Expert Series – Why Retirement Homes, Why Ipoh? – Part 2

This is the Part 2 of the Expert Series – Why Retirement Homes, Why Ipoh – Part 1 published yesterday. Part 2 talks a bit more about the advantages of a purpose developed retirement homes versus other property types. John was also asked a few more tough questions. Personally, if my whole family stays with me, I would prefer to stay at my current place. However, as someone who prefers mamak chats with friends over just sitting at home reading a newspaper, I would prefer to have lots of activities. Hopefully, I can still have lots of activities when I am much older than today. Read on.

 
4. There’s a misperception that staying in a retirement village such as GreenAcres is expensive and only for the rich. What are your thoughts about that?
It is an inescapable reality that everything is built at a cost. Prices are then fixed according to the cost and adjusted for the sustainability of the operations.
When we conceived GreenAcres, we envisioned a retirement village that will reflect what we saw during our many research trips overseas, a good standard, quality development with a quality community that would deliver a suitable and sustainable standard of living – a development that we would gladly and proudly recommend to our own families and friends, a development which would be a good alternative to the ones currently available for the silver set. GreenAcres in our opinion, is a feasible option for most middle-income retirees who prize convenience and a healthy lifestyle without depending on their families, or families who want quality lifestyles for their loved ones.
Committing to building and operating such a retirement village like GreenAcres  involves substantial cost and it is not possible to deliver the standard that we aim for at a low price point.very much less for maintenance. On a per square foot basis, GreenAcres is in the ballpark as some equivalent condominiums in Ipoh, however, GreenAcres also comes with a beautiful, 30,000 sq ft clubhouse which is well-equipped with a reading room, games rooms, billiards room, hair-stylist’s room, a mini-cinema, lounge areas, multipurpose halls for festivals and family occasions which are not found in condominiums. In addition, residents will also have to consider that we will provide 24-hour care, an emergency call system in all the units which will be linked to a centralized monitoring unit, transportation in form of free village shuttles that make two trips daily, maintenance of the surroundings, and scheduled activities for the residents. These are all covered in the maintenance costs which is at 48 sen per square foot. The lease structure and the set-costs are simplified to help retirement financial planning.
In addition, GreenAcres is a landed low-density development in line with the lifestyle that we would like to encourage our residents to have. We believe that this delivers value to residents of GreenAcres.
As an example, our one-bedroom villas, which can comfortably house two residents or a couple start from RM300,000 for a lifetime lease deposit which is refundable at anytime the residents want to leave the village.
While there are other options for retirees, currently, from what we see, the options are not delivering the quality we envision or providing the standard of living we want for our residents. GreenAcres is meant to be a sustainable superior alternative to the currently available nursing homes and senior homes which may cost less, but perhaps do not deliver an equivalent standard of quality of life to the residents or peace of mind to their families.
 
5. Assuming I am interested in a retirement home (not necessarily in Ipoh), what are the next steps that I should take? 
There are a few things to consider: your lifestyle support, financial and legal structures, the management of the village, health provisions, as well as security provisions.
First you should examine your reasons to move to a retirement village – would you like to maintain your independence? Would you like to have peers? Which location would you think is suitable for you? Which type of village and services would you require? Does it support your lifestyle? Are there village buses to help with transportation? Are there meals available if you do not want to cook?
Secondly, you would need to consider the financial and legal structure of the village. You would ask what’s included in the service fees, what does it cover, and if you could afford it when a partner leaves? Perhaps also consider the monthly services fee and also the type of contract you are entering into.
Thirdly, you would want to consider the management of the village and what role does the committee play in the administration of the village. What arrangements can they make for you? How would they support the lifestyle?
For health provisions, you would need to consider what arrangements the village can make, what screenings they provide, and what happens in case of emergencies. For security provisions you would want to know if they have round the clock security.
 
Frankly, when we look at the more advanced property markets, whatever happens there would usually happen here some years later. For example, the rise of property attractiveness among foreigners who wants a good place to stay or even just to stretch their money for longer is no longer confined to just Australia or London or even Singapore’s Sentosa island but has also started in Malaysia. Just look at the choices for the MM2H participants to understand more. It used to be very unusual to find Malaysian cities within those top ten retirement haven choices but within the past few years, it has become much more common. There are definitely something special about our home, Malaysia. I can safely say that Ipoh has its attractiveness even versus the more popular cities in Malaysia. I have no idea if it would be your top choice but it is okay because it is my top choice when it comes to retirement. (MANY MANY more years…)  If you like to know more. Click here: GreenAcres.com.my
written on 13 Nov 2017
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