Continuing Care Retirement Communities

[clifffaith]

Yesterday we visited Maravilla in Santa Barbara. Beautiful architecture and grounds. This is the place that I mentioned up thread allows the public to come in for meals, and apparently they do quite a bit of walk in trade. But the only hipsters you'd find eating here are those with artificial hips! Nice menu, with lunch at $13 and dinner at $16, including soup/salad, entree, dessert and beverage.

Maravilla turns out to be a senior living community, not a Continuing Care Retirement Community. They do check on you if you haven't checked in by 10am, there is an emergency button in the bathroom, they do have social, cultural and recreational activities. You get a full breakfast, and then either lunch or dinner. But if you need care you hire it in (they have an outfit they work with on site, or you can bring in your own help as long as they are properly accredited) or you move to their assisted living/memory care wing. There is no skilled nursing available.

The main attractions are a much lower buy-in and the availability of three bedrooms. Why would we need three bedrooms? Because we can have my mom move in. Every CCRC we visited required that any occupants have a financial stake in the community; so if Cliff died I couldn't have my indigent sister move in. But at Maravilla that is not an issue, there'd just be the $1200 monthly fee for a second or third occupant. They require no financial application, and they can and will kick you out for lack of payment, unlike the CCRCs which make sure you are solvent before you move in and are committed to keeping you housed even if your funds run out.

Once we return home we'll lay the numbers out for Maravilla vs Carlsbad. You'll probably hear my mother from three states away saying NO NO NO if we decide to pursue a discussion with her regarding whether she'd ever be interested in joining us. For walking access to shops and beach, Carlsbad wins hands down as far as I'm concerned. If we could get my parents to actually look even briefly at what we are planning, rather than dismiss the concept out of hand, it would be an easier discussion. I'd love to see her put herself on the wait list for a studio in Carlsbad.

 

[clifffaith]

We are officially at the top of the Carlsbad CCRC waitlist -- almost exactly two years from when we gave them our $1K intent deposit. There are two 2-bedroom units available. I declined them because of the situation with Dad in hospice and my sister, who lives with my parents, leaving Mom who has a hard time seeing and walking, on her own for a week at a time while she is 90 minutes away pet sitting. Truth be told I want our house ready to list at almost an instant's notice, and although we have repainted one room so it is no longer Smurf blue, and put in a new ornamental wall ( 18") to replace a leaning one, we still have touch up painting to do (or more, thanks to a cat who destroys door jambs), our own home inspection to point out things that need rectifying, and lots more downsizing to do. Also, at 63 I'm going to be the youngest occupant so I'd really prefer to move no earlier than 2021 when at least I'll have Medicare in common with everyone! Truth be told, I could have 30 years at this place and I want to do the math twenty times to make sure I don't outlive my funds, regardless that once they allow you in they won't kick you out unless your lack of funds is due to gambling or giving them away. It would also be easier to be local when my parents (86 & 84 and in bad health) die, as I mentioned a few weeks ago in a thread about being executor of their estate when I expect to have issues with my sister.

We have a week at the Carlsbad Village timeshare in October, so looking forward to walks (or hobbles depending on how my back is that week) around town and will get the CCRC marketing lady to give us access to their ocean side deck.