Senior Spotlight: Luxury Life Plan Communities

Luxury campuses. Life plan communities. Continuing care housing. These are all terms used to describe an aging option for those who want a high-quality and long-term housing plan and are willing to pay a price to match. Realtor.com® recently featured an article that originally debuted in The Wall Street Journal, revealing a Silicon Valley trend in which wealth, health and lifestyle collide.

This senior housing model is essentially a luxury life plan community, in which seniors enter independent apartments and then can move to more nursing-like care as they age. Senior housing research indicates that occupancy rates in  independent retirement living communities are at 80%, and premier life plan communities (which are rarer) are typically full with waitlists of two to five years.

Features:

- Typically, an upfront payment of $100,000 - $400,000, which can go as high as $7 million

- Ongoing monthly fees are typically $4,800 (national average) to as high as $14,000

- Some communities offer a lower entry fee, but a higher fee for nursing care

- Amenities include but are not limited to housekeeping, valet parking, performances, educational lectures (many are near colleges such as Vi in Palo Alto near Stanford), and countless other amenities such as fitness and aquatic centers, clubs and more

- Resident contracts work like memberships with terms that lock in rates for varying levels of care as health needs change

- Contracts are typically inclusive of all potentially needed services, which means access and costs to care are stable

Some residents cite the two biggest benefits as the quality of life and the ‘gift’ to their children as not being a burden as they age. While the costs are high, some retirees say that not having to pay real estate taxes, having a flat fee for increasing care and the comfort of knowing their needs will be met is priceless.

There is no doubt that luxury, life plan communities are a niche market that few can afford. Typically, they exist in high-end markets such as Silicon Valley and distinct metros in New York, though smaller communities of this caliber do exist in Ohio and Connecticut. “You’re not going to find a $6 million entry fee in the middle of Iowa,” says Lisa McCracken from the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care.

No matter what your budget allows, you cannot afford NOT to think about what your own life care plan could look like, and how your needs are going to change as you age. Our decades working with seniors has taught us that the hardest moves you have to make are those you didn’t see coming. Please don’t wait until you have a health crisis to discover that your current living arrangement isn’t malleable to meet your future needs. Planning is power!

All my best,

Bobbi

Bobbi Decker
DRE#00607999

Broker Associate
650.346.5352 cell
650.577.3127 efax
www.bobbidecker.com

NAR Instructor….“Designations Create Distinctions”
CIPS, SRS, ABR, CRS, SRES, GRI, CLHMS, REI, AHWD, RSPS, MSLG

Bobbi Decker & Associates fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. For more information, please visit: http://portal.hud.gov/