Oakmont of Capriana

I toured Oakmont of Capriana. There was a little miscommunication of my going out for a visit. When I went, there was a little mix up, but the woman was very, very kind. She said, "Please come back when I have more time," but we did walk through, and oh my goodness, it was a lovely place. She even gave me a little cart of cheeses and sausages and apricots as I left, and she said, "This is for you, and you can eat it on your way home." She was waiting for me there. It's a gated community, and she opened the gate right away when I came. She was very kind, and the receptionist was very kind, too. She answered questions. I saw that the residents have snacks every day. They have fresh baked cookies. The residents were just sitting out there. I went to different activity rooms. It was a beautiful setting. Outside, the courtyard was very inviting for the residents. And I said, "Where is everybody?" She said, "They just had a Father's Day there." I saw the movie place, and they were watching It Happened One Night, and there were several people there. One disappointment was, when I talked with them on the phone about prices, I thought they would have a studio. But it was a little disappointing because I think it's $145,000 down that you put in and you don't get it back unless you move out, so I knew my loved ones couldn't do that for a studio. When I went there, I thought that the studio would be an option, and I don't know if it's really an option for new residents to come in, and that was a disappointment. However, she was just very inviting, and just wonderful. The building was very nice and very well kept. The food looked outstanding. Even the waiters were very polite, very professional, and very well dressed. I thought it was an excellent idea for the seniors that at each meal they have a sample. I don't know if it's wax or real, but it shows exactly what the meal is, so that if they can't read or if they're not quite computing or for whatever reason, it helps them see immediately what the choices are individually. They could also eat inside or outside.

What I liked the most about Oakmont of Capriana was probably the activities. They play Bridge (I am a big Bridge player). I love dogs, and they have places that overlook the dog park. They allow pets. I was also impressed with the menu in the dining room. It looked pretty high scale. They pretty much have the same stuff as the other facilities like housekeeping and everything. They have a washer dryer in the unit itself if you wanted to do your own laundry or you could have somebody do it for you. The two-bedroom that I looked at was like a house. I was blown away by the size of the apartment. It was huge. The one-bedroom was fairly good sized, too. Everyone was very friendly. There were more people up and visible when I visited. The only problem was the entrance fee. It's $50,000, and that's a lot of money. They actually wanted a $500,000 deposit and you get 90%of that back. It is still $50,000 that you're paying just to live there, and that doesn't cover your monthly fees or anything. That's just the entrance fee. I thought that was a little high.

Oakmont of Capriana was perfect. It was just too expensive. They have a waiting list. I believe that they're 80% capacity at this point, and they needed to pause it for the waiting list. They didn't have the two-bedroom, two-bath units available at this time. They had a beautiful koi pond, a pool, a rec room, a theater, and laundry in the actual unit. There's a full kitchen and a full-size fridge in the unit. They're very spacious and had plenty of storage. The rooms were very generous. The bathrooms and the shower stalls were very big. They had all the bars and everything in there that they would need to help hoist themselves up. The material was very good. They had granites and tiles. The facility itself was very clean and very nice. They even have a barbershop. The amenities include the transportation and medical staff on standby, and that seemed great. It's just very pricy. The staff members were very accommodating, and they answered questions very well. They had everything.

Capriana was very nice. I didn't eat there, but it looked like they had a pretty good variety. They had underground parking, which was nice, but they didn't have on-site extended care. Other than that, it was pretty convenient and in a nice location.