Two months after being booted out of The Retreat at Santa Rita Springs in Green Valley with just 24 hours’ notice, four of the 12 residents at the former senior apartment residence have relocated to The Fountains in Tucson.

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Though settling in and doing well, Georgia Ryder, Waunita Swetnam, David Szidon and Homer Lewis said they would prefer to be back in Green Valley.

“I haven’t adjusted yet,” said Ryder, 88. “The best part is having Waunita here with me.”

Though she has a roomy, two-bedroom unit with a view, she said her heart is in Green Valley.

Residents’ lives were thrown into chaos in November when they learned they had one day to pack up and move out after the investors couldn’t reach a deal with the mortgage company to avoid defaulting on the loan. Forlorn residents milled around The Retreat lobby and their apartments as moving vans lined up outside the complex.

Sheriff’s deputies and social service agency groups responded to help ease the move, which also claimed a recently opened hair salon.

Swetnam, 88, had moved in four months earlier and said having to move again so soon was the hard part for her.

Szidon, 85, sold his home in Green Valley to move into The Retreat, and was its first resident in January 2009. In hindsight, if he knew what was going to happen he wouldn’t have sold.

“I’d rather be in Green Valley, but I’m doing very well... I have great neighbors and I felt welcome,” he said.

Lewis called his adjustment “pretty easy.”

“I handle stress very easily, though I didn’t like the way they (owners of The Retreat) handled it. It’s the first time I’ve been kicked out of my house... I wish there was more notice, and help by the owners with moving expenses would’ve been nice.

While they miss friends in Green Valley, the hardest part has been the trauma over what happened and not having enough notice to move.

“I’ll never forget it,” Swetnam said.

Lewis misses the community but said there aren’t enough affordable places in Green Valley.

The spacious lobby of The Fountains offers places for residents to chat and socialize. There’s a dining room, library, hairdresser and hallways lined with art. Northwest Hospital and doctors are close by.

None of the four have heard from the investors of The Retreat nor have they received a refund for rent paid.

Szidon said he called Attorney General Terry Goddard’s office for help and was told to hire a private attorney. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ office called for a HUD investigation because the project was built with a $27 million federally guaranteed loan.