You currently live in your own home. Although you can get along alright, things are not as easy as they used to be. You cannot climb up that ladder anymore to clear the leaves out of the gutters. Even simple chores like dusting take much longer than they used to or just do not get done.
Simple maintenance items like dripping faucets or burned out light bulbs are not being addressed. You may not be able to reach everything in your cupboards. Negotiating the staircases upstairs and downstairs is a chore. The cost of maintaining your household has gone up. There are taxes, insurance, utilities and repairs. Your income, especially Social Security, has not kept up with your expenses.
Since you have raised your family in your home and spent most of your adult life there, you had planned on living there until you die. However, reality has set in. You know that you have to move someplace a little smaller and which is easier to maintain. What are your options?
You have thought about a condominium, but you still don’t want the responsibilities and expenses of home ownership. You could just move to an apartment complex. However you just do not want to deal with kids, stairways, tenant work schedules and other issues related to complexes that serve all ages.
You still have lots of options to owning your home. There are a variety of independent and assisted living facilities out there that could meet your needs and that cater specifically to seniors. There are independent facilities that provide no assistance and there are assisted living facilities that offer a range of services. There are also adult foster care homes, but that will be the topic of another column.
The line has really blurred between independent and assisted living facilities. Most independent living facilities allow for some sort of assistance that is either provided through the facilities themselves or contracted through home care agencies. Assisted living facilities and many independent living facilities offer meals and housekeeping services. There are even facilities that offer the entire range from independent to full assistance.
When choosing a facility, investigate the services that the facility offers or does not offer. What are the services provided and how much do they cost? Do you want housekeeping and meal service? Do you need bathing, dressing or medication assistance? Some facilities offer an all-inclusive price depending on the level of service. Other facilities have an a la carte menu from which you can pick and choose the services you want. You only pay for the services that you utilize. Most of the senior facilities have accessible apartments, but if you have any special needs make sure the facility has what you require.
It is important to consider the social activities of the facility, especially if you do not drive. Many facilities offer regular activities, games, puzzles, exercising, movies, speakers, etc. Most of the facilities offer common or group areas and lounges and private rooms so that if you are having a birthday party or other get together, you have a place to hold it. Some facilities have quiet reading areas.
If you want to do your own cooking, do the apartments have a full kitchen? Some apartments only have a kitchenette with a small refrigerator and microwave because the facility provides meal services. If the facility does offer meal services, do you have any special dietary needs or food allergies and can they accommodate those requirements?
Some facilities have licensed nurses or other medical personnel on staff 24 hours a day, while others do not. Some facilities provide emergency pull cords and/or offer emergency pendants or wristbands that you can wear so in case of a fall or an emergency, care can be summoned immediately.
If you have a long-term care policy, you should investigate which facility may be able to provide assistance and be paid through that long-term care policy. Many long-term care policies will only pay for care in licensed facilities. In Michigan, assisted living facilities are not required to be licensed so they could not be paid by such a long-term care policy. However, some assisted living facilities have applied for and received a license as an adult foster care facility. Because they are licensed by the state, they can receive payments for the assistance from many long-term care policies.
If you are still driving, do you want a carport so that in the winter time you do not have to shovel snow off your car? If you do not drive, does the facility provide regular transportation to restaurants, shopping centers, banks and other outings or are they near a bus line? If the facility is near a Blue Water Area Transit bus line, for 35 cents you can go anywhere the buses go. I am told that if you plan your trip right, you don’t mind being on the bus the better part of the day and you are traveling light, with transfers you could take the bus from Port Huron to Metro Airport for that same 35 cents.
So what do these facilities cost? At one end of the spectrum, you could have an apartment in an independent senior facility that does not provide meal services. These apartments have full kitchens. You are responsible for providing your own meals, doing your own laundry and cleaning your apartment. Depending on size, most of these apartments go for under $800 per month, some for much less. Some facilities have a sliding scale in which your rent is based upon a percentage of your income.
Independent living facilities in our area with meal service start at under $800 per month for the smallest studio apartment. These independent living facilities with meal service can go up to nearly $3,000 per month depending on facility location, apartment size and facility services and amenities. For assisted living, you just add on the monthly cost of assistance to the independent living facility cost. The cost for assisted care can go over $4,000 per month for fully licensed assisted care.
As you can see, you do not have to stay in your big house with its taxes, insurance, utilities and all the responsibilities of upkeep, maintenance and dusting. You have many options depending upon your situation and your budget. You decide.
By Matthew M. Wallace, CPA, JD
Published edited October 31, 2010 in The Times Herald newspaper, Port Huron, Michigan as: Do homework before picking senior housing