This blog was originally published on 6/25/2024 and updates on 8/24/2025.
Buy-in senior living communities (CCRCs) offer you peace of mind for your future, as well as the ability to reduce the burden on your family for your future care.
When you choose senior living buy-in vs monthly rent, such as you’ll find at St. Mark Village, you’re ensuring you will have preferred access to several levels of care, including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation.
How do buy-in senior living communities work?
A buy-in or entry fee community is typically a life plan community or continuing care retirement community (CCRC). A CCRC offers at least three levels of care on one campus.
Although rental CCRCs do exist, in buy-in senior living communities, you would move into independent living and pay an upfront fee in addition to your monthly fee. Consider this fee as a down payment for your future care, should you, for example, need to move to assisted living or skilled nursing down the road.
At St. Mark Village continuing care retirement community in Pinellas County, in addition to offering Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing, and Rehabilitation, we also have our Life Care Promise: guaranteed care for life. As a resident, you will receive the care you need, for as long as you need it, even if your financial situation changes.
Related: Understanding the Life Care Promise at St. Mark Village
The pros of buy-in senior living
Peace of mind
The buy-in senior living model gives you peace of mind knowing you won’t have to move elsewhere if needs change, protecting you from having to leave your trusted support system and familiar surroundings. In effect, once you move into a continuing care retirement community, you can age in place.
Financial benefits
Your buy-in (admission) fee money can help offset the more expensive care costs and is considered a prepaid medical expense by the IRS, so tax deductions may be available. In addition, with buy-in senior living, you may also have the option for up to 90 percent of your buy-in fee to be returned to your estate or designated beneficiary.
For seniors who itemize their taxes, the potential tax advantages of moving into a CCRC are two-fold:
- a one-time deduction of a percentage of your entrance fee
- an ongoing deduction of a percentage of your monthly fees
They key is to look past the sticker price to what you will actually pay once the tax advantage is factored in. Be sure to ask the person who prepares your tax returns if they know about and understand the CCRC deduction so that you can get the full benefits of buy-in senior living.
A fulfilling lifestyle
Living in an environment that fulfills your every need—body, mind, and spirit—inspires you to embrace your independence as never before. Today’s modern CCRCs are designed for your comfort, enjoyment, wellness, and convenience. Exceptional amenities, important services, and a wide range of opportunities for socializing, learning, engaging, staying healthy and active and more abound.
Related: A Holistic Approach to Senior Wellness: Mind, Body, and Spirit
Residents of St. Mark Village enjoy a vibrant, inspiring senior living environment where they find good friends, abundant opportunities to pursue physical health, intellectual and cultural fulfillment, and spiritual enrichment, and have quality care if needed, guaranteed—without having to leave the Village and their support system. That means seamless access to future care options.
The cons of buy-in senior living
Affordability
The upfront fee for buy-in senior living communities can be tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although many fund this through the sale of their house, realistically not everyone can afford senior living buy-in vs monthly rentLess flexibility
In a buy-in situation, it is not as easy to move elsewhere as it would be if you were in a rental community. However, you might not be as likely to move from buy-in senior living as you would from a rental model, since a rental model does not give you the predictability of knowing now what you’ll pay for future care—a major concern for many seniors.
Related: Why CCRCs Appeal to Seniors
Consider buy-in senior living communities and decide for yourself
St. Mark Village attracts active seniors who desire to live in a vibrant environment where they can savor every moment, with the knowledge that they will receive compassionate quality care, when and if needed. Let us tell you more.
Live the good life—and retire without worry. Download our free guide, Financial Planning Guide to Retirement Living at a Life Plan Community, or contact us. We’d love to hear from you.
