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i..=' <br />aY''. <br />Nealtor Linda Fernbach, who has collected statistics on most <br />aspects of Rossmoor's housing market, shows a $168,000 unit. <br />ROSSMOOR: <br />A HAPPY LIFE <br />FOR ELDERS <br />Tice Valley area <br />is welcoming, <br />the price is right <br />By Robert Hollis <br />SPECIAL TO THE CNRON~CLE <br />Jerry Neuman, whose voice is <br />familiaz to anyone who listens <br />regularly to KQED-FM in San <br />Francisco, was a selfdescribed <br />lifelong renter until, at age 62, he <br />and his wife grew tired of yet an- <br />other.rent increase and the hard- <br />scrabblestreets of Oakland. <br />"We had been living in a high- <br />rise on Lake Merritt for 17 years; <br />we were perfectly content, but it <br />was a rental," said the veteran staff <br />announcer. "But we were perpetu- <br />ally at war with the landlord (over <br />rent boosts) and we had grown in- <br />creasing uncomfortable with the <br />environment where we had to <br />live." <br />A dozen years earlier, a neigh- <br />bor ofthe Neumanshad moved to <br />Rossmoor, the huge retirement <br />development nestled in Tice Val- <br />ley on the southwest side of \Nal- <br />nut Creek. "We visited [hem for <br />dinner occasionally and we liked <br />[he area so much, it was always in <br />our consciousness," Neuman said. <br />About 4%z years ago, when an- <br />other rent increase came along, <br />Neuman and his wife became <br />homeowners for [he first time <br />when they moved to a 3-bedroom, <br />2-bath townhouse N the gated <br />community, where at least one <br />member of the family must be at <br />least SS in order to buy. Even at <br />the height of the late, lamented <br />housing boom, the $350,000 price <br />tag was considerably less [hat <br />comparable housing in any of <br />Rossmoor's neighboring cities. <br />Now 67, Neuman remembers <br />hearing questions from some of <br />his friends about his choice: Did <br />he really want to live in a commu- <br />nity of "old fogies"? ~~ <br />"I'm at peace with myself about <br />who I am" he says now. "I'm at a <br />point where I am an old fogey, <br />and there are people here who are <br />as old as I am." <br />Rossmoor today is one of the <br />oldest and largest retirement de- <br />velopments in California and, at <br />2,200 acres, is larger that Tilden <br />Regional Park. The Neumann' sto- ' <br />ry is fairly typical, based on inter- <br />views with residents. But one fact <br />stands out: Nearly everyone who <br />moves into the community of <br />6,678 apartments, townhouses <br />and single-family homes - collec- <br />tively known as "manors" -stays <br />put. <br />Neuman, like roughly 30 per- <br />cent of Rossrnoors 9,000 resi- <br />dents, still ssorks full time at <br />~ ROSSMOOR: NeAY page <br />- MR0.K l.O5TANT~NIrrtIP CIIIOIIILIe <br />