3 Reasons to Retire to the Tampa Bay Area

It would probably be easier to enumerate the reasons for not retiring to the Tampa Bay area than the multitude of characteristics that make it the ideal retirement destination. In fact, the Tampa metro area annually lands near the top of many “best places to retire” lists, and recently attained the No. 2 spot on a list compiled by WalletHub.com. In this article, we’ll consider only a few of the reasons why Tampa stands out as the Florida region to call home in retirement.

Affordability

More and more older adults worry about outliving their retirement savings, so finding an affordable place to live is a high priority for most retirees. Like all Florida residents, Tampa Bay residents don’t pay a state income tax, and other tax rates are relatively low, as is the overall cost of living. Moreover, the employment opportunities for seniors who wish to augment their retirement income through full- or part-time work are better in the Tampa area than in many other parts of the state or, for that matter, the nation.

Quality of Life

Tampa Bay’s natural beauty and year-round favorable weather contribute a great deal to the quality of life for retirees who enjoy fishing, boating, golfing, hiking, bird-watching, beachcombing, and other outdoor pursuits. As a renowned tourist destination, Tampa is also home to numerous attractions, including sports and performing arts venues, zoos, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, the Ybor City historic district, and many others, that provide plenty to do for the active retiree. Plus, seniors should have lots of opportunities to spend time with peers, as approximately one in five Tampa residents is of retirement age.

Health Care

The Tampa Bay area scores well for access to high-quality health care. The city of Tampa is home to the world-renowned Tampa General Hospital, which, through its partnership with the University of South Florida, benefits from groundbreaking and life-saving medical research. Also thanks to the university, Tampa is home to top centers for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease treatment, and the area has a robust home health care industry.

If you’re considering retiring to the Tampa Bay area, make sure you take a close look at the active lifestyle you could enjoy at StrawBerry Ridge. Our resort-style community of high-quality manufactured homes for adults 55 and older just east of Tampa is affordable, and our residents love living here! Contact us today to learn more.

Why Pickleball Is Popular Among Seniors

The biggest reason why pickleball is popular among senior adults is the same reason it has caught fire with Americans of all ages: It’s fun. The rules are relatively simple and the equipment is inexpensive, so it’s also a game that almost anyone can play. This makes pickleball a welcoming sport that appeals to a wide variety of people, not just those with superior athletic ability who have played the game for many years.

Beyond that, however, pickleball offers special advantages for active adults in their retirement years. In fact, pickleball checks off two of the top boxes on the list of features that any 55+ community ought to have, including:

Activities to Encourage Physical Fitness

It’s inevitable that people will lose some of their vigor, stamina, and physical ability as they age, but studies show that seniors who exercise regularly can often significantly delay the detrimental effects of aging. Nonetheless, many people don’t enjoy working out at the gym, so even well-intentioned seniors may slack off on their exercise routines after a few weeks. Pickleball, on the other hand, is a fun way to get in some aerobic exercise without making a conscious effort—you’re just playing a game with friends. Additionally, pickleball is played with a lightweight plastic ball instead of a tennis ball. This means participants don’t need to strike it with as much force during play, and it’s also less likely to cause injury if it inadvertently collides with a player whose reflexes may be diminished.

Opportunities for Socialization

Experts say the social isolation that seniors often feel as they retire from the workplace can contribute to serious, even life-threatening, health problems. Pickleball can be a great anecdote to loneliness because it is played with other people, requires no special skills, and often leads to after-the-game get-togethers that can foster camaraderie.

Pickleball at StrawBerry Ridge

StrawBerry Ridge is a retirement community near Tampa, Florida, that has long recognized the value and popularity of pickleball for our residents who are 55 and older. Our fully equipped pickleball court is just one of the many resort-style amenities our residents enjoy when they purchase a high-quality manufactured home and make low monthly home site lease payments at StrawBerry Ridge.

If you’re looking for a pickleball community to call home in retirement, contact our Lifestyle Team today to learn more about StrawBerry Ridge. We’ll also be glad to book a community tour for you whenever you plan to be in the Tampa area.

Retirement Homes for Sale in a Sought-After 55+ Community in Valrico, FL

The retirement homes for sale at StrawBerry Ridge, a beautiful 55+ community in Valrico, Florida, usually don’t stay on the market for long. When you visit our gated community, you’ll quickly see why. We’re ideally situated in a vibrant suburban area just outside Tampa, where our residents enjoy a wealth of easily accessible services and entertainment activities as well as opportunities to continue working in retirement if they wish. 

Not only that, but we also make active resort-style living affordable by offering manufactured homes for sale in a gated community that includes two spacious clubhouses and many amenities that you won’t find in just any 55+ community. These features include:

• Indoor and outdoor pools, both with hot tubs
• A fully equipped woodworking shop
• A ceramics and crafts studio
• A fitness center and aerobics room
• Lighted tennis and pickleball courts

These amenities make it easy for our residents to stay active and find friendship through numerous planned activities on a daily basis. In fact, our residents often say the friendly atmosphere at StrawBerry Ridge is what they like best about living here!

Our Inventory of Retirement Homes for Sale

The manufactured homes we offer for sale at StrawBerry Ridge are well maintained and attractively arranged in a traditional neighborhood setting. Each home has a carport or garage, and many have screen rooms or enclosed patios that look out on beautiful views. Our homes offer safe, comfortable housing, and some come with luxury features, such as vaulted ceilings and island kitchens.

When you buy one of the retirement homes for sale at StrawBerry Ridge and pay a low monthly home site lease fee, you’ll enjoy daily access to our clubhouses and the many activities that go on there. You’ll also be only a short drive away from popular beaches, professional sports venues, theme parks, and one of the nation’s largest casinos.

Click here to learn more about the retirement homes we have for sale at idyllic StrawBerry Ridge. Contact us today for more information and to schedule a tour of our community the next time you’re in the Valrico area.

Affordable Retirement Homes for Sale Near Tampa, FL

Are you looking at retirement homes for sale in Tampa, Florida, and wondering whether you’ll be able to buy a home and also have enough of your savings left over to spend on having fun? Although real estate experts say Tampa has some of the lowest-cost housing in the country, home prices have been escalating quickly, and especially in master-planned communities with resort-style amenities for the residents to enjoy. But fear not! StrawBerry Ridge, a community for active adults 55 and older that’s several miles east of Tampa, has the perfect solution.

We offer high-quality manufactured homes in an attractive neighborhood setting that’s also home to:

• Two spacious clubhouses
• Indoor and outdoor pools
• A woodworking shop
• A ceramics studio
• A fitness center and aerobics room
• Tennis, pickleball, and shuffleboard courts

When you purchase one of our retirement homes for sale and make low monthly home site lease payments, you’ll be able to enjoy all of those amenities without even leaving StrawBerry Ridge. You’ll also be able to participate in our many classes, clubs, and community-wide events, where you can mingle with your neighbors and develop fast friendships.

Plenty to Do Outside Our Gates

StrawBerry Ridge is conveniently located in a Tampa suburb that has its own highly respected restaurants, shopping centers, hospitals, doctors’ offices, financial institutions, places of worship, and other community mainstays that older adults typically seek when considering retirement homes for sale. When you’re in the mood for entertainment, you have only to drive a few miles to one of the nation’s largest casinos, a concert venue located at the state fairgrounds, the Florida Aquarium, and many more attractions.

We invite you to come see the lovely retirement homes for sale at StrawBerry Ridge and evaluate the affordable Florida lifestyle provided here for yourself. Contact our Lifestyle Team today for more information and to schedule a community tour the next time you’re in the Tampa area.

Where Can You Find Affordably Priced Retirement Homes for Sale near Brandon, FL?

Are you an older adult who’s had your heart set on retiring to Florida, but now you’re worried about rising real estate costs? If so, you should consider moving to StrawBerry Ridge, a gated community of high-quality manufactured homes in the Brandon, Florida, area for active adults 55 and older. The retirement homes we have for sale at StrawBerry Ridge provide comfortable and safe housing, but they typically cost less than comparable site-built homes. And just wait until you see all the resort-style amenities that await you in our beautiful 55+ community!

An Affordable Active Lifestyle

At StrawBerry Ridge, we know that active older adults are seeking retirement homes in a community that will help them build friendships even as they enjoy all the pastimes they never had time for during their working years. That’s why we offer two community clubhouses with plenty of spaces for classes, club meetings, and social events. Our long list of amenities also includes:

• Indoor and outdoor swimming pools
• A well-equipped fitness center and aerobics room
• Tennis, pickleball, and shuffleboard courts
• A woodworking shop
• A ceramics and crafts studio

When you buy one of the retirement homes in StrawBerry Ridge and pay a low monthly home site lease fee, you’ll have unlimited access to all of those amenities. Plus, you’ll be able to join your neighbors in outings to one of the largest casinos in the country, as well as theme parks, sports venues, and shopping destinations, all conveniently located a short drive away.

Book a Community Tour

StrawBerry Ridge has so much to offer that you need to see our retirement homes in person to evaluate the affordable active lifestyle that awaits you when you relocate to our community. Contact our Lifestyle Team today to schedule a community tour the next time you’re in the Brandon area.

10 Benefits of Choosing a Retirement Community with Clubhouses

Older adults have a variety of reasons for relocating to an age-restricted 55+ community when it’s time to retire, including a desire to stop taking care of a large home and yard and spend more time pursuing the activities they enjoy in the company of other retirees who have time to spare. However, not all 55+ communities are the same. The best retirement communities have clubhouses that bring people together and help them forge friendships over common interests.

At StrawBerry Ridge, our residents repeatedly tell us that the friendships they’ve cultivated since moving to our gated community of manufactured homes near Tampa, Florida, are the top reason they recommend our community to other retirees. Our two spacious clubhouses play an important role in fostering those relationships. Indeed, if you choose to spend your retirement at our lovely community, here are 10 benefits you can enjoy, thanks to our clubhouses:

1. Eat a pancake breakfast or barbecue dinner with the neighbors at a community event.
2. Work off some of the calories you consumed during Aqua-Fit classes at our outdoor swimming pool.
3. Thumb your nose at the rain and carry on with your pool party at our indoor swimming pool.
4. Learn how to sculpt the perfect bowl or knickknack at our ceramics studio.
5. Make toys to brighten the lives of children in need at our fully equipped woodworking shop.
6. Join your neighbors in paying tribute to one of the world’s great inventions, the root beer float, before settling in for the community’s movie night.
7. Keep your mind sharp by playing bingo, dominoes, Mah Jong, bunco, poker, bridge, gin rummy, pinochle, or pretty much any kind of indoor game you can think of.
8. Create a memory quilt for yourself or a loved one as part of the All In Stitches quilting group.
9. Help plan group trips to places near and far as part of the Travel Club.
10. Show off your pickleball prowess to the grandkids when they come for a visit.

See for Yourself

Once you’ve had a chance to tour StrawBerry Ridge and see our spacious clubhouses in person, we’re confident that you’ll think of many more benefits you can enjoy when you become part of our close-knit retirement community. Contact us today to schedule your tour whenever you’re in the Tampa area.

How to Evaluate Retirement in Florida vs. New Jersey

At StrawBerry Ridge near Tampa, we have a number of residents who made the big decision to retire to Florida instead of staying put in their home state of New Jersey. Both Florida and New Jersey have a lot to offer retirees, including many miles of beautiful beaches where sun-bathing, shell-hunting, and bird-watching opportunities abound. Both states offer casinos and other attractions that make fantastic group trip opportunities, which can help older adults build lasting friendships.

But Florida has long reigned as one of the top retiree destinations in the world, and there are some obvious reasons why. If you’re trying to decide the merits of retirement in Florida vs. New Jersey, here are some things to consider:

Cost of Living

Florida easily outshines the Garden State when it comes to offering retirees a lower cost of living, with just about everything, from groceries to utilities to housing expenses, costing less in Florida.

Fewer Taxes

Unlike New Jersey, Florida does not collect a state tax on income.

Climate

This is one of those areas where personal preference comes in. Although Florida has its own rhythms when it comes to spring, summer, fall, and winter, the differences in temperature are not nearly as pronounced as in New Jersey, and many retirees who move to Florida from the North say they miss the fall colors. However, there’s a reason why Florida has been dubbed the Sunshine State – rarely does weather interfere with outdoor activities like fishing, boating, golfing, sightseeing, and more.

At StrawBerry Ridge, we take pride in making an active Florida lifestyle affordable and pleasant for our residents from New Jersey and many other states. We offer an abundance of resort-style amenities for our residents to enjoy, including an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a woodworking shop, and two spacious clubhouses. We also help our residents stretch their retirement savings to the max by offering safe, comfortable manufactured housing for sale in a beautiful gated setting. If you’re trying to evaluate the merits of retirement in Florida vs. New Jersey, we’ll be happy to provide you with a firsthand look.  Contact us today to schedule a tour of StrawBerry Ridge the next time you’re in the Tampa area.

StrawBerry Ridge near Tampa, FL, Makes Finding Friends After Retirement a Piece of (Short)Cake

Finding friends after retirement is one of the top challenges for older adults, experts say, explaining that the time-honored ways of meeting new people through work, church, and other social networks often disappear for retirees. This can be a dangerous trend, as loneliness and social isolation have been linked to adverse physical and mental health effects in older adults.

However, many residents of StrawBerry Ridge say they’ve had no trouble finding friends after they decided to spend their retirement in our warm and friendly community for active adults 55 and older. Our beautiful gated community near Tampa, Florida, has some of the most enviable amenities for older adults – including two clubhouses, indoor and outdoor pools, a woodworking shop, and a ceramics studio – and these amenities make it easier for our residents to join in activities that help them develop close friendships. What’s more, we take pride in offering an affordable active lifestyle – another important factor in reducing stress for retirees so they can get more enjoyment out of their golden years.

How Do We Do It?

We offer high-quality manufactured homes for sale – many with luxury features – in an attractive neighborhood setting. Then, for a low monthly home site lease payment, our residents can enjoy all the resort-style amenities at StrawBerry Ridge whenever they want. We also offer a wide variety of group activities that encourage our residents to get to know one another. For example, picture yourself:

• Crafting a masterpiece as part of the Berry Clay Pit Ceramics Group
• Sampling an assortment of delicious toppings at our community’s all-you-can-eat Ice Cream Social
• Heading out with the Red Hat Mammas to the Wooden Spoon Diner to sample fried egg sandwiches or luscious Maryland-style crab cakes

To get a better idea of all the happenings that help our residents find friends after retirement, take a look at our newsletter. Or contact our Lifestyle Team today for more information and to schedule a tour of our community when you’re in the Tampa area.

Enjoy the Sweet Life at StrawBerry Ridge, a Rare Find Among Tampa-Area Retirement Communities

StrawBerry Ridge is a lovely, gated retirement community of high-caliber manufactured homes located on the outskirts of Tampa, FL. Many visitors choose to move here after seeing our amenities, including indoor and outdoor swimming pools and two spacious clubhouses, which provide space for a fully equipped woodworking shop and a ceramics studio, among other meeting spaces.

However, the reason newcomers give most often for choosing StrawBerry Ridge over other Tampa retirement communities is the warm welcome they receive from our residents. And that genuine friendliness stems from the feeling of camaraderie that thrives at StrawBerry Ridge, thanks to the year-round activities made possible by our ideal Central Florida location and resort-style amenities.

What’s Happening at StrawBerry Ridge?

• Veterans Group – Are you a veteran of our armed forces? Thanks in part to our close proximity to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, there’s a sizable contingent of veterans who call our retirement community If you’re a veteran, you’ll feel right at home joining in our celebrations to commemorate Flag Day and other patriotic events.

• Red Hat Mammas – Join this group for planned excursions to nearby communities like Lake Alfred, home to intriguing antique shops and garden centers.

• Travel Club – Take part in group trips to New Orleans and other exciting destinations in the company of friends and neighbors who share your interests.

What’s more, the close proximity of our retirement community to Tampa means you can enjoy visiting beaches, theme parks, casinos, professional and college sports venues, art and science museums, and many more attractions on your own or in a group of friendly neighbors.

Contact us today to learn more about the many activities that StrawBerry Ridge has to offer, or click here to view our monthly newsletter. Our Lifestyle Team will also be happy to help you set up a visit to our retirement community whenever you’re in the Tampa area.

StrawBerry Ridge Is a Great Central Florida 55+ Community Where You Can Enjoy the Benefits of Woodworking in Retirement

For some older adults, one of the downsides of retiring to Florida is leaving behind the well-equipped woodworking shop they may have built and stocked with tools over the years. In fact, for many of these craftsmen, spending more time creating furniture or knickknacks by hand is part of the allure of retirement. Fortunately, there’s a terrific Central Florida community for active adults 55 and older that has a spacious, fully equipped woodworking shop available for residents’ use. It’s StrawBerry Ridge, located just outside of Tampa, FL. Whether you’re an avid wood crafter already or you’ve been thinking about taking up woodworking in retirement, you owe it to yourself to see the facilities at this beautiful community.

There are many benefits of pursuing woodworking in retirement, including keeping the mind and body active. Moreover, some retirees are able to generate income by selling their handiwork online or at a craft show, of which there are many to be found throughout Central Florida. However, one of the top benefits of woodworking at StrawBerry Ridge is the camaraderie our residents enjoy when sharing their hobby with neighbors.

In fact, there’s a Woodworkers Club that offers classes to help members hone their skills. The group also organizes fundraisers to support the club’s annual Christmas Toy Program, in which members make pull toys, dollhouses, and other wooden toys to give to children in need. The club also uses funds to provide store-bought toys for the giveaway.

Never a Dull Moment at StrawBerry Ridge

In addition to the opportunities for residents to pursue woodworking in our beautifully landscaped retirement community, we offer numerous other organized activities at StrawBerry Ridge so that we’re sure to have something for everyone. To get an idea of what we have to offer, click here to view our monthly newsletter.

StrawBerry Ridge is a gated community of high-quality manufactured homes, along with two community clubhouse complexes. We take pride in offering the finest in resort-style retirement living at a price that’s affordable for many older adults on a budget. Come see what we have to offer! Contact us today to schedule a community tour whenever you plan to visit Central Florida.