This week I toured Oakmont of San Rafael with one of my neighbors who is considering moving into an assisted living community. Oakmont also has memory care available, which my neighbor thankful doesn’t need at her tender age of 90. It was really nice strolling around together, as she held the crook of my arm and forearm through much of the tour for stability. It felt a lot like walking around with my own mother, whom I miss dearly.
When my mother was considering assisted living at The Redwoods in Mill Valley we also took a tour, and I felt like there were a lot of similarities between the choices. The nicest thing about Oakmont to me was the new construction of the building. Oakmont of San Rafael has only been open a year now, and it’s already about 90% full. One of the most important messages I got from both the Redwoods and Oakmont was that it’s best to move into these communities while you can still enjoy the activities. Unfortunately, about 50% of the people going into assisted living do so after a hospital visit and the loss of considerable mobility.
It's preferable to be part of the 50% who can take advantage of the full slate of activities that are offered every day. With structured and scheduled activities like chair yoga, movies, shopping and walking excursions, it's not hard to imagine yourself on an extended vacation or even a cruise ship, sans the ocean motion and Julie McCoy. The living is pretty easy in these places, where you don’t have to worry about cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes, laundry or any of the other daily activities that become more challenging as we age.
Over the years I’ve done a lot of sales for people going into assisted living, and this year more than ever it seems like I’m helping more people in these situations. My seller at 367 El Faisan in Terra Linda went into assisted living this past December. My seller at 67 Dockside Circle in Captain’s Cove, which I just put on the market this week, is going into assisted living in Petaluma. My rental listing at 6 Pleasant Ave in Corte Madera is vacant because the owner is in assisted living. What I’m not seeing a lot of these days are ‘moving up, out or downsizing’ sellers.
In years past a lot of my business came from sellers moving out of state. They would go to Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and even Florida. As of this writing I’ve got no sellers in my pipeline currently in that situation. It makes me wonder if this is a larger migration trend in the California home sales industry, or is it just me? If it is a trend, it may be due to the increased housing costs in these other states. Regardless, I’m always grateful for the business and the opportunity to be of service.