First, plan ahead and know that every senior has a 66% chance of needing assisted living or skilled nursing in the future.
Second, do not rely on the verbal promises of senior housing sales people. Read the agreement for services or contract. If a senior does not understand it, they should ask a savvy friend or hire an attorney to help them. The majority of retirement counselors are honest and passionate about serving seniors. A few will say “anything” to get a senior to move in immediately.
How do you know if a retirement community will really take care of you or not in your future? Here are some important questions to ask EVERY senior housing community BEFORE you move from your home:
What happens when a senior needs a higher level of care like assisted living or skilled nursing?
Will the senior be asked to leave the retirement community?
Do they offer a higher level of care on the same campus? How much does that cost per month?
Does an outside company bring caregivers into the senior’s apartment home to provide care? What is the hourly cost? What is that company’s reputation?
What happens if a senior falls in the middle of the night?
Is there an emergency call system? Who responds to it? Are they medically trained?
What happens if a senior falls and he or she can’t hit the emergency button? Will they will be found in a timely fashion?
Is there a daily check in system?
What happens if a senior outlives their resources?
Is there a Good Samaritan Fund or Foundation to help a senior so that he or she won’t get kicked out? Is there a limit of how many seniors can be utilizing the fund at any one time?
Or is there just a flat guarantee of care in writing that a senior will never be kicked out unless they divest their own funds on purpose by giving gifts to their children?
What else should a senior ask in order to make a good move?
If an aging senior has a new health diagnosis or is getting frail, what might happen in his or her future?
Many seniors don’t realize that senior living communities often have minimum health requirements. If you have a diagnosis of a progressive disease, you may not qualify for certain types of housing. If you are in the later stages of Alzheimer’s, you may only qualify for memory care or skilled nursing care.
It is illegal for a senior housing care provider to let you move in and not be able to provide for your needs. Many seniors are stunned when they arrive at an independent senior living community to be told they have bypassed an independent living setting and that an assisted living community would provide a more appropriate level of care for them.
The conversation that a retirement counselor in a senior housing community dreads most is “the talk” with a future resident. As I write this, one Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) that I work with had to turn down two senior applicants in the last six weeks. One applicant had a diagnosis of dementia and could not manage alone, and the other was too frail for independent living. Even though those seniors thought they were fine to move into independent living, they only qualified for assisted living.
Other CCRCs I worked with in the past would deny people admittance if they had ever had cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, or anything that would send them quickly into a higher level of care for an extended period of time. How can they do this, you might ask? Well, it is a contract for services, and as long as they are consistent with all applicants, this is considered consistent with fair housing practices.
Have you ever heard of denying a senior (in a wheelchair) admittance into a retirement community? A senior prospect (in a wheelchair) said it happened to them at several communities. How can this be?
“Your Senior Housing Options,”has a simplistic title, but what’s inside this new book can save a you months of research time. Hear Diane Masson’s interviewof how her mother and in-law’s faced the pivotal decision to plan ahead or wait until a crisis. Learn the pitfalls from transitioning from your home to senior housing. Understand what questions to ask, insider tips and dirty secrets revealed. For weekly tips join at: Www.Tips2Seniors.com
Diane Masson has worked in senior housing for 17 years and is the regional marketing director for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern CA (Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). Her first book “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is being utilized by senior housing professionals across the country. Both her first book and second book, “Your Senior Housing Options,” have a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
Discover key differences between rental facilities versus Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Do you have enough financial resources if you need to be in a higher level of care for an extended period of time? Always consider your future health care needs today. Who will provide your care and at what cost? Do you want 100% responsibility for your future health care costs or do you want to share the risk with a Continuing Care Retirement Community? Author, Diane Masson, shares her insights from her new book, “Your Senior Housing Options.” Enjoy my TV interview below and for weekly tips join at: Www.Tips2Seniors.com
Your Senior Housing Options,”has a simplistic title, but what’s inside this new book can save a you months of research time. Hear Diane Masson’s interviewof how her mother and in-law’s faced the pivotal decision to plan ahead or wait until a crisis. Learn the pitfalls from transitioning from your home to senior housing. Understand what questions to ask, insider tips and dirty secrets revealed. For weekly tips join at: Www.Tips2Seniors.com
Diane Masson has worked in senior housing for 17 years and is the regional marketing director for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern CA (Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). Her first book “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is being utilized by senior housing professionals across the country. Both her first book and second book, “Your Senior Housing Options,” have a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
It’s flu season and I unfortunately succumbed with a 100.8 temperature reading and a horrible cough. My husband, Chris, was sicker than I. As we nursed each other back to health, I thought about single seniors trying to manage flu symptoms alone in their home.
What if a senior didn’t have enough groceries stocked at home? What if they were too weak to even make themselves a can of soup? Would they monitor their own temperature and take Tylenol every six hours? What about drinking enough liquids? Will anyone check on his or her well-being?
The flu has not struck at the Continuing Care Retirement Communities that I represent. It makes me feel good to know if one of our residents got the flu, in the independent living setting, room service could bring them a meal of soup, fruit and tea or what they need to start healing. If a senior resident wondered if they need to be hospitalized they could walk down the hall to the complimentary wellness clinic and ask the nurse. If they were really bad the senior resident could pull their emergency cord and a nurse or emergency medical technician would come help them. Wow! I did not have that luxury. Frankly, I could have used it Friday night when I considered going to the emergency room, because it was getting hard to breathe.
Assisted living and skilled nursing support residents 24-hours a day, so if a senior got the flu, they have caregivers who can nourish them back to health.
Some critics might say that a community setting promotes the spread of flu, with all those people living and dining together. There are small steps senior living communities can do to reduce this challenge. First and foremost, install hand sanitizer in strategic places in the community, such as the lobby and dining room entrances. Second, promoting flu shots. Plus if people are sick, such as myself, they just need to stay at home to reduce the spread of infection.
What are your thoughts? Is it better to have the flu isolated in your home or in a senior living community?
With experience as both an industry expert and a loving daughter, Diane Twohy Masson is passionate about helping seniors find the retirement community that fits their price range, lifestyle, and needs. Her new guidebook offers a proactive approach to navigating the complex maze of senior housing options. It will help you understand the costs and consequences of the various possibilities, from home care to independent living, assisted living, group homes, memory care, and skilled nursing-care facilities.
“Your Senior Housing Options,”will be coming soon to Amazon.com. If you sign up for my weekly newsletter on the right side of this blog, you will be notified when my new book becomes available. Check out my new website: Tips2Seniors.comor please follow me on Facebook.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,”available at Amazon.com with a 5-star rating. The book is required reading at George Mason University as a part of its marketing curriculum. Within this book, the author developed a sales & marketing method with 12 keys to help senior living providers increase their occupancy.
Some senior living sales people are so focused on getting a deposit that they miss crucial buyer signs from a senior living prospect. One easy tip for you to start using today is to never answer an easy question that a senior or adult child asks with a simple, “yes” or “no.” Instead, respond with a clarifying question and discover more about his or her mindset.
For example, if they ask, “Is this apartment available?” You ask, “What is your time frame for moving in?” The answer given is very telling. They might say, “Well, I have to sell my home first.” This indicates they want to buy it! You just have to walk them through the steps on how to make it a reality.
More Buying Questions
Asking about availability of a certain apartment.
What is the time frame required to move into this apartment?
They want something repeated.
Wanting to know about rates, price, or affordability.
Asking about the quality or levels of health care that are offered is a great sign.
Wanting to see the model apartment.
Asking what the other residents are like.
Comparing your senior living community with the competition. This means they are doing their homework and are interested.
Start recognizing closing questions that they may ask you. The questions can come in the beginning, the middle, or the end of your senior living tour. When they ask you a question, never answer with a simple “yes “or “no.” It’s good to answer with a clarifying question that allows more discoveries as to their needs or wants. Your strategic question can often turn into an early close and result in the sale.
They may say, “How much money would I have to put down to hold it?” This is not a sale until you walk them through all the steps. But it’s darned close!
Have your senior living occupancy start increasing today!
Please share your strategies, successes, failures or comment below to join the conversation and interact with other senior living professionals on what is currently being effective to increase occupancy on a nationwide basis.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available at Amazon.com with a 5-star rating. The book is required reading at George Mason University as a part of its marketing curriculum. Within this book, the author developed a sales & marketing method with 12 keys to help senior living providers increase their occupancy. Masson developed this expertise as a marketing consultant, sought-after blogger for senior housing and a regional marketing director of continuing care retirement communities in several markets. She has also been a corporate director of sales and a mystery shopper for independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled care nursing communities in multiple states. Currently, Masson is setting move-in records as the regional marketing director of two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. Interestingly, this career started when she was looking for a place for her own mom and helped her loved one transition through three levels of care.
I was a sucker to think it would be fun for my husband and I to go on a timeshare presentation at the Lawrence Welk Resort. My Auntie watched Lawrence Welk every week when I was little. It was supposed to be a fabulous place and seniors from two of my Continuing Care Retirement Communities go there regularly for performances. Our promised gift for participating in a 90 presentation was going to a trip for two to Catalina Island.
Well here are the 12 sales no no’s that happened:
Promising that the appointment would be 90 minutes and then almost doubling the time.
Asking us to arrive early and then making us wait.
Pushing a person for personal information in a non-genuine or unnatural manner. (This is so uncomfortable!)
Not listening!
Giving a canned speech with a pitch type voice.
Sharing long boring stories and wasting our time.
Giving a promise that the company cannot fulfill.
After not listening, asking a closing question, when there was nothing to close on. (This is so wrong!)
Failing to give us the promised gift.
Lying.
Trapping us in several closing sequences, because a golf cart was required to return us to our far off parking spot.
Making me feel like a number.
The appointment was almost three hours instead of the promised 90 minutes. They persisted in a quest for our personal information (very awkward) without sharing the facts of their offering in a timely fashion. They absolutely never listened and it was all a canned speech. The worst is having someone try to close you, when there is zero interest. You might be thinking, Diane, just leave. There is no way to leave early because they force you to park your car in an area that requires a golf cart to return to it. If all of that was not bad enough, the promised gift to Catalina was a lie. I prequalified two people that our trip could be on a weekend. The mail away certificate was for mid-week only.
So I sent an email explaining my disappointment and that I would be writing a blog post that 1000’s of people would view. I figured they would call me immediately and rectify the situation. How could Lawrence Welk Resorts possible sell all those timeshares treating people in this unsavory manner?
Ultimately, a timeshare fiasco can make a senior suspicious of real genuine sales people in senior housing. How many times has a senior walked into your senior living community with his or her arms crossed? Do you enjoy watching a senior open up midway through a “wow tour?”
Please share your strategies, successes, failures or comment below to join the conversation and interact with other senior living professionals on what is currently being effective to increase occupancy on a nationwide basis.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available at Amazon.com with a 5-star rating. The book is required reading at George Mason University as a part of its marketing curriculum. Within this book, the author developed a sales & marketing method with 12 keys to help senior living providers increase their occupancy. Masson developed this expertise as a marketing consultant, sought-after blogger for senior housing and a regional marketing director of continuing care retirement communities in several markets. She has also been a corporate director of sales and a mystery shopper for independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled care nursing communities in multiple states. Currently, Masson is setting move-in records as the regional marketing director of two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. Interestingly, this career started when she was looking for a place for her own mom and helped her loved one transition through three levels of care.
First, plan ahead and know that every senior has a 66% chance of needing assisted living or skilled nursing in the future. 
