At 61, and working full time, Debbie Denton doesn’t fit the stereotype retirement village resident.
But she’s part of a new trend of people downsizing from the family home to a smaller abode earlier than they might have once thought probable.
Ms Denton moved into a two-bedroom home after spending 36 years in the family home with a big yard, pool and too many bedrooms, she says to embrace a sense of community.
“I could have moved to a smaller house with a smaller yard, but I’d still be living alone, so I started looking into over 50s communities,” she said.
Ms Denton was one of the first residents to move into one of the newer retirement communities in Logan, Halcyon Rise at Logan Reserve.
“I started thinking about making my life a little easier and wondering about my next move,” she said.
She said she wanted to be near her two daughters and found Logan was well-positioned between the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
“Why wait until I’m older or retired?” she said, maintaining that she could still go to work and enjoy everything a community has to offer.
“I’m excited to design my own house and happy to move on from the family home to something new.”
Debbie sold her house in just two days and has moved in with her daughter while her house is completed, but she’s already becoming part of the community.
“While I wait for my house to be built, I’m coming along to happy hour and have been to several functions, had a great time and met some lovely people,” she said.
Similarly, after downsizing from a four-bedroom house in Varsity Lakes, Megan Frahm found living in a two-bedroom apartment in Robina on her own was isolating and lonely.
When Covid hit last year and restrictions brought an end to her group activities such as book clubs, knitting groups and social card games, Ms Frahm found her world became even smaller without her social network and family nearby.
“I lived in an apartment by myself for three years and it was a reclusive kind of existence,” she said.
“I’m a very social person so my experience of apartment living prompted the move.”
She said at any age, it can be intimidating to find a community outside of family, work or hobbies, so she welcomed the opportunity to move into a community with activities, groups and a built-in community on site.
She too was one of the early homeowners at Halcyon Rise.
“We also have a happy hour every Thursday where we talk and laugh and because of that, we know all of each other,” she said.
She said she was looking forward to the completion of the onsite recreational facilities, including a heated lap pool, walking and cycling tracks, pickleball courts, full-size bowling green and a fully equipped gym.
“I’m very excited for the facilities to be completed and my goal is to go swimming, try the exercise workouts, play pickleball and learn to play bowls – there is just so much to do.”
