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RETIREMENT & LIFESTYLE PLANNING | |
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When is the right time to sell the family home? There are two questions in that one: when is the right time to encourage ageing but still fit parents to move out of the house that you grew up in? And when is the right time to sell the house in which you raised your own family?
Everyone from real estate agents to counselors to doctors and retirement village associations agrees on one thing: each case is individual. There is no single decision that will suit everyone.
David Oster, associate with Melbourne real estate agency Collins Simms, offers one piece of advice: "Don’t be afraid of change." He has seen most things in his working life. He has seen happy older people in their own homes until the end (with or without assistance). He has observed older people who have remained fearfully in their own homes, less able to manage house and garden maintenance, so that the value of the house declines. He has dealt with lots of empty-nesters: "Somewhere between 55 and 60 is thought to be a good time to move. You still want to be fit and healthy so you can enjoy the next stage," he says.
Retirement villages
Retirement villages are not new in Australia. The first one opened about 130 years ago in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, and is still going strong. But they were uncommon until fairly recently. An ageing population has greater need of such facilities than one where few people live into their 80s.
Queensland is the most popular state for retirement villages, because the climate is mild, says Peter Govan, secretary of the Retirement Village Association Australia.
He says that the average age of people moving into retirement villages is around 70 – slightly younger for women, slightly older for men. Many of them have made two moves – having downscaled from the family home into a unit or an apartment, and then into a retirement village. There is no single style of retirement village, so Peter offers the following advice:
"Decide what you’re looking for [in terms of facilities], concentrate on the places that offer what you’re looking for, and talk to as many residents as possible," he says. The Association recommends that anyone planning to make the move visit as many places as possible, and more than once.
Retirement villages offer a range of facilities that makes them sound like holiday resorts. Most provide self-care villas and serviced apartments. In addition, there will be a manager, perhaps a security officer and a nurse. There might be garages, carports, or car-spaces. There might be a dining room, perhaps open to guests. There will be a residents’ committee, a recreation centre. Perhaps a bowling green, a swimming pool, and exercise classes. Some even have communal vegetable gardens. Most have doctors’ consulting rooms, with visiting physiotherapists, podiatrists, hairdressers. The amount of extra care available varies considerably.
The cost varies just as much as real estate of any kind. Residents buy the right to occupy a unit for as long as they want or need, and when they leave, the right is re-sold to someone else.
The Association sends out information packages and a video to those who want to know more.
Staying On
For some, the thought of moving out of the house that has been part of a whole life is just too much. Here too, there are many options and many different stories.
Mary, who is widowed, retired five years ago after 40 years as an occupational therapist, and says her life is busier than ever. She is involved with the local historical society, does courses with the University of the Third Age, helps with community welfare projects, spends at least one day a week caring for grandchildren.
Some years ago, she made the decision to keep the family home. "I didn’t want anywhere smaller. I’ve managed the house for years, and I don’t want to have to get rid of furniture I love, or all my books. I need the extra bedrooms for the grandchildren, anyway. And gardening has always been my pleasure. I’ve got more time to do it now, and I think it helps keep me fit."
Not everyone is fit. But the degree of disability may not necessarily be a handicap, as Melbourne businesswoman and broadcaster Annette Allison has found with her own mother. Her mother, 82, still lives in the family home in Brisbane that she has lived in for well over 40 years. She’s there even after two heart operations and an accident a couple of years ago that nearly cost her her life.
"She works hard at staying well," explains Annette. Her mother goes to a cardio-gym, is very nutrition-conscious, and is still well enough to care for her garden and swimming pool. "She still vacuums the pool, and tells me it’s part of her fitness program," says Annette.
She points out that there are good support services available in most places that enable people who want to stay in their own homes to do so. She recommends Commonwealth Carelink Centres, a federally-funded service that provide access to information about everything that is needed for the care of older Australians. (see page 111)
Another possibility: Not Australia-wide, but an emerging possibility is a kind of home-share that is offered in Melbourne and Sydney. Limited at the moment, it is a system that matches older people with younger house-sharers who provide a minimum of 10 hours help in the home and companionship in exchange for free accommodation. The program has been running for two years in Melbourne under the auspices of the community organization MECWA. In Sydney it is run by the Benevolent Society.
The secret to success is the matching of older people and their companions. The Victorian co-ordinator, Beris Campbell, says: "For the home sharer, it is an imteresting, positive thing to do. It is important to note that these caring people are home sharers, not live-in carers."
Options for empty-nesters
1. Moving when the children grow up and leave home:
The general rule for those planning to move house is to do it before the age of 60 (give or take a year). By then the children have grown up, usually moved into their own places.
Ann moved house at that time. "When the kids married – and I’d been widowed for a while – I decided to live where I had always wanted to. I sold the house and bought a smaller inner-city cottage, quite close to my son, as it happened. So I was near the grandchildren when they came, which was lovely for all of us. I decided to move while I was still strong enough to sort through everything in the house, made decisions about what to sell, what to throw out, what to keep. But I was young enough still to have a sense of adventure about moving."
She made that move more than 20 years ago, and insists it was the best thing she did. "Now I’m in my 80s, the house still works for me. It’s on one level, it’s small enough for me to manage with a bit of help, and I know the neighborhood really well."
2. Moving to the next stage:
Brian and Julia, now both in their late 50s, have been leading a double life for a while. A decade ago, they bought a vineyard and built a house there. That was their weekend house, the hard-work retreat after their week’s work in the city. Three years ago they decided to change the balance: more time at work at the vineyard and winery, less time in the city. So they sold their family house in the city, and bought a small city apartment. "It’s really all we need now. When we’re in town, we go to plays and concerts, and we usually eat out. So we only needed something small and central, with good security. Our main house is now out-of-town."
Doing the shopping
For those worried about elderly parents being able to shop for food, despite community buses and other systems, there’s an unexpected new service. It’s unexpected because on-line ordering was meant for younger people in full career who are too busy to shop. However, now that greengrocer.com.au offers a much wider range, including trimmed meat, a range of breads, washed lettuces and prepared vegetables, as well as grocery items and fruit, it looks like a great way of doing the shopping for parents or aunts who can’t get out to do it themselves. Easy to order on line, from anywhere at all! Services exist in Melbourne and Sydney, and some regional areas as well.
The Carer’s Handbook
(published Dorling Kindersley $29.95) is like the excellent Dorling Kindersley travel guides. This is a different kind of journey, through emotional support, to adapting the home, improving mobility, dietary needs, respite care, what to do in an emergency. Invaluable for anyone looking after ill, disabled or elderly people.The Retirement Village Association Australia
FREECALL 1800 240 080
www.rvaa.com.au
Commonwealth Carelink Centre
FREECALL 1800 052 222.
www.commcarelink.health.gov.au
www.mecwa.com.au
www.greengrocer.com.au
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Your Life, Your Retirement. PO Box 1150N Armadale North Victoria 3143 Australia
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Email: publisher@yourlifechoices.com.auIS PUBLISHED BY
Copyright Retirement Publishing Pty Ltd 2001 -- ISSN 1031-6620 ACN 088 049 218
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