If your elderly parent has reached the point where they can no longer safely live alone in their single-family home, then moving to a retirement community is an excellent option. However, not all retirement communities offer the same services for the elders living onsite, so it's important that you and your parent choose the best place to meet their unique needs. Following each of these tips will ensure you are able to do just that:

Tip: Your Parent Has the Final Word When It Comes to Where They Will Live

One of the biggest mistakes many families make is to try and find a retirement community "for" their parent instead of "with" their parent. This often leads to family arguments and other drama that can be completely avoided by keeping perspective.

Just as you don't want your own adult offspring to tell you where to live, your parent likely doesn't want you to tell them where they need to live either. To find your parent a new home they will like, make sure you work together to find the appropriate community and remember that your parent always has the final word.

Tip: Tour as Many Retirement Communities as Possible Before Making a Final Decision

Just as every other type of housing community is different than others, so too is there a wide variation in retirement communities. For this reason, you and your parent (if they are physically able) should tour as many communities as possible during your search. Any retirement communities your parent doesn't like should be discarded from the list of potential new homes and the search should continue until they find somewhere they want to live.

Tip: Choose a Retirement Community Fitting Your Parent's Current Interests and Needs

Finally, it's important to point out that your parent's new housing and the community where it is located need to fit their current needs and interests.

For example, if you parent used to love to swim but is no longer able to do so and has no desire to ever get back in a swimming pool, then the new community where they live doesn't need to have one.

It's often tempting to look back over your parent's life and try to fit their new housing to their past interests or abilities rather than their current needs. This often leads to a mismatch between what people want in their retirement housing and where they find themselves living.

To find out more, look at retirement communities in your area.