Leaving The Family Home Behind
Lately I have been spending a lot of time with senior citizens and their adult children as they prepare for a move. Moving isn’t easy for anyone. Moving first begins with where am I going? For a lot of seniors they are moving in with family. Others are moving into a smaller home with no stairs and less maintenance. Many are moving into senior living/assisted living/care facilities. Just making that decision is daunting!
Supporting Them as the Decide
Often the senior doesn’t see the need to leave the home despite recent falls, or struggles to maintain their home. As a Seniors Real Estate Specialist I know my job isn’t to convince them to move, my job is to support them in whatever decision is made. If they are looking into senior /asssisted living one resource I can offer them is Living Well. Sam from Living Well helps them tour facilities at no-cost to the senior! Free! When they find the right place, the assisted living location pays for Sam’s services.
Managing the Move
Once they have decided on where they are going, the big question for seniors is HOW! How do I decide what to take? How do I get rid of what I cannot take? How do I move furniture and boxes? The hardest part of moving is leaving the familiarity of their long-held home and many of their belongings. Seniors usually have a life’s collection of stuff, and it is a big task to go through all of it. We have some great businesses which help seniors go through their belongings. Then they help them pack, move, and do an estate sale. Two I frequently recommend to clients are Caring Transitions of Greater Tri-Cities and Changing Places.
When to Sell the Long-Held Family Home
For some of my clients, they need to get the home on the market right away to free up funds for the move. This can be a good strategy because every home looks better with some furnishings in it. For others, they want to wait until the sorting, packing, and cleaning are done. Using this strategy can be advantageous because we can see what repairs need to be done before we put it on the market. However, the drawback is empty homes do not photograph as well, and they often sell more slowly.
Here to Help
Wherever the senior citizen is in their journey to a new home, I can help! There are lots more resources at my disposal than mentioned here. Much of my job is to listen so I know the senior citizen is not being coerced into a move, and they are at peace with the decision. These decisions are painful, and my own family has been through them. And if staying in their long-held family home is the best choice, I fully support them in that decision!
