May 12, 2008
Great place to visit and you will want to live here
Williamsburg is a nice place to visit but it's even better to live there. Those who look to make it permanent remember vacations walking the streets of Colonial Williamsburg, enjoying the thrills of Busch Gardens, catching a bit of history
at Jamestown and Yorktown. Or they have fond memories of college days at William and Mary. When retirement looms, the greater Williamsburg area beckons with a small town feel within an hour's drive of several big cities.
"We have vacationers who come over and over and decide this is place they want to live, not just visit," says Linda Kinsman, executive vice president of the Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors.
Alumni are another driving force, says Mike Bucci, general manager of Prudential McCardle Realty's five offices in Williamsburg and Newport News.
"A lot of College of William and Mary folks are coming back to Williamsburg," Bucci says. "I graduated from the college in 1966 and know a lot of my friends are deciding to make this their home for retirement."
They like the mild weather, the close by rivers, the parks, nearness to both beach and mountains, cultural and historical offerings and the variety of good restaurants.
"We have the historic area here and the college and we have a four-season climate," says Jim Early, director of sales at Governor's Land at Two Rivers, one of the area's growing number of upscale communities. "You can enjoy Christmas. You still have winter, but it's not going to last very long."
A growing number of affluent communities also means the golfer in the family has a choice of where to pass a pleasant 18 holes. The marketing those affluent communities do is getting the word out, especially in the Northeast.
"The gated communities – Kingsmill, Ford's Colony and Governor's Land – do a lot of marketing up and down the East Coast and that attracts people to the area," Kinsman says. "While people may or may not buy in those areas, it gets them to Williamsburg."
Once they make plans to retire to Williamsburg, some couples figure why wait to move? Harry and Ruby Conn bought a lot in the Kingsmill resort community about 14 years ago when they were both in their 40s.
"We planned to build when we were ready to retire," says Mrs. Conn, a Realtor with Prudential McCardle-Powell. "We decided we liked it here so much we would go ahead and build our retirement home and when we were ready, we'd be there."
Many of her clients have bought property early and plan to retire later. Sometimes they sell one property in a community and trade up, get ready to retire and settle down in a permanent home.
Conn, a dentist, enjoys playing golf and Mrs. Conn can be found on the tennis courts. Now, coming home from work each day feels like a mini-retirement.
"All the different activities they have there are very well done," she says. "After I've had a long and hectic day at work, once I drive through the gate, I feel safe. I can relax now. I'm home. It's away from all of this. It's not an inconvenient commute at all."
Copyright © 2008, The Virginia Gazette
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