Independent Living Communities in Ojai, CA

"I toured Laurel Heights. It was very modern, clean, and very nice, but it's just too far. The size of the rooms was medium and could have been larger. I like the balcony in the independent living apartment. The kitchen was a full kitchen. They had a washer and dryer. The living room and the bedroom were medium-sized, but it's OK. It was like an apartment. They had a library, a dining room, and an exercise room. The coordinator who gave us the tour was very informative. They had a theater, too."

"The Gables of Ojai is a very homey place. You can see that it's quite lived in. It's been around for a while, but their facilities are very accommodating. They're also very expensive. That's why I couldn't do it out there. They don't have any real independent places. They're almost all the same in terms of space. The staff was excellent. It was very well-kept and clean."

"What I like best about Santa Paulan Senior Apartments was probably the price and that it's in my hometown. It's got a pool. It's a big enough area and it's got enough parking. The staff who gave the tour was friendly. We just didn't like the whole application process that we went through, but she was friendly. They have their laundry on every floor. They have a little patio area. The apartment was big enough for what we needed. There's a kitchen and it's a complete apartment."

"I wouldn’t recommend Sycamore. The building was nice, and it had a lot of amenities, but the rooms looked very small. It’s very hotel like. As I was walking down the hall, the smell from the different apartments was terrible. It would be suitable for a single person. The staff was absolutely fabulous. "

"It was a great help to have the lists provided by A Place For Mom, Caring.com and the sympathetic and capable staff. I was able to visit the places within close proximity and call the locations that were further out. I'm on my own in a quieter town closer to the ocean. It is much cooler than Woodland Hills where my son lives. This is a Senior Accommodation place, and I have a 2 bedroom unit with a little balcony all to myself. I miss my late husband at every moment, in everything I do. How sad he was unable to get this peace & comfort whenever we were in California. But he is in no more pain. I'm glad only of that. Hope people who have need of guidance and assistance in such living situations can get the very capable help I got from agencies such as these with the caring personnel I had the good fortune to survive this time of personal tragedy. "

"Mira Vista has clean apartments, one-bedroom and two-bedroom, upstairs and downstairs. They have a swimming pool, a rec room, a pool table, two Jacuzzis, and a very nice landscape. It was very well put together, and it's within my budget. You are only allowed to make up to a certain amount of money. You can't make over, say, $50,000 to live there; you have to qualify within a certain price range. The staff accommodated me very well. They're very receptive. So far, the only person I have interacted with was very, very polite and very helpful."

"We visited University Village Thousand Oaks. The food was absolutely marvelous. They had an arrangement where you have to buy-in, but they refund some of it after five years. It had more facilities than anybody else including a nursing facility and a separate facility for dementia. They had a swimming pool, a dog park, a putting green, and a walkway. It's gated with a guard 24/7, so if you want to get up at 2:00 a.m. and walk around there, there isn't a problem. All the walkways are lighted at night. The visit was outstanding. "

"My husband and I moved to Valle Verde eight months ago. We based our decision, in part, on the fact that, contrary to other Yelp reviews, Valle Verde has an excellent reputation in the community. We can support that statement wholeheartedly because my mother was a 20 year resident here and we had an opportunity to observe first-hand the level of caring and comfort she received in her years here. In addition, we decided on Valle Verde because of its resident’s diversity and inclusiveness, its garden like collection of cottages and the assurance that we would be appropriately cared for in our last years. The most immediate benefit was the freedom from the responsibilities associated with home ownership and with that came a sense of certainty about the future. Some of the previous reviews were written based on conditions which have since changed – there is new leadership in the administration, open to resident input, an excellent sales and marketing team and a superb support staff that provides needed services. Of course there are complaints, as there are in any connected community, but it appears to me that those are being appropriately addressed by the organization. If you are considering a continuing care residence, I would certainly consider Valle Verde. For us it was the obvious choice. "