“Summerset is superior in a lot of ways.”

“I’d been to Summerset on a couple of occasions as part of my job as Eve’s Real Estate branch manager in Papamoa. We looked at villages in the area and when we compared them all, we felt that Summerset is superior in a lot of ways,” said Summerset resident, Trevor Hansen.

A place that feels like home

“When we started to look for a retirement village, we included our children. We have three adult boys, two locally and one in Germany. The local boys came with us to visit villages,” said Trevor. “The main draw was that Summerset is modern with a number of different facilities on site that were superior, and the location is close to our sons and the grandkids.”

“We liked the village cafe as well as the people here. The staff were very friendly towards us, even though we hadn't yet signed up. When you throw all of that into the mix, Summerset was ticking so many boxes. And Heather liked this village for the newness and its safe and secure, with care facilities for later.”

The value of village living

The Hansen’s felt more informed than others might when they started looking for a retirement village and shared the importance of understanding the value you’re really getting when signing up for a village.

“Being in real estate helped a bit with understanding contracts, and I knew about licence to occupy agreements. I'm not saying I'm an expert; we took legal advice, and our solicitor was our trustee. A fundamental thing to understand is the deferred management fee. As long as you can get your head around that, then you can see the benefits for you,” shared Trevor.

“It’s also important to get your family's support on what you're doing. In real estate, I dealt with a number of people who were thinking about going into a village but were talked out of it by their children. I saw people in their late eighties and nineties saying, ‘we're not going to sell now, we're going to stay here.’ Our family said, ‘go for it’.”

“I believe that above all, you have to place a high value and worth on the lifestyle and camaraderie. And all the facilities and activities you can do on your doorstep. Then there’s the safety and security. You need to place a lot of worth and value on enjoying all that while you're alive,” stated Trevor.

Since moving in, the Hansen’s have more in their diaries than ever. Trevor participates in the ukulele group, bowls and pool teams. While Heather is a fan of the fitness classes and enjoys crafting.

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