RISMEDIA, May 13, 2008-Barbara Corcoran has built her career on knowing where people will live even before they know it themselves. In NEXTVILLE: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life (Springboard Press; April 29, 2008), she turns her incomparable real estate eye on Baby Boomers planning for retirement and predicts “the next big things” in real estate for that enormous demographic.
Where, and maybe even more importantly, how do you want to live once you’ve escaped the 9-to-5 grind? In NEXTVILLE, Corcoran identifies the top eight trends that are changing where and how Boomers are retiring. She also helps you to figure out what’s most important in your next place – whether it’s pursuing your passions, living green, finding community, living young in a city or college town, or even staying right in your hometown. She considers how Boomers, healthier and wealthier than their parents at retirement, are generally not interested in traditional retirement locations and offers a look into the places that will make all types of personalities happy for the next phase of their lives. Along the way, Corcoran delivers her invaluable “Barb’s Rules” for choosing real estate.
Barbara Corcoran founded the successful Corcoran Group real estate company and served as CEO until she sold it in 2005. She is currently the real estate contributor to NBC’s Today Show, writes a weekly column for the New York Daily News and will be the host of CNBC’s upcoming “The Millionaire Broker with Barbara Corcoran.” She is the author of the national bestseller Use What You’ve Got.
Warren Berger has written for Wired and the New York Times and is the author of several books on the subjects of lifestyle, design and advertising.
Barb’s Ten Rules to Live Happily Ever After
1. Forget Florida. I’m not just talking Florida here. I’m talking about conventional retirement, in the usual ways and the usual places. Remember that the only worthy goal is to find what suits you, not your parents.
2. Think outside the hammock. You can rest when you’re dead. Your second act should be about doing, not just relaxing.
3. Choose people over palm trees. Palm trees make lousy conversationalists. When it comes to your next place, the people who surround you will make or break the experience.
4. Think passions, not pastimes. A pastime is something you do to fill your time. A passion is something you do to fill your soul.
5. Turn back the clock. Head for a place that allows you to be young again.
6. Release your inner good guy. Find a way to help others in your new community. It’s the single best way to help yourself.
7. No place is too far away. Be willing to stray. You have the courage and the know-how to go anywhere and make a home there if you like.
8. Be willing to stay. If your current home is your idea of paradise, then put away the suitcases-you’re already in Nextville. But decide to make it new again and truly make it (and your life) better.
9. Take a test drive. Live in a new place temporarily or plan lots of visits. Don’t trust what anyone, including me, tells you about the place. Snoop around.
10. Life is short. There’s no time for regrets. Be adventurous. Be happy. Live your dream.
