Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) are many things to a lot of people. They can be active and engaged senior living communities, a comfortable place to call home where all of your personal needs are met, a fantastic place to work, an extended family—the list goes on.

However, officially, the term Continuing Care Retirement Community—or in updated parlance, Life Plan Community—is a specific, industry-defined description of a senior living organization’s format. In short, CCRCs offer a flexible continuum of care to meet every resident’s changing health care needs over time.

In many ways, this format is very similar to “aging in place” at home since CCRCs allow you to stay within the same community—sometimes even within the same residence or apartment you have come to know and love—through all different phases of the aging process.

As AARP explains, within a CCRC environment, “a resident can start out living independently in an apartment and later transition to assisted living to get more help with daily activities or to skilled nursing to receive more medical care while remaining in the same community.” Peace of mind for residents and their families is the ultimate benefit of CCRCs. Once you choose a community, you won’t have to face moving in the event of a healthcare change.

Today’s blog post takes a closer look at some of the significant points on that continuum of care and shares why Zerbe Retirement Community is an excellent CCRC option in Lancaster County, PA.

If you are getting ready to retire in the next few years, you are likely thinking a lot about how your financial investments and assets should be arranged to best make the big transition. And if you’re a homeowner, it’s also likely that your house is one of the most valuable assets you have (assuming you are free and clear of a mortgage or have a minimal balance left to pay). So, what’s the best way to handle that asset in retirement?

Should you continue owning your current home for years to come? Downsize to a smaller house that better suits your current lifestyle needs? Perhaps sell your family home and rent an apartment to get out of cumbersome maintenance tasks?

Today’s blog post will help you think about your answers to these questions, as we review some of the ways homeownership wins over renting in retirement for many. And, you may be able to get “the best of both worlds”—homeownership with nearly zero maintenance worries—when you come home to Zerbe’s Independent Living neighborhood here in beautiful Lancaster County!