What Does Senior Living Really Cost? A Conversation with Civitas Senior Living's Clint Poncy

How much does senior living really cost, and what is actually included in that monthly price?

In this episode, Paul Fritz sits down with Clint Poncy, Executive Director of Long Creek Senior Living in Sunnyvale, Texas, to talk through the real cost of senior living and why families need to look beyond rent or mortgage alone when comparing options. Clint explains that costs at Long Creek are around $5,000 per month and include chef-prepared meals, utilities, internet, phone, maintenance support, housekeeping, daily tidying, deep cleaning, activities, and family events.  

They also discuss the hidden costs many families overlook when aging at home, including food, rising utilities, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, and the time and effort it takes to coordinate daily life. The conversation highlights how senior living can offer not just care, but convenience, safety, community, and a more enjoyable lifestyle.  

If you are researching Assisted Living or Memory Care near Dallas, Sunnyvale, Heath, or Rockwall, this episode offers practical insight into what families are really paying for and what that monthly investment can provide. Long Creek also stands out for its active events calendar, restaurant-style dining, and family-centered experiences like monthly family nights. 

Learn more about Long Creek here: https://tinyurl.com/LongCreekSunnyvale

Transcript

How much does senior living cost? Well, we're here today with Clint Ponce of Civitas, and he's going to tell us a little bit about the costs and the things associated with that. Clint, go ahead and introduce yourself. Hi. My name is Clint. I'm with the Civitas Senior Living and I oversee our community here at Long Creek in Sunnyvale, Texas. Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us. Um, one of the first questions I have is how much does it cost to live in a community like this? Uh, Long Creek here in Sunnyvale. Sure. Absolutely. So, um, because of our standards here at Civitas and because of, um, just the sheer beauty of our facility, uh, the way we take care of our residents. Um, we do adhere to a lot of what the industry standard and the area that we operate in standards of living. Um, so our costs are around around five thousand dollars. Um, and that will include a lot of things. Um, that will include, um, of course, you know, really deluxe chef prepared meals that will include activity schedules that, you know. You know, sometimes eight or more activities per day. Um, it does include a lot of. Community type events, uh, family nights, things that are really, really valuable to our families that we serve here. Um, they all have an expectation of, uh, more of a deluxe type living situation. So, uh, that is what we want to provide here. Okay. Awesome. And I, me personally, I always say it's kind of like a cruise ship or a hotel. The quality of just the community, um, the, the living apartments, um, things like that. It is very high skill, high end. So you mentioned food, people really like food. So let's talk a little bit more about that because when people are looking at the overall cost, they tend to say, here's my rent or here's my mortgage, and then here's, um, the community expense. But they don't really take the time to add it all together. That's what I want to focus on today. So what are the meals look like, how many are included with that, etc.? Absolutely. So yes, the price of food, I don't know if you've noticed, but the price of food has gone up tremendously. Um, maybe over the past five years, we've seen maybe a twenty to twenty five percent increase in cost of food. And so we do order the finest ingredients here, um, at all of our locations. We use, um, premium vendors, uh, that do a phenomenal job, um, with food quality. And then our chef, chef Jose has been here for sixteen years, does a fantastic job and he runs a really tight crew of really proficient people, friendly people, people that really, I would say, pour their love into the food. And so yes, I think that there is a secret ingredient to good food. I think that it is love. Okay. Um, and joy and that's what they do. Uh, you can go back into our kitchen and all you'll see is a bunch of smiling faces, a bunch of people who are happy to be here. Um, and it really does show up in the quality of food. But yes, we do have a extensive menu, um, a restaurant style menu where, you know, there's two sides to the menu. Uh, one for the breakfast is a full side of the menu. And then the other side is going to be for lunch and dinner. And that's going to be more of your afternoon type meals. And so of course, we have our special, our special is something that is prepared by our culinary team, uh, seasoned, uh, to, to be exactly what the residents in our community want on a daily basis. And so, um, it is, uh, is always changing, you know, we'll have everything from, uh, you know, um, fried chicken and waffles to which is very, very, very strange for senior living, but they love it. It is, but it's good. And I full disclosure, I eat here a lot like breakfasts and lunches when I'm out at the communities. We got some of those waffles the other day, um, at one of the breakfast networking things and they're pretty good. I even cheated on my diet just a little bit. You taste the waffle, you know? Um, so yes, and I do want to point out like it's a real chef that puts together the food. And yes, when you come to the community. Absolutely. You're welcome to come eat, to have lunch, enjoy it. You know, I'm sure they got a call and set it up with you, but people are welcome to do it. And I highly recommend that you do try the food here. Um, the other thing I want to talk about that I don't think people really consider, um, there's three and I'm going to get to all of them, I promise. Sure. The next one is like utilities, right? So obviously water electric is included, but do they also get like internet or cable service or any of that? Like what comes with the utility? Sure. I don't know if you've noticed at your house, but at my house, all the utilities have gone up tremendously as well. I think just everything is going up, which is both frustrating, but also we need to find a solution for it. Well, um, here at any of our locations, but here specifically at Long Creek, uh, we do provide of course electricity, gas, water, sewage disposal. Um, but also we have, um, uh, internet that is provided a phone is put in every room. Uh, and so landlines are available and everyone has their own, uh, landline phone, uh, that is connected there. Uh, there's, uh, family Wi-Fi as well. So it's something that can be shared. It's not just for the residents, also for our families. Okay, awesome. So foods included, utilities are included. Um, what about like maintenance? Like who does all the maintenance for everything? Sure. Absolutely. So that is another cost of living that sometimes people don't factor in whenever they, they think about, um, their overall expenses. But yes, there are things that break down in your home, in your car, in your, uh, in your just day to day living. Uh, and so we are responsible for at very least assisting you if something is broke, uh, with, uh, you know, a table leg that just is wobbly, right? We're responsible for for, you know, making sure that that gets repaired. There's a, you know, a nick or paint or scratch on the wall. You know, we're going to Sherwin Williams. We're getting the paint brushes out and we're doing that. Uh, you need to hang, uh, a TV on the wall. We're responsible for going in and purchasing a bracket and making sure that it's hung in such a way that it won't fall off the wall, won't damage your TV. Um, and you're safe in your home. So there are things that sometimes don't get necessarily accounted for, um, in the maintenance costs that sometimes you need to think about. Yeah. People just think immediately, well, I don't have to mow a yard anymore, right? But there's so many small things that, that go into it as well. Um, and then one of my other personal favorites, like cleaning, like who, who cleans the apartment for me. So, uh, it's standard for us to have, uh, daily cleanings, daily checks. Okay. But of course, you get a detailed cleaning, uh, once a week here at Long Creek. Uh, we go through and once a week, everyone's room is deep cleaned. Everyone has, of course, every day, you know, tidying that we do. Whenever we come and get our residents up for the morning. And then, you know. If there's a mess in the evening, we're not just going to let it sit there. We're going to do something about it. It's important for our residents to. Live in a clean environment that is huge. A lot of this generation has grown up in a clean, tidy home, and that's what their expectation is when they come to any civitas living facility. Awesome. Um, so we covered the, the living expense, utilities, maintenance, um, food and then the activities also, that's part of what makes it that resort style, cruise ship style. Sure. What you can do as much or as little as you want to. That's correct. And again, like I think we're doing, um, a build a bear at another community. They're coming in and doing that. So there's tons of activities. If you got any favorites, you can tell them about those. And then you don't have to clean up or get the supplies. That's right. You just show up at the time, do the activity, the field trip, whatever it is. And then you get to go back to your apartment. That's right. What what are some of your favorites? My favorites really are. I have to be the family Knights. So this is across all civitas facility, uh, communities that we, uh, do have our family and I, and what that is included in that is, uh, you know, entertainment like a singer or something like that. Um, and it obviously includes a, a little bit more extravagant menu. Um, so people are coming in and getting filet mignon or you know what, you know, it goes a little over the top, which I love because our families deserve that. Um, then it of course is, uh, just a big party of all the families, all the families get to come in. Uh, they, they have their time with their family, their families, uh, feel like, okay, I didn't have to come in and work to prepare this special moment. Um, it is just here. It is here. It's provided by the community and so many communities, even communities that I formerly worked for didn't necessarily have that on a regular basis, maybe once a year. This is every month, every third Thursday. And, um, and it's fantastic. It's a great time to connect. Um, you know, our residents with our families and it's a, so we try to facilitate. So that's probably my favorite. You know, there are other things, you know, we're, we're going to the park and fishing, you know, with our residents and stuff like that. And, you know, we have, uh, a Father's Day thing that we're soon going to be doing and a Mother's Day thing where people are going to be, uh, you know, costume jewelry and taking like, um, uh, you know, glamour shots and stuff like that. So it's probably gonna be fun. Yeah. It is. Yeah. Get dressed up and get all. Yeah, yeah. Mhm. I might drop in for that just to see how it goes. Absolutely. And I might come to the fishing also. Uh, I'm just saying, um, that's part of the benefit guys, is you hang around long enough, you get to do the stuff also, you know, they just treat everybody like family, you know, come in and do it. Um, is there anything else you want to let them know before we wrap it up. Sure. Um, I don't know. I don't know if every community is like this, but here at Long Creek, um, our facility, when it turns spring is the most beautiful site. Uh, flowers everywhere. Our landscaping team here does a fantastic job from our courtyards to our, uh, our outside, um, terrain. Uh, it's all very beautiful. Are all very well maintained, uh, well kept. Um, of course you're living in a very well kept clean, uh, and, and fun environment and things like that. So I just want to extend an offer to anyone that wants to come and see that. Um, if you want to come and see that, I will gladly take one of my, uh, you know, executive director, uh, meal tickets and give it to you and we can have lunch here and, and you can enjoy the site. And, you know, if it's a, if it's a resource for you or a family that, you know, definitely want to, um, equip you with all the knowledge that you need. Absolutely. Um, and I think we're going to go to some video now that it's spring, we're going to redo. So there will be another video. If you want to see the community that we're posting as well, we'll have a link to that in the comments or description, however that works. Um, so that you can just tour the community, see what it looks like inside, outside, we'll get some fresh video now that it is spring and beautiful. Um, if they want to come take a tour, how do they get Ahold of you? Sure. Absolutely. Um, you can speak with Jennifer Payne, our community relations director, and she is a phenomenal person to give you that tour. Very friendly southern accent. So you will love her. Uh, of course, I'm also available and, um, you know, basically just call up here to the facility and we'll be happy to give you a tour whenever, uh, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, if you want to come up here in the middle of the night, we can accommodate that. That's awesome. There will also be a link if you want to check it out online in the descriptions comments. Um, well, thanks Clint. I appreciate you coming in and helping people understand the expenses. Yes, sir. We'll be in touch. All right. If you got value from this, please like and share with a friend.