Independent Living Communities in Oxford, FL

"What I liked best about American House Wildwood was the number of activities they had and the friendliness of the staff and the people. We had a meal, we had chicken, it was very good. The dining area is very pleasant, its open and airy. They serve three meals a day. They also had a lounge where you could get quickie items and that kind of thing, like pizza, sandwiches, salads, and soup. Some of the chairs and things like that in the lobby need to be recovered or something."

"Sumter Senior Living was very good. They provided transportation. They had a dog park for your dogs. It seemed like a good place, but with my mom having dementia, I wasn't sure about the elevator. I thought that would be hard for her. The staff was very friendly and very nice."

"My sister moved into independent living at Brookdale Chambrel Pinecastle. I think it's wonderful and fun. They're always doing something and there's always something going on that you can choose to participate in or not participate in. Overall, it's an amazing staff. My sister's room is fine. Some days my sister really likes the food and some days she doesn't like it so much, but that's life. The dining room is setup like a restaurant. They have a library, a salon, and buses that take them wherever they need to go. They're very accommodating. Everybody I have encountered has been gracious and nice. I think it's a little pricey, but it's probably in line with the other places."

"I went on an in-person visit to Marion Woods. The visit was fine. I saw the dining area. We went to see a studio apartment, and it was fine. It had a balcony, a refrigerator, a sink, a bathroom, and a walk-in shower, and it's all good. It seemed that they had an outbreak of Corona, and everybody was in their rooms. I only saw one person that day, and it was fine."

"Hawthorne Estates is really nice. The people are really nice. They're very attentive. They even invited us for dinner. Even though we don't go there, they're always inviting us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They're very nice. The lady who toured us is very open and very welcoming. The place is really clean and cheery. It's not a dry and gloomy place; it's really very nice. So far, that's our number one for now. There are really nice choices of rooms like a one-bedroom-one-bath, a two-bedroom-one-bath, and a two-bedroom-two-bath. We looked at all the places. They have two meals a day, plus two gourmet breakfasts twice a week. They take you to doctors. They have drivers, and they take you to bank and shopping if you want. They're really very nice. They give you food downstairs. If you don't like the food, you could ask the chef to cook you something; they will do it. It's really very nice. The staff are very nice. Every time there is an activity there, they ask 'You want to come for the activity?' They also have guest speakers. They're really very nice. It's a very warm atmosphere. They invited us for dinner when we toured it. We went with other people there, and they're really very good."

"Canterfield of Ocala was new and very pretty. The studios were very nice. The food was excellent, but it did not have a swimming pool. They should lower the price, but they're all too expensive. The staff was very good, friendly and caring."

"It was beautiful. I just felt like it might have been a little too upscale for my family, but it was again, definitely beautiful. The people were very nice and professional. The restaurant's dining atmosphere was also really nice. They had a gym and a nice therapy room. They were building some kind of little coffee shop in what they used to have an ice cream parlor. We saw people walking around with their pets. It was very nice and it was very clean."

"I am staying at Valencia Grove II. It is very nice, beautiful, and clean. I love it, but it's way too expensive. The manager used to be very nice, but now she's not accommodating. I asked her if she could try to get my rent lowered for me, and she said, "No, we don't do that." They have bingo. On holidays, they have a little get-together with food. They have a little fitness center and a lobby where they have bingo and parties."

"Oaks at Waterman Village was very good. Because of the COVID, we can't go into the nursing and assisted living home so we had to take a virtual tour for those. We were able to get into one model, they have construction on a new site and since no one can see those, you'd also have to take a virtual tour for those places. They had 4-5 different models and they were nice, there was one vacant so we were able to look at that one; it's about 1100 square feet."

"We're going to move into the Lakeside at Waterman Village. The staff is wonderful, it comes highly recommended by people that we've known who'd move in there. They're creating a new section, and we're gonna be in a duplex rather than in an apartment style of living, which gives us a lot more feeling of independence in our lives. It's a two-bedroom, two-bath, it has a den, open space living, dining, kitchen, it has a garage with it, and a place for a golf cart as well in the garage. They have a meal program in the main building that you can take advantage of. It has restaurants, it has a lot of activities, and amenities. It's pretty much like any graduated, continuing-care living facility because they have their own onsite health program, and they actually have an onsite CVS pharmacy. It's pretty comprehensive, you get cleaning once a week, your meal program that comes with your monthly fee, and you stay in your home as you start to need assisted living care and medical attention. They're just starting the infrastructure in the space right now, which means they're putting in the sewerage, the electric, the roads, and they'll probably in the spring start the housing, which would include the garden homes and two apartment buildings."

"This is top of the line. It's just one year old so it's almost brand new and absolutely stunning. It has an extremely good quality of restaurants. It has three different ones for morning, noon, and night. The food is excellent. You can order what you want off the menus. It has all the available facilities for working out and they have a coach to help you do exercises. They have a theater that will seat 125 people. They have shows periodically almost once a month, and they have somebody come in there and do performances. They have a good extreme number of various shapes, sizes, and rooms that people would use, from 1,200 square feet down to 600 square feet, so there's excellent diversity of rooms and accommodations. They don't have restrictions on keeping you there for each year at a time. You can go on a monthly rental basis. They have healthcare for their people and an on-duty nurse. Their cost is about the same as everybody else's. The staff have all been very gracious and we don't even belong to them, yet they let us cme and see their shows and occasionally sit with our friends who are there for lunch and dinner. They're very open to outsiders coming in and seeing what their facility can and can't do. There are extra wide corridors and the reason for that is they have paintings on the walls, and you can walk three or four abreast. It gives it a more spacious feeling so you don't feel like you're enclosed as you walk through the corridors."

"The staff at Trinity Springs was extremely helpful, and the place was extremely clean. It was brand new. The rooms were beautiful. The place was gorgeous, and the layout was perfect. I saw both independent living and assisted living levels. It's located close to where I live, and it's very close to everything. They have a salon and a gym. They have a courtyard with a gazebo where they have entertainment."

"I toured Watercrest Buena Vista. It was well-kept, current, and up-to-date. It was a positive interaction with the staff, they were helpful with the tours and information. The only thing that's not clear is, that this whole routine of a waiting list is like a mystery inside of a black box. They try to keep it that way and tell you, well, we don't know what's going to happen in so many different situations, but their very business is knowing what the percentage likelihood of people moving out, the turnover, and the rush to make a nonrefundable deposit of $3,000 to get on this waitlist. Initially, it was kind of characterized, as maybe if you get in December or January, you can still get the 2024 rate. Then we look at being on the waitlist for 2 or 3 years long. I have to force myself to have a little faith, and hopefully, things work well."

"We are in a 55+ community called The Villages. We had friends that moved here, so we came down here. We tried it. We liked it, and we stayed. It's not an apartment. It's a community. Everybody has their own house, which is one of the things we like about it. You can have maintenance, which we do. You can have meals brought in. You can have cleaning service, laundry service, and trips to the grocery store. It's a golf cart community. We have our own golf cart, which we don't normally use, but that is an option. They also have a service that will take you shopping and to the doctor. They have a recreation center, which includes a gym and meeting rooms. If you want to have a get-together, they have party rooms. You can get whatever services you want to go with that. For example, you can have food and drinks brought in, or you can have none of that and bring in your own stuff. It's all very optional. They have many activities. They have 12 golf courses and bowling alleys. They have tons of stuff, so it's very good in that category."