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Health & Fitness

A New Lifestyle of Senior Care: Home Sharing a la Golden Girls

Senior Care: Golden Girl Homes - A New Lifestyle, written by Stan Lawson of Sequoia Senior Solutions

Who doesn’t remember the Golden Girls, the 1980s sitcom with Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia. Boomer women have turned to that model lifestyle as they have moved into being “women of a certain age” themselves.  AARP Bulletin brought this up in a recent edition since a group of women living in a Golden Girl home in Mount Lebanon, PA, have written a book “My House, Our House: Living Far Better for Far Less in a Cooperative Household.”

Authors and house sharers Louise Machinist, Jean McQuillin and Karen Bush began sharing a home when they were in their 50s in 2004 and are still together now that they are seniors and have moved into their 60s. And they are not the only single older women using this lifestyle to provide better housing and an instant community. There are even online websites, workshops and meetings to help women find housemates, which is a good alternative method of senior care to living alone.

Louise Machinist, a clinical psychologist, was ready to move out of her house now that her children were grown. Jean McQuillin, a case management nurse, had just moved into a rental apartment from the home she had shared with her then-husband. Karen Bush's job as a corporate consultant required her to travel often, which meant making arrangements for her cat and fish — and returning to an empty house.

For the women, buying a home to share made sense. Said Machinist, "There's every advantage to be gained from it."

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(Watch the video on our blog to see how the trio make their shared household work.)

Going by various names like co-housing, cooperative housing, house sharing, home sharing, Golden Girl homes, this living arrangement breaks a traditional mold.

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Population Factoids

U.S. Census Bureau data shows about 4 million households inhabited by unrelated adults, but many of them are younger roommates. Since 1990, the overall divorce rate for the 50-plus demographic has doubled.

According to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research, one out of three boomers will probably face old age without a spouse. Women, on average, live about five years longer than men. Adult children are often far away.

An increasing number of single midlifers and retirees are moving in together to improve their standard of living and find companionship. Of those, the vast majority are women.

In 2010 there were approximately 480,000 boomer women living with at least one female nonrelative roommate -- without a husband in sight, according to an AARP analysis of population survey data. That's approximately 130,000 Golden-Girl-type households across the country.

How it works

The Mount Lebanon trio took out a $300,000 mortgage on their $395,000 purchase and worked with a lawyer to form a general partnership that owns the property. They also established a fixed monthly fee to cover household expenses.

There are specific limits on the number of overnight guests each owner can have. And no partner can sell her share in the home without the permission of the other two. The agreement also has a provision for binding arbitration in the case of an unresolvable difference.

"Although we love each other like friends and like sisters, we took a rational approach because there's no room for sentimentality when it comes to protecting our financial security," says Machinist. "We trust each other completely, but planned it as if we don't."

For all the formality of the business partnership, the social arrangements are loose.

"We cook when we want to; all the food is up for grabs," McQuillin says. "Sometimes we are actually home at the same time and enjoy eating together. Someone might say, 'I'm making something; do you want to join me?' Or not."

Saving money

The shared house has allowed the women to conserve energy and save money. Their annual utility bill runs around $5,000; each had been spending around $3,000 to heat and power her individual home.

Each pays the monthly household fee of $1,600, which covers the mortgage, taxes, utilities, home maintenance, food and other costs. Machinist says that is about the same as her old mortgage and tax payments alone.

While the women are not sure how the house sharing is going to end, they have everything they need right now. They'll worry about that later, say these converts, and remain right where they are. Says Machinist, "This is the best way I've ever lived."

You can find more information at National Shared Housing Resource Center.

Golden Girls: http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv152/Julianna_Hearts_Gage/the-golden-girls.jpg



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