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Whether you are looking for a retirement living option for yourself or a loved one, moving to a retirement home is a life-changing event that needs careful consideration, planning, and research.

One of the key elements to remember is that a retirement community is neither a nursing home nor a facility in which assistance with day-to-day living is required by the residents. A retirement home is for active seniors, who are quite capable of caring for most of their own daily living needs, but want to eliminate or take a rest from some of the humdrum activities that fill their days in their own home. Gone are the days of the rest home, where the elderly were shuttled off in the last years of their lives.

Retirement living should be comfortable. When assessing a retirement community, look at the amenity package, and determine what services are available on-site. Most retirement homes offer a wide array of services, from housekeeping, to meal service, to transportation for shopping, doctor's appointments, etc. Find out if services are offered "a la carte" so you can match the services you want with how you see yourself living in retirement.

The best retirement communities will have a stable employee base. Ask how long the community manager, the marketing agents, and other lead management, such as the activities director, housekeeping, maintenance, and kitchen/restaurant have been in place. Warning bells should go up if there has been a constant turnover in these key personnel or if you receive evasive answers. Ask to meet each of these people and speak with them.

Sit down, and talk with people already living in the community, away from the guided tour you are being provided, and get a sense from them of what it is like to live there. Bear in mind, most people will speak well of their own personal choice for retirement housing, so weigh their opinions in that light.

In many states, retirement communities are regulated, or at least monitored, by one or more governmental agencies. Find out if there have been complaints lodged against the community, what they were, and how they were resolved. There is no sense walking into a hornet's nest where the people already living there are feeling disgruntled.

Some retirement communities offer hospice rooms, where the resident is there only for the short term, usually following a debilitating illness or injury, but the person can still care for themselves and do not need medical assistance. This type of retirement housing can be a boon to family members wanting some piece of mind that a loved one is in a safe environment where their daily needs are being handled by a third-party.

Many retirement communities now offer a "continuum of care" option, and are affiliated with, or even better are adjacent to, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Many of these types of facilities will require an endowment of some sort that will guarantee you access to the facility for the remainder of your life. For a couple, having these other facilities right next door can be of great benefit as one ages and different levels of care are necessary for each person. These continuing care options may be quite important as you or your loved ones grow older.

Learn more about this author, W Thomas Payne.
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