Agrihoods With Anna

Michelle (00:09)

Welcome to Decluttering 55 Plus with Michelle Passoff. This is the place to come for news you can use to get things done. Everybody knows that too much stuff is clutter and cleaning it makes you neater and tidier. To us, it is a life management tool that helps you navigate your next steps. This is what my book Lighten Up, Free Yourself from Clutter is all about. As Baby Boomers, we have a lot in front of us that is confounding and confronting.

So we sweep things under the carpet and put them off another day or forever. That is clutter because it keeps us stuck. And my new book addresses all of that. So we’re going to bring experts, authors, and authorities here to talk with us about health, relationships, technology, finance, housing. What are you going to do next in life, passing down your life stories, and even the challenges of making final arrangements. Here we aim to learn.

open new possibilities, choose, take action and create a legacy, not a mess. So let’s get started. Have you ever heard of an agrihood? My family has been in farming as long as I’m alive and I’ve never heard of it myself, but it’s an emerging trend. Agrihood is a combination of an agriculture and neighborhood put together and you have a neighborhood built on a farm forming a very unique community and a growing housing option.

Our guest today has written more than 40 books on banking and finance, but we’re going to focus on one aptly called Welcome to the Neighborhood. Welcome to Anna DeSimone. Thanks for being with us and expanding our horizon about another housing options that not only 55 plusers can move into, ⁓ but as well as other people. Cause if I’m not mistaken, an agrihood is an intergenerational or is it

Strictly 55 plus, there’s what exactly is an agrihood. Tell us about that, Anna. Welcome.

Anna (02:26)

Michelle, thank you so much for inviting me back for a second show. So if anyone listened to our first segment, what I mostly described was what is it, what is my lifestyle going to be like if I moved to an agrihood and what is it? So the history of an agrihood is a lot of them are farms that were converted into housing developments. Only the majority of the land is satisfied for conservation or

for community use and about a third of the land is used for building homes. And there are all kinds of sizes, types, and price ranges of agrihoods across America, including multifamily apartment buildings, which would build a farm or an organic farm on the roof.

Michelle (03:12)

where you can rent as well as buy, is that right?

Anna (03:14)

Yeah, yeah, and there’s about a dozen agrihoods that have, you know, affordable apartment rentals. But the thing that makes an agrihood, like you said, Michelle, it is a combination of a neighborhood and agriculture. So it can’t really be called an agrihood unless it has an agricultural component. And the word was coined about 20 years ago in California for the very first development called Mission Viejo.

which now has five separate agriculture communities and about 2000 homes. But what, what I want to talk about today is what are the amenities? Because in addition to the working farm, what is the driver that takes people to live in an agriculture, which, which are known as healthy lifestyle communities and

I’ll just run some numbers off. are about 100 agrihoods and every one of them has a working farm. And sometimes the working farm is managed and run by the person who actually owned the heritage farm that the land developer acquired. So they stay on as either the board of directors or actual managing the farm.

And the farm can be limited to just fruits and vegetables, or it can also include, you know, dairy, eggs, and sometimes chicken. Now, the amenities are, you know, what do people do all day? they actually farm themselves? So there are a couple of farms that are called cooperatives where the people who live there have to volunteer like four hours a week. So,

And the work that people do when they volunteer on the farm is usually limited to planting and harvesting. And so they’re not really doing the upkeep and the irrigation and the watering, which is managed by the farm.

Michelle (05:24)

These farms are, there’s not like an umbrella organization of these farms. Each of them are independent of one another and they have their own characteristics and their own proximity to a major village or even ⁓ some of them I understand are urban. So you’re not, if you’ve seen one farm, you’ve seen one farm. Is that correct?

Anna (05:50)

Yeah, well, let’s talk about, try to think of it as a golf course or a country club. So an agrihood is a development of say four or 500 homes and they are all walking distance or, you know, a very short drive to the farm. But you don’t look out your window and see the cows. You take a walk and you see the pastures with

with cows and horses grazing if there are cows on the farm. ⁓ But typically you’ll have at least 300 acres, two or 300 acres, and the homes are only built on about a third of that land. And there are major parks and what we call pocket parks. So as far as amenities, being able to buy the food that you eat from,

produce that’s grown a thousand feet from your house is very appealing. And typically the farms, the farm will have a store and people can go to the store every day and buy fresh produce and or they can subscribe to we call a community program where a box of food is delivered on their doorstep.

once or twice a week or alternatively people go to the farm store and they pick up, you know, their food and you know, they might pay 50 or a hundred dollars a month depending on the size of their family to have that. Yeah. Yeah. It’s like, know, my book I have, I include a directory of CSAs, which a community supported agriculture.

Michelle (07:28)

It’s called…

Anna (07:40)

Wait a you could be living in an apartment building in New York City and subscribe to a CSX.

Michelle (07:46)

I know, that’s called the community support.

Anna (07:49)

supported agriculture. Yeah. And my book has a directory of every CSA program in the United States. There’s about 900 of them. So I have a geographic directory, but people go, people want to move to our hoods for a number of reasons. In addition to having locally sourced healthy food.

There’s also a community connection, not only connecting with the farm and connecting with your neighbors, but a lot of our neighborhoods like to do business with other farmers. So typically you might see a working farm that is just strictly limited to fruits and vegetables and maybe some fruit and nut trees. And then every single Saturday and Sunday, they have what’s called a farmer’s market right at

you know, at where the clubhouse area is, there’s usually a gathering area or community center. And every weekend they invite local artisans in. So people who bake breads and people who grow organic poultry, fisheries that sell their wares. And so on a weekly basis, the people who live in the neighborhood get to meet and do business with people that are

outside of the community. what’s a way to expand your knowledge and horizon?

Michelle (09:15)

Community

is very far removed from being in a town or a city or, ⁓ or, ⁓ can you describe like the difference around the country? Like, are they close to a city or are they out in the country or are they on a mountain top? What is, can you explain in terms

Anna (09:32)

Well, I would say, yeah, out of the 90 suburban arc of hoods, because 10 of them in my book were like urban arc of hoods. The urban arc of hoods sometimes have affordable housing apartments, but they’re near the train so that you don’t have to have ⁓ a car, you know, and they’re walkable, bikeable communities. the suburban arc of hoods,

The majority of them are within 15 to 30 minutes from a major airport. The majority, almost every neighborhood is within 30 miles.

Michelle (10:12)

I would imagine for the 55 plus people moving into an aggregate, you want to be close to medical and you’re hitting on a couple of things, not only the healthy food, which is good for 55 plusers and the interconnection between the people within the community, but their access to medical facilities or travel to visit family, friends, explore the world in their retirement. So there’s a lot of good advantages for a 55 pluser, guess.

Anna (10:42)

Yeah, well, all the developments are within the public school system. However, there are a dozen agrihoods that built their own charter schools, which are award winning, by the way. But I will say this, there are a growing number of over 55 agrihood communities, or should I say healthy lifestyle communities that have an agricultural component, which is a little bit different.

You could call it an agrihood, but I would rather call it a healthy lifestyle community because it’s the amenities that make that community the happy place to live.

Michelle (11:22)

Well, let’s talk more about those. What kind of amenities might you find at an agrihood?

Anna (11:28)

Okay, well, the ones that have the larger abrohoods have smaller hamlets, which have cottages for over 55 people. And these are architecturally similar to what the historic homes were in a community. So people sit on their porch and they get to know people and they have pocket parks. There are some abrohoods that are over 55 that have art.

clubs, book clubs, have weekly trips to town to go to the theater, go to the ballet, go to concerts. There are agrihoods that have horseback riding, golf clubs, boating. So I think there’s about, in my book, in my directory of agrihoods, I list all of the key amenities for every agrihood. And so,

Actually, I have the chapter about agrihoods. There’s a chapter on equestrian, not a chapter, but a section on equestrian. And I name all of the agrihoods that have places where you can board your own horse or take horseback riding lessons or be part of the equestrian activities in that area.

Michelle (12:46)

Do

you know whether or not people have a tendency to stay within the area that they may have raised a family in or they may have lived for a long time or do they research the amenities that they want here and there and around the country and then have a tendency to migrate to those areas? What would you say about that?

Anna (13:06)

think the second one, they research where they would like to live, like they want to move to Florida. So there are about seven or eight agrihoods in Florida. And some of them are just amazing because every, cause two or three times a week, the people who live there, they get a private lesson from a member of the farm team. So they have raised bed gardens, they grow their own fruits and vegetables.

And it’s in a waist high garden. And so the, the agricultural assistance to work there, come, they come certain times a week and they teach forth, you know, four or five people at a time how to tend to their garden. So all of the irrigation is handled. These are called like community gardens. But what I like about this community, which is near Orlando, Florida, is that there are lessons and there’s a, there’s a lot of

connecting of people. there’s a lot of boating, there’s a beautiful farm store and cafe and restaurant. And as a country club lifestyle, for people who want to stay busy, especially for people who are alone and they’re over 55 or in their 70s or in their 80s,

Michelle (14:29)

It’s as important from what I understand through researchers, it’s as important as that healthy food is that connection to staying, to having a healthy long life is not only the food, but the connection. that’s a nice aspect of these communities is the activities that are on them.

Anna (14:48)

Yeah. Well, I’d say just off the top of my head, I think it’s fine 20 or 30, our goods in America that have golf and or boating. Uh, there’s one out of the hood and the Carolinas that has an amazing summer camp for kids, these kids and on the property, was in them. It’s in the mountains. They also have five or six.

Michelle (15:10)

on the property.

Anna (15:18)

are you know, golf course that were built by the famous golf people. I don’t know who they are because I’m not a golfer, but they’re, they’re certified on Arnold Palmer golf course.

Michelle (15:32)

⁓ there, there you go. Of course. That would be the first thing that comes to mind. I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s not a golfer. I could never golf really well because I was left-handed, I think maybe Tiger Woods might be left-handed. I’m not sure, but that wasn’t, that’s not such a good excuse, but as a kid, I wasn’t so great at it. ⁓ But that’s an attraction for a lot of people at all ages is even young, even kids, know, are golfer. They’re playing disc golf or whatever.

So there’s.

Anna (16:02)

Actually, you had a good point because the, the algorithm that I interviewed and I’ve written a lot of magazine articles and I, and I described some of these amenities in these articles, which are all on my website, but children, what I, what I learned from speaking with these people is that these kids started playing golf at nine or 10 years old and they were getting really, really good by the time they were teenagers.

But I think because of the pandemic, talking to our hoods across the country, I can tell you that as we aged, what keeps us young, as you said, Michelle, is seeing kids out there riding their bikes, walking their dogs, ⁓ especially young children. They’re outside every day. Toddlers love walking to the farm every day because you’ll find that

You know, on one farm I talked to a lot that they had a donkey named Jack and the donkey really didn’t do anything. And every child grew up because the dog has been there for like 10 years. Every child that in that, that lives in that agri-hood community has to say hello to Jack every day, starting from age two years old. And you know, like I’ve said in my, our first,

conversation every day is like the Grouch on Sesame Street because these kids, they go to the farm and they see the animals, the goats and the pigs squealing and they just get very, very excited. And so I love the fresh air aspects of these healthy lifestyle communities.

Michelle (17:48)

Let’s

talk for a minute before we run out of time about cost. Would somebody be likely to sell their home where they may have raised their family, move to another location and reinvest in a house in an agrihood? how big are these houses? How expensive are these houses? Are there HOAs? I got a whole long list of questions on that.

Anna (17:53)

Also,

Yeah. Well, I’m you mentioned, yeah, I’m glad you mentioned HLA because instead of an HLA, which covers, you know, caring for the common areas and ⁓ all that, it’s kind of built into the, monthly costs for the produce, the fruits and vegetables. And I saw around the country, the range for that was between two and $400.

Michelle (18:41)

You have two and $400 a month, you pay into the community and you get your fruits and vegetables included. Yeah. Yeah. As well as your landscaping. Yeah.

Anna (18:43)

Two four hunts.

Yeah, these are, these are small bunch of operations, but then when you go into your more exclusive, because there are a lot of high end algorithms. Okay.

Michelle (19:01)

I will a range you have a range from what to what in terms of where you can buy into

Anna (19:06)

Well, there are agriculture, you know, healthy lifestyle communities that you buy your starter home for three or $400,000. And that is the average price of all the agriculture that you

Michelle (19:19)

How large would a house like that be? say.

Anna (19:22)

1800 to 2200 square feet. But what I, but what I learned in my conversations with these people, these agrihood developers is that after five or 10 years, people upgrade as their families grow to a larger house. And so a larger agrihood usually will have four or five hamlets and some of those hamlets are for over 55. Some of them are closer to the pool and the clubhouse. So when your kids are teenagers, they,

Michelle (19:24)

Okay, sir.

Anna (19:52)

you know, you can keep a closer eye on them because they’re nearby. ⁓ And then there are other agrihoods that are, you know, pretty much the starter home community. And so I know that ⁓ they’re, what I did learn that a lot of people don’t leave because they don’t like it there. I mean, you’re always going to have that every once in a while, but for the most part, people don’t add on to their homes. They sell them at a profit and

then they buy a larger one with, there are some resales. But I will say this, if a developer plans to build a hundred agrihoods or a hundred homes in a community of different sizes, you know, and they’re architecturally different, but you know, there’s a lot of homogen, you know, they’re homogenous. mean, you don’t have a stark modern next to the country farmhouse next door. The architectural elements are the distinguishing features. But,

for the most part of the range would not be go from 300 to 2 million. The range would go from 300 to 800,000. I mean, there’s an agrihood in Hawaii that’s absolutely gorgeous. And of course those homes are over a million. And the ones that have the Arnold Palmer golf courses or the equestrian elements or the golf and the boating and they,

You know, there are some communities that have, you know, a space for you to keep your own boat. It your own private dock. And so naturally those are going to be in the over a million dollar price range. But I’ll just tell you what it’s like to live there because not only is their home exceptionally beautiful, but the country club lifestyle for them is very different.

Michelle (21:48)

Well, I think what we’re going to have to do, Anna, because we’re running out of time is we’re going to have to refer people to your book and invite them to really research and take a look around what’s happening on the East Coast or the West Coast and the North and the South. Each community seems to be different. They all offer different amenities. They all offer different price ranges. Some of them are even rentals. Some of them are urban on rooftops in cities. So.

You have it all wrapped up in that book of yours called Welcome to the Agrihood. And for our listeners today, we’re going to give a special offer of 25 % off. All you have to do is contact Anna at her website. And that is www.annadesimone.net. That’s A-N-N-A-D-E-S-I-M-O-N-E. And check out this new and emerging

housing choice. They’re healthy. They’re socially connected. They’re sustainably ⁓ produced, ⁓ built. So there’s a lot of reasons to check out why this is a growing trend. want to thank you Anna for being with us today and sharing your vast amount of knowledge ⁓ on this podcast and check out the book, Welcome to the Agrihood, so you can get enlightened all about this housing option. Thank you so much.

Anna (23:13)

Okay, thanks for inviting me, Michelle. Take care.

Michelle (23:18)

Well, that’s all we have time for today. So let’s wrap things up with a request that you’ve got to our website, www.decluttering55plus.com and click on the Let’s Connect button. Share your thoughts, insights, and tell us the lessons you’ve learned. If you’re facing challenges or celebrating triumphs on your decluttering journey, we want to hear from you. Connect with us on social media.

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