This was a busy week for the Women’s Housing Options (WHO) group. We met with Lois Leynse and Anne Lowery of Financial Fitness Center to answer the recurring question from several members of the group: “Should I rent or buy?” Lois and Anne provided good information which will help the group members make their decisions.
The truth is that everybody’s situation is different, there are no magic formulas, but there are several factors to consider:
1) How much equity do you have in your house? If you sell it, will you have enough to invest and live off the interest? It is important to know your cash flow needs so you can structure your investments to provide the cash you need.
2) What are the tax implications? Single home-owners who have lived in their homes for 2 years or more receive a $250,000 capital gains exemption when they sell their homes (couples receive a $500,000 exemption.) If a homeowner over the age of 55 years sells her home and buys a new one of lesser value, she can transfer her tax basis to the new house if it is in Alameda or another California county which reciprocates with Alameda County. (Contra Costa County is not a reciprocating county.) Homeowners can transfer their tax basis once in their lifetime. Go to Alameda County tax assessor’s website to find details about this program.
3) The rules for exemptions and tax basis transfers are different for commercial property and property which is held as tenants-in-common or as joint tenants.
Our group also met last week with a group of seniors from the Elder’s Guild who are exploring the same type of alternative housing options that we are. We were so excited to find that another group of seniors is also exploring alternate housing possibilities.
The Elder’s Guild group have been meeting longer and are a little farther along in their discussions about housing options. They have identified a large house in North Berkeley where five of them could rent for awhile to see how they like living together. Their long term plan is to build or develop a senior housing compound which would provide educational/cultural services for the public benefit. The two groups will meet together again in a few weeks to continue our discussions.
The exploration of alternate housing options continues. At our meeting with Ann and Lois, one of the members announced that she is thinking about selling her house and doing long-term house-sitting for a year to figure out her next move.
If you have been trying to figure out how Ashby Village works, perhaps this video can help. Last week Channel 5 featured Ashby Village in a news report. I really liked the piece because it showed how Ashby Village works–from the perspective of a member receiving services in her home, a volunteer helping a member with chores and the office staff responding to a request. Click on the link below to see the video.
I have not done a good job of writing articles for my blog over the past few months, but I am determined to do better in 2012. The past year has been really tough with the changes in the adult day services program in the state and cutbacks in essential services for the elderly. The news is not good. We are all living longer than before and as we get older, our need for services will increase. It is pretty scary to think about what it will be like in twenty or thirty years when the proportion of seniors in the population will be much higher.
A bright spot for me is a group of women in the East Bay who are meeting monthly to discuss alternative housing options as they grow older. I joined them about three months ago and am enjoying helping them explore different ways of living as we grow older. We are all 60 years of age or or older.
Some are homeowners who are questioning whether owning a home is the best option for them as they age. Would they be better off renting? Others are renting and wondering if that is a good long term solution for them. (For an upcoming meeting, I invited a financial planner who will help these members decide their best options.)
A few members of the group would like to live in better neighborhoods where they could walk more and use their cars less. Others are planning to downsize from their large family homes to condos or smaller homes. We have gone to see properties with multiple units (duplexes, triplexes,etc) where they could live in close proximity to each other, but maintain their own units.
We heard about a group of women who live in a condo development in Point Richmond. They have all been there for about 20 years and have become good friends over the years. Recently, several of them have developed health conditions which are forcing them to think about assisted living and they are looking at retirement communities now with the plan of moving together. We are going to get together with them at a future meeting.
A local architect came to one of our meetings and discussed building five or six small accessible units (about 600 square feet) on a large lot. This would enable them to have their own individual spaces, but be part of a supportive community, as well. We know of one family doing this in El Cerrito.
Another member is interested in a multi-use property with housing units and work spaces for health and wellness providers (massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc.).
A couple of members live half of the year in the Bay Area and the other half in Florida. They would be interested in sharing a house with another family who would use the house while they were away.
The idea of co-housing is appealing to some of the members. This weekend we are meeting with another group of older women contemplating these issues. They are part of the Elder’s Guild in Berkeley and are considering a cohousing project for older women.
It is exciting to me that there are so many options for seniors as they get older. I think the questions the group is asking and their ideas are fascinating. The women like the ideas of community and support. They have different ideas about achieving those goals, but this is the primary need for all of them.
At our last meeting I asked if I could report on the group’s activities in East Bay Smart Senior. Everyone agreed. The ideas we are exploring are important for many women and the women in the group want to share what they learn with others. You can look forward to more information about this group in the next few months.
This has been a very rocky year for adult day programs in Alameda County. From April through November, it looked like all of the programs would be shut down. These programs funded by Medi-Cal provide medical care, socialization and respite for family caregivers. The statewide program costs $169 million per year and serves 35,000 seniors.
The legal advocacy group Disability Rights California filed suit against the state Department of Health Care Services to stop the cuts. As a result of the lawsuit, a new program Community Based Adult Services (CBAS) will go into effect in March 2012. This new program will cost the state less than half the current costs of the adult day services programs. Under CBAS, a reduced number of Medi-Cal recipients will continue to receive their allotments for subsidized adult day services. Those with less pressing medical or disability needs will receive services at home with occasional trips to the doctor.
This month specially trained nurses will begin assessing patients currently attending adult day programs to determine eligibility for the CBAS program. Those who are deemed ineligible for CBAS may qualify for services under one of the Medi-Cal managed care programs (Alameda Alliance for Health or Anthem Blue Cross Partnership) or a state funded PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) which provides services to keep patients in their own homes rather than skilled nursing facilities. These programs provide home based services with transportation to medical providers.
Those centers serving very fragile seniors will probably survive. These include Lifelong Medical Care’s East Oakland Adult Day Program and Hong Fook Adult Day Program in downtown Oakland. Others like the Oakland site for Alzheimer’s Services of the East Bay will close in February. Patients in that program will move to the sites in Berkeley or Hayward.
The big question is how families are going to continue caring for their loved ones who do not qualify for adult day services. They are asking, “Should I quit my job so I can continue to care for my mom or send my mom to a nursing home?”
To find out more about the status of the Adult Day programs in Alameda County, http://oaklandnorth.net/2011/12/26/adult-daycare-centers-facing-cutbacks-saved-from-total-funding-cutoff/.
Last winter I wrote about a funding crisis with the Adult Day Health Centers in the state. The legislature had agreed to go along with Governor Brown to eliminate ADHC on the promise of a new program Keeping Adults Free from Institutions (KAFI.) The new program was to be funded as a federal-state partnership-AB 96-which the legislature expected Brown to sign. Unexpectedly Governor Brown vetoed AB 96 which directed the state to apply for federal funding for the new KAFI program.
Legislative leaders had made it clear that their intention was to keep ADHC doors open under different federal rules designed to serve the neediest patients with one-half of 2010 funding. The legislature’s plan to save the ADHC infrastructure and obtain matching funds through a federal waiver has been blocked by the governor.
The events of the past 10 days have furthered threatened ADHC and the development of a new federal waiver program to replace it. Please call or visit your state legislators ASAP (Alameda County contacts attached). Follow the California Association for Adult Day Services script below to insist on Emergency Legislation to keep Adult Day Health Care alive.
There was strong support among the legislature during the budget negotiations for keeping the doors of ADHCs open. We need to keep talking to legislators about keeping ADHC alive until a new waivered program can be developed.
Here is the script, fill in the blanks:
“I am a __________(mother, caregiver, student, neighbor, etc.) in __________(your district).”
- CMS approved elimination of ADHC to take effect August 31, 2011.
- Where is the new ADHC/KAFI waiver program as promised by your leaders?
- What are you doing to honor the commitment to keep ADHC center doors open?
“I do not want to lose ADHC as a choice. Don’t force patients into more expensive care in emergency rooms, hospitals and nursing homes at taxpayer expense.”
Here are phone numbers for calling East Bay legislators in Sacramento:
Senator Ellen Corbett (Senate District 10) 916-651-4010
Senator Loni Hancock (Senate District 9) 916-651-4009
Assemblyman Robert Wieckowski (20th District) 916-319-2020
Assemblyman Mary Hayashi (18th District) 916-319-2018
Assemblyman Sandre Swanson (16th District) 916-319-2016
Assemblbyman Nancy Skinner (14th District) 916-319-2014
Assemblyman Joan Buchanan (15th District) 916-319-2015
For more details and information on all elements of the Governor’s proposed budget, see the California Budget Project at http://www.cbp.org .
I have been working with my client James (not his real name) since last fall. His wife had passed away in late summer and he felt that he did not want to stay in his big house up on the hill any longer. He was lonely, there was too much maintenance associated with the big house and driving up and down the hill, especially in our wet winters, was becoming increasingly scary to him. His doctor had been telling him for years that he and his wife should relocate to the flatlands so they could be close to public transportation and all of the interesting things going on in downtown Berkeley and UC. He felt that he was ready to do that, but it has taken almost nine months for him to get ready.
James needed to go through everything in his 2500 square foot house and determine what he would need in a new 700 square foot condominium. I referred him to Sondra Jensen and Caryle Wells of Smooth Moves, a senior move management company that helps seniors with the onerous task of sorting out what they need, what they can sell, what they can give away and what goes to the dump. They also help with packing and unpacking. (Sondra wrote an article for East Bay Smart Senior in June 2010 which describes how they help seniors with moving.)
One of James’s problems was his personal library. Sondra and Caryle called the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library who came to pick up hundreds of James’s old books.
They also referred him to Mike Battaglia of Caring Transitions, an estate sale company. Mike went through James’s house with him and told him what he could sell specific items for. Some things would be sold from Caring Transitions’ warehouse, some on E-Bay, some at auction and some would go to the dump. James has been trying to give many of the tools, utensils and other things he does not want to take to the dump to neighbors. (He had originally thought about having a garage sale, but decided that would be too much work.)
Meanwhile, there were a few things around the house that needed repair. There was a window in the guest bedroom that needed to be replaced and a small deck off the kitchen that needed to be re-built. I referred him to one of my favorite contractors who did an excellent job on both projects, but it did take six weeks for the new window to arrive. The contractor started in March and finished in mid-May.
Also at the same time, Bob made an offer on a condominium near campus which he really liked. It was on the top floor of the building and had great views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and the East Bay Hills. He felt the asking price was a little high so he offered about $20,000 less. His offer was not accepted, but there was another unit on a lower floor which was a little larger, but priced lower. He made an offer on that unit and it was accepted.
Sondra and Caryle drew a floor plan of the new apartment so James knew exactly what was going to fit. The week before his move, the handyman from my company came in to touch up the paint in the unit and make a couple of minor repairs. James’s house cleaners also came prior to his moving in so that everything was perfect.
Sondra and Caryle came to his house the day before the move was scheduled and packed up everything that was going to the new apartment. The movers, Jay’s Small Moves, came the next day to move him. Sondra and Caryle met them at the condo and unpacked most of James’s boxes. When I came the next day, James’s apartment looked great. There were a few unpacked boxes, but not many.
He had been really worried about how his cat would react to the move, but she has adjusted wonderfully. Here is a quote from the recommendation letter that James wrote for Sondra and Caryle after his move: “Surprising as it may seem, the packing, coordinating, and moving help provided to me by the founders of Smooth Moves, SJ and CW, in moving from a large house to a much smaller condo were not their most important services. What, then, were their most important services? The loving and professional care they showed my worried eight-year-old cat…..both Sondra and Caryle went out of their way to help Princess to be as comfortable as possible during the move. Result? Princess has accepted her new home and I am feeling greatly relieved!”
After James moved out of his house, the painters came in to paint the interior. It has taken about two weeks to complete the painting and his house is gorgeous. Before all of the rooms were the same off-white color. Now each room is a different color. It looks spectacular.
The carpet installers are finishing up today. The cleaning crew will come tomorrow to clean the house from top to bottom. I have scheduled the home inspector and pest inspector for Friday so that we will have current reports on the condition of the house.
Next week, the stager will come from Monday-Wednesday. Colleagues from my office will come on Tuesday to give input on pricing the house. The photographer will be there on Wednesday afternoon to take shots that I will use in my advertising flyers and web sites. We will hold our first Broker’s Open House on Thursday and then a couple of Open Houses on the following Sundays.
James has already made lots of friends in the new building, has joined the gardening committee and told me that he has stayed up very late several evenings talking with his neighbors. He and his kitty are very happy in his new apartment; it is a good fit for him and I think he will have several years of active engagement there. He will not be lonely.
Last month the AARP Bulletin had an article about new housing options for seniors. For many readers around the country, these options will seem very innovative. Here in the Bay Area, we are fortunate to have been on the forefront of creative senior housing innovations for years.
Berkeley Town House at 2550 Dana Street was the first senior housing cooperative in the country when it was built in 1962. Rossmoor in Walnut Creek was another innovative retirement community when its development began in 1953. Glacier Circle in Davis, completed in 2006, was the first elder cohousing project in the country. The East Bay is also home to several multigenerational co-housing projects.
Many of today’s seniors want to remain in their homes or move closer to urban areas where they can participate in the cultural and intellectual activities they now have time for, public transportation to take them wherever they want to go and other entertainment opportunities they cannot find in suburban and rural areas. Others are downsizing from their large homes to smaller, more manageable condos or coop apartments.
Ashby Village is proving to be a very important program for a growing number of East Bay seniors, enabling them to live in their own homes and receive the support and services they need to confidently age in place. Members of Ashby Village are creating a community in which some members need the services of volunteers and/or paid service providers. Others members volunteer their services in the office, developing programs, facilitating groups, driving members to the doctor, etc., knowing that some day they might need the services themselves.
Niche housing for seniors is another innovative senior housing option. In Berkeley, a particularly forward thinking group of friends bought an apartment building as tenants-in-common about twenty years ago so they could grow old together. After a while they converted the building to condominiums. A few of the original tenants have moved on, but many of them are still there. Other like-minded groups are doing this now, looking for multiple unit buildings (duplexes, triplexes, hotels, etc.) that they can buy together and live in close proximity as they get older. In Minneapolis, there is a service that helps divorced, widowed or never-married older women find living situations together.
Another option is the accessory dwelling unit, like the “Inspired Inlaw” created by Larson Shores Architects in Oakland. These cottages are free-standing, permanent homes that allow multiple generations to live on the same property with separate entries and living spaces, maintaining everyone’s privacy, enabling peace of mind, pooling family’s resources, and promoting independent living. The proximity allows families to support each other, whether senior care is being given by an adult child or a grandparent assisting with childcare for grandkids. There are several units being constructed around the country now and one in El Cerrito will be completed this summer. My friends Judy Boe and Shirley Haberfeld and I were fortunate to see one of the “Inspired Inlaw” units at the San Francisco Green Event last October and we were very impressed.
We area so fortunate to live in a community with so many options for us as we get older. I believe that Berkeley is going to be the best place in the country to grow old and that we will be setting standards for the rest of the country for a long time.
Last week we had a safety seminar at Ashby Village to kick off the new home safety assessment program that will begin in a couple of weeks. We have been thinking that this program is essential to help Ashby Village members age in place safely. There was a good turnout and the speakers were great. They were: Shelley Cooper from Comfort Keepers, Ruth Stroup from Farmer’s Insurance and Jay Marlette, a local home inspector. Shelly talked about home safety, indoors and out, Ruth spoke about disaster preparation and Jay talked about electrical safety. I spoke briefly about the importance of having the right type of smoke detectors-the photoelectric alarms-in their homes.
There was one aspect of safety that we did not cover-food safety. The next morning, I opened my daily email from http://www.caloriecount.com (my favorite diet website/blog) to find an article on this topic. Not only is the article really good, but the links are very informative, especially the one from Colorado State University. Check it out.
http://caloriecount.about.com/stash-trash-lets-clean-fridge-b502214
Last week the Albany Fire Chief Mark McGinn spoke at our monthly membership luncheon at the Berkeley Association of Realtors. He is a fire chief who is more interested in fire prevention than fire fighting. His concern is that 95 percent of homes in America have ionization smoke detectors which will not detect a smoldering fire, the most deadly type of residential fire. I felt that the information he presented was so important and wanted to help reach as many people as possible, especially East Bay seniors and their families. The following information is directly from him (with permission, of course)
Warning: Your smoke alarm may not detect smoke
Currently there is great confusion regarding the topic of smoke alarms. There are two types of smoke alarms used to protect residents in the event of a fire: photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms. Both respond differently to smoke and flame. The fact is: ionization smoke alarms react poorly to deadly smoke while photoelectric alarms react 14-45 minutes sooner than the ionization alarms in lethal smoldering fires. Ionization alarms are present in over 95% of homes in America and react slightly faster to flaming fires than photoelectric smoke alarms. But the ionization alarms have a high failure rate when it comes to detecting deadly smoke. The problem is: most deadly fires are smoldering fires and not fast flaming fires. By now, most people understand that it is the deadly smoke and heat that kill you before the flames even reach you. Ionization alarms should be labeled flame alarms and not smoke alarms. An example of a fast flaming fire would be a Christmas tree fire; which certainly have claimed their share of resident’s lives; but nowhere near the number of lives claimed by smoldering fires. Other fast flaming fires would be kitchen fires which are one of the leading causes of residential fires, but rarely do they claim lives. (For more information about Albany’s smoke alarm ordinance and important videos , http://www.albanypac.org.)
Arguably a greater problem with the ionization alarm is the number of false alarms it renders; thus leading to residents disconnecting the alarm all together. I must include an interesting story-a couple of years ago, with my infinite knowledge, I installed a combination ionization/photoelectric smoke alarm in my living room. Because my home is not large, it is heated by a wood burning stove. After numerous false alarms (initiated by the invisible smoke caused by my stove), I gave up using the hush button (as it did not silence long enough) and disconnected the battery; and remained disconnected until I went to bed. Finally, after one season I replaced the combination alarm with a new photoelectric alarm (and placed photoelectric smoke alarms throughout my house). Do I need to tell you the results? Not one false alarm. So, my point is: how many residents (worldwide) give up and just permanently disconnect the ionization alarm and expose themselves to a potential lethal smoldering fire? There have been many fire deaths worldwide with working smoke alarms present but failed to detect smoke.
The fire industry has yet to take an official stand that ionization smoke alarms need to have a warning label stating: Ionization alarms are flame detectors and are poor at detecting smoke. Additionally, ionization alarms are prone to false alarms when placed near kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms with working fireplaces. Replace all your alarms now with Photoelectric Smoke Alarms.
Many people replace the batteries on their smoke alarms when they change their clocks for Daylight Savings Time. This year, replace your ionization alarms with photoelectric smoke alarms. Because the ionization alarms contain a radioactive chip, disposal is often a question. This year the Berkeley Association of Realtors will accept ionization alarms at the Earth Day (April 22) Recycling Fair. Please call me if you have ionization alarms that you need to dispose of and I will recycle them for you on Earth Day.
For more information about ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms, http://www.theWFSF.org. (Guess what my kids are getting for their birthdays?)
The State Senate and Assembly Budget sub-committees are expected to vote on the Governor’s proposal to eliminate Adult Day Health Care benefits on February 10, 2011. Budget Conference committees and both houses of the legislature are expected to approve a final budget by the end of February or early March.
ADHCs and friends of ADHC around the state are working together on a petition drive, with the goal of 100,000 signatures ASAP (by February 15th at the latest)
I have a PDF version of the petition, but cannot post it on my blog because it is not linkable. If you would like to have a copy of the petition so you can obtain signatures, please email me at joann@thornwallproperties.com and I will email it to you as soon as possible. I am taking my petition to Ashby Village this afternoon to get everyone there to sign it, to my office meeting tomorrow and to a meeting at the Board of Realtors on Wednesday.
This is an informal petition, so people do not need to be registered voters to sign.
California Association of Adult DayServices will deliver ALL petitions to the Governor’s office and legislative leaders. Just imagine a mountain of petitions in front of the governor and the legislature!
For more information about the current crisis in funding for adult day programs, click here. To learn more about the Adult Day Services Program in Alameda County, click here.
