Only a licensed Realtor can become a Senior Real Estate Specialist. An SRES specializes in:
In today’s market, there are countless types of senior living options, from independent living to full nursing care. A Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) can help you navigate your best options between:
Independent Living:
Condos, townhouses and single family homes that are smaller and more maintenance free than large family properties are frequently people’s first choice, especially if they’re healthy and active.
Active Adult Communities:
Active adult communities aim to service the interests of active adults over the age of 55. Housing types often include condos, townhouses and single-family properties, and all are designed with an eye toward delivering a maintenance-free lifestyle for residents. Such communities offer a vast array of on-site activities, including exercise, social clubs, art instruction and lecture series.
If you’re looking for hands-on care or anticipate needing such care in the future, SRES®designees can make expert referrals and discuss options, including:
Assisted Living Communities:
Residents live in their own apartments, but have the benefit of an on-site staff, meal service in communal dining spaces, and planned activities and outings. Some assisted living communities also offer access to nurses and daily living assistance. Others may offer more extensive medical and personal services.
Personal Care Homes:
Such properties are licensed to care for up to six residents in a home setting. Services typically include meals and housing maintenance and attending to residents’ safety and care. Personal Care Homes may specialize in addressing specific health concerns and provide care and an environment tailored to those conditions.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care:
Facilities specialize in caring for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease offer programs that address residents’ needs and provide an environment where they can live safely. Housing services typically include personal care, such as bathing and dressing and administering medicine, along with dining and housekeeping.
In addition, many buildings incorporate over 50 design features, such as safe wandering paths and color coded areas to help with way-finding. Such designs provide comfort and ease residents’ anxiety.
Continuing Care Retirement Living Communities:
A Continuing Care Retirement Living Community offer progressive levels of assistance, depending on a person’s needs. They include independent and assisted living and nursing care.
When should I use an SRES?
Ideally, you should begin your search for an SRES before you need one. Get referrals from others who have used Specialists in your area. If you plan to relocate, contact the Board of Realtors in the area to which you will be moving, and ask for a list of SRES designees.
The more time you allow yourself to adapt to the idea of moving or aging in place, the better off you’ll be, both financially and emotionally.
Source: National Association of Realtors
- Knowing the application of federal laws for the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA)
- Sensitivity to issues and priorities of the 50+ population
- Have a team of experts for dealing with the financial aspects of the 50+ buyers and sellers
- Counseling clients about reverse mortgages for aging in place, or as an income stream
- Knowing how Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security can impact real estate decisions
- Helping to identify key life stages in transitions in relation to housing choices
- Recognizing financial schemes and scams that target 50+ clients
- Helping clients to integrate disposition of real property into their estate planning
In today’s market, there are countless types of senior living options, from independent living to full nursing care. A Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) can help you navigate your best options between:
Independent Living:
Condos, townhouses and single family homes that are smaller and more maintenance free than large family properties are frequently people’s first choice, especially if they’re healthy and active.
Active Adult Communities:
Active adult communities aim to service the interests of active adults over the age of 55. Housing types often include condos, townhouses and single-family properties, and all are designed with an eye toward delivering a maintenance-free lifestyle for residents. Such communities offer a vast array of on-site activities, including exercise, social clubs, art instruction and lecture series.
If you’re looking for hands-on care or anticipate needing such care in the future, SRES®designees can make expert referrals and discuss options, including:
Assisted Living Communities:
Residents live in their own apartments, but have the benefit of an on-site staff, meal service in communal dining spaces, and planned activities and outings. Some assisted living communities also offer access to nurses and daily living assistance. Others may offer more extensive medical and personal services.
Personal Care Homes:
Such properties are licensed to care for up to six residents in a home setting. Services typically include meals and housing maintenance and attending to residents’ safety and care. Personal Care Homes may specialize in addressing specific health concerns and provide care and an environment tailored to those conditions.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care:
Facilities specialize in caring for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease offer programs that address residents’ needs and provide an environment where they can live safely. Housing services typically include personal care, such as bathing and dressing and administering medicine, along with dining and housekeeping.
In addition, many buildings incorporate over 50 design features, such as safe wandering paths and color coded areas to help with way-finding. Such designs provide comfort and ease residents’ anxiety.
Continuing Care Retirement Living Communities:
A Continuing Care Retirement Living Community offer progressive levels of assistance, depending on a person’s needs. They include independent and assisted living and nursing care.
When should I use an SRES?
Ideally, you should begin your search for an SRES before you need one. Get referrals from others who have used Specialists in your area. If you plan to relocate, contact the Board of Realtors in the area to which you will be moving, and ask for a list of SRES designees.
The more time you allow yourself to adapt to the idea of moving or aging in place, the better off you’ll be, both financially and emotionally.
Source: National Association of Realtors
Move Managers
Helping Seniors Downsize Downsizing Tips to Help Your ParentsMoving from the family home is among the most stressful events an older adult ever faces. At a time when emotions are running high, the list of things-to-do seems endless...a lifetime of belongings to sort through...tough decisions to make about what to take and what to do with the things that aren't going...countless errands and phone calls.
Then there's the chaos of moving day and living out of boxes until everything is unpacked and put away. Very often, later-life moves come about as the result of illness or the death of a spouse, so both the senior and his or her family are stressed before the move even begins.
Even the healthiest and most independent seniors often find relocation very demanding--both physically and emotionally.
Adding to the challenge is the fact that families are more spread out geographically and not always available to help with the moving process.
Although making the decision to move is usually the first step in the moving process, it is not the hardest decision. It's what to take and what to do with what you leave behind. Typically the new residence will be too small to take everything, and many years worth of treasured possessions will have to be inventoried and decided upon.
In fact, the whole process of planning the move and the arrangement of the new space, packing up and moving –in and out, and deciding what to keep and what to dispose of can seem like such and overwhelming task to the senior that the much needed move is put off.
About Senior Move Managers
The term Senior Move Manager® is a service mark owned by NASMM. Only NASMM members are Senior Move Managers®. All NASMM General Members have completed required courses in safety and ethics, and are screened for insurance and experience. Please confirm the Senior Move Manager® you hire holds the proper insurance.
Many families are now relying on professional professional senior move managers to help with the pre-move (downsizing) and moving day coordination that can help seniors and families develop a relocation plan, provide the necessary moving resources, organize, supervise the actual move on moving day and even help to prepare the former residence for the real estate market.
Many of the 70+ population are also selling their homes in favor of smaller houses or condos, either in traditional neighborhoods or retirement communities, or to be closer to their kids and grand-kids.
Moving can be stressful enough for many and especially traumatic for someone who is leaving a home they've been in for decades that is full of precious memories. Not only is the packing and cleaning process physically demanding, it also takes an emotional toll. A specialists can provide an element of compassionate objectivity as decisions are made about what to keep, give away, sell or toss.
Many senior move managers offer a wide range of services including:
Then there's the chaos of moving day and living out of boxes until everything is unpacked and put away. Very often, later-life moves come about as the result of illness or the death of a spouse, so both the senior and his or her family are stressed before the move even begins.
Even the healthiest and most independent seniors often find relocation very demanding--both physically and emotionally.
Adding to the challenge is the fact that families are more spread out geographically and not always available to help with the moving process.
Although making the decision to move is usually the first step in the moving process, it is not the hardest decision. It's what to take and what to do with what you leave behind. Typically the new residence will be too small to take everything, and many years worth of treasured possessions will have to be inventoried and decided upon.
In fact, the whole process of planning the move and the arrangement of the new space, packing up and moving –in and out, and deciding what to keep and what to dispose of can seem like such and overwhelming task to the senior that the much needed move is put off.
About Senior Move Managers
The term Senior Move Manager® is a service mark owned by NASMM. Only NASMM members are Senior Move Managers®. All NASMM General Members have completed required courses in safety and ethics, and are screened for insurance and experience. Please confirm the Senior Move Manager® you hire holds the proper insurance.
Many families are now relying on professional professional senior move managers to help with the pre-move (downsizing) and moving day coordination that can help seniors and families develop a relocation plan, provide the necessary moving resources, organize, supervise the actual move on moving day and even help to prepare the former residence for the real estate market.
Many of the 70+ population are also selling their homes in favor of smaller houses or condos, either in traditional neighborhoods or retirement communities, or to be closer to their kids and grand-kids.
Moving can be stressful enough for many and especially traumatic for someone who is leaving a home they've been in for decades that is full of precious memories. Not only is the packing and cleaning process physically demanding, it also takes an emotional toll. A specialists can provide an element of compassionate objectivity as decisions are made about what to keep, give away, sell or toss.
Many senior move managers offer a wide range of services including:
- Assistance with selling the current home
- Assistance with finding a new residence
- Assistance with selecting a moving company
- Sorting and downsizing
- Estate sales
- Coordinating movers, utilities, cleaning and other tasks
- Packing and unpacking
- Involve Your Parent - You'll also want to involve your parent to the greatest extent possible in the move. Certainly, it's much faster not to, but an older person's involvement in the move is the most reliable predictor of how well and how quickly he or she adjusts after the move. Your parent will naturally want to reminisce during this time. This is a critical part of the process of saying goodbye, but again--it can be time consuming.
- Spend a day with the person to get her started and leave her with piles to work through for 15 minutes a few times a day. "Little baby steps help them digest the idea of clearing it out."
- Start with the rooms that have fewer emotional attachments, like the basement or attic. Get a floor plan of the new rooms to see what furniture will fit.
- It is comforting to see beloved possessions go to a friend or be passed on to a grandchild.
- When going through keepsakes, an older adult may just need to read the postcards one more time to then be able to throw them out. "If it's a larger item, like a mounted trophy, you can take a photo to preserve it or video tape the senior telling a story about it."
- If a collection of phonograph records is important, try to record them on tape and buy a compact stereo system.
- A senior is moving to a retirement home may no longer need cooking tools or cleaning supplies. Donate them to social services.
- If Dad's attic is filled with his children's stuff, set a deadline for the kids to pick it up.
- On the other hand, don't avoid downsizing by moving Mom's stuff into a son's attic. That simply postpones the inevitable.
Benefits of Senior Move CompaniesProfessionals Who Help Seniors Move and Downsize
Find Senior Services by Texas Region
When it comes time to move a loved one to a new home, senior moving makes it simple. The quality of service really stands out. Senior moving companies and senior move managers can help individuals and families save time and money by organizing and implementing a large move or residential downsize.
What is a Senior Move Manager®?
The term Senior Move Manager® is a service mark owned by NASMM. Only NASMM members are Senior Move Managers®. All NASMM General Members have completed required courses in safety and ethics, and are screened for insurance and experience.
Senior Move Management is the profession that assists older adults and their families with the emotional and physical aspects of relocation and/or "aging in place."
Senior Move Management professionals — Senior Move Managers® — have backgrounds in gerontology, social work, health care, nursing and psychology, others come to this industry from the corporate world of project management, technology, accounting or marketing.
Senior Move Managers® require a profound commitment to connecting with older adults and a desire to perform meaningful work.
Seniors Get Help With Downsizing
Although specific services vary, most Senior Move Managers® can help with some or all of the following:
Additionally, Senior Move Managers® frequently assist individuals who choose to stay in their own homes, but simply require expert organizational skills and solid knowledge of "aging in place" concepts to help them achieve their goal of ... not moving anywhere, but improving quality of life! One call to a Senior Move Manager® can connect you with services older adults and families need for a seamless, successful transition of all kinds.
The National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) is the leading membership organization for Senior Move Managers and, as such, is the best place for you to find one. NASMM is recognized for its innovative programs and expertise related to senior move management, transition and relocation issues affecting older adults.
A senior move manager's mission is to facilitate the physical and emotional aspects of relocation for older adults, to increase industry awareness, to establish a national referral network, to enhance the professional competence of members, and to promote the delivery of our services with compassion and integrity.
Find Senior Services by Texas Region
When it comes time to move a loved one to a new home, senior moving makes it simple. The quality of service really stands out. Senior moving companies and senior move managers can help individuals and families save time and money by organizing and implementing a large move or residential downsize.
What is a Senior Move Manager®?
The term Senior Move Manager® is a service mark owned by NASMM. Only NASMM members are Senior Move Managers®. All NASMM General Members have completed required courses in safety and ethics, and are screened for insurance and experience.
Senior Move Management is the profession that assists older adults and their families with the emotional and physical aspects of relocation and/or "aging in place."
Senior Move Management professionals — Senior Move Managers® — have backgrounds in gerontology, social work, health care, nursing and psychology, others come to this industry from the corporate world of project management, technology, accounting or marketing.
Senior Move Managers® require a profound commitment to connecting with older adults and a desire to perform meaningful work.
Seniors Get Help With Downsizing
Although specific services vary, most Senior Move Managers® can help with some or all of the following:
- Developing an overall move or "age in place" plan
- Organizing, sorting and downsizing
- Arranging for the profitable disposal of unwanted items through auction, estate sale, buy-out, consignment, donation, or a combination of the above
- Interviewing, scheduling and overseeing movers
- Arranging shipments and storage
- Supervise and oversight of professional packing
- Unpacking and setting up the new home
- Related services, such as cleaning, waste removal, shopping, senior escort, assisting with selection of a realtor and helping prepare the home to be sold.
Additionally, Senior Move Managers® frequently assist individuals who choose to stay in their own homes, but simply require expert organizational skills and solid knowledge of "aging in place" concepts to help them achieve their goal of ... not moving anywhere, but improving quality of life! One call to a Senior Move Manager® can connect you with services older adults and families need for a seamless, successful transition of all kinds.
The National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) is the leading membership organization for Senior Move Managers and, as such, is the best place for you to find one. NASMM is recognized for its innovative programs and expertise related to senior move management, transition and relocation issues affecting older adults.
- NASMM members specialize in helping older adults and their families with the daunting process of downsizing and moving to a new residence.
- NASMM members are experienced professionals, bound by a pledge of integrity, committed to safety and ethics, and dedicated to continuing professional development.
- NASMM members will move you expertly, compassionately, and affordably.
A senior move manager's mission is to facilitate the physical and emotional aspects of relocation for older adults, to increase industry awareness, to establish a national referral network, to enhance the professional competence of members, and to promote the delivery of our services with compassion and integrity.
How to Choose an Estate Sale CompanyServices Provided by Estate Sale CompaniesWhether you are downsizing, getting divorced, or dealing with the financial assets of a loved one who has passed, stress is involved. For many people, these situations mean going through an accumulation of a lifetime of belongings. What do you do when you can't take on one more thing? Call an Estate Sale Professional.
When dealing with personal belongings, there is a psychological aspect of attachment. Because you remember your great grandmother using her tea service every day, to you it is priceless, when it reality, it could be worth very little.
An estate professional doesn't have that personal attachment, and it's their job to know how much things are worth.
It works both ways that ugly vase that sat on the mantel your entire life could be worth several hundreds of dollars. Only a professional knows the market value of everyday items and antiques. Most liquidators will request that you not declutter before they come. They are more skilled in identifying items of value.
How to Choose an Estate Sale Company
Here are some questions you may want to consider asking when choosing an estate sale company:
Sorting and Cleaning
The estate sale professional begins the process by assessing the assets. After acquiring an inventory of the estate, and an estimate of profits, the planner consults with the owner to determine if the potential sale will be valuable enough to move forward. If the owner approves, a contract will be made between both parties and the process moves forward.
Staging and Pricing
The sales professional weeds out the unsaleable or marginal items and either disposes of them or donates them to charity. The items of value are tagged, priced, and staged. The price tags are large and easily visible. Prices are usually set for quick sale but are often flexible for bargaining. After pricing, items are staged in a way that allows optimum accessibility and within easy reach.
Marketing and Selling
The sales professional will advertise the sale for several days beforehand. Most will use multiple media such as Craigslist, newspaper ads, and websites dedicated to listing sales by area.
The sale is usually held over the course of a few days. Factoring in buyer interest and inventory size, sales are generally between one and four days. The house is opened on the days of the sale, while the sales professional and their assistants are present to assist buyers and process all transactions.
Clean Up and Payment
After the sale is closed, any leftover merchandise is again inventoried, and the owner decides what to keep, dispose of, or donate to charity. The sales professional or a hired cleaning service will clean the home and prepare the home for the open market. The percentage agreed upon in the initial contract will be deducted from the profits to pay for the sales professional. The rest is given to the owner.
By hiring a professional, you will be able to maximize your profits while minimizing your involvement. When dealing with a death, divorce, or downsizing, that can be priceless.
When dealing with personal belongings, there is a psychological aspect of attachment. Because you remember your great grandmother using her tea service every day, to you it is priceless, when it reality, it could be worth very little.
An estate professional doesn't have that personal attachment, and it's their job to know how much things are worth.
It works both ways that ugly vase that sat on the mantel your entire life could be worth several hundreds of dollars. Only a professional knows the market value of everyday items and antiques. Most liquidators will request that you not declutter before they come. They are more skilled in identifying items of value.
How to Choose an Estate Sale Company
Here are some questions you may want to consider asking when choosing an estate sale company:
- How many days do you think it will take to set up?
- What is your commission?
- Are there fees besides your commission?
- Do you have insurance? What types?
- How long after the sale will I be paid?
- Do you have an appraiser on staff or access to one?
- What is your field of expertise? Antiques, Art, Furniture, etc?
- How many people do you generally have staff a sale like mine?
- How will my home be left? Broom Clean, Empty, etc?
- Do you or your employees buy items?
- Do you have a store?
- Do you have a contract? Can I take a copy home with me to look over?
- Do you pre-sell or allow people early entry?
- Do you charge sales tax?
- Do you have any sales coming up that I could visit to see how your sales are conducted?
- How many days will the sale itself be?
- When would you be able to do the sale (dates and times)?
Sorting and Cleaning
The estate sale professional begins the process by assessing the assets. After acquiring an inventory of the estate, and an estimate of profits, the planner consults with the owner to determine if the potential sale will be valuable enough to move forward. If the owner approves, a contract will be made between both parties and the process moves forward.
Staging and Pricing
The sales professional weeds out the unsaleable or marginal items and either disposes of them or donates them to charity. The items of value are tagged, priced, and staged. The price tags are large and easily visible. Prices are usually set for quick sale but are often flexible for bargaining. After pricing, items are staged in a way that allows optimum accessibility and within easy reach.
Marketing and Selling
The sales professional will advertise the sale for several days beforehand. Most will use multiple media such as Craigslist, newspaper ads, and websites dedicated to listing sales by area.
The sale is usually held over the course of a few days. Factoring in buyer interest and inventory size, sales are generally between one and four days. The house is opened on the days of the sale, while the sales professional and their assistants are present to assist buyers and process all transactions.
Clean Up and Payment
After the sale is closed, any leftover merchandise is again inventoried, and the owner decides what to keep, dispose of, or donate to charity. The sales professional or a hired cleaning service will clean the home and prepare the home for the open market. The percentage agreed upon in the initial contract will be deducted from the profits to pay for the sales professional. The rest is given to the owner.
By hiring a professional, you will be able to maximize your profits while minimizing your involvement. When dealing with a death, divorce, or downsizing, that can be priceless.
