Retirement Living

[Al]

We will be moving into a Retirement Village early next year. We have been in our house since 1972. It is around 1100 sq ft with basement and attic. I am 78 and the wife is 78.

I have been getting rid of stuff for the last 2 months. Today is a Milestone. The attic is 100% empty. I have been working in the basement and probably have gotten rid of 20+% of stuff.

The apartment will be 1150 sq ft so we should be in good shape.

Our last move (obviously). Its a great place bc they have an on campus Medical center. Obviously no operations etc but care for Dementia and other malady's . We should have done this at least 15 years ago but we just were not ready.

 

[Pew]

Now you gotta watch out for 5mph golf carts!

 

[Pablo]

We will be moving into a Retirement Village early next year. We have been in our house since 1972. It is around 1100 sq ft with basement and attic. I am 78 and the wife is 78.

I have been getting rid of stuff for the last 2 months. Today is a Milestone. The attic is 100% empty. I have been working in the basement and probably have gotten rid of 20+% of stuff.

The apartment will be 1150 sq ft so we should be in good shape.

Our last move (obviously). Its a great place bc they have an on campus Medical center. Obviously no operations etc but care for Dementia and other malady's . We should have done this at least 15 years ago but we just were not ready.

Seems like you are making excellent decisions. My parents did not. Stayed in house. Wrong.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I am much younger than you, but I just moved my daughter into a nice apartment, and thought - this would be a nice place to live.

I wish we could convince my mom to move.

 

[JoelB]

My wife and I go through different storage areas in the house a couple times a year and purge stuff to try and avoid some future mega purge. I hate having stuff around I don't use regularly.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Good for you for making the hard decisions that are right for you.
Let the next chapter begin!

 

[andrewg]

My dad is 85 and in the process of selling his house (lives alone) and moving from the east coast to the west coast. I will be helping him of course. It took a bit but I was able to convince him that he has no family back east and nobody to look after him. Hopefully I can find him a rental place close by so I can look after him. Not sure if I can get him to move into a retirement facility....but I will try.

 

[Dave1027]

What will you do with your house? Sell it?

 

[We're Metals]

If you have kids, youre giving them the best gift you possibly can. I wish I had been so lucky.

 

[Boomer]

I am 76 and my wife is 75. We moved to a retirement community on March 1 of last year. We had built and lived in an age in place home for almost 14 years but when we both got ill at the same time, we realized our only son and his wife would never be able to take care of us if this was permanent. They both work long hours and have two sons, 9 and 12. They own their own home and in their time away from work they mow, trim, clean, etc.

Moving here was the best thing we ever did. We live in a 1750 sq ft bungalow with a one car garage. The maintenance folks here cut the grass, shovel the snow, wash the windows, clean the gutters, trim the bushes and do anything else for which you turn in a work request. We eat half of our meals in a common dining room and really got to know other residents. We have an assisted living unit for when you can no longer be in independent living and a hospital unit for serious injuries, sickness or end of life issues. This has taken all the worry out of what will happen, where will we go, etc. We are only 25 miles from our son and his family so we see them quite often. The money we save annually (no water or sewer bill, no property taxes, no lawn maintenance fees, no trash or ambulance fees, no homeowners insurance, no maintenance bills, etc) pays for 6 months of our annual fees! And if an appliance fails, we call maintenance and they bring in a replacement free of charge.

We too went through a downsizing and it was a bit painful while doing it but that has gone into the past. I would strongly recommend this type of arrangement for anyone who wants to have a more settled future and give their children a break from the daily grind of trying to take care of aging and ill parents while trying to work and raise children.

 

[Al]

What will you do with your house? Sell it?

Yes

If you have kids, youre giving them the best gift you possibly can. I wish I had been so lucky.

That was certainly a consideration.

 

[Patman]

Best of luck in the move Al!
I have to ask, will you have a place to change your own oil in the new home?

 

[mikeduf]

I will chime in because I am 67 and just retired and live in a single story home that I am just starting to do the exterior painting on myself.

I have looked into the retirement places like Leisure World that we have here and they have very high HOA fees not sure what they call them but they're equivalent to that.

I have been minimizing for many years and it's a good feeling to get rid of all that excess collections! I do still need my garage full of tools because I do work on projects and of course change my own oil!
One last thing to note about these retirement villages is that, some of the folks around there can be very well buried in your arse! Meaning very nosy and some of them have strict rules and regulations.

I will just take my chances in a single family home and if I get to that point I'll wear one of those gadgets around my neck that says you fallin and calls somebody.

Hopefully when my time comes I can just drink the vanilla milkshake and then they can make Soylent Green out out of me! Or some hybrid motor oil! And definitely not made with any Esther..

 

[opus1]

...I will just take my chances in a single family home and if I get to that point I'll wear one of those gadgets around my neck that says you fallin and calls somebody.

*If* it works. Mom has one of those; she's had it since her knee surgery and still has it even though I dropped everything and moved in with her now. The thing will go off if it hits a table too hard, but she's fallen twice, and the pendant didn't trigger...

 

[alarmguy]

I believe the OP is on the right track for him and his wife. I wish them the best of luck in their next chapter of their lives, I suspect they are going to be thrilled at the decision they made

With that said it’s a deeply personal decision and like electric vehicles no one size fits all.

I’ve known friends parents who went into retirement villages, and they absolutely loved it.
But the reason I’m posting is for some others in here, my mom always made it clear to her children she wanted to die in her house. She loved her house and her community.
So she did just that figuratively speaking, her final days she died in the hospital of cancer.

She had a wonderful life, was an amazing mother and had a wonderful family and I’m glad her final year was exactly how she wanted it. To die with the house, she and my dad had built brand new in the 1950s. My father passed away years before that.

So either way, if there is one beautiful, peaceful thought in a surviving spouse and/or children’s minds is to know your parents left this world the way they wanted to. That brings me comfort.

 

[Pablo]

I will just take my chances in a single family home and if I get to that point I'll wear one of those gadgets around my neck that says you fallin and calls somebody.

Yeah. Hope you are not serious/

 

[JTK]

Could the rent and fees go out of control at any one point with these retirement communities? Could you be sent packing by the owners?

Obviously I know nothing about these things, but are intrigued, because my mom and in-laws are in their 80s, still in their own homes and it ain't easy.

 

[Al]

Could the rent and fees go out of control at any one point with these retirement communities? Could you be sent packing by the owners?

Obviously I know nothing about these things, but are intrigued, because my mom and in-laws are in their 80s, still in their own homes and it ain't easy.

I think "gererally" this will not happen. But in my case we are moving into a Masonic Village. They will not kick you to the curb no matter what and. It is very unlikely it will ever get sold. It consists of 1500 acres and has around 2500 residents. I believe it is the biggest in the U.S.

 

[nickaluch]

I downsize a few years ago but not into a retirement community still a single family house. A ranch type home everything on one floor easy to to get around a big enough for 2 of us 1200 SQ feet. After my two oldest kids graduated college moved into Manhattan and my little one went off to college it was time no reason for the huge house. My wife cried but now extremely happy we did it.

 

[Boomer]

Just an addition to my previous post. A few days ago maintenance came around for the annual inspection. They found a loose but non-leaking fitting under the sink an tightened it up. Moved the fridge out and cleaned the coils, cleaned out the dryer vent and the hose, replaced the air conditioning ceiling filter for the air intake, checked an lubricated the garage door spring and rollers and also did lots of small stuff. Love tat I don't have to do it. Our community is part of the Presbyterian Senior Living system so you won't get kicked out if you run out of money. It is a real comfort to us as we age.