Retirement never crossed William Goldman’s mind when he sold his home and rented his Albany Park apartment 22 years ago. The 64-year-old former high school math teacher simply got the itch to be free. Come summer, he’d take off for Mexico, leaving his northern dwelling and the worries of homeownership far behind.
Now, at the onset of retirement, Goldman still relishes his freedom and, like many independent seniors who prefer to rent, his criteria extend beyond the realm of the traditional retirement community.
“To live with all retired people would be just as horrible as living with all young people. Life is a mix,” says Goldman. “I’ve seen people in retirement homes and they just sit around waiting for the next person to be wheeled out.”
But retirement communities-with their social programs, special facilities, buses and vans-often have thought of nearly everything in trying to meet the needs of their residents. So, what factors should seniors consider when they’re on an independent search for an apartment?
Experts in the field-and the renters themselves-mention things such as familiarity with the area, quality construction, social life, recreation, convenience to shopping, good transportation-and finances.
Familiarity
Generally speaking, “seniors prefer to live in areas they feel most familiar with,” says Les Lewis, housing information coordinator in Illinois for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Yet, as is the case with any large group, the reasons seniors choose an apartment vary. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, nearly a quarter of a million renters age 55 and older reside in the Chicago metropolitan area.
“Basically, it depends on the person,” says Sandra Moore, vice president of RELCON Apartment Finders, an apartment location service. However, Moore notes that quality construction ranks high on the list of senior priorities. “It’s not like a 22-year-old who thinks that a dormitory, fraternity or sorority seems like a normal environment. A 22-year-old would not object as much if he moved into an apartment community where people played loud music or there was a lot of commotion around.”
On the contrary, Des Plaines senior Wendy Van Buskirk did object. Not long after she moved into her two-bedroom apartment, she discovered noise from the upstairs neighbors’ air purifier reverberating through the apartment floor. “I’d hate to come home at night. I asked them to turn it off, but they wouldn’t.”
Van Buskirk did a little investigating before she signed her next lease.
“I checked out the upstairs neighbor. It’s an older lady with no kids. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mind kids, but I didn’t want to get burned twice.”
Neighbors weren’t a consideration when David and Helen Beach rented their apartment at River Plaza in downtown Chicago 15 years ago. The couple were looking for two things: close proxmity to work and an indoor pool.
“I just don’t like commuting,” says David, who at 74 has no intention of retiring. “I figured it out one day that I commute more vertically than horizontally to go to work. I may pack up my briefcase in a hurry, start spreading things out at the office, and realize, `Cripes, I left something at home.’ If the elevators are good and there’s no traffic on Michigan Avenue, I can make a round trip in 11 minutes. That’s kind of great.”
The Beaches have found social advantages to their location, too. “We’re within walking distance of all the things that we consider to be part of life,” he says.
Equally important, however, is the building’s indoor pool. “It’s like owning one in your own home. We put on our robes and go down between 9 and 10 o’clock before we go to bed,” says Helen, although she insists that she and her husband are far from homebodies. “We do like to travel,” adds the 71-year-old, “and living here, you can just close your door, get on the `L’ and head for the airport.”
Convenience
Convenience has kept Ida Kozberg, a 55-year Lincoln Park resident, in her neighborhood, too. “It’s terrific because I can get a bus right here on Sheridan Road, get off at Chicago Avenue, do my banking, and then walk a few blocks to see my doctor. If I want to go to Old Orchard (shopping center), I can take another bus. I’ve done it often.”
Kozberg has also found that the convenience extends inside. “The weather has been so bad lately, the only time I’ve gone out is when I go grocery shopping. The activities here keep me busy,” she says, referring to a slew of offerings provided by her apartment building, The Belmont. Kozberg takes part in yoga classes and bingo, watches afternoon movies shown in the building’s penthouse and enjoys a free Tuesday night entertainment program featuring musicians and refreshments.
Community offerings can be the deciding factor when seniors determine where to rent. Such is the case for Max and Rebecca Dekoven, who are actively trying to find an apartment in Skokie. The couple, ages 80 and 78, respectively, are regulars at the Mayor Smith Activities Center’s Friday morning current events class in Skokie.
“This is how you meet people,” says Max. “A lot of seniors are dropping out of the picture, and by meeting different people at these events we fill the void. In other words, if you don’t participate, you’re going to be lonely.”
Like many Chicago suburbs, Skokie has geared numerous programs to its senior population. Classes offered by the village at the Smith Center, most of which are free, run the gamut from exercise to art to lecture discussions on an assortment of topics such as investments, health care and jazz.
The Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center in Skokie has also designed a number of activities for its members. Duplicate bridge is among the most popular, according to Carolyn Topcik, the center’s adult services coordinator. “Between 90 and 100 people play on Monday afternoons. That’s our biggest game,” she says.
Less socially oriented programs are provided through the village as well. For $1, Skokie residents 65 and older can participate in Dial-a-Ride, which provides monthly discount coupons reducing their fare on local cab rides. Home Delivered Meals, another program, delivers prepared meals to homebound seniors (for the cost of the meal).
Transportation
Transportation is a primary consideration for seniors deciding where to rent. While many communities provide some form of subsidized transit for those 60 and older, the programs are rather insular. “The biggest problem is that most of the transportation is set up within townships and there isn’t anything available to go from one township to another,” explains Patricia Montgomery, housing specialist at the Suburban Area Agency on Aging in Cook County.
However, some programs, such as Bloom Township’s Senior Wheels curb-to-curb bus service, will stretch beyond the boundaries. The program, which serves 12 southeast suburbs in Cook County, is run on a donation basis from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“If a senior has a doctor’s appointment, he or she needs to call us by 2 p.m. on the previous business day,” says Sheryl Ford, senior director of Bloom Township’s senior services. “We have a regular schedule. Monday, Wednesday and Friday we keep for appointments, Tuesdays we alternate between two malls and Fridays are set aside for grocery shopping.”
The finances are typically the trickiest part of the senior rental equation. Limited or fixed incomes don’t always add up well against spiraling rent increases. But how much can you afford to pay? “The real key number is the cash outflow,” says financial planner Michael Leonetti, of Leonetti & Associates in Buffalo Grove, who specializes in retirement planning issues.
“You can always use the old banker’s rule of thumb and spend 25 to 33 percent of your take-home pay toward housing, but the important point is how do you want to live? What do you want to spend your money on?
“Some people need to be at 25 percent or lower because they want to have money available for other things such as travel, social meetings, golf, the arts, or they go out to eat a lot. Others are real homebodies and their apartment is where they spend all their time, so these people can afford to spend a higher amount on their rent.”
But you can plan for the increases in rental rates, says Leonetti. “You have to see how `fixed’ your fixed income is. For example, most people think of Social Security as a fixed income, yet historically they average 3 percent per year increases,” he says. “It doesn’t mean they’ll get 3 percent every year. One year it might be 1 percent, the next it might be 5 percent.”
Government subsidy programs, which pay a percentage of the rent, are another alternative for qualifying seniors age 62 and older. But be prepared to wait, cautions the AARP’s Les Lewis. “If you sign up for a Section 8 subsidy (an Illinois Housing Development Authority assistance program) because you’re going to need it in four years, you’re in good shape-you can get it in four years. But if you need it tomorrow, you’re out of luck unless you can plead some hairy reasons why you need it and they will, as they say, put you in the front of the line because they keep a percentage of space available for that.”
Keeping an eye out for the future applies to non-financial matters, too. “Your general health becomes important. You may decide you’d be better off looking at a first-floor unit or living in a building that has elevators,” says Leonetti.
Planning for the unforeseen is best done now, warns AARP’s Lewis. “Be aware that someday whatever you’re doing right now in terms of your housing will not necessarily be where you want to be later,” Lewis says. “Do some thinking when you’re not in crisis. The worst time to figure out crisis is when you’re in a hospital bed.”
