SUM - Summerset Group

[Ggcc]

...obviously not you eh ggcc

I think I would definitely lose in that scenario as well as many others including the elderly.

[Blue Skies]

Just as a bit of balance to that article, my in-laws elderly parents sold their average AKL home & moved to SUM Hawkes Bay & they love it. It's taken away a lot of the worries & been the perfect answer to what otherwise would have been a pretty bleak anxious & lonely final period of their lives with diminishing health & energy, mobility & finances. There's a good community,lots of social engagement & social activities for those who want it, warm safe clean environment, nice gardens, healthy meal options if wanted, & importantly help & support with the almost inevitable frailty & chronic illnesses which happen with advancing age. The children are not worried about loosing some of the inheritance, they would prefer to see their parents still semi independent & happy, & not have to worry about them all the time.
With the high density units of retirement villages freeing up housing & an approaching tidal wave of seniors & the potential burden that places on the public health system, I think the govt would be extremely cautious around policy changes which would disadvantage private retirement villages.

[Ggcc]

Just as a bit of balance to that article, my in-laws elderly parents sold their average AKL home & moved to SUM Hawkes Bay & they love it. It's taken away a lot of the worries & been the perfect answer to what otherwise would have been a pretty bleak anxious & lonely final period of their lives with diminishing health & energy, mobility & finances. There's a good community,lots of social engagement & social activities for those who want it, warm safe clean environment, nice gardens, healthy meal options if wanted, & importantly help & support with the almost inevitable frailty & chronic illnesses which happen with advancing age. The children are not worried about loosing some of the inheritance, they would prefer to see their parents still semi independent & happy, & not have to worry about them all the time.
With the high density units of retirement villages freeing up housing & an approaching tidal wave of seniors & the potential burden that places on the public health system, I think the govt would be extremely cautious around policy changes which would disadvantage private retirement villages.

Thank you for your positive story and feedback. Nice to hear it.

[iceman]

Just as a bit of balance to that article, my in-laws elderly parents sold their average AKL home & moved to SUM Hawkes Bay & they love it. It's taken away a lot of the worries & been the perfect answer to what otherwise would have been a pretty bleak anxious & lonely final period of their lives with diminishing health & energy, mobility & finances. There's a good community,lots of social engagement & social activities for those who want it, warm safe clean environment, nice gardens, healthy meal options if wanted, & importantly help & support with the almost inevitable frailty & chronic illnesses which happen with advancing age. The children are not worried about loosing some of the inheritance, they would prefer to see their parents still semi independent & happy, & not have to worry about them all the time.
With the high density units of retirement villages freeing up housing & an approaching tidal wave of seniors & the potential burden that places on the public health system, I think the govt would be extremely cautious around policy changes which would disadvantage private retirement villages.

Always good to bring this up again on this thread. A good post. After all, this is the main reason people go into retirement villages, totally regardless of what the property market is doing at the time !

[dobby41]

I really sounds that this journalist find it disgusting that a business makes money. Does this person understand reputable retirement villages get you to see an independent lawyer to go through the process of getting a unit? New Zealand villages seem to want to be fair and transparent.

As you mentioned they are “providing a public service” and we all want the elderly well cared for. That costs money and someone has to do it.

I would like to see what people find excessive profits??? When nearly all the money is put back into expanding, to cover the shortfall of (cost affective) units necessary to care for the elderly.

I actually thought it was a well written article and laid it out the way it is.
Was there anything in there that wasn't true?

[dobby41]

Just as a bit of balance to that article, my in-laws elderly parents sold their average AKL home & moved to SUM Hawkes Bay & they love it.

A bit of balance?
I don't think the article said that the people in the villages didn't love it.
The article was more talking about the financial model than the environment.
I think that so long as you don't have to move (sell) before you die it is fine.
But if you need to sell and move you wouldn't be able to - make sure the place you move into is the right one as you probably won't get another chance.

[Beagle]

I actually thought it was a well written article and laid it out the way it is.
Was there anything in there that wasn't true?

Some of it was factually incorrect and then there's the overall bias. Claiming that the refurbishment costs were on top of the 20-30% retained portion of the original purchase price is something I have never heard of before (but it was written in such a way as to give an out in as much as it didn't say they all did that) so one might. Diana had a definite bias in writing that article in my view. It came across in her overall tome and innuendo that by implication these companies are all greedy capitalist money-makers and by implication care standards are secondary to that.

Summerset's satisfaction survey was at a record 96% last year. The vast majority of people going into a retirement home know full well its not a great thing from an investment point of view but also know that that's how the company is able to pay for the establishment of all the facilities. The real truth is that many of the residents simply want to enjoy a happy retirement and in freeing up a couple of hundred thousand dollars they're also significantly enhancing their lifestyle. Why shouldn't they have a happy retirement, its their money !! Last time I checked none of these companies had a gun to anyone's head making them move in there...

[Ggcc]

Some of it was factually incorrect and then there's the overall bias. Claiming that the refurbishment costs were on top of the 20-30% retained portion of the original purchase price is something I have never heard of before (but it was written in such a way as to give an out in as much as it didn't say they all did that) so one might. Diana had a definite bias in writing that article in my view. It came across in her overall tome and innuendo that by implication these companies are all greedy capitalist money-makers and by implication care standards are secondary to that.

Summerset's satisfaction survey was at a record 96% last year. The vast majority of people going into a retirement home know full well its not a great thing from an investment point of view but also know that that's how the company is able to pay for all the establishment of all the facilities. The real truth is that many of the residents simply want to enjoy a happy retirement and in freeing up a couple of hundred thousand dollars they're also significantly enhancing their lifestyle. Why shouldn't they have a happy retirement, its their money !!

Thank you I was just thinking of the perfect response but you nailed it.

[dobby41]

Why shouldn't they have a happy retirement, its their money !! Last time I checked none of these companies had a gun to anyone's head making them move in there...

Absolutely true.
I wonder what would happen if there was a profit (capital gain) share option?

[Beagle]

Absolutely true.
I wonder what would happen if there was a profit (capital gain) share option?

You could make the case there already is. If my Mum had of invested the capital she released when she moved into a retirement village 9 years ago into RYM shares for example, she'd have done very nicely indeed. I think Diana deliberately and disingenuously minimized the importance to most folk that this capital release through the natural down-sizing of accommodation confers. In many cases the retirement unit is about 60-75% of the value of the house sold but this capital release is really important to the average resident of about 80 who's moving into a retirement village. Often this is the most liquid amount of money people have had in their entire life and they're able to have a world trip and a new car while they're still able to enjoy them, things that often they've never been able to do in their lives before. Other times the capital is used for elective surgery so the pain of having to wait on a long waiting list is eliminated. Often the capital is invested and the proceeds used to minimize the weekly fee so the elderly person is often staying there free of any weekly fee or at a deeply discounted level.