Transitioning into Senior Living: Community Resource

For many families, making the decision to move a family member out of their current home or place of residence and into residential long-term care can be a difficult process, both emotionally and practically. The main concern for most families is the wellbeing of their family members. Due to the high costs of long-term care, most individuals and families also have significant financial concerns during this process.

If your family member owns their home, one option is to leverage the equity in the home to help cover the cost of care. If your family member requires long-term care in a facility or community, it may be possible to sell their home and use the proceeds from the sale to cover some or all of the costs of long-term care.

Although there are a variety of other ways to take advantage of the value of your family member’s home, including traditional home equity loans and reverse mortgages, one way to proceed is to sell the home outright. This may be a good option for homeowners who require long-term residential care and do not have a spouse/partner, child, or another family member currently living in the home.

Transitioning into long-term care

At some point, most families will have to consider long-term care options for a family member although not all families choose residential care. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration (HHS), approximately 70% of U.S. seniors will require long-term care at some point in their lives, although the majority will receive some type of in-home care as opposed to long-term residential care.

Although there are some seniors who never require long-term care services, approximately 20% will need senior care for more than five years and 37% of seniors will require long-term care in a facility as they continue to age.

The decision to move into a senior living or long-term care community is different for everyone. It is worth noting that many people only ever require in-home care and/or adult day care services, but for those who require residential care, the decision to move out of one’s home can be difficult.

Some seniors choose to move into an independent living community when they are still able to live alone or with a spouse/partner and do not require extensive support or assistance. Others may remain at home until they require assistance with their activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, dressing, eating, and toileting, at which point they may move into an assisted living facility (ALF). In addition to independent and assisted living, other types of long-term senior living and care options.

Click here to see 26 Assisted Living Facilities in the Neenah area.

Long-term care, particularly residential care, is expensive. Once your family has decided that a long-term care facility or community is the best option for your family member, it is important to consider all of the available resources to help pay for the associated costs.

While social security, retirement savings, long-term care insurance, Medicaid, and other resources can help, many individuals who require long-term care find that they require additional funds to help cover the high costs of long-term care. There are a variety of ways to leverage the equity in your family member’s home to help finance their care including traditional (fixed-rate) home-equity loans, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), reverse mortgages, and renting out the home.

For those who own their home and are no longer able or no longer wish to live in their own home, selling the home may be the right decision. 

Obviously, this option is not available to all seniors who require residential long-term care. Selling a home is not an option for those who do not own a home or for those who wish to continue living in their current residence and receive in-home care.

In cases where selling a home is an option, there are a variety of factors to consider and it is important to think about your family member’s unique needs, preferences, and circumstances before making this decision.

Financial considerations

As previously discussed, the high costs associated with long-term care are a major concern for most families especially since it is often difficult to predict how long a person may require long-term care and whether or not their needs will increase substantially over time.

In addition, not every senior owns their own home; however, seniors are much more likely than younger people to own their home.

Many older Americans who own their homes have a large percentage of their wealth attached to their homes. In many cases, the equity in seniors’ homes may be leveraged as a way to help cover the costs of residential long-term care. If your family member requires residential care and they own their home outright, selling the home and using the proceeds to help cover the costs of long-term care may be a good option, particularly if they do not have a spouse/partner living with them.

There is a lot to consider when putting a home up for sale, particularly if your family member is unable to help prepare the home for sale and if you are also busy with moving them into a long-term care community. For most people, the first step is to hire a listing agent. It is important to be sure you hire the right person. An experienced and skilled agent will be able to help with many aspects of listing and selling your family member’s home.

When preparing your family member’s home for sale:

• Look at other similar homes in the area and discuss the current real estate climate with your listing agent so you can understand where your family member’s home fits into the local market and price it accordingly

• Carefully prepare your family member’s house to be sold by cleaning, decluttering, and making sure that any necessary repairs or improvements are completed prior to putting the house on the market.