By RACHEL LOUISE ENSIGN

Sean Kelly

In 2007, Lee and Alfred Rose decided they were ready to sell their big house in Goodyear, Ariz., and move into an apartment in nearby La Loma Village, a continuing-care retirement community. But the housing crisis soon hit, and the couple spent the next 2½ years showing their home, while their reserved space at La Loma sat empty.

In 2010, Sun Health, the nonprofit operator of La Loma, rolled out a series of programs to help residents like the Roses—and to fill up La Loma’s empty apartments. The community sent an expert at no charge to spruce up the Roses’ home and offered the couple a deal: Sun Health itself would try to sell the house. If the company couldn’t do so within 90 days, it would buy the home at the market rate.

As it turned out, the house sold within two months, and the Roses moved into La Loma.

“It took all of the responsibility of trying to sell the house off of us,” says Ms. Rose, now 80.

For those seeking to sell a home in order to move into a continuing-care community or similar retirement residence, help is increasingly available. Owners and operators of such developments are stepping forward with home staging and repair programs, no-interest bridge loans, buyouts and reduced entrance fees. The goal: to get you out of your space and into theirs.

Read the Fine Print

The housing downturn “was unlike anything we have encountered in our careers,” says David C. Moreland, vice president of sales and marketing at Shell Point Retirement Community, a continuing-care development in Fort Myers, Fla., which has cut entrance fees on certain units by 20%. “We could no longer succeed by doing what we had always done.”

The communities offering the most help are those that charge high upfront entrance fees, says Robert G. Kramer, president of the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry. Most of these are continuing-care communities, which require residents to enter in good health but guarantee a wide range of medical care when their health deteriorates. The hefty entrance fees for these communities (about $252,000 on average in the third quarter of 2011) are often paid for with the proceeds of a home sale. But other communities without big upfront fees—like assisted-living centers, which typically provide some care for a monthly fee—are offering help too.

Of course, before entering any agreement that promises to help you sell your home or facilitate your move into a new community, read the fine print, elder-care experts caution. Make sure that the service is worthwhile and won’t just leave you with a big bill.

And if most or all of your wealth is tied up in a home that’s festering on the market, it could be risky to take on debt that you can’t pay off unless the house sells, says Elias Papasavvas, chief executive of Elderlife Financial Services, a Rockville, Md., firm that specializes in financing for older adults.

Evaluating Loans

The most common assistance being offered is among the least expensive: giving a home a fresh look. When David Barker, a retired engineer, was trying to sell his home in Independence, Mo., to move into John Knox Village, a continuing-care retirement community in Lee’s Summit, Mo., a consultant hired by John Knox spent hours staging Mr. Barker’s home at virtually no cost to him.

“She said, ‘You’ve got to fix this up. If younger people come in, they want bright colors,’ ” says Mr. Barker, 86. The woman told him to replace old bath mats and shower curtains, among other changes, and she created an Internet slideshow to draw buyers. The couple who eventually bought the home was won over by its neatness, Mr. Barker says. Afterward, the same John Knox consultant helped Mr. Barker downsize and move.

While a few large communities, like Sun Health, may offer to buy your home outright, many more offer financing that covers the cost of living in their developments while your house is on the market, says Steve Maag, director of residential communities at LeadingAge, a Washington-based umbrella organization for senior-related nonprofits. Taking on a loan to move into a community may be a good choice for individuals with deteriorating health, according to some experts.

About 2,500 communities currently offer bridge loans from Elderlife Financial Services, which often are backed by home equity. That’s up from only about 200 communities in 2007. In some cases, the senior housing provider will cover the interest payments on your loan for up to a year, says Mr. Papasavvas of Elderlife.

Interest-Free Help

Other communities provide loans on their own. North Hill Community in Needham, Mass., allows new residents to pay only 20% of the entrance fee if their home hasn’t sold yet. The community lends them the rest of the fee interest-free for a year and, if need be, at the 30-year mortgage rate published in The Wall Street Journal after that, says Kevin Burke, president and chief executive of North Hill.

About one-third of new residents in 2011 have taken one of these loans, Mr. Burke says. So far, no one has failed to pay back a loan, he says.

“It allows them to make the decision and choose the lifestyle and not be burdened by the fact that the real-estate market has been slower than in the past,” Mr. Burke says.

Ms. Ensign is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. Email her at next@wsj.com.

Tags: Apartment for Sale, Buy Home Today

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