Seniors Hold Off On Retirement Homes Due To Bad Economy
Thousands of Americans who need to move into retirement or assisted living facilities are stranded in their own homes due the current housing crisis. This is one of greatest problems of the recession and seniors are no exception.
According to many senior advocate agencies, occupancy rates for independent and assisted facilities have dropped by nearly 2%, although some facilities in certain hard hit areas have a vacancy rate as high as 20 or 30%. Some facilities, seeing declining waiting lists and rising vacancy rates have hired real estate agents to assist potential residents in selling their homes.
People Are Now Choosing Between Home Payments and Medical Payments
Some news agencies are reporting that the housing market’s collapse is putting a growing number of Americans in the unfortunate position of either paying their mortgage bills or paying the doctor. People borrowing against their homes to help manage other bills is nothing new, but with home values plummeting and interest rates on the rise, some patients who are already in debt are now at the risk of losing their homes in order to pay off costly medical bills. Some are even forgoing healthcare altogether just to hang on to their homes.
It’s difficult to make an accurate depiction of how many people are being forced to choose between their mortgage payments and their medical bills, however, some financial institutions are claiming that medical reasons are becoming an increasing reason why some people are beginning to fall behind on their payments.
Financial experts are constantly urging patients not to refinance a mortgage or use their home equity to pay off medical bills due to the risk of foreclosure. If a hospital or medical provider wants to put a lien on a patient’s home, they must first obtain a court order and generally do not receive payment until after the home has been sold. At any rate, hospitals are often reluctant to use strategies such as this for fear of bad publicity.
Assisted living marketing services are provided by 800seniors.com a leading referral
system in the assisted living industry. For more information, call 1-800-768-8221. Sky Palma is a freelance staff writer.
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Tagged with: foreclusure • housing crisis
Filed under: Family Topics
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