October 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with Ben Souchek, owner of Home Downsizing Solutions. Ben discusses how selling your house “as is” can help pay for senior care and reviews the many financial options available such as a lump sum payment, receiving monthly payments, deferred payments, and staying in your house after closing while waiting for space to become available in your chosen senior care community. Steve answers the question “can I give away assets in order to qualify for Medicaid?”. Then Steve discusses how he successfully helped a client after their failed attempt with a “free” referral service. #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant,
Steve Keecker, Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Steve Keeker. You're a senior care consultant and I
really appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful
program on tap with my friend and special guest in
the studio. He's mister Ben Sochek with Home Downsizing Solutions,
and Ben, welcome back to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Hi Steve, great to be back, and as always, hopefully
I can impart some great information for individuals today that
are listening to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, you always do, and I think this information is
really really interesting and important to learn. If you want
to reach out to Ben with his firm Home Downsizing Solutions,
write this phone number down. You may need to use
it right away, maybe in six months, maybe in a year,
but if you need, if you're in a situation where
(01:13):
you need to sell your house and move on to
your next your next chapter, whether that's senior living, maybe
you're downsizing, or some other living arrangement. Talk to Ben Socheck.
He can buy your house and as his condition, offer
lots of benefits that we're going to talk about. Eight
five five two nine one five zero zero five. That's
(01:34):
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five.
Could also go online. It's an excellent website Home downsizing
dot com and Ben for any new listeners, let's just
have a brief review of exactly what you do with
your business Home Downsizing Solutions.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Sure, thank you, Steve. Just a brief recap. I guess
essentially we buy how as is for cash on your
dated choice that when a person wants to close. And
the couple of things that I always tell people is
if the benefits that I offer are a value, we
can be a great solution. If they're not, then we're
(02:16):
probably not the best solution to sell a house. Our
primary benefits, of course, are a person, if especially if
a house needs repairs, updating, hasn't had any of that
for a long time, will buy a house in any condition,
with or without all the stuff in it. So even
hoarding situations or situations where a person just has not
(02:37):
been able to take care of a house for a
long time. That is our specialty. So we do everything
that we can to make it very easy to move
from a house that a person's been in a long
time into a smaller apartment, a smaller home, or some
type of senior living arrangement. So anything under that umbrella
(02:59):
is is what we do.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I'll say, I'm going to vouch for you here.
Ben is a veteran. This is a Better Business Bureau,
a plus rated company. This is a legitimate company. This
isn't one of these fly by night kind of wholesalers
that are just looking to flip your house on paper. Okay,
(03:23):
there is real money available. They can write you a check.
They can close as soon as just a few days,
as soon as the title company can do their work.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's our only hold up, so to speak, is as
soon as the title company gets the agreement, the purchase
agreement from us, and they can check title and prepare
closing paperwork, we can close. We have the funding available
almost well immediately, so that's our only hold up. We've
purchased houses in as little as twenty four hours from
having an agreement in the past. Yeah, but typically three
(03:54):
to five three to seven days is our typical closing time.
That doesn't mean you have to move out right away. Yeah,
that's usually one of the questions we get is do
we have to leave that quickly? And no, is the
answer to that. We can close quickly though, so that
a seller knows that the house is sold. But then
(04:15):
then the seller can keep possession for a length of
time afterwards that we've agreed upon, until you can make
that move according to your schedule. Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Okay, And that is super super valuable. And you have
really found a niche in all of these years. How
long have you been in this business?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I either hate to say or it's a great thing
to say that I've been a home buyer or I've
had a company that's bought houses for over twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, okay, Yeah, so Ben is not some newbie out
there experimenting on you, trying to figure it out. He's
been doing this for a very long time, operating at
a very high level in treating people right. You're not
in business for twenty eight years unless you're doing you're
doing business the right way. And so I guess what
(05:04):
I'm trying to say is the offer from Ben is
going to be a fair offer. He's not going to
insult you. He's not going to look at a two
hundred thousand dollars house and say, hey, I'll give you
ten grand for it, right, just hoping to try to
steal it. Like you hear so many horror stories, all
of these advertisements and online just flood of all of
these folks trying to steal your house. That is not
(05:26):
Home Downsizing Solutions. If you want to talk to an
honest person who's been doing this business for a long
time eight five five two nine one five zero zero
five online at home Doownsizing dot com and Ben we
were visiting earlier before the program about you have really
found a niche over the years working with individuals who
(05:48):
will be downsizing from their home into some type of
senior living arrangement.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
That's correct for years. Of course, we buy houses from
anyone that wants to sell us a house, yeah yeah,
and finds value and the benefits we offer. But after
the two thousand and eight market correction, we had more
individuals coming to us, the homeowners and sometimes they're family members,
adult children that wanted to sell and because they had
(06:17):
equity in the house, I actually could sell the house
compared to a lot of people that had too much
debt on their house. And so we worked more and
more with individuals in kind of this downsizing themed market
and really found that that's who appreciated what we did
and again found value in the benefits we offered compared
(06:41):
to some of the other scenarios that are out there,
and so yes, we started coming up with better ways
to serve them, always trying to find ways to provide
more value to people. And I think was I wasn't
aware of many other companies or people the time that
would give multiple solutions on how to buy making offers
(07:06):
on how to buy a house. Usually it was just
the real estate agent wanting to list the house, or
the cash home buying company if they were real making
one cash offer. And so I thought it was kind
of unique at the time when we started making multiple offers,
offering multiple solutions to fit a person's unique situation.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Absolutely, And you know, I work with a lot of
individuals and frankly, they they're depending on the sale of
their house and using those funds to at least in
part or maybe totally fund the care that they would
receive in assisted living or long term care or memory care.
(07:50):
So you know, let's talk about how you've worked with
some clients where you know, you've been able to buy
their house and they've used that to fund their senior care.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Absolutely, we've worked with a lot of people, of course,
that wanted to downsize and get into a smaller apartment,
a smaller home, or other type of senior living arrangement.
And certainly that is one of the biggest things is Okay,
I'm going from a house that I might have paid
off at this point, but I really don't want to
(08:20):
be here anymore, and I'm getting into an apartment or
something that may actually cost me more money. So one
of the common issues is how do I pay for
that on an ongoing basis? And so the sale of
a house is very common to help fund that new lifestyle.
And so that's another reason why we came up with
(08:40):
multiple ways to buy a house, is because sometimes a
person just getting a lump sum of cash, even though
that's the most common thing for people to do, it's
not always sometimes the best option depending on their circumstance.
And so that's another reason why we came up with
of course, we can offer a cash purchase, which again
is the most common way to buy a house. But
(09:02):
when we can buy a house with the seller essentially
becoming the bank, we make payments to the seller over
a period of time that allow the seller to get
an overall higher price for the house than that they
just sold it for one cash price. And again there's
all kinds of different variables in there, but being flexible
(09:24):
with how to buy the house and how to have
the seller turn the house into monthly payments is one
way to help the seller in that circumstance.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You know, And after the break, I would love to
discuss that further. I think that's a very interesting concept.
You're almost innuitizing the value of that you're basically neutizing
the value of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
That's correct, turning an asset into an income stream.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
An income stream on a monthly basis, And that could
be a huge opportunity for so many people to say, Hey,
it actually might be a negative for me to have
this lump sum of X dollars, but if I can
turn it into an income stream over a period of time,
what's that period?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Usually the period of time could be anywhere from five
to twenty plus years. Okay, it just depends on the
person's needs.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
All right, so we're gonna I want to talk more
about that here in just a second. He's mister Ben
Socheck with home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two nine
one five zero zero five or online at home Doownsizing
dot com. And now the Senior Care Live Question of
the Week with home downsizing Solutions. Once the sale of
(10:36):
your house is closed, you must leave the house? Is
that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live
dot com. All right, back to the Senior Care Live
Question of the Week with home downsizing solutions. Once the
sale of your house is closed, you must leave the house?
(11:26):
Does that statement true or false? And the answer is.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
False?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
The answer is false, And Ben, I suppose you could
leave the house, but you certainly don't have to.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
That's correct, Steve in our case. Anyway, I'll step back
a little bit in a traditional home sale. When a
person buys a house, they typically are going to assume
that they can move in immediately. Yeah, and understandably, once
they've written a check or signed for a loan, they
want possession of the house. In our case, when we
purchase a house, we know at a time, if it's
(12:04):
discussed with the seller anyway, that if they need time
to move from the house into their new home apartment
senior community, then that's part of our arrangement is we
let them stay in the house for sometimes thirty sixty
ninety days or more so that they can make that
transition to their new home without the stress and hassles
(12:24):
of having to move twice in there. And sometimes we
can even make arrangements that we can buy the house
and they can just rent from us indefinitely.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Okay, And there's another option.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
There's another option, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
All right. So if you have some questions, if this
is getting your attention, you're like, wait a minute, at
the end of that last segment, you're talking about instead
of a lump sum, you could pay me an income stream.
You know, what is that all about. We're going to
talk about that a little bit more. But if you
have specific questions about your specific situation, your house, and
your needs. I would encourage you to reach out to
(12:58):
Ben So check with Home Downside Solutions eight five five
two nine one five zero zero five or online at
home Downsizing dot com. So let's talk about that. So
we had talked about I just didn't want to rush
through that. So we had talked about basically annuitizing the
value of your house and instead of getting a lump
(13:20):
sum of X dollars whatever that is. And you're buying
a house, and as is a situation? Is uh or
what do I want to say? As is condition condition?
The word condition just fled my mind there just for
a second. But anyway, so, yeah, as his condition, but
an income stream might be a better fit. So how
(13:41):
exactly does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The agreement is pretty much straightforward, and again it can
be tailored the length of time that we're making payments
to a person. All of those characteristics I guess of
the transaction can be tailored to a person's unique situation.
But in general, instead of taking a certain number just
(14:06):
to buy the house right right when we close for
a cash amount, which again is the most common way
that people sell a house, if we can buy a
house on payments. From a company's perspective, we can pay
a lot more for an overall price for the house
because it's easier for us to buy that house, and
we can then make those payments again on a monthly
(14:29):
basis over whatever a period of time that we agree upon, so.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It could be five or ten years, or even fifteen
or twenty years, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
We have done transactions anywhere from five literally to twenty
twenty two years. And of course sometimes to a person
will say I don't mind having payments for a while,
but at ten years, I want to be paid off, okay,
And of course we can do that too.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
So you can.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Payments for a period of time and then a lump
some ballots at the end of that period.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
That's correct. Do we can set up kind of whatever
works for a person's unique situation. We've even in the
past we've had it set up to run to make
payments for say twenty years, but something happened, uh with
the family at say seven to ten years, and they
came to us and said, you know, can we just
(15:19):
get paid off and be done with it? Yeah, And
we have gone ahead and done that. True, okay, So
again it's it's very customizable to what a person really needs.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That you talk about the ultimate inflexibility Home downsizing solutions
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five.
And you know what, maybe sometimes maybe you qualify for
a particular program, if you're a veteran or another type
of a program that's helping you with some cost maybe
having a lump some payment, maybe that disqualifies you from
(15:54):
some sort of a benefit that you've qualified for, and
maybe increasing your monthly income is certainly okay, and so
maybe you can have an increased income and you can
still enjoy that that benefit of the program that you've
qualified for. It just it may make sense in your
own situation eight five five two nine one five zero
(16:17):
zero five or online at home downsizing dot com turn
your house that asset into into cash a cash lump
sum payment or a monthly income for a period of time,
and then you can combine that monthly income for a
period of time and then a lump sum balance at
the end of that timeframe. Ultimately, it's customizable for the
(16:38):
persons situation that's correct.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And the other situation that we've encountered before that we
spoke about before the show Steve is situations where maybe
a family member was set to inherit the proceeds from
the sale of a house, but maybe it's a situation
where they're not old enough to control money, or if
(17:03):
the family has a has an inkling that maybe this
individual that's a beneficiary should not be having a lump
sum of money right now in this part, in this
time of his life. We've also done situations where we
had we paid a small amount of closing and then
had an agreement to pay the large amount, say in
(17:23):
seven to ten years, so that that beneficiary was not
going to be in in possession of a large amount
of money that they might have just squandered immediately. So
it's kind of like a deferred benefit type of program.
So again we can kind of customize the sale of
the house to whatever a person needs to happen to
(17:43):
fit their situation.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, like you were saying, this large sum of money
was going to a very young person, and the person
who had you know, responsibility and for them suggested that hey,
you know, maybe a little bit now, but the majority
of it, let's let them grow up, mature a little bit,
learn about money so that they hopefully they won't they
won't blow that large sum in ten years from now
(18:06):
versus today. I think it's super smart. You're kind of
protecting them from from themselves or making just poor choices
because they just don't know any better. They're too young.
That's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's that's what you hope is that the personal representative
of the estate in that situation was doing the best
they thought for that beneficiary so that they were not
setting them up to fail.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And then if you are a client, that someone that
I might work with, and your you found the perfect place,
the ideal apartment in this perfect assistant living community, but
that apartment is not going to be ready until the
first of January or you know, two or three months
from now or six months whatever. Usually it's a two
(18:49):
or three month wait. But you need to sell your
house and move on and take care of all these things.
You can live in the house even after the sale
is closed. Reach out to Ben Socheck Home Downsizing Solutions
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five
or online at home downsizing dot com. And Ben, thanks
(19:13):
so much for being here today. Super exciting to hear
about some of these options, especially turning that that house
into this monthly income stream. That's an excellent option.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Absolutely, thank you for having me again, Steve. If I
can write any information out there for their is about
how something could work for them, please contact me at
home doownsizing dot com and I'd be happy to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Ben Socheck, We'll have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
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Speaker 2 (21:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm gonna shift gears. You know, last week I talked
to the entire program was really on medicaid and how
it works and what it pays for, how to qualify
(21:28):
for it, and even some of the kind of some
of the limitations, and then how to take advantage, you know,
potentially take advantage of some state specific rules and regulations
and then use some of these rules and regulations to
your favor. And again I strongly encouraged don't try to
(21:52):
wing it. Don't try to do this on your own.
To reach out to a local experienced l older law attorney.
They are specialists in the area of elder law, and
you can find one at NYALA dot org. It's n
a e l A National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
(22:14):
n a e l A dot org. You can type
in your city or your state, or your zip code
and then it will go out you know a certain distance.
You can specify the distance, and then we'll give you
list of local elder law attorneys and then and speak
with you know, two or three of them and find
out which one you feel would be the best fit
(22:35):
for you and work with them on this. You want
to do it right, and if if you do this right,
it could really really turn turn a kind of a
tough situation to your favor, all Right. So I received
a number of questions about, you know, how does this
income work? So I just wanted to kind of touch
(22:57):
on this again, just this one part of brief a
brief recap. So I explained that in the state of Missouri,
your liquid assets have to be spent down to five
nine hundred and nine dollars and then you qualify for
Medicaid to help pay for the majority of your cost
of your stay at a long term care community. In
the state of Kansas, it's two thousand dollars and so
(23:19):
basically you're almost out of money. And so the question
I always ask my clients is is there a chance
that you may outlive your assets? And if the answer
is yes, then we need to talk about medicaid and
go through that whole conversation, which I do pretty much
every time I sit down with clients. We have a
good talk about that. But I've I was asked so,
(23:43):
and in all the other states the numbers are very
very similar. So you know, Missouri is fifty nine on nine,
Kansas two thousand, you're almost you have very very little
money left. Well, so, Steven, if I'm in the state
of Kansas and I'm to two thousand dollars, and what
if my income every month is two thousand dollars, Well,
(24:05):
now I have four thousand dollars. Do I get kicked
out of medicate? No, you don't. That's a separate that's
a separate issue, separate situation. So your assets are your assets,
your income is your income. So your income comes in
first of all, your assets are at two thousand, you qualify,
(24:25):
so your income comes in and your income can be
what it is, what it is, it's twelve hundred dollars,
nine hundred dollars, twenty nine hundred dollars, whatever the number is.
In your you're living in a long term care community
also known as a nursing home. You're receiving that highest level,
that medical level of care. So you take your monthly income.
(24:47):
Every month, you deduct your health insurance cost and that's
going to be your Medicare premiums. So it's going to
be your Part B premium, and then you're probably a
Part D to pay for your prescription medications. And then
you're going to have, if you're really, really smart, and
most people are, you're going to have that Medicare supplement
(25:10):
that pays the other twenty percent that Part B does
not pay, right, So that is your supplemental insurance. You
have Plan F, which pays for literally everything, but they
don't see if you could have one now, if you're
just now buying it, they don't sell it anymore. You'd
have to buy a Plan G, which is very similar.
(25:31):
My mother has a Plan N, which is also very
similar and a lot more affordable. But the bottom line
is you have your income minus whatever you're paying for
your Medicare supplement in your Part D. Okay, so whatever
that is, take it right off the top of your income.
(25:52):
In the state of Kansas, you get to keep sixty
two dollars per month as the personal needs allowance. Don't
end it all in one place. About that, all right,
So that's enough. That's just a little spending change, is
really what it is. In the state of Missouri, you
get to keep fifty dollars. So and again all of
(26:13):
these states around the country, they're all very, very similar.
So your income pay your Medicare health insurance premiums, you
keep a couple of bucks, and whatever is left, whether
it's two hundred dollars or two thousand dollars, whatever's left
goes back to the long term care community. As technically
(26:38):
it's referred to as a patient liability I like to
speak in English, I call it a copay because that's
what it is. Every month, your income pay your Medicare premiums,
you keep a couple of bucks. Whatever's left over, that
goes back to the nursing home. That is your contribution
towards the cost of your care. And then Medicaid would
(26:59):
pay the long term care community, they would pay them
the difference, and their medicator is almost always paying the
vast majority of that monthly cost. And then what is
not seen by most folks is typically the long term
care community is accepting less than what they bill. Okay.
(27:22):
So let's say they may charge three hundred and fifty
dollars a day, but they're willing to accept three hundred
dollars a day from medicaidor is payment in full. They
write off the fifty bucks a day, so they have
a write off. I would probably technically call that a
contractual allowance, okay, but they write it off. They accept
(27:44):
three hundred dollars a day. The person pays what they
can pay, Medicaid pays them the majority every month. That's
what happens, okay. So your income and what happens to
that every month has no impact on that asset calation.
So hopefully that's more clear. I kind of skimmed by
that a little bit quickly last week.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And then you.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Always have the question, well, Steve, can I just give
my money away? I was working with a guy one time,
and he was a good guy, but you know, there
was some money on there that needed to be spent
down around one hundred thousand, I think, and he looked
at me and said, Steve, what if that money just
(28:28):
and he puts up his air quotes. What if that
money just disappears? What if it just goes away? With
his little air quotes and he starts laughing. I looked
at him and I said, sir, how do you look
in a bright orange jumpsuit? Because that is horribly against
(28:50):
the law. It's a federal offense. Don't do it. I'm
just telling you, you're not going to think of something
that they haven't already seen. I don't do it. And
if you get caught, you're in huge trouble. Okay, Now,
you can make a gift, but you need to be
(29:10):
very careful on how you do this because a gift
may result in a Medicaid penalty. And as part of
the Deficit Reduction Act back in February eighth, two thousand
and six, under President Bush, they went from a three
year look back to a five year lookback period. So
(29:32):
what that means is five years. So from the day
you qualify for Medicaid, okay, five years and one day ago,
you could you could give away one hundred thousand dollars
and it's irrelevant, literally irrelevant. Okay, you give away the
one hundred thousand dollars within that five year lookback period,
it will trigger a penalty, okay, and you don't want
(29:54):
to deal with that penalty. Okay. The penalty starts when
you qualify for Medicaid, the day you qualify, not the
day that you made that gift. So again, you can
do some creative things okay with this, but it needs
to be handled under the expert guidance of an elder
(30:16):
law attorney. Go to na e LA dot org to
find a local elder law attorney in your area. Also,
if you're going to move to senior care, make sure
that you have your power of attorney documents updated and
in place. And again I wouldn't use one of these
(30:38):
you know one page you know freebies that you can
find on the internet, the super generic I so and
so authorize you so and so to do anything you
want to do with my money. Okay. Try to take
that to a bank and close out an account that
has you know, fifty thousand dollars in it. They're not
going to let you do it. The vast majority of
the banks need something a lot more specific than that.
(31:01):
So again, you can go to an estate planning attorney
or your elder law attorney and have thorough properly written,
thorough well written power of attorney documents for finances and
power of attorney documents for healthcare. And they should include
advanced directives which would be your living will. Okay, so
(31:27):
let's just not forget about. We are working again with
the state planning attorneys, elder law attorneys for all of
these things. They're going to do it right. It's some
of the best money you will ever spend. And I'll
have more coming up next.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior Care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(32:20):
not another run of the mill, free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy, operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(32:43):
owning a Senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six or visit Seniorcareconsulting
dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(33:11):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com. All right, So, my goodness, it
seems like I'm running into this about every week, running
into some questionable work from some of these free referral services.
(33:34):
My goodness, gracious, I'll have a story for you here
in just a second. But I was visiting with a
super nice lady a couple of weeks ago, and she
wants to use She wants to move forward with Senior
Care Consulting. She understands that with Senior Care Consulting, we
(33:55):
work directly for our clients. We don't receive kickbacks from
any of the providers out there. I believe that's a
gross conflict of interests. She agrees, She said, well, at
that point, you just represent a sale to them, and
as long as you choose one of their places, they're
going to get their six to eight thousand dollars commission.
(34:19):
Some would call that a kickback from the assistant living community.
And so how do I know if they took me
to the best place for my mother or if they
took me to the place where they received the highest commission.
I said, exactly, you get it, exactly, You get it
exactly right. And she said, here's my challenge. My dad
(34:42):
had reached out to one of these free referral services.
He's not convinced it's the best way to go, but
according to his dad, he said, hey, I don't know
why should we pay a reasonable flat fee for service
for senior care consulting. But I can get this done
for free. I'm cheap. That was the quote. I gasped
(35:04):
a little bit, and I said, this is no time
to be cheap, No time to be cheap. I said, ma'am,
you're trusting total strangers to provide the most intimate of
care for your mother who has dementia. You are totally
(35:29):
trusting them to do good job, to give her her
medications properly, to treat her with dignity and respect and
kindness to see her in her most vulnerable condition at times.
This is no time to be cheap, no time to
be cheap. And she said, you're right, You're right. Okay,
(35:52):
I'm gonna I'm going to talk to my dad that
you are you are one hundred percent correct. So I'm
going to end up working with these with these with
these really nice people, and I'm going to help them
out in a major, major way. But it's interesting because
you have all these free referral services out there. Free
(36:12):
is a powerful word. I'm cheap. Okay, well, at least
he admitted it, all right, So when look, when you
use a free referral service, did they take you to
the best places for you? Or did they take you
to the places where their buddies are going to stroke
(36:35):
them a six thousand to eight thousand dollars check? And
don't you think that's at least a little bit of
a conflict of interest. So some of the questions you
might ask is, how did you come up with this
list of finalists? How many places on this list do
not pay you a commission? Well, they all pay us
(36:55):
a commission. Oh okay, really, so all of the places
in the market that do not pay you a commission.
You mean they're not good enough to show up on
your list. Okay, you could just ask some basic, straightforward,
common questions and it will become clear to you fairly quickly.
(37:17):
They have a vested interest in you choosing one of
their business partners. That's exactly how they make money. And
these folks are making a ton of money, a massive
amount of money. There's nothing free at all about these
(37:38):
free referral services. They're not volunteers, they're not a charity.
They're not doing this out of the kindness of their heart.
They're making a massive amount of money and you're the product.
That's how it works. So I worked with this very
(38:03):
nice lady. She is so sweet and she needs care
for her husband. And she said, Steve, full disclosure. I
worked with you know, blah blah blah free referral service
and went around and looked at some assisted living facilities.
(38:23):
I'm like, you did what?
Speaker 5 (38:25):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, we went to these assisted living communities, she said,
I knew instantly walking into two or three of them.
My husband doesn't belong here. He needs a lot more
care than that. And I'm like, look, anybody with two
eyes and at least two brain cells. That does any
sort of honest evaluation, an assessment on your husband would
(38:50):
know he is appropriate for long term care one hundred percent,
not appropriate for assisted living. So I asked her the question,
and I said, so, why do you think they took
you to some of these assisted living places? And she said, oh,
it was to generate their their income, their commission. I said, yeah,
(39:15):
it appears, it appears, so it appears that that happened.
And I get calls all the time from people who
were placed in assisted living. In a very short period
of time, they got a discharge letter stating we can
no longer meet your needs, and then I have to
work with the family, and I'm happy to do so,
(39:37):
but I'm really correcting a mistake. I'm working with the
family to find the right level of care, the right
fit for their loved one, because they never should have
gone to assisted living in the first place. So it
becomes just glaringly obvious. And you know what I think
(39:58):
I'm going to do, Daran. I think what I'm going
to do is I'm not today, but sometime soon, I
think I'm going to write a commercial something to the
effect of friends don't let friends use free referral services
just like you hear you know the friends don't let friends,
you know, drive drunk or whatever, whatever the kind of
(40:19):
the cliche is, friends don't let friends use free referral services.
Because I have story after story after story just like this,
and some of these folks out in the community actually stating, oh, well,
we don't go there because they're not willing to pay
(40:39):
us our fees. Unbelievable. And if you're an elder law
attorney or any other professional provider referring your clients to
these free referral services, ask yourself the question, did they
take my client, my beloved client, my trusting client to
(41:00):
the best place for them? Where did they take my
client to the place generating them the highest commission? If
you refer to Senior Care Consulting, that question does not exist.
If you want to learn more about Senior Care Consulting,
reach out today nine one three nine four five twenty
(41:21):
eight hundred nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred,
or visit online at Senior care Consulting dot com. All right,
I'm Steve Keeker, and I wish you grace in peace.
May God bless you and your family On this day
and always join me next week right here on Senior
(41:44):
Care Live.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care, and they need to know
about you. A unique and success USPEL radio program called
Senior Care Live is the perfect opportunity to let your
target audience know about your amazing products and services. Senior
(42:09):
Care Live is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors,
and if you're aligned with their mission, they want to
talk to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations,
physician groups, home care providers, a state planning and older
law practices, financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home
health agencies, and other providers serving the elderly and their caregivers.
(42:33):
Senior Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred or visit seniorcare live dot com seniorcare live
dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:11):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider. Ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest and without the quid pro quo
(43:35):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred.
Nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred Replacement
Service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant,
Steve Keecker, Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Steve Keeker. You're a senior care consultant and I
really appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful
program on tap with my friend and special guest in
the studio. He's mister Ben Sochek with Home Downsizing Solutions,
and Ben, welcome back to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Hi Steve, great to be back, and as always, hopefully
I can impart some great information for individuals today that
are listening to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, you always do, and I think this information is
really really interesting and important to learn. If you want
to reach out to Ben with his firm Home Downsizing Solutions,
write this phone number down. You may need to use
it right away, maybe in six months, maybe in a year,
but if you need, if you're in a situation where
(01:13):
you need to sell your house and move on to
your next your next chapter, whether that's senior living, maybe
you're downsizing, or some other living arrangement. Talk to Ben Socheck.
He can buy your house and as his condition, offer
lots of benefits that we're going to talk about. Eight
five five two nine one five zero zero five. That's
(01:34):
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five.
Could also go online. It's an excellent website Home downsizing
dot com and Ben for any new listeners, let's just
have a brief review of exactly what you do with
your business Home Downsizing Solutions.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Sure, thank you, Steve. Just a brief recap. I guess
essentially we buy how as is for cash on your
dated choice that when a person wants to close. And
the couple of things that I always tell people is
if the benefits that I offer are a value, we
can be a great solution. If they're not, then we're
(02:16):
probably not the best solution to sell a house. Our
primary benefits, of course, are a person, if especially if
a house needs repairs, updating, hasn't had any of that
for a long time, will buy a house in any condition,
with or without all the stuff in it. So even
hoarding situations or situations where a person just has not
(02:37):
been able to take care of a house for a
long time. That is our specialty. So we do everything
that we can to make it very easy to move
from a house that a person's been in a long
time into a smaller apartment, a smaller home, or some
type of senior living arrangement. So anything under that umbrella
(02:59):
is is what we do.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I'll say, I'm going to vouch for you here.
Ben is a veteran. This is a Better Business Bureau,
a plus rated company. This is a legitimate company. This
isn't one of these fly by night kind of wholesalers
that are just looking to flip your house on paper. Okay,
(03:23):
there is real money available. They can write you a check.
They can close as soon as just a few days,
as soon as the title company can do their work.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's our only hold up, so to speak, is as
soon as the title company gets the agreement, the purchase
agreement from us, and they can check title and prepare
closing paperwork, we can close. We have the funding available
almost well immediately, so that's our only hold up. We've
purchased houses in as little as twenty four hours from
having an agreement in the past. Yeah, but typically three
(03:54):
to five three to seven days is our typical closing time.
That doesn't mean you have to move out right away. Yeah,
that's usually one of the questions we get is do
we have to leave that quickly? And no, is the
answer to that. We can close quickly though, so that
a seller knows that the house is sold. But then
(04:15):
then the seller can keep possession for a length of
time afterwards that we've agreed upon, until you can make
that move according to your schedule. Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Okay, And that is super super valuable. And you have
really found a niche in all of these years. How
long have you been in this business?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I either hate to say or it's a great thing
to say that I've been a home buyer or I've
had a company that's bought houses for over twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, okay, Yeah, so Ben is not some newbie out
there experimenting on you, trying to figure it out. He's
been doing this for a very long time, operating at
a very high level in treating people right. You're not
in business for twenty eight years unless you're doing you're
doing business the right way. And so I guess what
(05:04):
I'm trying to say is the offer from Ben is
going to be a fair offer. He's not going to
insult you. He's not going to look at a two
hundred thousand dollars house and say, hey, I'll give you
ten grand for it, right, just hoping to try to
steal it. Like you hear so many horror stories, all
of these advertisements and online just flood of all of
these folks trying to steal your house. That is not
(05:26):
Home Downsizing Solutions. If you want to talk to an
honest person who's been doing this business for a long
time eight five five two nine one five zero zero
five online at home Doownsizing dot com and Ben we
were visiting earlier before the program about you have really
found a niche over the years working with individuals who
(05:48):
will be downsizing from their home into some type of
senior living arrangement.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
That's correct for years. Of course, we buy houses from
anyone that wants to sell us a house, yeah yeah,
and finds value and the benefits we offer. But after
the two thousand and eight market correction, we had more
individuals coming to us, the homeowners and sometimes they're family members,
adult children that wanted to sell and because they had
(06:17):
equity in the house, I actually could sell the house
compared to a lot of people that had too much
debt on their house. And so we worked more and
more with individuals in kind of this downsizing themed market
and really found that that's who appreciated what we did
and again found value in the benefits we offered compared
(06:41):
to some of the other scenarios that are out there,
and so yes, we started coming up with better ways
to serve them, always trying to find ways to provide
more value to people. And I think was I wasn't
aware of many other companies or people the time that
would give multiple solutions on how to buy making offers
(07:06):
on how to buy a house. Usually it was just
the real estate agent wanting to list the house, or
the cash home buying company if they were real making
one cash offer. And so I thought it was kind
of unique at the time when we started making multiple offers,
offering multiple solutions to fit a person's unique situation.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Absolutely, And you know, I work with a lot of
individuals and frankly, they they're depending on the sale of
their house and using those funds to at least in
part or maybe totally fund the care that they would
receive in assisted living or long term care or memory care.
(07:50):
So you know, let's talk about how you've worked with
some clients where you know, you've been able to buy
their house and they've used that to fund their senior care.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Absolutely, we've worked with a lot of people, of course,
that wanted to downsize and get into a smaller apartment,
a smaller home, or other type of senior living arrangement.
And certainly that is one of the biggest things is Okay,
I'm going from a house that I might have paid
off at this point, but I really don't want to
(08:20):
be here anymore, and I'm getting into an apartment or
something that may actually cost me more money. So one
of the common issues is how do I pay for
that on an ongoing basis? And so the sale of
a house is very common to help fund that new lifestyle.
And so that's another reason why we came up with
(08:40):
multiple ways to buy a house, is because sometimes a
person just getting a lump sum of cash, even though
that's the most common thing for people to do, it's
not always sometimes the best option depending on their circumstance.
And so that's another reason why we came up with
of course, we can offer a cash purchase, which again
is the most common way to buy a house. But
(09:02):
when we can buy a house with the seller essentially
becoming the bank, we make payments to the seller over
a period of time that allow the seller to get
an overall higher price for the house than that they
just sold it for one cash price. And again there's
all kinds of different variables in there, but being flexible
(09:24):
with how to buy the house and how to have
the seller turn the house into monthly payments is one
way to help the seller in that circumstance.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You know, And after the break, I would love to
discuss that further. I think that's a very interesting concept.
You're almost innuitizing the value of that you're basically neutizing
the value of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
That's correct, turning an asset into an income stream.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
An income stream on a monthly basis, And that could
be a huge opportunity for so many people to say, Hey,
it actually might be a negative for me to have
this lump sum of X dollars, but if I can
turn it into an income stream over a period of time,
what's that period?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Usually the period of time could be anywhere from five
to twenty plus years. Okay, it just depends on the
person's needs.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
All right, so we're gonna I want to talk more
about that here in just a second. He's mister Ben
Socheck with home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two nine
one five zero zero five or online at home Doownsizing
dot com. And now the Senior Care Live Question of
the Week with home downsizing Solutions. Once the sale of
(10:36):
your house is closed, you must leave the house? Is
that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live
dot com. All right, back to the Senior Care Live
Question of the Week with home downsizing solutions. Once the
sale of your house is closed, you must leave the house?
(11:26):
Does that statement true or false? And the answer is.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
False?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
The answer is false, And Ben, I suppose you could
leave the house, but you certainly don't have to.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
That's correct, Steve in our case. Anyway, I'll step back
a little bit in a traditional home sale. When a
person buys a house, they typically are going to assume
that they can move in immediately. Yeah, and understandably, once
they've written a check or signed for a loan, they
want possession of the house. In our case, when we
purchase a house, we know at a time, if it's
(12:04):
discussed with the seller anyway, that if they need time
to move from the house into their new home apartment
senior community, then that's part of our arrangement is we
let them stay in the house for sometimes thirty sixty
ninety days or more so that they can make that
transition to their new home without the stress and hassles
(12:24):
of having to move twice in there. And sometimes we
can even make arrangements that we can buy the house
and they can just rent from us indefinitely.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Okay, And there's another option.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
There's another option, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
All right. So if you have some questions, if this
is getting your attention, you're like, wait a minute, at
the end of that last segment, you're talking about instead
of a lump sum, you could pay me an income stream.
You know, what is that all about. We're going to
talk about that a little bit more. But if you
have specific questions about your specific situation, your house, and
your needs. I would encourage you to reach out to
(12:58):
Ben So check with Home Downside Solutions eight five five
two nine one five zero zero five or online at
home Downsizing dot com. So let's talk about that. So
we had talked about I just didn't want to rush
through that. So we had talked about basically annuitizing the
value of your house and instead of getting a lump
(13:20):
sum of X dollars whatever that is. And you're buying
a house, and as is a situation? Is uh or
what do I want to say? As is condition condition?
The word condition just fled my mind there just for
a second. But anyway, so, yeah, as his condition, but
an income stream might be a better fit. So how
(13:41):
exactly does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The agreement is pretty much straightforward, and again it can
be tailored the length of time that we're making payments
to a person. All of those characteristics I guess of
the transaction can be tailored to a person's unique situation.
But in general, instead of taking a certain number just
(14:06):
to buy the house right right when we close for
a cash amount, which again is the most common way
that people sell a house, if we can buy a
house on payments. From a company's perspective, we can pay
a lot more for an overall price for the house
because it's easier for us to buy that house, and
we can then make those payments again on a monthly
(14:29):
basis over whatever a period of time that we agree upon, so.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It could be five or ten years, or even fifteen
or twenty years, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
We have done transactions anywhere from five literally to twenty
twenty two years. And of course sometimes to a person
will say I don't mind having payments for a while,
but at ten years, I want to be paid off, okay,
And of course we can do that too.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
So you can.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Payments for a period of time and then a lump
some ballots at the end of that period.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
That's correct. Do we can set up kind of whatever
works for a person's unique situation. We've even in the
past we've had it set up to run to make
payments for say twenty years, but something happened, uh with
the family at say seven to ten years, and they
came to us and said, you know, can we just
(15:19):
get paid off and be done with it? Yeah, And
we have gone ahead and done that. True, okay, So
again it's it's very customizable to what a person really needs.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That you talk about the ultimate inflexibility Home downsizing solutions
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five.
And you know what, maybe sometimes maybe you qualify for
a particular program, if you're a veteran or another type
of a program that's helping you with some cost maybe
having a lump some payment, maybe that disqualifies you from
(15:54):
some sort of a benefit that you've qualified for, and
maybe increasing your monthly income is certainly okay, and so
maybe you can have an increased income and you can
still enjoy that that benefit of the program that you've
qualified for. It just it may make sense in your
own situation eight five five two nine one five zero
(16:17):
zero five or online at home downsizing dot com turn
your house that asset into into cash a cash lump
sum payment or a monthly income for a period of time,
and then you can combine that monthly income for a
period of time and then a lump sum balance at
the end of that timeframe. Ultimately, it's customizable for the
(16:38):
persons situation that's correct.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And the other situation that we've encountered before that we
spoke about before the show Steve is situations where maybe
a family member was set to inherit the proceeds from
the sale of a house, but maybe it's a situation
where they're not old enough to control money, or if
(17:03):
the family has a has an inkling that maybe this
individual that's a beneficiary should not be having a lump
sum of money right now in this part, in this
time of his life. We've also done situations where we
had we paid a small amount of closing and then
had an agreement to pay the large amount, say in
(17:23):
seven to ten years, so that that beneficiary was not
going to be in in possession of a large amount
of money that they might have just squandered immediately. So
it's kind of like a deferred benefit type of program.
So again we can kind of customize the sale of
the house to whatever a person needs to happen to
(17:43):
fit their situation.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, like you were saying, this large sum of money
was going to a very young person, and the person
who had you know, responsibility and for them suggested that hey,
you know, maybe a little bit now, but the majority
of it, let's let them grow up, mature a little bit,
learn about money so that they hopefully they won't they
won't blow that large sum in ten years from now
(18:06):
versus today. I think it's super smart. You're kind of
protecting them from from themselves or making just poor choices
because they just don't know any better. They're too young.
That's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's that's what you hope is that the personal representative
of the estate in that situation was doing the best
they thought for that beneficiary so that they were not
setting them up to fail.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And then if you are a client, that someone that
I might work with, and your you found the perfect place,
the ideal apartment in this perfect assistant living community, but
that apartment is not going to be ready until the
first of January or you know, two or three months
from now or six months whatever. Usually it's a two
(18:49):
or three month wait. But you need to sell your
house and move on and take care of all these things.
You can live in the house even after the sale
is closed. Reach out to Ben Socheck Home Downsizing Solutions
eight five five two nine one five zero zero five
or online at home downsizing dot com. And Ben, thanks
(19:13):
so much for being here today. Super exciting to hear
about some of these options, especially turning that that house
into this monthly income stream. That's an excellent option.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Absolutely, thank you for having me again, Steve. If I
can write any information out there for their is about
how something could work for them, please contact me at
home doownsizing dot com and I'd be happy to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Ben Socheck, We'll have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on
average you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to
find a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
(20:23):
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
You'll spend just.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
A few hours of your time finding the best place available,
and you can trust us to be objective because we
don't receive reimbursement from any provider we work for you.
To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine one
three nine four five twenty eight hundred nine nine four
five twenty eight hundred, a placement service with integrity at
(20:54):
Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm gonna shift gears. You know, last week I talked
to the entire program was really on medicaid and how
it works and what it pays for, how to qualify
(21:28):
for it, and even some of the kind of some
of the limitations, and then how to take advantage, you know,
potentially take advantage of some state specific rules and regulations
and then use some of these rules and regulations to
your favor. And again I strongly encouraged don't try to
(21:52):
wing it. Don't try to do this on your own.
To reach out to a local experienced l older law attorney.
They are specialists in the area of elder law, and
you can find one at NYALA dot org. It's n
a e l A National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
(22:14):
n a e l A dot org. You can type
in your city or your state, or your zip code
and then it will go out you know a certain distance.
You can specify the distance, and then we'll give you
list of local elder law attorneys and then and speak
with you know, two or three of them and find
out which one you feel would be the best fit
(22:35):
for you and work with them on this. You want
to do it right, and if if you do this right,
it could really really turn turn a kind of a
tough situation to your favor, all Right. So I received
a number of questions about, you know, how does this
income work? So I just wanted to kind of touch
(22:57):
on this again, just this one part of brief a
brief recap. So I explained that in the state of Missouri,
your liquid assets have to be spent down to five
nine hundred and nine dollars and then you qualify for
Medicaid to help pay for the majority of your cost
of your stay at a long term care community. In
the state of Kansas, it's two thousand dollars and so
(23:19):
basically you're almost out of money. And so the question
I always ask my clients is is there a chance
that you may outlive your assets? And if the answer
is yes, then we need to talk about medicaid and
go through that whole conversation, which I do pretty much
every time I sit down with clients. We have a
good talk about that. But I've I was asked so,
(23:43):
and in all the other states the numbers are very
very similar. So you know, Missouri is fifty nine on nine,
Kansas two thousand, you're almost you have very very little
money left. Well, so, Steven, if I'm in the state
of Kansas and I'm to two thousand dollars, and what
if my income every month is two thousand dollars, Well,
(24:05):
now I have four thousand dollars. Do I get kicked
out of medicate? No, you don't. That's a separate that's
a separate issue, separate situation. So your assets are your assets,
your income is your income. So your income comes in
first of all, your assets are at two thousand, you qualify,
(24:25):
so your income comes in and your income can be
what it is, what it is, it's twelve hundred dollars,
nine hundred dollars, twenty nine hundred dollars, whatever the number is.
In your you're living in a long term care community
also known as a nursing home. You're receiving that highest level,
that medical level of care. So you take your monthly income.
(24:47):
Every month, you deduct your health insurance cost and that's
going to be your Medicare premiums. So it's going to
be your Part B premium, and then you're probably a
Part D to pay for your prescription medications. And then
you're going to have, if you're really, really smart, and
most people are, you're going to have that Medicare supplement
(25:10):
that pays the other twenty percent that Part B does
not pay, right, So that is your supplemental insurance. You
have Plan F, which pays for literally everything, but they
don't see if you could have one now, if you're
just now buying it, they don't sell it anymore. You'd
have to buy a Plan G, which is very similar.
(25:31):
My mother has a Plan N, which is also very
similar and a lot more affordable. But the bottom line
is you have your income minus whatever you're paying for
your Medicare supplement in your Part D. Okay, so whatever
that is, take it right off the top of your income.
(25:52):
In the state of Kansas, you get to keep sixty
two dollars per month as the personal needs allowance. Don't
end it all in one place. About that, all right,
So that's enough. That's just a little spending change, is
really what it is. In the state of Missouri, you
get to keep fifty dollars. So and again all of
(26:13):
these states around the country, they're all very, very similar.
So your income pay your Medicare health insurance premiums, you
keep a couple of bucks, and whatever is left, whether
it's two hundred dollars or two thousand dollars, whatever's left
goes back to the long term care community. As technically
(26:38):
it's referred to as a patient liability I like to
speak in English, I call it a copay because that's
what it is. Every month, your income pay your Medicare premiums,
you keep a couple of bucks. Whatever's left over, that
goes back to the nursing home. That is your contribution
towards the cost of your care. And then Medicaid would
(26:59):
pay the long term care community, they would pay them
the difference, and their medicator is almost always paying the
vast majority of that monthly cost. And then what is
not seen by most folks is typically the long term
care community is accepting less than what they bill. Okay.
(27:22):
So let's say they may charge three hundred and fifty
dollars a day, but they're willing to accept three hundred
dollars a day from medicaidor is payment in full. They
write off the fifty bucks a day, so they have
a write off. I would probably technically call that a
contractual allowance, okay, but they write it off. They accept
(27:44):
three hundred dollars a day. The person pays what they
can pay, Medicaid pays them the majority every month. That's
what happens, okay. So your income and what happens to
that every month has no impact on that asset calation.
So hopefully that's more clear. I kind of skimmed by
that a little bit quickly last week.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And then you.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Always have the question, well, Steve, can I just give
my money away? I was working with a guy one time,
and he was a good guy, but you know, there
was some money on there that needed to be spent
down around one hundred thousand, I think, and he looked
at me and said, Steve, what if that money just
(28:28):
and he puts up his air quotes. What if that
money just disappears? What if it just goes away? With
his little air quotes and he starts laughing. I looked
at him and I said, sir, how do you look
in a bright orange jumpsuit? Because that is horribly against
(28:50):
the law. It's a federal offense. Don't do it. I'm
just telling you, you're not going to think of something
that they haven't already seen. I don't do it. And
if you get caught, you're in huge trouble. Okay, Now,
you can make a gift, but you need to be
(29:10):
very careful on how you do this because a gift
may result in a Medicaid penalty. And as part of
the Deficit Reduction Act back in February eighth, two thousand
and six, under President Bush, they went from a three
year look back to a five year lookback period. So
(29:32):
what that means is five years. So from the day
you qualify for Medicaid, okay, five years and one day ago,
you could you could give away one hundred thousand dollars
and it's irrelevant, literally irrelevant. Okay, you give away the
one hundred thousand dollars within that five year lookback period,
it will trigger a penalty, okay, and you don't want
(29:54):
to deal with that penalty. Okay. The penalty starts when
you qualify for Medicaid, the day you qualify, not the
day that you made that gift. So again, you can
do some creative things okay with this, but it needs
to be handled under the expert guidance of an elder
(30:16):
law attorney. Go to na e LA dot org to
find a local elder law attorney in your area. Also,
if you're going to move to senior care, make sure
that you have your power of attorney documents updated and
in place. And again I wouldn't use one of these
(30:38):
you know one page you know freebies that you can
find on the internet, the super generic I so and
so authorize you so and so to do anything you
want to do with my money. Okay. Try to take
that to a bank and close out an account that
has you know, fifty thousand dollars in it. They're not
going to let you do it. The vast majority of
the banks need something a lot more specific than that.
(31:01):
So again, you can go to an estate planning attorney
or your elder law attorney and have thorough properly written,
thorough well written power of attorney documents for finances and
power of attorney documents for healthcare. And they should include
advanced directives which would be your living will. Okay, so
(31:27):
let's just not forget about. We are working again with
the state planning attorneys, elder law attorneys for all of
these things. They're going to do it right. It's some
of the best money you will ever spend. And I'll
have more coming up next.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior Care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(32:20):
not another run of the mill, free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy, operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(32:43):
owning a Senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six or visit Seniorcareconsulting
dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(33:11):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com. All right, So, my goodness, it
seems like I'm running into this about every week, running
into some questionable work from some of these free referral services.
(33:34):
My goodness, gracious, I'll have a story for you here
in just a second. But I was visiting with a
super nice lady a couple of weeks ago, and she
wants to use She wants to move forward with Senior
Care Consulting. She understands that with Senior Care Consulting, we
(33:55):
work directly for our clients. We don't receive kickbacks from
any of the providers out there. I believe that's a
gross conflict of interests. She agrees, She said, well, at
that point, you just represent a sale to them, and
as long as you choose one of their places, they're
going to get their six to eight thousand dollars commission.
(34:19):
Some would call that a kickback from the assistant living community.
And so how do I know if they took me
to the best place for my mother or if they
took me to the place where they received the highest commission.
I said, exactly, you get it, exactly, You get it
exactly right. And she said, here's my challenge. My dad
(34:42):
had reached out to one of these free referral services.
He's not convinced it's the best way to go, but
according to his dad, he said, hey, I don't know
why should we pay a reasonable flat fee for service
for senior care consulting. But I can get this done
for free. I'm cheap. That was the quote. I gasped
(35:04):
a little bit, and I said, this is no time
to be cheap, No time to be cheap. I said, ma'am,
you're trusting total strangers to provide the most intimate of
care for your mother who has dementia. You are totally
(35:29):
trusting them to do good job, to give her her
medications properly, to treat her with dignity and respect and
kindness to see her in her most vulnerable condition at times.
This is no time to be cheap, no time to
be cheap. And she said, you're right, You're right. Okay,
(35:52):
I'm gonna I'm going to talk to my dad that
you are you are one hundred percent correct. So I'm
going to end up working with these with these with
these really nice people, and I'm going to help them
out in a major, major way. But it's interesting because
you have all these free referral services out there. Free
(36:12):
is a powerful word. I'm cheap. Okay, well, at least
he admitted it, all right, So when look, when you
use a free referral service, did they take you to
the best places for you? Or did they take you
to the places where their buddies are going to stroke
(36:35):
them a six thousand to eight thousand dollars check? And
don't you think that's at least a little bit of
a conflict of interest. So some of the questions you
might ask is, how did you come up with this
list of finalists? How many places on this list do
not pay you a commission? Well, they all pay us
(36:55):
a commission. Oh okay, really, so all of the places
in the market that do not pay you a commission.
You mean they're not good enough to show up on
your list. Okay, you could just ask some basic, straightforward,
common questions and it will become clear to you fairly quickly.
(37:17):
They have a vested interest in you choosing one of
their business partners. That's exactly how they make money. And
these folks are making a ton of money, a massive
amount of money. There's nothing free at all about these
(37:38):
free referral services. They're not volunteers, they're not a charity.
They're not doing this out of the kindness of their heart.
They're making a massive amount of money and you're the product.
That's how it works. So I worked with this very
(38:03):
nice lady. She is so sweet and she needs care
for her husband. And she said, Steve, full disclosure. I
worked with you know, blah blah blah free referral service
and went around and looked at some assisted living facilities.
(38:23):
I'm like, you did what?
Speaker 5 (38:25):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, we went to these assisted living communities, she said,
I knew instantly walking into two or three of them.
My husband doesn't belong here. He needs a lot more
care than that. And I'm like, look, anybody with two
eyes and at least two brain cells. That does any
sort of honest evaluation, an assessment on your husband would
(38:50):
know he is appropriate for long term care one hundred percent,
not appropriate for assisted living. So I asked her the question,
and I said, so, why do you think they took
you to some of these assisted living places? And she said, oh,
it was to generate their their income, their commission. I said, yeah,
(39:15):
it appears, it appears, so it appears that that happened.
And I get calls all the time from people who
were placed in assisted living. In a very short period
of time, they got a discharge letter stating we can
no longer meet your needs, and then I have to
work with the family, and I'm happy to do so,
(39:37):
but I'm really correcting a mistake. I'm working with the
family to find the right level of care, the right
fit for their loved one, because they never should have
gone to assisted living in the first place. So it
becomes just glaringly obvious. And you know what I think
(39:58):
I'm going to do, Daran. I think what I'm going
to do is I'm not today, but sometime soon, I
think I'm going to write a commercial something to the
effect of friends don't let friends use free referral services
just like you hear you know the friends don't let friends,
you know, drive drunk or whatever, whatever the kind of
(40:19):
the cliche is, friends don't let friends use free referral services.
Because I have story after story after story just like this,
and some of these folks out in the community actually stating, oh, well,
we don't go there because they're not willing to pay
(40:39):
us our fees. Unbelievable. And if you're an elder law
attorney or any other professional provider referring your clients to
these free referral services, ask yourself the question, did they
take my client, my beloved client, my trusting client to
(41:00):
the best place for them? Where did they take my
client to the place generating them the highest commission? If
you refer to Senior Care Consulting, that question does not exist.
If you want to learn more about Senior Care Consulting,
reach out today nine one three nine four five twenty
(41:21):
eight hundred nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred,
or visit online at Senior care Consulting dot com. All right,
I'm Steve Keeker, and I wish you grace in peace.
May God bless you and your family On this day
and always join me next week right here on Senior
(41:44):
Care Live.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care, and they need to know
about you. A unique and success USPEL radio program called
Senior Care Live is the perfect opportunity to let your
target audience know about your amazing products and services. Senior
(42:09):
Care Live is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors,
and if you're aligned with their mission, they want to
talk to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations,
physician groups, home care providers, a state planning and older
law practices, financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home
health agencies, and other providers serving the elderly and their caregivers.
(42:33):
Senior Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred or visit seniorcare live dot com seniorcare live
dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:11):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider. Ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest and without the quid pro quo
(43:35):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred.
Nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred Replacement
Service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
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