Housing options and costs for seniors

Active senior communities sell condos or single-family homes to buyers over certain ages (usually 55). But so-called retirement communities that rent to seniors and offer add-on services ranging from light assistance to extensive medical care fall into several categories, which the state Department of Social and Health Services regulates.

• Independent-living facilities: These properties typically charge residents a one-time entry fee, a flat monthly rent, plus "a la carte" fees for meal plans, activities or services. Rent usually includes most utilities and all "homeowners"-type dues, such as grounds-keeping, apartment maintenance and parking.

• Assisted or "supported-living" facilities: These facilities may offer independent living but will also offer assistance with basic nonmedical tasks. These sites may provide limited access to on-site medical care or specialize in care for those with dementia or Alzheimer's.

• Nursing homes: These facilities may offer independent or assisted-living housing, but specialize in offering 24-hour medical care and may accept a broader array of health insurance (Medicare) and long-term-care insurance products as payment.

• Adult family homes or adult boarding homes: These independent-living homes may offer assistance as well as nursing care. Adult family homes have a maximum of six residents, while "boarding homes" have a minimum of seven residents.

How facilities charge

• Basic entry fee: Many communities charge residents a one-time entry fee that is partially refundable if residents move out within a near-term time window or that is partially refundable, on a sliding scale, if they die within four or five years of entering the community.

• Refundable entry fee: Increasingly, retirement communities are offering residents the option to pay a much higher entry fee (often between 60 percent and 75 percent higher than the basic fee) but have 90 percent of that fee returned to heirs once a resident or resident couple dies.

• Meal plans: Some retirement communities make meal plans optional, while others require a declining balance purchase entitling residents to eat as they wish within on-site facilities.

• Assisted, nursing and aging-in-place care: Most communities that offer a combination of independent and assisted or nursing care charge differently for in-apartment assistance or medical care versus care in the nursing section of the facility. The type of health insurance or long-term-care insurance requirements and rules also vary depending on the care required by a resident.