Retirement Communities

Retirement community is an umbrella term covering 55+ neighborhoods (real-estate developments with age restrictions), continuing-care retirement communities (CCRCs - campuses that include independent living through nursing care on one site), and life-plan communities (the rebranded term for high-end CCRCs). The financial structure varies dramatically: some are buy-in with a large entry fee, some are rental-only, some sit in between. Our retirement-community coverage walks through the financial models (Type A through Type C contracts, refundable versus non-refundable entry fees, the math of breaking even), how to evaluate the operator's financial stability (residents have lost six-figure entry fees when CCRCs go bankrupt), and what life is actually like in each model.

We also cover the 55+ neighborhood model - which is real estate, not senior care - for adults who want age-restricted housing without any bundled services.