Senior housing discussion

By RAY ESTRADA — Sep. 18, 2009

As the South Coast’s population ages, senior citizens will be faced with two key questions: Should they stay in their homes or move into a retirement community?

About 35 seniors listened to a discussion of those options Thursday at the First Baptist Church of Carpinteria.

“We have to face the fact that we are going to have to get help at some point of our life,” said Suzanne McNeely, founder and owner of Santa Barbara-based Senior Planning Services, a private-duty agency. She was one of three speakers at the discussion titled, “Transitioning in Place.”

Mary Layman, senior residential specialist for Prudential California Realty, told the audience that those who may be considering selling their home and moving into a smaller home or retirement community should be aware that housing prices are expected to continue to drop for the next 12 to 18 months.

The third speaker, Jana Smith, told the seniors about the option of moving into a retirement community such as Vista del Monte in Santa Barbara where she works as director of marketing.

Founded in 1964, Smith said the community provides assisted care living,

but residents are encouraged to stay as independent as long as they can.

Smith said one Vista del Monte resident is in her 80s and still snow skis.

While noting the community offers a much less stressful environment, Smith said there a no vacancies at Vista del Monte right no.

Houses are aging right along with the residents inside them, McNeely said. “A house can be an albatross and an obstacle course,” she said.

McNeely said one option her company provides is finding and properly employing reputable caregivers who are not exploitive and are supervised by licensed nurses monitoring the quality of their work.

After serving thousands of seniors and their families during her company’s 20 years of operation, McNeely said it is possible to save 25 percent of the cost if caregivers are hired through agencies like hers.

“Caregivers are never independent contractors,” said McNeely, referring to state laws that make employers responsible for such issues as taxes and disability and unemployment insurance. “Be careful with private hires,” she warned.

Layman also addressed the issue of taxes by noting that seniors can get a significant, one-time tax break if they decide to sell a home they have lived in for two out of the past five years.

She predicted that more seniors will be moving into smaller homes during the next few years.

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Stay Home : 9/19/2009

No! Never Nooooooooooooo I want to stay in my own home until they carry me out feet first. With all the help and services in this town there is no need to incarcerate oneself in one of those places, where you eat when they tell to, get up when they say you should and treat you like some kind of backward kid. I get up at 4-5 am and go to bed and eat when i feel like it. I walk, read a lot,listen to my music and I like to be alone unless my kids are around . I have seen those retirement places with shared dining tables where everyone complains about the food loudly because they are all deaf. And the food is horrible. Either super rich covered in fancy sauces or bland with soggy over cooked vegetables and those nasty jello puddings that wiggle...........

Senior Citizen

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The Golden Years : 9/21/2009

What are the choices for the people who cannot afford these nice but expensive retirement homes? Do they stay in their senior low income rental apartments until they get too frail to care for themselves although all their faculties are there, and then get dumped into some unbelievably hideous and smelly care home, where they stare at the walls, listen to the moans and cries of their room mates,loose the little dignity they may have left and pray for death? Please, Ms. McNeely, can you answer this?

Concerned

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Stealing Seniors Houses to Make a Buck : 10/28/2009

I would NEVER trust a real estate agent especially one as self serving as MARY LAYMAN! The woman is just trying to make a buck off of seniors. Reports show that the longer seniors stay in their homes, the better their quality of life. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM A REAL ESTATE AGENT!

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