Скачать или смотреть "90% Refundable Entrance Fee" - She Paid $185,000 and Got $0 Back (Bankruptcy 2011)

A glossy brochure promised "luxury retirement living—pay once, live worry-free forever." Janet Morrison, 73, sold her house for $340,000 in 2007. She paid $185,000 entrance fee to Sunrise Manor in Scottsdale—90% refundable when she left. Monthly fees: $2,400.
Three years later, the financial crisis destroyed the parent company. Senior Living Enterprises operated 47 communities and owed $680 million. They'd used entrance fees to cover operating losses—a Ponzi structure. Bankruptcy in 2011.
Janet's $185,000 entrance fee: gone. She received $0. 3,400 residents across 47 communities lost entrance fees totaling $568 million. Average loss: $167,000.
New owners bought Sunrise Manor and immediately raised fees. 2010: $2,400 monthly. 2011: $3,100. 2012: $3,680. 2013: $4,200. A 75% increase in three years. Janet couldn't afford it but couldn't leave—she'd lost the $185,000 refund she needed to move elsewhere. She was trapped.
Janet paid $420,000 in monthly fees over eleven years (2007-2017). Total paid: $605,000 ($185,000 entrance + $420,000 fees). Amount refunded: $0. Her savings of $155,000 depleted covering rising fees. By 2017 she was broke. She moved to Medicaid nursing home in 2018, died in 2022.
If Janet had rented an apartment at $2,000 monthly, she'd have spent $264,000 over eleven years and kept $76,000. Instead she paid $605,000 for "worry-free retirement" and ended on Medicaid.
The entrance fee model: pay large upfront fee ($100k-$500k), get 50-90% refunded when you leave. Reality: entrance fees are unsecured debt. If company goes bankrupt, you're last in line. Janet and 12,000 others lost everything.
Senior Living Enterprises borrowed $680 million to build communities. When 2008 hit, new entrance fees dried up. They used existing entrance fees to cover operating losses. Ponzi structure collapsed. Bankruptcy court ruled entrance fees were unsecured liabilities—residents got nothing.
New owners raised monthly fees knowing trapped residents couldn't leave without refunds they'd never get. This pattern repeated across all 47 communities.
Here's how entrance fee communities work, why refund promises mean nothing in bankruptcy, and what you must verify before paying six figures to a retirement facility.

📚 SOURCES:

Senior Living Enterprises bankruptcy court documents (2011-2013)
Entrance fee contract agreements
Monthly fee increase records
Bankruptcy creditor distribution schedules
Resident and family interviews (2023-2024)

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