Even if retirement is a long way off, eventually, everyone will have to decide on living arrangements that will meet social and functional needs as they grow older.
The basic alternatives for aging-friendly housing are to remodel, build a more accessible home or move to a retirement community, but making the choice requires careful consideration, and local professionals, including remodelers and retirement community developers, stand ready to help.
Some concerns about safety are typical and are mitigated by adding grab bars in bathrooms, walk-in showers and wider doorways, but a bigger-picture view also takes into account independence, social interaction opportunities, transportation and cost.
Staying home
According to the National Association of Home Builders, home modifications for aging in place are the fastest-growing segment of the residential remodeling industry.
Teresa Hall, a Nixa-based Realtor and retirement housing specialist for Century 21 Integrity Group and a retirement community developer, expects the first area of recovery in the housing industry will be in condos and homes in age-restricted communities, sectors that will likely appreciate in value as baby boomers swell the ranks of the aging population, she said.
At Superior Exteriors, aging-in-place renovations account for a small but growing portion – between 10 percent and 15 percent – of business, said Rick Parent, production manager.
Roughly half of his aging-in-place customers are anticipating their long-term needs, he said.
“We’ve had cases where they’re wanting to remodel anyway, but they’re thinking ahead, trying to make the home accessible for their later years,” he said. “Then we’ve seen cases where it’s an emergency, where they have to do it just to live in the house.”
Some of the changes are simple and relatively inexpensive such as grab bars in the bathroom that start at $200. Building a wheelchair ramp to the front door may cost between $500 and $1,000, and installing a walk-in shower runs between $4,000 and $7,000, Parent said.
Chad LaBelle, president of Springfield-based Creative Remodeling Solutions Inc., said many of his older remodeling customers have purchased homes with plans to renovate them for retirement. In one case, a family chose a location close to hospitals and clinics to accommodate independence.
The costs for more extensive renovations that allow people to stay in their homes can be high, and LaBelle said a total bathroom overhaul could easily run $10,000.
Hall recalled a couple who contemplated a $50,000 home overhaul so they could age in place. She cautioned, however, that homeowners who make extensive modifications to remain in their homes are unlikely to recoup their investments upon resale.
Starting from scratch
While remodeling costs can add up quickly, designing aging-friendly features into a new home may not add much to overall construction costs, said Rusty MacLachlan, president of Springfield-based J. Russell MacLachlan Custom Homes.
Building a house with wider doors – which would be handy if a wheelchair were to become necessary – would cost $15 to $20 more per door, he said. A zero-entry shower, which can be accessible by wheelchair might cost an additional $1,200 to $1,500, still several thousand dollars less than remodeling an existing bathroom, and taller vanities wouldn’t add any cost, said MacLachlan, an NAHB Certified Active Adult Specialist in Housing.
MacLachlan said his designs for aging-in-place housing and disabled residents anticipate functional needs.
When possible, homes are positioned on lots to minimize or eliminate steps to entrances, and additional framing fortifies bathroom walls for grab bars. Sunken rooms, popular in the 1980s, are avoided, as are “trip points” caused by changes in thickness of floors, MacLachlan said, and closet spaces stacked on two floors can be readily remodeled into a shaft for an elevator.
MacLachlan said homes he builds with aging-in-place features can start at $150,000 but may cost more than $200,000.
Springfield resident Lisa Bonacker Slattery enlisted MacLachlan in 1999 to build a home designed to care for her special-needs son, who was 5 at the time. The family worked with MacLachlan to project lifetime in-home needs for their son for the design of their southwest Springfield home in Iron Bridge.
“We wanted every aspect of this house to be accessible, but we didn’t want it to look accessible,” Slattery said. The family didn’t want a ramp in front, so all entrances are zero-level, she said, and an elevator between the home’s first and second floors is hard to spot.
A hoist set on tracks on the ceiling enables her to transfer her son from bed to bathroom, where there is a roll-in shower, she said.
Though she declined to disclose the cost of building the home, she said some features, such as the elevator and ceiling lifts were substantial expenses, while others didn’t necessarily add to the bottom line.
Slattery said she appreciates many of the features, such as wider doorways and hallways, levers for door openers and faucets, drawers that come all the way out of their enclosures for full access and the sidewalk that encircles the house, for her own use.
“I can grow old in this place and not have any difficulty,” she said.
Community approach
For some people, moving to a retirement community can be the most effective way to accommodate needs that come with growing older, Hall said, noting that the forthcoming generation of retirees may be more receptive to community living than the current generation.
“Baby boomers are more educated and more astute, and they have, in most cases, taken care of their own family members – and they’ve learned a lot of lessons from that,” Hall said.
In retirement communities, maintenance and upkeep typically is provided, along with a dedicated security staff, she said. Amenities usually include transportation service and opportunities for social interaction
These aspects enhance quality of life, said Hall, who is developer and owner of Autumn Corners at Copper Leaf in Nixa, a 55+ community of villa-style condominium homes. In that development, which is set in a master-planned intergenerational community that includes single-family homes and senior apartments, a homeowners association handles lawn care, snow removal, exterior maintenance and other necessities, according to
www.TeresaHall.com.
Another community, The Cambridge, under the banner of Holiday Retirement, which owns communities across the U.S. and Canada, takes care of utilities, provides chef-prepared meals, housekeeping, transportation and live-in managers, said Philip Danner, community manager. Studio apartments at the development near the intersection of Battlefield Road and Jefferson Avenue start at $2,000 a month, he said.
People who are planning for the long term should first consider how much help they can expect from family members, Hall said. Even if a couple chooses to remodel their home, they’ll still need to be able to get out of the house to shop, seek health care or take part in recreational activities.
“In a crisis, there’s nothing like having family around, especially if there are strong family ties,” Hall said.[[In-content Ad]]
