How CCRC entrance-fee refunds work, and when the money is paid
Updated 2026-10-15
Refund plans set what is kept on move-in, how fast the refund declines and its floor. Check when it is paid: often only after your unit is re-occupied.
Most entrance fees are not simply spent or simply returned. Each refund plan sets three things: how much the community keeps on day one, how fast the refundable part shrinks while you live there, and the floor it stops at. A fourth term, easy to miss, says when the money is paid.
Declining and refundable plans
- Declining (often called “standard”): the refund falls by a fixed share each month, commonly 2%, until nothing is left. The entrance fee is lowest.
- Partly refundable (50%, 90%): the refund declines the same way but stops at a guaranteed floor. The entrance fee is higher, sometimes much higher, for the same unit.
- Administrative fee: a share kept on move-in, often 4% to 10%. Contracts differ on whether the plan’s percentages then apply to the whole fee or to what is left, which changes the refund by a few points.
A worked example: Williamsburg Landing
Using Williamsburg Landing’s plans as its 2023 filing records them, and its lowest listed one-person entrance fee of $48,067, the calculator on that page gives these refunds for someone leaving after each number of years:
| Plan | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | Floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% Refundable | 76% | 28% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 50% Refundable | 76% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| 70% Refundable | 76% | 70% | 70% | 70% | 70% |
| 90% Refundable | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% |
| AL 0% Refundable | 52% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| AL 50% Refundable | 52% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| MC 0% Refundable | 52% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| MC 50% Refundable | 52% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
Percentages are of the entrance fee paid. Each plan is sold at its own price, so compare the dollars too: the community page lists the entrance fee for every unit under every plan.
When the refund is paid
A refund you are owed can still take years to arrive. The filings use a few patterns:
- When your unit is re-occupied. Nothing is paid until someone moves into your unit and pays their entrance fee. If the community struggles to fill units, the wait has no end date.
- From a pooled fund, in turn, as new residents’ entrance fees come in. On this site: Ashby Ponds, Avery Point, Greenspring Village, Harbor's Edge, Penick Village, The Oaks at Whitaker Glen, The Sharon at SouthPark, Windsor Run, Woodleigh Chase.
- On re-occupancy or after a set wait, whichever comes first. The cap protects your estate if the unit sits empty. On this site: Ardenwoods (24 months), Avery Point (3 months), Brandermill Woods (1 month), Brandon Oaks (4 months), Brice Pointe (24 months), Bridgewater Retirement Community (6 months), Brookridge Retirement Community (24 months), Carolina Meadows Retirement Community (24 months), Covenant Woods (12 months), Croasdaile Village Retirement Community (24 months), Cypress Glen Retirement Community (24 months), Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community (12 months), Falcons Landing (2 months), Givens Aldersgate (24 months), Givens Estates (24 months), Givens Highland Farms (24 months), Grace Ridge Retirement Community (24 months), Lucy Corr (18 months), Matthews Glen (3 months), Oak Creek Apartments (1 month), Pisgah Valley Retirement Community (24 months), Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury (12 months), Sharon Village Apartments (1 month), Stanley Total Living Center (1 month), Summit Square (6 months), Sunnyside (6 months), The Forest at Duke (2 months), The Gardens of Taylor Glen (24 months), The Mather (6 months), The Village at Brookwood (12 months), Tryon Estates (3 months), Vinson Hall Retirement Community (2 months), Well-Spring, A Life Plan Community (24 months), Wesley Pines Retirement Community (24 months), White Oak Village Apartments (1 month), WhiteStone: A Masonic and Eastern Star Community (24 months), Windsor Run (6 months).
A refund is also an unsecured promise. If the community goes into bankruptcy, refunds owed to residents generally rank behind bondholders; see what happens when a CCRC goes bankrupt.