A new Zillow app helps retirement money work harder by letting consumers model options like state, home value, weather and crime rate. The app’s not available for iPhone or Android but we’ve embedded it below for use right from this article. The biggest mistake most people make when it comes to retirement is not planning for it when their golden years are still far away. The app below makes it easy to start dreaming about the best destination for affordable homes, cost of living, healthcare, low crime rate, culture and the arts.
I am saving money for my retirement by working few extra hours #SabseImportantPlan @BSLMF
— Parveen Garg (@nony_garg) September 9, 2016
Why Top Ten Lists Don’t Work for Retirement Money
It’s easy to write a top ten list called “The Ten Best Places to Retire” or “The Five Best Places Your Retirement Money Lasts Longer.” The trouble with those kinds of articles though is that people aren’t robots. Each person has different expectations for retirement and different desires. That’s what makes the app below so cool. Zillow made it together with Reuters to give future retirees a custom experience for making the most of their retirement dollars. Just use the dropdown menus to select the options that best fit your preferences. Zillow does the rest, serving up a map of the best locations that will fill the individual bill. Just click on any location in the list below the map to see homes for sale in that region.
The Retirement Money Location Calculator
Zillow’s retirement money by location app above makes it easy to zero in on the perfect place in the country. The app provides the best places based on drop down menus for:
- State
- Population
- Home values
- Access to good healthcare
- Pleasant weather
- Percent of population over 65
- Access to entertainment
- Low crime rate
Those may seem like they’d all be very important criteria for anyone over age 65, but future golden-agers can use the menus to quickly rule out states they don’t want to live in. Not interested in Alaska or Nebraska? Just de-select them from the list. Looking for a certain home value range? Define that range to make your retirement money go further. More a fan of “soft days” than sun and surf? Make the preference clear in the weather menu. Can’t stand cities? Make sure to choose a lower population size.
Using Zillow’s Results
Zillow takes a little while to return the list of results so be patient if the retirement money and location info doesn’t pop up right away. The app will deliver a list of the top ten places to retire based on the specified preferences. The locations will show median home value in one column, then an overall score plus other criteria like the number of pleasant days per year and scores for healthcare access, entertainment and crime. Just click on any one location to see the list from homes for sale there in your price range.