Housing Industry Adapts to Not-So-Retiring Baby Boomers

Staying mentally and physically fit, "so that the mind and body hit the finish line at the same time," is also a key concern, Blake said.

Finally, 50 to 80 percent of Del Webb community residents continue to work, Blake said, reflecting a widespread concern about financial security. There is a growing concern that many boomers won't have the resources to fully retire and will have to continue to work at least part time.

Architect Carl Malcolm, an associate with James, Harwick and Partners in Dallas, says that even boomers on a limited budget want an amenity-filled lifestyle.

"These folks have the same cellphone, e-mail and Internet habits," he explained. "They are time-starved seniors looking for places they live in to take care of what they don't want to do," he explained, adding, "but the economy overlays it all."

In some of the Atlanta projects his company has designed, Malcolm says, it has been able to cut corners by increasing space flexibility and designing buildings with economical floor plans.

"But we're learning," he said. In the first building, seniors parked their scooters in the hallway and used the landlord's plug to charge up their batteries. "In the second generation, we added a scooter parking area."

Q I regularly read your column , and I have never seen anything positive about real estate agents. You are not accurately portraying the industry or instilling any trust in one of the biggest engines of our economy.

The real estate industry has dishonest people and those who provide substandard or illegal service. Such types can also be found among doctors, lawyers, newspaper columnists, reporters, chief executives and people in every industry out there.

If I were a layman buyer or seller in real estate, I would think by reading your articles that there is nothing good about the industry or the workers within it. I know you receive positive questions and chronicles from happy and well-served consumers; nonetheless, you never seem to choose them for your column.

A recent column was unbelievable. The seller you described is one of the most unreasonable customers I have ever heard of. Any right-minded agent would discontinue service to a person like this. Practically any broker who investigated this complaint, which you say is the course of action to take, would ask this seller to find someone else. Reading between the lines, the home is probably overpriced and the seller has alienated himself from his best asset, the real estate agent.

Nevertheless, I saw no commentary as to how unreasonabl y that person was behaving. I've been successful in real estate for nearly nine years -- never had even the first legal issue -- and have a large group of happy clients.

My suggestion to you is to get real about real estate and be fair and balanced in your approach. Everyone, including you, will be the beneficiary.