CCRCs

By Ruth Alvarez

Find the right Continuing Care Retirement Community for yourself or a loved one. Get no-nonsense advice from a retired real estate agent and CCRC resident. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canyon New Media LLC
• Release date: Jun 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393114505

Book preview

CCRCs: Find the Right Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) for Yourself or a Loved One

by Ruth Alvarez

A no-nonsense guide from a retired real estate agent

and CCRC resident

Third edition

Copyright © 2018 by Canyon New Media. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and author are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, securities trading, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

Table of Contents

Is the Time Right?

Four Things to Know about Yourself

Three Types of Care

Continuing Care at Home (CCaH)

List of Virtual CCRCs

Types of Contracts

Seven Key Items to Understand in the Contract

Entrance Fees

Ways You Can Fund the Entrance Fee (and Three Ways You Can’t)

Monthly and Other Fees — Independent Living

Monthly and Other Fees — Assisted Living (AL) and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)

Resident Qualifications

Health Care and Insurance

Who Lives in a CCRC?

Nine Things You Should Look for in Any CCRC

Convincing a Family Member(s) to Move

Filial Support May Surprise Your Children

Six Special Concerns for Spouses

Gay and Lesbian Retirees

Affinity Retirement Communities — Alumni, Military, Religion, Other

Taxes — The Good

Taxes — The Bad

Taxes — The Ugly

Governance and Resident Rights

Examine the Financial Stability of the CCRC

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990

Bankruptcy — Part I: Recession

Bankruptcy — Part II: Present

Life Care Storm Clouds on the Horizon

Who Regulates CCRCs?

What Accreditations or Certifications Should You Look For?

Taking the Tour

Additional Tips for Assisted Living (AL) and Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)

Alternative AL/SNF approaches

Seven Tips to Make a Move Easier

Living Through the First Year

Common Problems — Noise and People

Remedies when Things Go Wrong

Benefits of Living in a CCRC

Resources to Get You Started

Example of Checklist for Your Tours

Request for Review

Other Books by Ruth Alvarez

Is the Time Right?

The worst mistake is waiting too long.

Ted finally faced the fact that his wife, Abby, was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. His family doctor prescribed some medicines to help slow her debilitation, but Ted realized he was going to need help as Abby’s condition worsened and the aging process slowed him down.

He sold their home and moved to the city where his daughter lived on the assumption that she would help him take care of Abby. Bad assumption. His daughter made it clear she had her own family and a full-time job and could not be the support he expected.

Ted couldn’t find a CCRC that could accommodate both of them. Abby’s condition and the fact that she had started to wander away limited their choices to CCRCs that had secured wings for dementia patients. Ted now is going through their savings paying for in-home caregivers.

Names were changed, but Ted’s story is real. Assuming your relatives are going to take care of you when you get old is a sweet, romantic notion that may have been true 30 years ago but is unlikely to be the case today.

Sometimes family members do care for an elderly family member, but they sometimes do a better job of running through the elderly person’s savings than they do of providing long-term care.

The alternative is continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) or their newer designation, life plan communities.

Thanks to technology, these communities may be virtual ones, with seniors continuing to live in their own homes but having oversight and support from a CCRC community.

Those newer offerings are covered in two separate chapters, but both types of CCRCs—campus living and in-home living—share common requirements and offerings.

By law, a resident must be at least 62 years old, although most CCRCs allow a couple to move in if at least one resident is 62. Currently, the typical resident moves in about age 79, give or take four years either way.

I think the late 70s are an excellent time to move. You’re likely to be healthy enough to both pass the community’s health check and engage in activities you enjoy which will enable you to make new friends.

You’re also old enough to see the beginnings of age-related problems (those aching knees or arthritic hands) that make living and maintaining your own house a challenge for the future.

The unhappy people are those who wait until they need assisted living or skilled nursing home care. They don’t know anyone in their new community and often aren’t able to do things to make many new friends. After all, do you visit strangers in a nursing home?

The rule of thumb is no one moves voluntarily after age 85.

The worst thing you can do to your spouse is to make them cope with moving to a CCRC after your death.

Losing a spouse, selling a home, and moving to a new place are stressful events for anyone to go through alone.

Bottom line

If you are in your 70s or have some health condition that will eventually rob you of your independence and believe a CCRC would be your ultimate location, you should move while you are still independent and able to take care of yourself.

Additionally, many CCRCs offer assisted living only to residents from independent living. I’ve seen people wait until their health is so precarious that a CCRC will not accept them, and their option is limited to a nursing facility.

You make the decision about where to live while you can; don’t let someone else make it for you because you’re too ill, infirm, or incapacitated to do it yourself.

Four Things to Know about Yourself

Please answer these four questions before you spend time and money looking for a CCRC, and consider one suggestion.

1. Where do you want to live?

We need more than I don’t want any more snow and ice.

Arizona’s hot, dry climate may sound great, but will you be happy there if your only child and grandchildren are in western Pennsylvania?

A friend moved to a beautiful new complex in Colorado where there’s a ton of snow every year.

She enjoys watching the maintenance crew shoveling it while she walks around in shorts and a T-shirt through the enclosed walkway to the dining room and wellness center.

When she needs to go shopping or to a doctor, she takes the community bus. She wouldn’t live anywhere else.

How important is climate to you?

If you suffer from certain allergies or have arthritis or other diseases, there may be certain climates that are better for you than others.

How close are emergency medical facilities and how close are top-rated cancer and heart facilities?

What a blessing to be within a short drive of a place like the Mayo Clinic if you have, or your spouse has, a serious or unusual illness.

One of the most common mistakes I see is people from metropolitan areas moving to small cities.

They think they’ll enjoy being away from traffic, crime, and congestion. They do, but they also miss all the entertainment, educational, cultural and free activities that larger cities offer.

Some communities have residents primarily from the surrounding area. That may lead to a prevailing culture that doesn’t suit someone from a different part of the country as well as a cliquishness that may make someone feel they’re back in high school.

On the other hand, I’ve seen communities in Florida where the majority of residents are from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and they have created mini-urban lifestyles there.

There are a few really large CCRCs that are self-contained villages—some even have hospital and medical facilities—with every activity any senior could want.

These places may be in remote areas or in smaller cities that are four hours from any international airport or metropolitan area. Would that be a problem for you?

Think about what you really want to do with your spare time.

Some older communities built around golf courses are falling on hard times as baby boomers are not ardent duffers as were past generations.

Studies from senior living industry groups have revealed that location was the single most important factor in selecting a CCRC. Location was even more important than the services the community offered.

I think that is a shortsighted approach, but it’s your life, not mine. What is important to you?

Be sure to consider the cost of living and which states will tax your retirement income (and which don’t).

2. What style of housing do you want?

If you’re going directly into assisted living, there’s not apt to be a choice. You will be in an apartment/condominium type of building.

If you’re going into independent living, you have choices.

Many of the older communities are high rises or mid rises with apartment-style living. They may be beautiful and expensive, but you are surrounded by people, and neighbors can be noisy.

If you want a single-family home, duplex, or triplex, they are out there.

Many older communities do not have garages, and cars may sit outside unprotected or under a string of open carports.

Insisting on an attached garage will limit your choices, so decide now how important that is to you.

Typically, older communities also do not provide washers and dryers in their units but may have electrical outlets and water hookups in the unit.

Some communities have laundry rooms in a communal area and offer free laundry services. Would