We were a typical home owner in Dearborn Heights, with a typical 3-bedroom brick home, and a basement. When the kids grew up, I was ready to move to a smaller, maintenance-free form of housing. My husband kept saying how we were making money by staying here. But, he did not pay the bills, so he really did not know.

Besides the normal cutting of the grass, the weed and feed controlling the bugs and the critters, we were also faced with buying and repairing new lawn mowers, weed whackers, tools of all sorts, weed and feed fertilizers, garden spray, new hot water heaters, plumbing, clogged sinks and toilets, furnace problems, and property taxes going up, up, up. We also had to buy snow shovels and blowers for the winter weather; and repair concrete driveway and sidewalks, or be assessed by the City for sidewalk repair.

Just about the time that I thought I could get some money together to go on a nice vacation or take a nice cruise, my husband would say: “Oh, it is time for a new roof.” There went our luxury cruise, plus, we needed still extra money needed to pay for the new roof. The heating bills kept piling up, which prohibited our going on trips.

We had been signed up at Holliday Park Towne Houses, and so, I finally put my foot down, and said: “It is time to move on.” We sold our house, and prepared to move into Holliday Park. But, before leaving our house, which we kept in good repair, the City inspectors came in and made us spend $6000 more to bring everything up to the current city codes. What a shocker.

After 10 years of living here, my husband had finally said, “Yes, this is a nice, easy, comfortable, and maintenance free place to live. I said: “And look at all the money that we have saved since we have moved into Holliday Park.” Besides, the $80,000+ that we got from our home, we have now saved an additional $250,000 — by having low maintenance costs (performed by Holliday Park employees), low property taxes; and no worries about needing a roof, furnace, hot water heater, or cutting the grass. Even the heating cost is included in our monthly carrying charges of $330.

After paying $330 a month, we can bank the rest. The $330 includes the maintenance, repairs, replacements, property taxes; heating, new roofs, furnaces, hot water tanks, and snow removal. My husband is feeling better, because he doesn’t have to do all the work connected with home ownership. We do have to keep our porches and the sidewalk to our unit”snow free” in winter, and if you have a tree, you are responsible to rake your leaves each fall. However, for  almost everything else WE JUST CALL OUR IN-HOUSE MAINTENANCE.

I have fewer worries about money, money, money going out. Yes, we did take our cruises, and we still do; and yet, our money in the bank continues to grow.

The hardest thing about moving, is making the decision to “move on”. If you reflect on your parents moving from Detroit to new surroundings, we should also be doing the same, because we are also aging. I feel very comfortable, along with my husband who now just recently retired, that we made the right move. We like the outdoor, heated swimming pool, and the freedom to do whatever we want. Holliday Park is really properly named. I call it my “Vacation Resort.”

It was a good move for us. Our kids are happier for us, because they know we are in a safe, comfortable place to live, and they will not have to be burdened or worried about helping take care of an older home in Dearborn Heights when we get old.

As we got older, we also decided to get a cleaning woman to come in to make it all the more easy on us, because we have the money and security of knowing we are living here. We are still young enough to enjoy our live, and with less worries, we will probably live longer.

Our biggest problem now, is finding enough banks with the best interest rates to see our money grow. This is my husband’s past-time now. He wants to see how fast it will grow to $450,000. This never happened when we owned a home.

A NON PROFIT COOPERATIVE HAS WORKED WELL FOR US ….. GIVE IT A TRY ….. YOU WILL LIKE IT.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Holliday Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.