Sonoma Hills Retirement

I found that Sonoma Hills Retirement was peaceful and quiet. It didn't seem to have as many people buzzing around. It was a little bit older. The rooms were very well kept. It looked like they had a lot of variety in size for your furniture. The staff was very pleasant and showed us around. It was a...

I found that Sonoma Hills Retirement was peaceful and quiet. It didn't seem to have as many people buzzing around. It was a little bit older. The rooms were very well kept. It looked like they had a lot of variety in size for your furniture. The staff was very pleasant and showed us around. It was a shorter stay. We were able to just look at the two-bedrooms, the ones we thought we'd like. They had a restaurant style dining area. It was empty at the time because of the time. I believe they had assigned tables, and the staff said that if you didn't like who you were assigned with, you could change, so that was flexible. We didn't try the food there. He said it was a family-owned facility, rather than corporation-owned, and so there were some different amenities. Some of the apartments had washers and dryers in the apartments. There seem to be many amenities. They had a special day where they piled into a bus and had a surprise drive a certain day of the week, which I think is pleasant to look forward to. They had almost all the activities.

Sonoma Hills Retirement was one of the first we visited. The visit was pleasant, our host was friendly and helpful. The pluses were, one, the apartments were all one level so that was a big plus, no stairs. Two, the price for 2-bedroom accommodation included a stacked washer and dryer. There is a on...

Sonoma Hills Retirement was one of the first we visited. The visit was pleasant, our host was friendly and helpful. The pluses were, one, the apartments were all one level so that was a big plus, no stairs. Two, the price for 2-bedroom accommodation included a stacked washer and dryer. There is a one-time charge of $600 for a dog permit. Installation for a cable cost was about $50-$150. Reserved parking was free. However, there were several minuses like they only had independent living. Therefore, if we require assistance in the future, we would need to find someone who would come to the apartment and provide the needed service. And I thought to myself, we might as well stay at home and have the service brought to our home. The plus with Sonoma Hills is that we would not have to cook, because our meals were included in the base price. But there was no storage available; this was a big minus here. The walls between units were shared and were not double wall insulation materials in between, to reduce the noise. Room lighting was very poor fluorescent, and one gets a gloomy feeling because of it. The electrician would need to rewire for LED, which could mean some structural change at our cost. The total square footage was 856, and we felt compressed and depressed. The kitchen was outdated. We just do not feel comfortable. The walking paths were not on Sonoma Hills property. You needed to cross a street with traffic to get to them. Restriction on dog size was 40 pounds or less. The outside of the building looked OK, but a couple of fences needed work and paint. This raised a question about viability of organization's finances. The staff was accommodating, she was a plus and she was way above average. We spent about 25 minutes there, she was very good. I also met the executive director. I was impressed that the director of the overall accommodation here just met with us to greet us. I thought that was also a plus.