Buying a home, regardless of your age and life circumstances, requires you to do a lot of thinking and planning in order to get the exact home that you want now and will need in the future. However, if you’re planning on growing old in your home, there are a few additional features that you should put in place to ensure that you’re able to stay safe and maintain functionality.
To help you see what these things are, here are three things to look for in a home meant for older people.
Reconsider A Single-Family Home
For many people, living in a single-family home is the ideal. Especially if this is what you’re used to, you might be reluctant to look at a home where you have shared walls or common space used by others. But if you’re looking for a home that you can live in well into your twilight years, you may want to reconsider a single-family home.
According to Nolo.com, living in an apartment, townhome, condo, or assisted living community could give you the space and freedom you want as you age without putting too many responsibilities on you for the upkeep of the property. With things like landscaping, larger maintenance tasks, and other chores automatically taken care of by the property managers or homeowners associations, you won’t have to worry about things like mowing the lawn or getting snow off of the roof or hire a home care professional with experience working in elderly care.
Find A Home With No Steps
While you might be feeling pretty spry right now, as you age, it will likely become harder and harder for you to have the strength, balance, and overall ability to climb stairs in a home. Also, if you happen to get hurt and need to use a walker or wheelchair, having stairs in your home can make things very difficult.
Knowing this, Rose Kennedy, a contributor to AJC.com, suggests that you look for a home that has no steps if you’re wanting to live in that home through retirement and beyond. By choosing a home that’s on a single level and has at least one entry way that doesn’t have any stairs, it will be much easier for you to get in and around your space as you get older.
Safe Storage Options
At this point in your life, you’ve likely accumulated a lot of belongings that you’ll want to bring with you into your new home. Because of this, you’ll need to have quite a few storage options. But if that storage is too hard for you to get into, like it’s too high, low, or deep, this could present a problem. As a result, Tina Gleisner, a contributor to HomeTipsForWomen.com, suggests looking for storage that doesn’t require you to bend down or use a step stool in order to get into it.
If you’re wanting to buy a home that will age gracefully with you, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find this piece of property.
