The three options you have
when searching for a community.
Do It Yourself:
- Not knowing what to look for or where to start – Many people in a desperate situation when starting their search for senior living. This is not an ideal emotional state to make an informed decision. Couple this with not knowing enough about the industry and the search suddenly feels helpless.
- Pushy sales staff at communities – Senior community’s sales staff main motive is to fill the community. With this in mind, you’re getting biased information no matter how nice the sales representative is.
- Unaware of culture issues, violations or worse – By being an outsider looking in, a choreographed sales presentation is all you see. You miss insider information. Information like violations, cultural issues, what daily life is actually like, any unresponsive staff, or worse.
- Have to tour by yourself – It’s hard touring a community if you don’t know what to look for. You only see a choreographed sales presentation of the community. You need to know what to look for in order to make an educated decision.
- Have to fill out all the paperwork yourself – This is time consuming and often times can be downright confusing. You need to watch for hidden fees and any expensive up sells.
Internet Directories Or “Referral Companies:
- Many, many calls from pushy sales staff – Your information is given to 5 or more communities as soon as you contact these companies. Then you are bombarded with phone calls and emails from both pushy senior living sales staff and pushy phone representatives from the internet company. Be prepared to be wakened from sleep, interrupted from your lunch, or getting calls from communities that don’t provide services you need or in the location you want.
- Only hear from communities in their database – You may miss communities that fall within your budget, location, and needs, just because they only recommend communities in their database.
- Non-local Phone representatives – You’re working with phone representatives who are often across the country who may be “punching the clock”. They know nothing about your unique situation, local area, and the communities in question.
- Unscreened communities – These companies will take any community that wants to be in their database. You may get recommendations from communities that have violations or worse.
- Outdated information – Some internet directories can have the wrong pricing information, outdated features and amenities, and more wrong information.
- Don’t know if rooms are available – You will not know if the community you’re considering has rooms available. It’s frustrating when a phone representative gives a recommendation and the community has no rooms available.
- Have to tour by yourself – It’s hard to tour a community if you don’t know what to look for. You see a choreographed sales presentation of the community. You need to know what to look or in order to make an educated decision.
- Have to fill out all the paperwork yourself – This is time consuming and often times can be downright confusing. You need to watch for hidden fees and any expensive up sells.
A Trusted Local Senior Living Counselor:
- An unbiased LOCAL senior living counselor – To help you find a community that is appropriate for you or your loved ones needs, budget, and location.
- Perform an “in-home or over-the-phone” assessment – on which living and care type you or your loved one needs.
- Get accurate quotes on local communities – Our advisors are in communication with the communities almost daily, so you get current information.
- Help with touring communities – Tour with someone who can point out what you need to know, and what you really need to see to make an informed decision. If you want to tour yourself, they will prepare you to make sure the visit is meaningful, and also brief the owners and staff before a tour and handle the preliminary paperwork so you can avoid sitting and waiting.
- Counselors check in with you or your loved one – Periodic check-ins to make sure everything is well. They will even call the communities beforehand to ensure rooms are available.
- Get all the information you need to get you started at once – (Counselors can have the communities contact you directly, or provide you with the names and phone numbers of prescreened communities.)
- Out of state? – Counselors help you make the right senior living decision, and even drive your loved one to tour the community.
- Counselors work within your hectic schedule – (Whether you’re a busy professional, or a mother with five kids!)
- Get The “Insider Story” On Every Community- Know if there have been violations, what the level of care is, the cleanliness at each community, if there are any unresponsive staff, if rooms are available, current pricing information, the quality of food, any cultural issues, if staff has poor English skills, if there’s a social life, insider gossip, if there are lots of fun activities or few and none