Stonebridge at Montgomery is the Princeton corridor’s entrance-fee answer: a Springpoint Senior Living Life Plan Community in Skillman, ten minutes north of Princeton, with a Lifecare contract option and a menu of refundable and traditional entrance fee plans that turn the house-sale question into the first decision of the move. This guide is written from the seller’s side, because the entrance fee and the house are, for most families, the same money. It is independent research; Samantha is a real estate agent licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, not affiliated with Stonebridge or Springpoint, built from the community’s published materials and New Jersey’s CCRC disclosure framework.
What Stonebridge at Montgomery is, in verified numbers
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Life Plan Community (CCRC) operated by Springpoint Senior Living, one of the region’s larger not-for-profit senior living organizations |
| Location | 100 Hollinshead Spring Road, Skillman: Montgomery Township, Somerset County, about ten minutes north of downtown Princeton |
| Independent living | One- and two-bedroom apartments and cottages across more than a dozen floor plans |
| Care continuum | Assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing on campus, with a Lifecare contract option that provides care at rates comparable to independent living |
| Entrance structure | Onetime entrance fee (refundable plans returning a stated percentage such as 50% or 90%, or a lower-cost traditional plan) plus a monthly service fee by residence size and occupancy |
| Regulation | Registered with the NJ Department of Community Affairs, which requires annual financial disclosure to prospective residents |
The community’s pricing page explains its fee structure plainly, Springpoint’s financial planning materials describe the plan families and the 60-day Residents First Guarantee, and the NJ Department of Community Affairs publishes the consumer guidebook and oversees the disclosure statements every prospective resident is entitled to read.
Refundable versus traditional: the entrance fee decision
Stonebridge’s plan menu slides along the axis every entrance-fee community shares: pay less up front and leave less behind, or pay more and preserve a stated percentage for the estate.
- Refundable plans return a fixed percentage, such as 50% or 90%, to you or your estate when the residence is vacated, at a higher entrance fee for the same floor plan. They suit families for whom the inheritance matters, and the eventual refund becomes an estate asset the wills should acknowledge; our executor’s guide covers why that timing matters to families.
- The traditional plan carries the lower upfront cost, generally without a refund after the initial period. It optimizes lifetime cost for a long residency, the same logic as declining-balance plans elsewhere.
- The 60-day guarantee is Springpoint’s stated full-refund window if you leave within the first 60 days, a genuine derisking of the initial decision that is still worth reading in contract form rather than brochure form.
The New Jersey rules that shape this move
- The disclosure statement is a legal right. New Jersey’s CCRC statute requires registration with the Department of Community Affairs and annual financial disclosure. With a Lifecare promise on the table, the community’s financials are the underwriting; read them with the adviser.
- The senior transfer fee schedule is real money. New Jersey sellers 62 and older pay the reduced realty transfer fee on the house sale, a saving worth four figures at Princeton-corridor prices. The net proceeds calculator applies the senior schedule automatically.
- Veterans keep a small deduction inside the gate. New Jersey extends the $250 veteran property tax deduction to eligible veterans residing in CCRCs (P.L. 2019, c.203), one of the small lines our veterans’ guide catalogs.
- The medical deduction lands in the sale year. The portion of a Lifecare entrance fee allocable to prepaid medical care can be deductible under IRS Publication 502 in the year paid, the same year the house sale and its exclusion math occur. One accountant, one picture; our CCRC funding guide walks the mechanics.
Sequencing the house sale against the move
- 01House number first. A valuation plus the net proceeds calculator produces the after-cost figure, with the senior transfer fee schedule applied, that decides which floor plans and which fee plans are actually on the table.
- 02Choose the plan family with the adviser, then reserve. Refundable versus traditional moves six figures of estate value; it is an adviser decision that precedes the deposit.
- 03List on the coordinated calendar. Target the closing at or just before move-in so proceeds wire straight to the entrance fee. Every town in the corridor has its own resale certificate and smoke certification requirements; the fee index lists them.
- 04Decide the bridge deliberately. Sell first and move once, or move first and carry both briefly; the sell-first-or-buy-first guide walks the tradeoffs.
The Princeton-corridor house this move usually involves
The house behind a Stonebridge move is usually a Princeton-orbit house: Montgomery Township, Princeton, Hopewell Valley, Lawrence, Hillsborough, a four-bedroom colonial owned twenty to forty years in a school district that keeps buyer demand deep. Three field notes for exactly that sale:
- Prepare in passes, not projects. Corridor buyers pay for districts, commutes, and bones; clear, brighten, and repair rather than renovate. The room-by-room checklist keeps the clear-out from stalling the calendar.
- Know your town’s paperwork before listing. Start with the Princeton guide, the Hopewell Valley guide, or the Lawrence Township guide for the certificates and inspections that set the timeline.
- The proceeds pay the fee at closing. Tell the community’s finance office and the title company early so the wire lands the day the money exists; routine when planned, frantic when discovered.
Samantha, SRES®, is licensed on both sides of the river and sells the houses on both ends of this exact move. If Stonebridge, or the Lifecare model generally, is on your shortlist, start with the free valuation that turns the house into a number you can hold against the plan menu, or ask her how your town’s timeline fits the community’s. The entrance fee is a decision about what the house should become; make it with the numbers in hand.