Estate Living Magazine Retirement Living - Issue 40 April 2019 | Page 24

P R O P E R T Y
&
Evergreen Lifestyle Village Muizenberg
No fear
The four most common concerns associated with ageing are:
• crime and violence
• outliving your retirement income
• uncertainty about who will take care of you if you’re ill
• loneliness.
Evergreen has addressed these four issues directly, focusing on:
• physical security
• financial peace of mind
• continuous care
• sense of community.
The physical security is pretty self-explanatory, and the continuous
care has been explained above. The sense of community is an
important aspect of retirement estates, so Evergreen puts a lot of
thought into the design of the estates and into facilities for active
interaction. And all Evergreen estates are pet-friendly, so there is no
need to leave furry family members behind.
But it’s in the sphere of financial security that the life right model
really shines.
Financial peace of mind
The life right model addresses many of the fears seniors have about
outliving their retirement benefits. Firstly, when you buy a life
right, you buy into the estate for life. And, unlike with sectional title
developments in which the developers hand over the estate to the
I N V E S T M E N T
residents on completion of sales, the life right developer is in it for
the long haul. This, explains, Case, is why it is so important to have
economies of scale.
‘You need the critical mass to keep levies down,’ he explains.
Our levy model is that we don’t profit from levies. When fully
occupied, incoming levies should cover operating costs. Because
we are a life right developer, we cannot impose special levies.
However, Evergreen shareholders have significant financial muscle
and are invested for the long term. Evergreen ensures that all new
investment and capital projects in existing villages are funded
without looking to residents for special levies.
Levies cover most living expenses but do not include staying in the
care centre. This means that retirees who live a long and healthy life
and never set a hiking-boot-clad foot in the care centre do not cross-
subsidise it.
‘If you need it,’ says Case, ‘you pay for it.’
Now – on the face of it – that sounds scary, but the life right model
can handle that as well. ‘We offer some flexibility for emergencies,’
Case says. What this means is that if a resident needs care and can’t
afford to pay for it, they can access the capital in their life right. It’s
not like an access bond you can use to buy a new motorcycle – it’s
just there for care and levies. Single residents who require frail care
will usually sell their life right to fund care costs.
The bottom line is that life right is a partnership for life – it’s about
peace of mind.
evergreenlifestyle.co.za