By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
Making a choice about where you will live during your retirement is arguably one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. There are many factors to consider when picking a retirement community. Will you feel comfortable with your neighbors? Will your new home offer you amenities that suit your lifestyle? Will you like the food?
Sedgebrook, a retirement community in Lincolnshire, gives prospective residents a chance to get to know the community firsthand when they join the priority list.
Get VIP treatment
Priority list members are invited to special events like on-site parties and social outings with current residents, according to Retirement Counselor Tracy Dellaria. She says the events give people considering a move to Sedgebrook a good opportunity to assess how they feel about the community by talking to people who live there, eating the food served in the restaurants, and spending time in model apartment homes and common areas.
“Joining the priority list gives them a chance to get to know us on their terms while keeping their options open,” Dellaria says. “They can meet some of our residents along with other priority list members so they can get to know people before they move.”
Priority list members also get first dibs on the apartment home of their choice when they decide to move to Sedgebrook, Dellaria says. The date a future resident joins the priority list determines his or her place in the waiting line for the most popular apartment homes.
“If they join sooner rather than later, they could be a whole year ahead of everybody else, which will really matter when they’re ready to select an apartment,” Dellaria says.
She says priority list members also receive other perks like access to information before it is made available to the public and the opportunity to become patients of Sedgebrook’s on-site physician, Dr. Elliott Kroger.