Empty nesters and senior home buyers want to live near family and friends. They want maintenance-free homes. And they want houses and communities that promote a sense of safety and security.

Those are among the findings of a recent survey of 280 builders who built housing targeted at buyers age 50 and older.

Results of the survey, conducted for the National Association of Home Builders and Countrywide Home Loans, were announced at the Seniors Housing Symposium sponsored by NAHB earlier this year.

A huge 77 percent of mature buyers wanted to live a maintenance-free lifestyle: They’d had it with cleaning out gutters, painting and yard work. More than half — 52 percent — said their motivation in relocating was to be closer to children or family. Only 19 percent said they were moving because they wanted to live in a warmer climate.

Asked where their 50-plus customers were relocating from, builders (who could indicate more than one response) reported that their buyers were moving from a different community in the same state (57 percent) or from within the same community (58 percent).

All this suggests that builders will do well to focus their marketing efforts on potential buyers who live locally, not only on out-of-state retirees.

Strategically placed streetlights, home security systems and controlled exits and entrances were the top three features builders offered to their security-conscious buyers.

Builders also responded to the increasing technological savvy of their mature buyers. Nearly 70 percent nationally offered structured wiring; 60 percent offered high-speed Internet service. Those numbers were slightly higher in the South, with 63 percent of builders offering structured wiring and 73 percent offering high-speed access.

The survey showed that 22 percent of builders said “most of the seniors” were willing to pay extra for technology options and upgrades; 69 percent said some were willing to pay, and 10 percent said none were willing to pay.

The builders include a number of features and amenities that make their homes accessible for seniors or others with physical challenges: no-step entrances, wider doors and hallways, grab bars in the bathroom, lever-handle doors, non-slip floors, higher electrical outlets and lower light switches and first-floor master suites. Only 7 percent of builders said most of their buyers are resistant to those features. Fifty-three percent said some are resistant, and 43 percent said none are resistant.

Sixty percent of mature buyers pay cash for their homes, the survey showed. Twenty-seven percent made large down payments (30 percent or more); 9 percent made down payments of 10 to 30 percent, and 4 percent put down 10 percent or less. That is in line with what builders see along the Suncoast.

Many older buyers who have sold a house up North and walked away with substantial profit pay cash for their new Florida home. Some do so for the peace of mind of knowing the house is paid for and a surviving spouse will not have to worry about how to pay the mortgage. Others find the house a better investment than the stock market.

Twenty-four percent of the buyers were paying more than the value of their previous home. Forty-one percent paid about the same, and 36 percent were paying less than the value of their former home.