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There will come a time when you will decide you either need a form of senior care that offers you help, or you will need one within a few years. Depending on where you live, or where you want to live, there may be a lot of demand on the place you want to move to. Either it is a very desireable location or it is desireable due to cost. Either way, there may be a waiting list for the place you want.
What is involved in making a move to increased senior care?
What is involved in making this kind of move to increased senior care? I’ll take it from the most extreme move. That is a move from the home you have lived in for years to senior care. Below are some of the things you will need to do on your end, but often, people downsize at intervals. They may even move closer to grandchildren as part of that process.
At that point, they go through the downsizing process at a younger age when it is easier and less demanding. I’m giving you these steps, but not everyone does them in the same order. It depends on so many factors such as death of a spouse, illness of a spouse or yourself, how close you are to children who are able to help you out, and on and on go the factors.
I am giving you the extreme factors of the person going from their family home to senior living which is probably the most difficult adjustment. It is one we didn’t make. Ours was more gradual. By the time we did this move, we had moved a few times and gone through our things and tossed and tossed and should have tossed and given away even more. Even since we have moved, I’m figuring out ways to get rid of and give away. There is a lot that may just end up in the garbage because I don’t have anywhere to put it. For us, the following steps were gone through a few times. Unless you plan to sell the house yourself (and that is not one of my gifts at all, on so many levels) make use of the following precautions with realtors unless you have used a realtor before who has done a good job for you.
- Prepare your home to sell it.
- Find a reputable real estate agent. This may or may not be a family friend. Over the years, we have had mixed benefits with family friends. It would be wise to interview 2 or 3 agents and see how they price your home for example. Do they behave professionally and get comparables from nearby sales of homes with comparable descriptions i.e. same school district, same number of bedrooms, same square feet, etc. this is not the asking prices, but what the houses sold for. If they fly by the seat of their pants and guess, stay away from them. You want someone who behaves professionally and comes up with a good price, not a price you want to hear. You also need to look at the photos so you can see how the house shows to see if your house can expect to go on the higher side of the asking price or the lower end.
- You will need to declutter your house. Nothing makes a house show well like a decluttered house. Well that and the absence of any animal smells! It shows the maximum square footage. Besides, when you are moving to a smaller place, you need less things. Go through each room with a box marked Toss, Giveaway, Kids, and Sell. You might even have a box to pack things away in, that you plan to keep and don’t need right now. The box for your kids will be things that are theirs or things you think they may want and you no longer need. Just make sure you are tossing or giving away plenty. Personally, unless you have things that are very high value, I wouldn’t go to the trouble of having a garage sale. It isn’t worth all the work for the little payout it brings.
- Don’t put a lot of expense into fixing up your home to make more money. If your wall colors are unusual, you may want to paint the walls a neutral color in that room. If a particular area of carpet is really gross, think about replacing it if cleaning it doesn’t help, but don’t replace appliances unless they don’t work because often new buyers have been known to redo new rooms. The last 2 times we sold a house, the inside paint jobs were 5 years old and were with neutral paint colors. Contrary to some advice, we left family photos on the wall and in at least one case, it sold the house for us. People said it looked homey and cozy. Yes, the colors in the room matched and I got a new scatter pillow or 2 for the couch to bring in color. That is much cheaper than new bathrooms, etc. Grout was cleaned well. House was decluttered. Nuisance unrepaired items were fixed.
- Look at what your options are for your needs now and future needs. Go visit the places you are interested in as well as the places you think might be too expensive. It will help you see what is out there, what is included in the price, how much you have to pay down, etc. Ask lots of questions. They expect it. Find out what the availability is for you. How long is the waiting list?
- Do you need to sell your home in order to move? Do you need money from the sale of your home before you can get into senior housing? Do you need to move into interim housing while waiting for housing to open up? These are all considerations you need to make as well.
- Down payment-Whether you are getting into a housing situation that you buy into with a large down payment or a rental situation, there is also often a down payment that is considerably smaller. It will often be a couple of thousand dollars vs. tens of thousands of dollars. We are in a senior living situation that is part of a national chain. Once the down payment is made, it never has to be made again, even it you move to another home in their system. That is also something to consider when moving into one of these homes. This is particularly true if you want to live near your kids and they might be transferred. But of course, this is only one of many considerations that need to be made as you think through this decision.
There is no neat order to plan out this decision.
There are too many variables.
It has been interesting to talk to people here and learn how they came here and the process they went through to get here. Some came against their will under pressure from their children. Others came a few years ago and still have their homes. Of course, there is everything in between. Some can’t drive anymore at all and their kids come for them often. Others use the transportation here to shop, go to doctor appointments, etc. Still others are like us and manage those things on their own. We often join the group for trips to restaurants or field trips. Well, that has been our plan anyway. This week is going to be our first opportunity to do it..
We enjoy the classes, games and other groups we are able to participate in when they don’t clash with our regular life. It is especially nice for Ron. He doesn’t have to depend on a ride to get someplace for activities.
Most places you are considering offer opportunities to have a meal or two at their cafeteria or dining room, whatever the style they have. It is a good idea to be sure you like their food options.
You will need to cover this decision or series of decisions in prayer
In the end, it will come down to what you can afford or what you think you can afford. None of us knows how long we are going to live so we don’t know how long the money is going to have to last. It will take a lot of wisdom to figure out which place is best for your situation. Once again, you will need a lot of prayer as you make this decision which may well be made in segments over time.
