Call 800-458-6832.

http://www.jensencommunities.com/

Simply Affordable

“Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify! ... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.” Henry David Thoreau ("Where I Lived and What I Lived For" Walden)

The anticipation of life in retirement on a fixed income is a humbling experience in general and particularly for those that have had their investments pummeled over the last few years and still hope to retire in the near future. Thoreau went into the Walden woods to try and live as simply and as richly as he could. It seems that those contemplating retirement could also benefit from getting into this state of mind. Baby Boomers have always been able to define new lifestyles for themselves. They have been able to experience some amazing opportunities over their lives and will undoubtedly continue to do so by seeing the glass half full rather than empty.

As our lives progress, we accumulate family, friends, and relationships. These are surely the richness of life. Unfortunately, we also accumulate a lot of stuff like a home or two, vehicles, boats, RV’s, furniture, clothing, and keepsakes. While these things helps us to enjoy our family, friends, and relationships, they can also be a burden when we want to make a move into a new home or lifestyle.

It seems that more in the middle years (if they haven’t already) start to seek out more purpose and/or find opportunities to give back. A simpler life, home and finances provide the freedom of time and money to be more purposeful when you have more time to make the most out of life.
A more physically and financially manageable place to live is key to achieving that goal of finding more freedom in your life.

At Jensen communities, we can help with a simply affordable home.

http://www.getinonthegoodlife.com/

Start a New Trend

I am on the email list for www.Trendwatching.com E-newsletter. It is fun to peruse each month as it makes me think of things I have not thought of and from a very different perspective than I would on my own. Kind of helps to stretch the mind so to speak.

We all get into habits and/or tend to follow trends on paths others have forged for us. It is refreshing to find one self all alone and venturing off into uncertain territory. To know what is right and follow it, despite what the rest of the herd may be doing, is both exciting and uncomfortable. Perhaps we do not venture off enough but it is high time that we do.

This is not to say that all trends are bad. It seems that trends only get out of hand when people take them too far and for too long. The housing bubble would have caused a lot less pain if it had burst as a birthday balloon rather than a hot air balloon.

It is time to start a new trend in housing. It’s pretty obvious that Mc Mansions may still be constructed for the well healed homeowner but Joe and Mary Middle America will now be more realistic. Hopefully people have learned not to buy a home that will never get furnished. Hopefully they have learned that our homes are no longer bank accounts on which we can take indefinite withdrawals. Hopefully they have learned that mortgage loans are something to be paid off and that our homes should be used to save not spend.

Anyone can do this by finding and purchasing a home within their means. Yes, it requires making realistic choices and deferring satisfaction, but reality wins over delusion in the long run.
A small, convenient, and easy to care for home should also be easy on the pocketbook and therefore allow for the achievement of other financial goals as well. If you can’t buy furniture, it’s pretty hard to save for a vacation, education, retirement, a wedding or anything else that is important and worthwhile to you.

Happy house hunting from www.jensencommunities.com.