February - March 2019

Manager’s Corner

As the chills increase in the north, we’re happy to welcome back our northern friends. Along with returning to the sunshine, we have some changes and fun activities coming to welcome them.

February is Resident Appreciation Month here at Fairways and to show our gratitude, there will be a ton of fun activities throughout the month including an ice cream social, a wine and cheese soiree around the Masters Fire Pit, and coffee and donuts with the management and sales teams. Be on the look out this month for when we’ll host these events and more.

While we celebrate our residents, we’d also like to welcome a new member to the Fairways staff – Joseph Paneque! Joseph joined the team in November as a compliance officer. He’s currently enrolled as a student at UCF and works part-time at the Fairways. If you see him around in his golf cart, make sure you say hi. Welcome to the team Joseph!

As we welcome Joseph, we’re also saying goodbye to our Activities Director, Ted Wiegman. He was only our Director for what felt like a short time, but every experience he brought to us was unforgettable – like the Bill Joel Tribute and ABBA shows. He and his wife may be relocating back to Ohio, but he will always have a family here. Good luck Ted, we’ll miss you.

A huge thank you to our residents for always making sure their homes are in tip-top shape. This month, we’d like to recognize Joan McCune, Angel Acevedo, Michael Shanahan, Myrna Wilkinson, Richard Kaptain , Michael Ragsdale, and Osvaldo Fernandez for their work on their homes. Thank you all so much for all you do to keep the Fairways looking their best.

Sincerely,

Priscilla

Hometown Golf Tournament

On Friday, January 25 we held the annual Hometown Invitational Golf Tournament. Residents enjoyed a wonderful day of friends, golf, and delicious food. A few even walked away with prizes! Thank you to all who participated, we’ll see you next year!

Sales Update

Happy Spring Fairways! The Sales Team has continued to bring new neighbors throughout the winter season and this is only the beginning. For a limited time, if a resident refers a customer to the team and they purchase a new Hometown America home, that resident will receive $2,000.

Are you thinking of selling your home? While we’ll miss you, we understand and encourage you to list your home with us – your resale authority. With the Fairways team, we are invested in you and do everything we can to make sure you get the best value for your home. Our team knows the lifestyle and the media contacts, not to mention we can offer your buyer a full year golf membership – that’s a value of up to $2,400 for free!

Don’t forget about the trade-in/trade-up program. If you contact Data Comp to appraise your home, Hometown America will give you the 70% value of the appraisal, so you only pay sales tax on the difference (and never commission). That’s not all – once you move into a new home, we will reimburse you the $300 appraisal fee. What are you waiting for?

If you have any questions about these programs or would like to tour please contact Judith Stebbins or Madeline Sanchez, they’d love to show you around!

Featured Homes

You can’t beat new construction! These two recent builds are the epitome of retiring in style. Each home is nestled into a cozy corner lot and boast open concept floor plans and new kitchen appliances. You can’t go wrong with either so set up a time to tour one, or both, of these gorgeous homes with our sales team today!

1679 Cedar Ridge Drive

1685 Cedar Ridge Drive

Holiday Lunch

On Monday, December 10 nearly 300 residents enjoyed a delicious holiday lunch, provided by Olive Garden and Hometown America, along with festive holiday music. Thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed the festivities!

Resident Appreciation Month

We’re excited to kick off Resident Appreciation Month this February to show how grateful we are for our seasonal and year-round residents. Check out the list of fun events and activities available to you this month:

Friday, February 1
Stop by the Fairways office and fill out a raffle ticket for a chance to win a surprise.

Wednesday, February 6
Guess how many jelly beans are in the office jar and you can win another prize!

Thursday, February 14
This year our residents are our valentines, so stop by the office and receive a flower for Valentine’s Day.

Saturday, February 16
Wine and cheese soirée around the fire pit at the Masters Clubhouse.

Sunday, February 17
Movie night at the Masters, complete with yummy ice cream sundaes.

Thursday, February 21
Your furry friends are residents too, stop by the office for their own special treat.

Ted Danson's Life Tips

We all remember watching Sam Malone turn out the lights on our favorite local bar, but at the time Ted Danson’s real life was at a crossroads. Since ending Cheers, he’s managed to grow his career and his life. Want to know how he did it? Read below to see Ted’s tips for a balanced life.

• 1. Fight fear with gratitude. Ted describes himself as a chronic worrier. He says to combat this, along with therapy and the help of his wife, he replaces the fearful thoughts with ones of gratitude.
• 2. As you grow older, work harder. Ted explains age is a marker but it’s not everything. What you’re capable of is more related to our creativity, passion, and determination. Although he may have a bit more trouble memorizing lines now, he simply works a bit harder and it pays off.
• 3. Know what’s important, be kind. No matter what financial worries his family had growing up, Ted was always reminded of how loved he was and exposed to a variety of people with diverse perspectives. While grieving the passing of his parents, he was reminded to focus on what matters most. His best advice? Be kind, everything else will take care of itself.
• 4. Surround yourself with passionate people. Find the smartest people you can and work with them. That’s how Ted continues to push himself. He explains he’s stopped thinking of himself as a start and begun working on projects of creative people that inspire him.
• 5. Accept that life will be messy. Self-deprecation has long been Ted’s comedic calling card. Rather than taking himself too seriously, he chooses to accept the messes that come with life and learn from them. He says he wouldn’t change any of his mistakes because they made him who he is today.

Today, viewers know Ted Danson as Michael on The Good Place or as a prominent environmental activist. Aging certainly isn’t slowing him down and it shouldn’t! Learn more about Ted’s tips for a balanced life and see if any of them work for balancing your own.

Trending Foods for 2019

Our food is evolving almost as fast as our technology. Sometimes it can feel challenging to keep up with all the newest fads. Kroger has predicted the biggest food trends of 2019 to help you stay up to date. Keep reading to learn what everyone will be putting on their plates this year.

• 1. Regional flavors. Whether it’s authentic southern cuisine or a true Philly Cheesesteak, people love food that reminds them of home and, according to Kroger, that’s not going to change any time soon.
• 2. Plant-based foods. Meat or dairy free diets are steadily growing in popularity. As more people participate in Meatless Mondays or switch to a plant-based diet, food suppliers will provide a wider variety of available options.
• 3. Trendy diets. In the quest for health, many are trying the newest diet trends like Keto or Whole30. Kroger not only expects this to continue, but increase as we head into the new year.
• 4. Low sugars. Another popular diet change for 2019 will include decreasing or cutting sugar entirely from diets. While this may not be the best choice for everyone, 47% of consumers have said they are working to minimize their sugar intake.

Do Kroger’s predictions match up with yours? Learn more about them and give some of these trends a try for yourself. Maybe you’ll find meatless Mondays make your least favorite day of the week a bit more exciting.

Budgeting Made Easy

Tracking finances can quickly become taxing but it must be done. Overspending is an easy habit to form, but after retirement you are often without a steady source of income and relying heavily on savings. Thankfully, there are strategies specifically for retirees that will have you budgeting like a professional in no time. Don’t waste your time on unnecessary financial worries, learning the basics of budgeting is simple and fast.

First things first, be honest about your budget. Consider exactly what your current income, account balance, and expenses are. It’s easy to overlook small expenses but they add up over time. This may seem like common sense, but meticulously laying out finances is the foundation of a strong budget that you can continue in the long term.

Frequent expenses include home, transport, travel, and healthcare. Along with bills, it’s critical to note extraneous home expenses like maintenance or updates. If your car is guzzling funds as well as gas, consider using mobile apps such as Google Maps to find public transport routes near you. On the bright side, sticking to your budget doesn’t mean you can’t travel! Check out our travel article on the right side of the page for tips and destinations to make your vacation scrapbook-worthy for less. The last expense, healthcare, is sometimes unavoidable. However, by taking care of your mind and body, it becomes easier to prevent certain medical emergencies.

The last step is to keep track of your expenses. This is the part where most budgeters give up. Keeping a detailed record of what you spend can be demoralizing and difficult. To combat this, rewire the way you think about keeping track of your expenses. Turn it into a game where the goal is to find new ways to save on your purchases and keeping track of those purchases is how to keep the score. Plus, technology makes it easier than ever to record expenses with the various mobile apps designed for this very purpose, like Clarity Money. With this app, you can track your spending digitally whether you’re on a mobile phone or computer.

With these strategies, sticking to your budget is easier than ever. If you’re looking for more tips and tricks on how to live well on less, click here. Give your budget a makeover and see how much you can save.