56. Touring Senior Living Communities: What You Won’t Find on the Website

Choosing a senior living community is one of those decisions that looks simple online — until you start touring.

In this episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast, we talk through what families don’t see on senior living websites but quickly discover once they’re inside the building. From staffing patterns and daily routines to pricing details, waitlists, and care changes, we share the real-world factors that make or break a decision.

We walk through what to watch for during a tour, which questions actually get honest answers, and how to compare communities without getting distracted by staged apartments and marketing language. If you’re helping a parent explore options — or thinking ahead for yourself — this episode gives you a clearer framework before any commitments are made.

This conversation is especially helpful if you’re touring early, trying to avoid a rushed decision later, or feeling unsure about how to evaluate what you’re seeing.

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Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome to Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. Oftentimes the clients that we're dealing with are their downsizing move requires or it they're at a stage where they want to go to a senior living community. So today we're going to talk about touring those communities and you know what questions to ask.

Jodi Rosko 0:40

Yeah, what are we looking for?

Heather Fisher 0:41

What are we looking for?

Jodi Rosko 0:42

How do we know which ones are the good ones?

Heather Fisher 0:43

Yeah. So we're going to give some tips on that today. I'm Heather Fisher.

Jodi Rosko 0:47

I'm Jodie Roscoe.

Heather Fisher 0:48

And um let's dive in. It's an overwhelming thing.

Jodi Rosko 0:52

It really is because I mean you just kind of look at all the places, and there's so many that have popped up, and and they're some of them are really beautiful, actually. If you haven't been to a senior community in a long time, um they're probably not what you're thinking. I mean, Heather and I go to a lot of them. Um we network with a lot of people, we know what the ones are in our community so that we can help the people um that we're helping sell their house. And um a lot of times we're like, I want to move in.

Heather Fisher 1:20

Yes, yes. We've said that many times, like when can we have a place to be?

Jodi Rosko 1:25

You're gonna do my laundry and clean and make food and I'm gonna live here and do all the activities in this beautiful place.

Heather Fisher 1:31

They're beautiful. A lot are new construction because there's such a need for more. Um, so you you get the the newness feel and um a lot of amenities. Um I had no idea until you know six years ago when we started diving into this and started um to be in so many senior living communities. My prior experience was um somewhere where my grandpa was when I was like in high school. So quite a long time ago, and not at all the feel of real living. It was just um, you know, more medical at that point and more it was like a nursing home, honestly.

Jodi Rosko 2:11

A nursing home or in an old way that felt very, like you said, very medical.

Heather Fisher 2:16

Yes. Um, so I had no idea that they were so beautiful, offered so much of um great opportunities uh for social activities and um you know sports and recreation and clubs and crafts and um fine dining, right? Senior communities have good food, really good chefs and food. Um so all of those things um to say that there's so many wonderful things, but I guess we want to talk a little bit about what else do you need to ask to get past that glossy.

Jodi Rosko 2:51

Right. A lot of them look really pretty, but also how how are they taking care of their clients, which would be you, um, you know, or your parents, how are they gonna take care of them um underneath the gloss of that? You know, what questions do we ask about that? And then just there's all different kinds, right? So um we'll just the first the four kinds that we'll just say right off the bat, but then of each of these, there's different kinds of those. There's ones that have like, you know, a campus that you know, so there's independent living. Um so that's a hospitality model, honestly. It's like it's like the lowest care support, but you basically feel like you're living in, you know. Resort. A resort. Right. Exactly. And you're living on your own and you can have your car, and a lot of them have garages and um they're cottages, you know, there's all different kinds, you know, or pr perhaps they're kind of apartment-like living, but it's beautiful, and there are a lot of um spaces that can be used that as community spaces.

Heather Fisher 3:47

Yeah, you're really um the the things you're you're gaining, um, you know, maybe safety and security and a more manageable um place to live in the same similar sense to a condo or something. Someone else is taking care of the maintenance and um the upkeep, um, but you're still living independently. Um, you're gaining uh the community of others um in that same phase of life, all living um there to together, so the social aspects, uh, but not a lot different than just living, you know, s in a smaller house yourself somewhere else.

Jodi Rosko 4:30

And I think when you're looking at these, again, back to how we talk about, you know, let's get dreamy in the beginning and talk about what we want our whole next path to look like. It there are um places that are like this that are just apartment buildings, actually, like but you're just all together, you know, with people that are in your same situation. Yep. And so um, so that's one kind of thought process of it, of independent living. Um another one is is a place where it will go from independent living to assisted living to, you know, nursing, skilled care eventually. So is that a kind of a place, you know, do you want that path, or do you want just a place that's kind of like, you know, hey, these are all people that are in my same situation and I'll deal with that next part later or my next my next path. Um so kind of some things to think about because there are different options of independent living.

Heather Fisher 5:20

Absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 5:20

Next one would be assisted living, where you need a little bit more daily support. You're gonna get your meals, they're gonna do transportation for you. Um here staff consistency matter, people that know your name and that they're they're gonna be taking care of you a little bit more. They might be helping with medication or you know, helping with light things.

Heather Fisher 5:38

Your daily tasks, um, you know, maybe personal hygiene, some showering or bathing help, or um medication reminders, um maybe some meals, housekeeping, um, different menu of of services, honestly. In most places, um we'll talk about those questions to ask, but um that's a broad term that covers you know whole different levels of how much assistance you're getting with that assisted living.

Jodi Rosko 6:11

And then as we're talking about these things, of course, everyone costs a little more because you're getting more care. So absolutely. Um and then the other two are memory care um and skilled nursing. So if you get to a place where you can't do certain things for yourself, um you may need to be have skilled nursing. And usually those are um more medical-based too.

Heather Fisher 6:32

You know, like you're gonna have to You usually get to that place on a doctor's recommendation. You're not really choosing that.

Jodi Rosko 6:39

You are at that place where you can't get up by yourself and go to the restroom, or you can't, you know, do certain things might move you into um skilled nursing. Um and then memory care is obvious obviously if you're if there's a cognitive situation.

Heather Fisher 6:53

Yeah, and those are um can run the whole gamut memory care as far as how much assistance you're getting, uh, but the environment is set up to deal with progression of dementia or Alzheimer's or any other memory care issue you're having. So there's more safety built in for uh, you know, not being able to roam and you know, what level do you need as that progresses?

Jodi Rosko 7:20

So when you're looking, first is what am I looking for? Am I just looking for an active um community that doesn't have that path to, you know, whatever that looks like later? Do you want something that does and you can start there, but you know that you're gonna move as you move along? Um and so they're all pretty. Most of them are pretty. You know, so then what are we looking at underneath? So I think that um staffing, um, the number of staffing, you know, how many people are actually there, and you know, what their titles are, are they aides, are they nurses, are they doctors, you know, what is it that's there is important. I think those are those are some things that you need to ask, especially if you are um if especially if it's not independent living, especially if it is any of the next three assisted living, skilled care, memory care.

Heather Fisher 8:10

Yeah, and how you know, if you're touring during the week, what does it look like nights and weekends there? What um do those staffing levels change? Um, you know, if you are looking for true assisted care for you yourself or your loved ones, you just want to have that peace of mind that someone is readily available for those needs.

Jodi Rosko 8:34

In a minute, we'll talk about like questions you should be asking. So we're just gonna talk about like, you know, things that the website will tell you is like, oh, we have a beautiful this and that, and like here's our beautiful dining room, and whatever. You know, they won't actually give you like actual apartment sizes. Sometimes they'll give you the floor pan, but rarely is it like this is how many feet this is, so it's hard to tell the scale. So you're gonna want to go and look at that scale. And is there a place where your queen bed fits, or will you king fed bit king bed fit in there, or nope, you gotta have a queen or a foal that fits in there and you know, all of the things to make sure that whatever you're envisioning is actually gonna be what it looks like.

Heather Fisher 9:11

Yeah. It's it's hard to go from paper to an actual space without those measures. Without going to see it. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 9:18

So we're advocates of really early on, if this is something that you think you want to do, go visit them, you know, go tour them, go see what's out there, see what sizes the apartments are, decide if that's something that you want to, you know, live in. Just kind of and if we've talked about this before, um, you want to do this for rehab too. Like just in case something happens, we're gonna cross our fingers that nothing happens to any of us ever, but you know, life happens. And so if you have some kind of a medical event where you need to go to rehab, when you're at the hospital, um they're gonna be like, you are looking great. We're gonna we're gonna send you to rehab now. You have an hour to figure out where to go, and here's a list of rehab places. And if you haven't gone and done any touring or looked at anything, you're gonna freak out and your family's gonna freak out because you don't know in an hour which ones are the good ones and which ones aren't. So it's worthwhile to take some time, even if this is gonna be your final residence, um, but to take some time to at least figure out where you would want to go for a good rehab experience.

Heather Fisher 10:21

Yeah, I I think we can't say that enough both for rehab and um for these future decisions, um, the more ahead of the need that you're taking these tours and um, you know, when it's time for a final decision, if you're switching, you know, your living place, you would of course go back and and retour and make sure things haven't changed, but just to see what's out there and what we're talking about. Um, you know, we went through this with my dad both for rehab and when he needed to go to a more skilled care where in both instances we were choosing where he went, you know, within hours or within, you know, 24 hour to 48 hour period. Um stressful. And it's very stressful. And you don't have time to go physically tour all those places. If it's for yourself, you're in the hospital for a reason and you certainly can't go tour. Yeah. Um and so all you have to rely on at that point is the glossiness of a website and the information and maybe a phone call. Um, and it's just stress you don't need if you can do it early and just have a few options in mind.

Jodi Rosko 11:36

Other things that the website doesn't show you are, you know, how loud is it there? You know, what is that, what is the feeling of it? Um, how does it smell? Yeah. Um, what is the resident engagement? You know, do they have a lot of things that they're doing there or does it feel kind of stagnant there? Like what is what is it? Yeah, engaged. Do uh do the peop does the staff seem like they're rushing around because they just don't have enough time to do anything, or are they they're like, hey Susie, how are you doing? You know, are they talking to the people? Are they knowing them by name? Do they feel present? You know, what does that look like on a day-to-day basis? Because they're going to show you glossy pictures on the website of like fun things that are happening.

Heather Fisher 12:17

Yeah, absolutely. Um another thing to consider is hidden fees and add-ons. Um this can get very confusing. Um so the more time you have to kind of lay out and comparison shop and comparison of you know what your needs are, what benefits you might have, and um how you're gonna make it all work, it it just takes that stress out if you give yourself time. Um, you know, that starting at number. Uh, you can't compare just apples to apples, place to place, without really digging in what pieces do you need to add on? Is it all encompassing for one number and maybe one doesn't include meals yet, and that's additional, or laundry service or um transportation. You know, there's just a whole gamut of things that maybe included, maybe extra or might not be available at all. Right. And coming up with that equation of what fits your needs and your budget takes a little bit of time to weigh those costs.

Jodi Rosko 13:22

And and and if there's a second person moving in, what what does that cost? So um something to think about there. So um when you go on the tour, I mean you're gonna see um, you know, the cleanest model apartment, the prettiest one, um with you know really fancy furniture and artwork and all the things. Um they're gonna introduce you, if they introduce you to any resident, they're gonna be the funnest, the most enthusiastic, you know. Advocates. Yes. Um, staff who are prepped for you and ready for your, you know, introduction and and the busy events on the calendar. You know, what you should kind of be looking for is, you know, what is the staff that's not showing you the, you know, the the What's happening in the background. Yeah, what's happening in the background? What are they doing? Are they looking rushed around or are they looking like they have it under control? You know, when are there y things that are happening, you know, calls that are are happening, or um how are they responding to it? Do the aides seem to know their residents by name? Like what what's happening in the background?

Heather Fisher 14:27

Yeah, absolutely. What's peek down the halls you're not walking down and and just take a look?

Jodi Rosko 14:33

Are the are are the halls lined with things or is it clean? Like does it seem organized, you know? Yeah. Are the communal spaces feeling clean and used, you know, in a good way? Are they feeling cluttered with things? What does that look like?

Heather Fisher 14:46

Yeah, and are people use utilizing them? Is that a friendly, you know, you could have a beautiful um lobby space or sitting area space or cozy den, but if it still feels lonely because it doesn't seem like anyone is plugged in and using that and enjoying that, you know, is that the right space that you want?

Jodi Rosko 15:07

Yeah. So as you're planning this or thinking about this, um I so we'll give you kind of some ideas of cost around it, but you need to look at that specifically for your area and for the level of care that you might think that you need or might need in the future. Um but I think that it's sometimes people really get sticker shock um if they haven't looked at this at all and and to realize how much it's costing. So um we're just gonna give you some really broad thought process, like independent living can be anywhere from $2,200 to $4,000 a month without care, right? So that's independent living without care, but in in a community. Um assisted living could be anywhere from $4,000 to $6,500 a month, and we're talking per person.

Heather Fisher 15:54

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 15:55

So um, you know, if you've sent your kids to college and you're used to the dorm thing, it's like that only on steroids.

Heather Fisher 16:01

Um so Well, I think so many people in this phase in life um may have been in their homes for a very long time, and so their mortgage has been paid off for a while, and when they got their mortgage, uh the cost of living was so different. Yeah. Um, and so even their mortgage payment that they don't have anymore was much less than these numbers, and it really is something you need to plan for and think about if this is you know the path that you're looking to to take.

Jodi Rosko 16:33

Yep. Memory care we're talking somewhere between six and nine thousand dollars a month. And skilled nursing care can be anywhere from ten to fifteen thousand dollars a month. So cr really crazy numbers can happen. And uh some things to think about on top of that, you know, uh is there gonna be rate increases? What kind of rate increases are there gonna be yearly? Um if the level of care changes, like okay, we go somewhere, it has different levels of care, we're going in as independent, you know. If in a couple years we have to switch to assisted, what is that price change gonna be? What's that gonna look like? What if one of us needs to and one of us doesn't? What does that look like? Um so there's a lot of questions to ask. Um, and it's not necessarily bad, and you may have all the funds to do it, but you still need to know the the path and the questions need to be answered.

Heather Fisher 17:27

Yeah, and I think one thing we've learned from you know some of our our friends and and vendor partners that we've known for the over the years is that you know people's first instinct might be, well, I'll just stay at home and I'll have someone take care of me at home. Um but understanding and comparing if you're just feeling unsure what that right path is, those costs, because if you're to a point where you need 24-hour in-home health care, that's the most expensive. Right. Beyond anything that we're talking about. So just be careful not to bury your head in the sand and just know your options and consider them and and know what's coming and how you might want to handle it.

Jodi Rosko 18:11

Yeah. And so the other thing is there are other companies that will give you some level of care that aren't part of necessarily part of the a community. So let's say you're an independent living and you just need some help with certain things, you know, maybe you need some help with cleaning or you need some help with certain things. There are companies who do non-home health care. Um skilled. Yeah. So non-medical. Yeah, sorry, not non-home. Yeah, non-skilled health care. So they will may help you pay your bills, or they might help you um, you know, do things around the house um that aren't necessarily skilled nursing care. There is also skilled nursing care that will come in. So just you don't necessarily have to get it all from your community. You could stay in the community, stay in your independent living with your spouse who is still independent. And so there's all kinds of like ways that you can handle it, and there are all kinds of companies out there that can help you handle it, um, which is stuff that I didn't know before I got into this. I didn't know how many different companies there were that helped with skilled care and helped with non-skilled care and all of that. But um you definitely can get help in all different ways.

Heather Fisher 19:27

Yeah, absolutely. So um one thing that that's really important to dig into is that timeline. Um is there a wait list on the place that you choose? Um, you know, here in our area, there are several communities that we know of that the waiting list is two to five to seven years.

Jodi Rosko 19:51

I mean depending on which part you're waiting for.

Heather Fisher 19:54

Yeah, depending on what you're waiting for, um, you know, in within each community, there's the different levels of care and then there's different floor plans often. Do you need, you know, you want an independent place that has three bedrooms versus two? And so what are you waiting for? And if that's the most popular choice, those lists can be very long. Uh so back to starting early and you know, getting yourself on a list and sometimes it it's a little bit of a deposit.

Jodi Rosko 20:24

And you know, if it's five hundred dollars and you don't end up going there, um, I'm just kind of like put yourself on a list anyways, because um because a couple years will go by very, very quickly. And usually, not all of them, but usually if you get to the top of the list and you say, Oh, I'm not quite ready, then you can have the next one. Find out what that is. Find out if you're going back to the bottom of the list. Again, those, you know, that wait list stuff is actually really you know important to figure out what the rules are.

Heather Fisher 20:56

Those questions. What does the wait list look like? How does it work if I'm not ready when you call me? Um, how does it work if, you know, here's my top choice, but will you let me know if my second choice is available and I can consider it at that time? I mean, they're done differently at every place, so just be aware of those caveats and add that to your list of questions. Um, like Jodi mentioned, is there a deposit to get on the waiting list? Um, but also in addition to that, what does the deposit look like to move in? Is it just a month-to-month with no deposit, or is it a community where there is, you know, a buy-in deposit, a large upfront, and you know, not a right or a wrong answer. There's just so many different ways that they're structured. Make sure you have a clear understanding. Um, and with those deposits, again, what if you change your mind? You know, what if you move there and it's not the right fit or you're Family moves to another state and you want to follow, you know, so many reasons. What happens if I move in and I change my mind and want to go?

Jodi Rosko 22:11

And even if you move in, let's say you move into one you wasn't your first choice because that's what was available, and you want to move the one that that is your first choice comes available. Is there a cost to move from one to another inside of the community? There's all just make sure you're asking all the cost questions.

Heather Fisher 22:29

Yeah, absolutely. Um and then that timing of um what does that look like, especially um, you know, from our perspective, uh, when you have us or um a trusted realtor helping it, you know, if there's a home sale involved, how do those two timelines work together? Are you are you know, is your real estate agent and the community on board? Does it work financially for you to move first and get settled and then sell the house? Or do you need the funds from selling the house to apply? You know, what's that timeline for when a deposit is due? Do they give you any kind of a window to sell the house, or do you have to do that before? Um, you know, when we're meeting with our clients, those are the questions we're asking, you know, you and you can ask those questions up front so that that timeline just works out for all of the pieces of the puzzle and doesn't leave you homeless or rushed or having showings at your house when that's difficult to deal with and you're still living there. Um, just how can we smooth all those edges to make it work out timeline-wise and financial?

Jodi Rosko 23:44

Yeah, and if that's something you're grappling with now and you need a real estate agent who um is familiar with that, reach out to us. We have we have real estate agents all over the country that can help you um make that a smooth transition. So reach out to us at downsizingroadmap.com if that's something you need. Um okay, so we're gonna talk about um, you know, touring it is not a committing to it. So go tour them, right? You you're you're you're not talking to what questions are we gonna ask when we're there? So um we're gonna kind of break them up into little um categories. So care and staffing. Um care and staffing questions. You're gonna ask questions like, um, what's your aid-to-resident ratio? And you want them to say something like, you know, the staffing adjusts based on the residents' needs. They're gonna still be a little bit vague, but you don't want them to say things like, hey, we meet the state minimum, right? Like that's not um that's not what you want to hear. You want to hear that the staff is gonna, if the residents need more, they're gonna be able to adjust their staffing.

Heather Fisher 24:41

Yeah, staff turnover, asking what their staff turnover rates are. Um, you want to hear that they have, you know, long-term caregivers that have loved working there and have been there a long time and uh consistent staffing, you know, a red flag might be that high turnover rate, what's not working, that their employees aren't satisfied, um, that they're leaving.

Jodi Rosko 25:06

Yeah, and they might say something like, you know, oh well, you know, people come and go in this business or something like that. That's not that's not what we want to hear.

Heather Fisher 25:13

I remember when my youngest uh was born, I needed daycare for her, and I had not had not had to get daycare before and did all the similar things and was touring places, and the one I choose was not the prettiest, not the newest, not the glossiest. Um, but I chose it because the two ladies in the infant room where my daughter was gonna be starting at, you know, a few months old, they had both been in the infant room for 20 and 23 years and they were amazing grandmas and in there. And that calmed my mom a heart. And so that's the same that you want to look for. Um, that staff that has been there long enough.

Jodi Rosko 26:00

They know every resident and they know you hear them calling their names, you hear them talking to them as you're that's that background thing.

Heather Fisher 26:06

Yeah, you know, they're excited to be there and to come there every day. They're not out looking for something different because it's unsatisfactory.

Jodi Rosko 26:14

Yeah. Um who is on staff overnight? Now, this is more important, obviously, if you're in assisted living or you know, care you you need a bigger level of care, but um, are trained staff on on site overnight? That's the answer you want it to be. If they're only on call, what is that gonna look like? Now, if you're an independent living, that's a whole different thing. But you know, staffing and care for staffing is gets more and more important the more care you need.

Heather Fisher 26:39

Yeah, and even at the independent live level, um some places have, I don't know, like a the same way on a college campus, there'd be like security or just like that one person answering the phone if there was um not even like 911 emergencies, but small emergencies, just a resource, is that important to you? And does one place have it versus another not? Um, and how much does that factor in?

Jodi Rosko 27:08

Yeah. And then um, you know, how do the how are they gonna handle care plan changes? So if something is changing with your health, um, if the care plan needs to change, what are they doing? How are they gonna handle that? Is that a proactive reassessment with your family involved, where they're gonna, you know, sit with the social workers and talk to you about what that looks like and talk to your family, you know, if you're the adult kids, are you gonna be part of that decision? What does that look like? Um, or are they gonna say, you know, hey, well, if something happens, if an incident happens, we'll look at it, right? We we don't those are that's a more of a red flag. We're we're gonna wait until you know something bad happens and then um we'll go from there.

Heather Fisher 27:49

Yeah, so moving into the category of um safety and well-being, um, what happens if someone has a fall?

Jodi Rosko 27:56

Yeah. So what you want them to say is there's an immediate response, the family's gonna be notified, we're gonna figure out what happened there, was there something you know that happened? Um at minimum that they have to do paperwork and you know, not they don't even have to notify the family or anything. So um you would like a better response than the minimum. We're gonna fill out the paperwork.

Heather Fisher 28:17

Yeah, and along those lines, how are medical emergencies handled? Um, you know, green, you know, great answers you could get would be that um they have clear protocols in place and fast communication.

Jodi Rosko 28:32

And that they're explaining those to you. Oh, well, this is what we do, and they have kind of they have a plan.

Heather Fisher 28:37

System around that. Um, you know, you might have your radar go off if you're just getting vague answers and and you're not really feeling comfortable that there's uh a clear plan in place.

Jodi Rosko 28:50

Yeah. Um and the same with safety checks, you know, how is how are they if you need safety checks, how often is that? Um it should be based on your need instead of just the same schedule for everyone. It's like we check you once a day. And it dep again, we're this all depends on your level of care. You might not even need to be checked on, you know, in the beginning. And so again, your level of care matters there, but if you're going into things that need more care, these are kind of questions that you're gonna want better answers to. Yeah. Okay, so daily life. Um, so you know, you're gonna want to talk about what the base rate is and you know how much cost, you know, what what's included in your base rate. We've talked about financials and some will include meals, some won't include meals, some will include one meal, some will be like, hey, your meals are $12. You know, like whatever that is, just figure that out so you know when you're there and you're asking the financial questions so that you can do your financial apples to apples if you're talking to one place, you know, more than one place, which hopefully you are, um, you know that hey, this place seems so much cheaper because I have to add this and this and this to it, and then you know they're probably similar.

Heather Fisher 30:07

Yeah, absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 30:09

Do residents choose meal times? So um, can you get meals whenever you need to?

Heather Fisher 30:15

Or is that like nope, there's a certain time, you know, that meals are lunch between 1130 and 1230, and if you miss that window?

Jodi Rosko 30:25

Yeah. And and are meals only in the dining room? Can you order meals to your room? You know, what does that look like? How what would that process be to do that? You know, some of them they get a little slip, you know, like in, you know, they can order their meal for later and they can pick what time it gets delivered and all kinds of things. There's it's a very um customer serviced based, it's getting more and more customer serviced based than it used to be, more hospital-like, I think.

Heather Fisher 30:51

Yeah, and if you are looking at um the independent living or the assisted living, some of the communities um truly fit that word of community. They have a post office and a pharmacy and the hair salon and um, you know, a cafe where you can go order things at any time of day when you want something or need something and um just different varieties of of small stores and services built right in. So looking, you know, really taking some time to think about which ones truly make your life better and you would utilize um and others that might not fit that and is that adding on to your cost just because they have those services?

Jodi Rosko 31:39

Yeah. Um transportation too. I would ask about transportation. You know, do they have transportation for you? What does that look like? Is it a car um that will drive you to your doctor's appointments? Is it a bus that everybody just goes on and, you know, does uh go at the time they say or could that bus could take you whenever you want. You know, what is what is it and what kind of things do they do? What kind of transportation will they How far do they go?

Heather Fisher 32:05

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 32:06

Yeah, some will take you to every doctor's appointment, some will just everybody's gonna go to the grocery store right now. You know, like there's all kinds of different things. Um so just know um what the answer is and what those look like. Um you know, what does a typical Tuesday look like? You know, uh what are there activities, you know, what's happening? Do you get to choose, you know, different things that you can do? I would just want to know what what was happening.

Heather Fisher 32:32

Yeah, not only getting a feel for that when you're there and seeing what's going on, uh, but asking for their calendar of events, you know, what do they what do they routinely have going on and are those things that interest you and that you would want to join and you're like, oh, this looks really fun. Um, you know, some places we've been to, like happy hours on Fridays and wine tastings and uh you know Mahjong and like you know ball and all so many things. All the things. So are do those things align with what you like to do to fill your schedule?

Jodi Rosko 33:10

And that's something that I will say too, um, that I don't know that everybody knows how social um some of these places can be. And um I think sometimes if you haven't, if you don't start early to look at it, um you end up going in in a time frame that you miss all that social stuff. Like you don't go and get to actually enjoy the community because by the time that you go or you get on the list and you get in or whatever that looks like, you've passed that part. And I think that part is the best part of like, you know, having friends and you know being part of the community. And you don't have to if you don't want to, but it is there. So it's not like every day you have to do everything that's on the you know calendar, but there are opportunities to do it. And so don't if this is a plan that you think, hey, I think this would be good for me and or you know, me and my spouse, um, then this plan you should do earlier than a lot of people end up doing because then you just don't get to enjoy that part of it.

Heather Fisher 34:09

And yeah, there's a big thing. So much fulfillment, yeah.

Jodi Rosko 34:12

Yeah. So um quality and culture. Um, what what makes the difference in this community? What's different in this community than in other communities? And they'll tell you. And some of them are whole campuses and some are just departments, and there's you know, there's definitely differences in these.

Heather Fisher 34:27

I think when you've toured um two, three, four, um, you start to feel those. You know, we've had clients um that have just we've talked to them multiple times, like, I don't know if it's right for me, I don't know if I'm ready, and then they tour the place that is their place and it's just a feeling. Yeah. Um, but I think it's harder to get that feeling if it's the only one you've been in, you don't trust it. Um, but if you've toured a couple, you're just like, yep, yeah, I can see this is my next home.

Jodi Rosko 34:59

And you want to make sure that they are relationship and care focused on top of amenities. You know, they can have amenities, and if that's something you're looking for, especially, like, yes, they need that. Um, but you don't want them to only amenity focus and not really off that like underneath level of care.

Heather Fisher 35:16

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, your family expectations, um, if at all possible, if you've got adult children or other people in your life, are they able to go with you and ask their own questions or hear the answers to the questions you ask and be that sounding board so that you end up somewhere that they're on board with as well and feel great about you living there too?

Jodi Rosko 35:45

Yeah. So um, you know, do you what what are they doing to keep residents with different abilities engaged? Is there just one level of things or is there different levels of um things? A lot of them have exercise classes and can you, you know, some of them have the from your chair, you know, and some of them have, you know, yoga and different things and you know, are there a variety of things there to do? And if you're having a tough day, you know, who notices that? You know, and what what happens if you're having a tough day? Um do they have a system around that, you know, making sure you're getting out a little bit or you know, meeting with people or whatever, getting your food, eating your meals, yeah, making sure that things are going okay. Yeah. Because it can be some of sometimes it can be, you know, even if it's something that you really want to do, something new is different can be change is hard. Yeah, sometimes it's hard. And sometimes it's not even just hard. It's just acknowledging that it's different and that it's you know, your habits are gonna turn into different things, and all of those are just gonna be different ways that your days look, and it's gonna take a little time period to get yourself used to that.

Heather Fisher 36:53

Yeah, absolutely. So as you're going through and asking, you know, coming up with that list of questions before you go, um, so you can ask the same questions at different places and you know, kind of compare those answers. And um, you know, hopefully we've given you some indications of uh some things that might be a little bit of red flags or things to investigate further, and um, you know, what are great answers that you would hope to hear, and uh then you can you know just map out that pros and cons list and um you know hopefully that makes it easier to decide. Um there are lots of people as we go back to like that dream team that can help you through downsizing. There are lots of people that their job is um you know a placement coordinator, that if you're struggling and you're like, I hear you, Heather and Jody. So overwhelming. So overwhelming, and they're telling me facts and numbers and I don't understand. Um, there are amazing resources of people that can ask those questions and take the tours with you and help you understand the nuances and the answers that you're getting.

Jodi Rosko 38:06

So in the level of care that that's underneath because they know that.

Heather Fisher 38:11

Yeah. So if you're feeling overwhelmed by that, please reach out to us. Uh we can connect you with those resources as well.

Jodi Rosko 38:19

Most of the time, those resources actually aren't a cost to you, even.

Heather Fisher 38:23

Yeah, absolutely. There are amazing people all over the country doing that, and and we have that network to connect you with. Um, and if you're at that stage where touring and and maybe making that move this year is what you're thinking, and you're just starting to ask those questions, reach out to us as well for that real estate piece and how it fits in with the rest of it, and uh, we can help answer those questions or connect you with someone local in your area.

Jodi Rosko 38:54

And the bigger path of what you know what you want to do and what what time frames that looks like and just kind of come up with a bigger plan.

Heather Fisher 39:00

Yeah, absolutely. We would love to connect with you on that. Um, our website, downsizingroadmap.com, is the best place to reach out to us. And we look forward to coming back next week with more information and another episode.

Jodi Rosko 39:14

Yeah, I would just say this can be really fun. They'll give you lunch. You know, you can go and they're beautiful places, so don't be daunted by it. Just, you know, just start.

Heather Fisher 39:23

Yeah. Awesome. All right, talk to you next time. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.