Renting an option for seniors
Senior citizens are attracting a great deal of attention among developers these days as a growing segment of the population with unmet housing needs. And among the options being offered to seniors are an increasing emphasis on renting places within retirement communities.?“I think the trend is just starting,” said Carmela Sirico, a real estate agent at Keller-Williams in Westchester County.
The reasons seem to be a combination of economics and health, say developers and brokers who are involved in senior community projects. Â ?Many seniors are finding that there is less value in their home now than in recent years, Sirico said.?“Part of the concern with seniors is they are having a hard time understanding they are not going to get the same equity, they can”™t sell their homes for the same amount they could have sold it for a few years ago,” she said. “There is a reluctance to give up that equity, hoping the market will somehow come back to that high level.”
Many seniors are choosing to rent an apartment or other living arrangement in a senior residence, while holding on to ownership of their home, and also renting that out until the market returns to a stronger position. ?“I think it is a great idea,” she said. “We are discussing it and testing that market to see if they can convert some of their for-sales to rental and then possibly rent the home. They can use that rental money from the home to live in a community.”
The Osborn in Rye, one of the region”™s original senior continuing care communities, is offering rental options, but says it is not part of a new strategy but an enduring way to help seniors feel comfortable. “We”™ve always had a rental option,” said Jane Fox, marketing  director for the facility that opened in 1908 and is on 56 acres. “A lot of people don”™t know about that choice.”
Fox said the facility has two different contract options; an entry-fee option with apartments and garden homes, and another for rental apartments, whose residents still enjoy all the same amenities as those who pay the entry fee. ?She said the rental option has been chosen, Â “Maybe a little bit more lately. It”™s really in recognition of wanting to keep options open, so people have a choice as they should. Its good for them, they can try it out, we can furnish the apartment if they prefer, so we can really make it easy for them to come see what the Osborn is like. It”™s a really terrific option.
”?In Goshen, Timber Trails L.L.C. is developing  a planned adult community, proposed as an active adult rental community for those over 55 of one- and two- bedroom apartments.
“What we see is people with fixed incomes don”™t want to put all their equity into a property,” Â said Susan Shapiro. “If they tie up all their cash, Â they can”™t do things to live their lives, if they want to travel, for example. Renting gives people a lot more flexibility.”