If you or your parents are interested in a retirement community, visit several that seem attractive. The most desirable communities have waiting lists so you should act as soon as possible. Talk to people employed at various communities, such as nurses’ aides. If you hear things like, “we’re understaffed” or “we’re killing ourselves to care for our patients,” look elsewhere.
Stay in a guest house or guest room before making any decisions; eat some meals in the communal dining room to make sure you like the food and the atmosphere. Eat with residents, not with the marketing director, and decide if these are the people with whom you’d like to spend the rest of their life.
You can judge a retirement community by the way it sells itself. Reputable communities won’t pressure prospects to sign up. Be especially skeptical about a community that has been around for several years and has an occupancy rate under 85 percent because good retirement communities fill up rapidly.