Finding a Place That Fits your Lifestyle

Finding that perfect spot to retire can be both challenging and expensive. That's where real estate expert Barbara Corcoran's new book, "Nextville," comes in handy.

In "Nextville," Corcoran surveys the various types of retirements that baby boomers are searching for today, from action-packed to family-centered to socially conscious, with a fun self-test to help you discover your own retirement priorities. She then shares 100 of her favorite retirement destinations and what makes them so special.

One thing is for certain: From a luxury nudist colony in Florida to a tree house community in the Midwest to a dirt-cheap beachfront penthouse in Panama, these options are worlds away from Golden Pond.

Bankrate caught up with Corcoran by phone at her own country refuge on Fire Island, N.Y., for a chat about boomers facing the back nine.

Q: You urge those approaching retirement to "think outside the hammock." What do you mean by that?

A: Years ago, people thought of retirement as leisure time: You left your 9-to-5 job and all the pressures of life. Their dream was to have nothing to do. Well, it just took a few people retiring with nothing to do to straighten that concept out. "Think outside the hammock" really means think past whether you're going to enjoy the prettiness of a place and focus more on what you're going to do when you get there, because retirement today is a lot more about doing than just being. That's a total shift in mind-set.

Q: You summarize that in the title of your opening chapter: "Forget Florida!"

A: (Laughs) Oh boy, have I gotten a lot of e-mails on that one! I probably should have said "forget conventional retirement," but I thought Florida was a symbol of the usual ways and usual places. I wouldn't do that again! But there's one place in the book, however, in Florida. It's my only nudist colony, and if you could see -- well, maybe you might not want to see -- the people living there happy as could be in the most luxurious nudist colony I could ever imagine! At least I saved myself by including one place in Florida, but that's it.

But one obvious plus to Florida is, it's probably the single biggest fire sale in the history of the U.S. in terms of retirement homes. Prices there have plummeted statewide more than any other single state short of Nevada. If you're looking for a great deal and you want to retire in Florida, it's a great time to be looking now.

Q: You break boomers into five retiree types: "Zoomers," "Ruppies," "Boomerangs," "Aging in Placers" and "Huddlers." Let's start with "Huddlers."

A: These are people who are hungry for human contact; that's No. 1 on their priority list. The biggest complaint I heard from people in retirement, no matter where they were, was that they were lonely. The reason they were lonely is that they didn't have a common ground with people in their new area. They hadn't given that any thought. For those people who really want a great sense of community, there is a new trend where people are forming their own communities. Depending on what's in your heart and soul, there are communities everywhere across the United States where you can find like-minded souls. It may be something as mundane as people who love board games or bird watching. Wanting to huddle together is not a weakness; it's a shared interest in life. I want to be cuddled and huddled.

Q: The opposite extreme would be the "Zoomers," who don't want to be in a fixed place.

A: Yes, they're the typical Type A personality. They're open to anything; they'll go to Panama City or Nicaragua or Africa, because to them it's all about: How much juice can I get out of life? They don't see it as a last chapter, a winding down; they see it as a freedom time in their life when they can be in a totally new environment, yet many of these people keep their original home or a smaller home. They want that excitement that they can zoom in and out of. I don't think this group is ever going to slow down.

Q: The "Ruppies," retired urban professionals, are most likely to continue working in retirement, right?

A: I once thought that people who wanted to work into their later years were probably workaholics, but I didn't find that to be the case. With "Ruppies," it was often the woman of the household who had barely worked who really wanted to start a business or get involved in business just as her husband was trying to wind down. That's a hard conflict to come to terms with. And these "Ruppies" are a big portion of our population; I found that one in four people, and very often both sides of a couple, really wanted to continue working in some capacity and be paid when they retire. Most often it was not because they needed the money; it was because they really enjoyed the satisfaction of work. Depending on what you did for a living or what kind of work you want to do in retirement, it's so easy to search on the Internet for that nuance to find which cities are most business-friendly to older people who want to be in business.

Q: The "Boomerangs," an updated version of the classic "snowbirds," are at the forefront of fractional ownership and other sharing options, to where they can be part-time in several places.

A: What's great about this time in their lives is there are a lot of options out there that didn't even exist a while ago. You have everything from time shares, which have a lot of liabilities, to fractional ownerships, which I prefer, to house swaps to part-time villas and even renting ship cabins and traveling around the world. What's great about a "Boomerang" is, it's probably the easiest jump to take because you can keep what you have, or a form of what you have, and yet jump out into this other world and keep jumping back. It's not a stalling-off of retirement, it's "I want it all."

Q: The "Aging in Placers" seem to be more typical, and yet even they are changing what we think of as retirement, right?

A: I found that almost a quarter of the population had no intention of leaving where they were, but how do you make where you are new all over again? I tell the story about very close friends of mine who retired early, they were 56. They had the financial wherewithal to continue owning their large four-bedroom house outside of New York City, but what they opted to do was really wise. They sat down and analyzed what was most important to them, and what came first was family and friends. They knew that. But on the other hand, they're both sailors, they only took a week vacation a year to sail. So what they did is, they downsized their large home, bought a very small, inexpensive home one town over so they're still close to all their family and friends, with its own dock on Long Island Sound. So they were able to put money in their pocket, get a smaller house, and now they're renovating it in a very sexy way but with all the bells and whistles for older people, so they don't plan on ever leaving that house. They're living their dream. Boy, did they do it right.

Q: You caution retirees to make financially secure moves by moving to an area with a growing number of young people. Why?

A: Youth is everything. The quickest way to size up an area is to look at how young it is. It might be very fashionable to think of retirement as moving in with a lot of other people your age, but the problem with that is it ages and ages, and is labeled as old, period. You don't have any replenishment of the waters. The quickest way is to go to the Chamber of Commerce and simply ask how many jobs are being created and how many are being lost. If there are more being created than lost, you've got a youthful population because there are jobs to be had. If you're really lazy and don't want to make that call, all you do is coast around the area you're thinking of buying in and simply do a headcount on the new cars. Young people buy new cars. Just look around at how many middle-priced new cars are in the shopping mall and you've got yourself a winner if there's a disproportionate number of new cars, because you're retiring to a young person's area.

Q: You also mention the growing number of incentives being offered abroad to lure U.S. retirees. What's your favorite?

A: The best example is Panama City, Panama. Listen to why people should be going to Panama City: If you move there, they have no requirement as to how much net worth you need to have, unlike other countries. In Panama City, the most expensive real estate you can buy there is maybe $200,000. What does that buy you? It gets you a three- or four-bedroom penthouse with terraces on the ocean. You can't spend more than that. Put with that the fact that the government, as an incentive, charges no real estate taxes for 20 years. That's a long time. Your carrying costs on something like that are so minimal because there are no real estate taxes. The government there loves Americans. At every restaurant there, with drinks included, you would be hard-pressed to spend $20 for two people to have dinner, and the government mandates that anyone over 61 gets 50 percent off the dinner tab, the same with movie tickets and the theater life. Panama City now is like South Beach on speed: People are dancing in the street late at night, there's a great party nightlife and sexiness and theater and culture and it's an easy-in, easy-out flight. And because of our Panama Canal, all the hospitals were built and run by Americans with American doctors. You've got it all there for nickels on the dollar.

Q: You list several destinations for people who want to make a positive contribution to the planet.

A: There is one place on the other side of Costa Rica (Southern Nicoya Peninsula) away from the tourists that I think is a gem for those among us who want to have more meaning or purpose in life. There is a section of Costa Rica that is in dire need of Americans or any population to help teach in their schools there. It's a poverty-stricken area, plus it's losing its rain forest. The nature lover might just like to go there and help replant that rain forest. Costa Rica is done as a tourist destination in my mind, but it's a place that's perfect for the do-gooder who wants to really make a difference.

Q: You name 100 retirement destinations. What are your three favorite spots?

A: What happens is I start to fall in love with so many of my picks! But there's a little place called Harbour Island in the Bahamas that I just love. First of all, it's probably the equivalent of three city blocks wide, but it's like popping into a universe out of the Great Gatsby era. It has three large rickety-rackety mansions on the sea and everyone else in that town lives in bungalows. There are no cars; everyone drives a puttering, rusting golf cart. There are goats everywhere; they seem to freely graze. It's lovely and it's so cheap to live there. You can get a beautifully restored cottage for under $200,000 on the ocean. The food is cheap and there is a whole culture of people there who are so into cooking.

Another one I really like is this tiny little tree house community (Tryon Farm, Michigan City, Ind.) an hour east of Chicago. These are some of the friendliest people in the world and they're all kinds of people. You have young people with families and kids go to school, but when they come home they live in tree houses. For many of us who want to be one with nature, what can be so bad about living in a tree house?

And I love Eugene, Ore. It's probably the greenest city in America, and I don't just mean in terms of trees. There are very few cars because people opt not to have them; people travel by bike and on foot. They constructed the entire city around the concept that it had to be self-sufficient, so it generates all of its own power. It's designed around its bike trails, and much like many places in Europe now, you take a bike and leave it wherever you want and take another bike home. This is a community of very happy people because they have something in common, so they become friends. What they have in common in the universe -- they're all dedicated to the simple way. You wind up feeling very much at home there if that's your cup of tea.

Q: Where does Barbara Corcoran fit into this matrix?

A: I'm one of those "Boomerang" type people. I could not envision ever leaving New York City, but put me there seven days a week, I'm going to go crazy. What I have now is a place on Fire Island; there are no cars, just bicycles, an hour outside of New York so I can get to it easily. It's a total pulling-out of the plug; it's the opposite of New York. But we now have our third trip planned out to Harbour Island. We really want to trade in our little summerhouse to an all-year-round-type house. I think my pick is going to be Harbour Island, but I'm arguing with my husband because he thinks that Panama City is a much better pick, a much more exciting place. So we're sorting it out. When it comes to where we live, usually it's the wife who wins, I find.