South Bay Senior Guide

The visit checklist

Built to print or pull up on your phone in the parking lot before you walk in. Nothing here replaces the questions worth having answered before you choose — bring that list with you.

Before you arrive

  • Confirm the exact license number and pull up the state record on your phone — you can compare what you see against it in real time.
  • Go in with your list from before you choose already written down, not something you plan to remember.
  • If you can, go unannounced or arrive a few minutes early. How a place looks on an ordinary afternoon tells you more than how it looks for a scheduled tour.

What to observe

  • Smell, before anything else — a covered-up smell is more concerning than an honest one.
  • Whether residents look engaged, asleep, or parked in front of a television with no one nearby.
  • Whether staff greet residents by name, or by "sweetie" and "honey" to everyone.
  • The state of the bathrooms specifically, not just the common areas the tour is built around.
  • Whether call lights or call buttons are answered while you are there — you may get to see this happen in real time.
  • The ratio of staff to residents you can actually count, not the number a brochure states.

Questions to ask

  • Everything from the before you choose checklist — bring it with you.
  • "Can I see the room I would actually be looking at, not a model room?"
  • "What is a typical day, hour by hour?"
  • "What happens on a night when only one staff member is on?"

Questions worth asking privately

  • If you can speak briefly with a caregiver away from a manager, ask how they like working there — turnover shows up in the answer before it shows up anywhere else.
  • Ask what they would want you to know that no one told you on the tour.

Things to notice that are not on the tour

  • The parking lot and entrance at a time you were not expected — is it maintained the same way?
  • How phone calls are answered when you call back a day later, not during a scheduled visit.
  • Whether the answers you get match what the website or listing said.

What to ask about the contract

  • Ask for a blank copy of the contract to read at home, not just a summary.
  • Ask what is guaranteed in writing versus what was said verbally on the tour.
  • Ask what the actual process is to move out or be asked to leave.

What to record afterward

  • Write down the date, who you spoke with, and what they said — memory blends tours together faster than you expect.
  • Note anything you were told that you have not yet confirmed in writing.

After the visit

Would you consider this home?

Yes · Maybe · No

Why?

Also worth reading: things worth paying attention to during and after a visit.