In 2021, Liz White was visiting her parents — retirees who spend the winters in Naples, Florida — when an apartment became available in their building and she decided to move in.
Each senior living arrangement has its own eligibility requirement, but residents in this retirement community are typically at least 55 years old. All of the residents meet this age requirement except for White.
White, a customer success manager at a tech company, paid around $2000 a month in rent for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for her first year in the building. White’s landlord then put the unit up for sale, and her parents decided to buy it.
The arrangement is that White lives in the apartment full-time, and when her parents are in town, they stay with her.
While White did not feel comfortable sharing how much her parents paid for her unit or the cost of monthly HOA fees, she did tell CNBC Make It that apartments in the building are put on the market for as much as $1 million. The median listing price for a condo in Naples, Florida is $950,000, according to RedFin.
White says she did not contribute financially to the purchase.
White’s parents closed on the apartment in July 2022. However, the bliss of new homeownership was short-lived — hurricane Ian flooded the unit that September. The family had to choose between a complete remodel and putting the unit up for sale just three months after closing.
They decided to rebuild the apartment and rent from another neighbor on a higher floor while the renovation took place. It took almost a year for the apartment to be done.
White and her parents were hoping to keep remodeling costs low, but because of the way, the condo flooded — the doors and walls had to be cut almost in half — they had to get rid of pretty much everything except one lamp and a table.
White admits going through the renovation was hard, but says it helped bring her and some of her senior citizen neighbors closer together.
“It’s been really good to have that…
Read the full article here
