Taking The First Step – Joining the Priority List at Homestead Village

Taking The First Step – Joining the Priority List at Homestead Village

By Amanda Hall, Marketing Associate

“The first step is the hardest – making a commitment to yourself, for yourself.” – Mary Kay Ash

So what does a makeup mogul have to do with choosing a retirement community? More than you’d expect.

Deciding to move to a Continuing Care Retirement Community (or as many now call it, a Life Plan Community) can be a big decision. Not only are you deciding where you’ll spend the next chapter of your life, it’s a commitment to your care and well-being for years to come. Not knowing where to start can be daunting, so let’s break it down into four simple steps.

1. Schedule a Visit

If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to see the advantages of life at Homestead Village for yourself. A visit to our beautiful campus is the best way to get a closer look at how we supersize happiness. Contact the Marketing Office to schedule a personal visit to our campus with one of our Marketing Associates. If there’s something particular you’d like to see as part of your visit, please let us know so that we can make the most of our time together.

2. Complete the Priority List Application

It’s true that demand for homes often exceeds availability, which is why Homestead Village maintains a Priority List for future residents. An initial deposit secures your place on the List, which will grant you an offer to join our community as homes become available.

At the time of joining our Priority List, we encourage you to complete our Financial Application Statement, so that we can provide the appropriate guidance as to what living option might best suit you.

While we do our best to estimate availability, we cannot predict the future (having a crystal ball would make our jobs a lot easier!). Homestead Village cannot guarantee that a home style of your preference will become available within any specific time frame.

Homestead Village will credit your Priority List Deposit to the entrance fee when you reserve a residence. We understand that life plans may change, so your Priority List Deposit is also refundable to you if decide to not move into Homestead Village.

3. Choose your Level

Each person joins the Priority List for their personal reasons or at different stages in their retirement journey. At Homestead Village, we’ve designed our Priority List to reflect that. You can choose between two Priority List levels, depending on your readiness to make a move to our community:

General Priority List Status: This level of membership requires a deposit of $1,100 ($1,000 Priority List deposit plus a $100 one-time non-refundable processing fee). Joining the Priority List at the General Status indicates to us you are considering moving to Homestead Village in the future, and not ready to receive telephone calls about available homes of your preference. You will receive communications from our office, including newsletters and invitations to events and seminars.

Ready Priority List Status: Ready Status requires a deposit of $3,100 (the Priority List deposit of $1,100 will be credited towards this amount, if applicable). Membership at Ready Status indicates your interest in moving to Homestead Village within one to two years, or when your choice of residence becomes available.

When an accommodation becomes available at Homestead Village, we first turn to those at our Ready Status on the Priority List, according to their original Priority List date (chronological) sequence and residence preference. You will have two opportunities to accept an available residence.  If you decline an available residence a second time, Homestead Village will take a break from contacting you regarding available residences for one year. Your position on the Priority List would not change.

4. Get Ready Before You’re Ready

After joining the Priority List, use that time to your advantage to prepare for a move to Homestead Village, rather than trying to tackle it all in the months leading up to a move. Here are a few steps you can take in preparation for an eventual move to our community:

• Start thinking about what items in your personal home you’ll bring with you when you move to Homestead Village, and what items need to find a new home as well. There are wonderful resources in the community that can assist you by consigning your furniture or taking donations. Some items you may want to offload now; for other items, you may want to have a plan in place of where it will go when you get the call about an available residence.
• Have a conversation with those closest to you and include them in your plans to move to Homestead Village. You are always welcome to schedule a repeat tour with those important family or friends so they have a chance to see the campus – they may even have questions you may not have ever thought about. You may also want to review your important legal documents, such as your Living Will, Power of Attorney, Estate plans and funeral arrangements to make sure they are up to date and reflect your wishes. Also, if you don’t have these documents and plans in place yet – we highly recommending getting these done now, before a crisis situation. Moving to a retirement community is not only a commitment to your health and well-being, its commitment to those closest to you that they’ll have the peace of mind knowing that a full spectrum of care and services are available to you.
• Speak with a real estate agent – but don’t sell your home just yet unless you’re considering temporary housing. We recommend waiting until you accept a residence before placing your home on the market, but it’s helpful to have a sense of what home improvement projects may need to be completed as part of preparing your home for sale, and what items you can hold off on. In today’s strong real estate market, you may not need to paint every room or remove that wallpaper like you thought you needed to. Consider interviewing a few agents, to see if who is the best fit for working with you and your needs.
• Visit us again during one of our scheduled seminars or Open House events. It’s a great way to get a chance to interact with our staff and current residents and hear their personal experiences of why moving to Homestead Village was the right choice for them. For a list of upcoming events, visit https://www.homesteadvillage.org/community/events/.

No matter where you’re at in your retirement journey, Homestead Village’s Marketing team is here for you – from the first time you step on our campus, to the first step into your new home!