Mirabella in Trouble?

Mirabella, the block-wide retirement box on Denny, is just about ready to start moving in residents. There's one slight problem, however—convincing seniors to actually move in.

This PSBJ article ($) says that seniors are postponing or backing out of plans to move in because they can't sell their current homes in today's sluggish market.

Jan Grant, a Seattle resident who plans to move from her Magnolia home to the upscale Mirabella community in South Lake Union when it opens next year, once knew 25 other couples planning the same move. Now, she knows of just 10. “A lot of people are really spooked about putting their house on the market,” Grant said.

Retirement communities, in turn, are scrambling to come up with ways to keep their well-off clientele from running away. They’re creating new financing programs and sales strategies. Mirabella, where entry fees for two-bedroom units cost as much as $839,000, plus rent, plans to help sell prospective residents’ former “trophy” homes on the web.