Moving closer to family can seem like the obvious decision after losing a partner.
For Kevin Foster (pictured left on guitar), finding a sense of camaraderie mattered just as much.
Kevin and his wife moved into Hometown Australia’s Sunrise land lease community in Bobs Farm, Port Stephens, in November 2023 after rightsizing from their home in Forster, a coastal town in the NSW Mid North Coast, as her health declined.
They quickly settled in. Kevin, a lifelong musician, joined the community band, while a drummer lived next door and a singing group provided another outlet. More importantly, he found people around him every day.
Then, in June 2025, his wife passed away.
Kevin decided to move to Sydney to be closer to his two sons. On paper it made sense: family, public transport, shops and medical services were all nearby.
But the social connection was gone.
“I could go five, six, seven days without talking to anyone,” Kevin said.
The contrast with Hometown Australia’s Sunrise was stark. There, neighbours checked in, activities were easy to join and conversation was part of daily life.
“I was miserable,” he said of Sydney. “People just kept to themselves.”
Eventually, Kevin told his sons he wanted to go back.
“They said they couldn’t understand why I’d ever left!”
On 9 June 2026, exactly a year after his wife’s death, Kevin settled on a new home at Sunrise.
He is back in the band, back among friends and back in a community where, as he puts it, people are supportive “without being too intrusive”.
It captures one of the strongest selling points of land lease communities.
The home matters. The amenities matter.
But as Kevin Foster attests, the real value turned out to be knowing there would be someone to talk to tomorrow.