Floating Retirement Homes

                                                                                         

Imagine a floating retirement home that includes accommodations for two with ocean view, all meals, co-ownership in a cruise ship, a membership to a Golf and Country Club, monthly Bahamas cruise and annual cruise to the Caribbean. Sound too good to be true?

Now offered by Waterfront Lifestyles International, this is the latest concept for Florida's seniors. The retirement community is a luxury cruise ship, complete with dining room, cocktail lounges, night club, library/Internet cafe, spa, fitness room, cigar bar, shops, medical center, sun deck, hot tub, casino and shuffleboard. The ship is located in Cape Canaveral with proximity to Orlando and famous central Florida attractions including Disneyworld, Sea World, Universal Studios and the space launches.

Residents actually own a 1/100th share of the ship that includes stateroom for two, meals and use of ship facilities. Similar to a condo, they pay a maintenance fee proportionate to the size and cost of their stateroom (range from 125-330 square feet).

This fee goes toward the ship's operating expenses. Since you are not purchasing real estate, the sale will not be subject to property taxes, or closing fees. The members actually form a Homeowners Association to make decisions about the ship's maintenance and monitor fluctuation of monthly fees. The ship is currently referred to as "Alegria", but the Homeowners Association will have the final say in its name. Profit from the shops, bars, casino and spa go back into the maintenance fund to subsidize the operating budget.

Ship Amenities include:

- Weekly housekeeping

- 12 guest cabins available for free stays for friends and family (includes meals)

- Cashless Casino for recreation when ship is docked, but boosts up to authentic gaming casino when at sea.

- Access to ship laundry

- Shuttle bus for shopping, events and site seeing

- Staterooms have flat screen TV's, telephones, and high-speed internet access

- All rooms are outside units with large windows

- Monthly cruise to Bahamas and annual cruise to the Caribbean

- Membership to local Golf & Tennis Country Club

- Parking

- Storage facilities

Costs range from about $2500 to $5,500/month for two people including meals and weekly housekeeping. Actually pretty reasonable, when you consider the cost of a retirement home is usually much higher for one person. An average seniors home may be between $1,000 and $3,000/month for one person, or from $6,000 to $8,000 for upscale facilities.

Investors can even put off purchasing until they retire, and rent in the meantime. Residents are also permitted to rent out their staterooms, but only for a minimum one year lease.

After viewing their brochures, if you're still interested, leave a refundable $10,000 deposit to hold the stateroom that most interests you, and you can board the ship and view the facilities first hand. If it's not what you're looking for, the deposit is totally refundable.

Alegria the first cruise vessel being offered by Waterfront Lifestyles, but they hope to add additional ships in Tampa, Jacksonville, Palm Beach and Sarasota.

About the author:
Jerry Clifford has received the prestigious 100% Club award for his success as a real estate agent in the Minneapolis real estate area. He is certified as an ePRO and prides himself on attention to detail. If you need help in your search for Minneapolis townhomes, visit JerryClifford.com.

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