I recently met with a delightful woman who is still in her pretty rambler, in a beautiful neighborhood. Change sounds hard, but her good friends are worried. She’s being groomed by a couple of con artists, and her home is looking unkempt. Her good friends of many years are noticing some memory issues. Is it time for a change?
Timing is everything. If you wait too long to move, it’s much harder. In-home care can extend your time at home, but unless it’s for a lot of hours per week, you still will be lonely there by yourself. It may be that this woman doesn’t absolutely have to move, but her life could improve dramatically if she does. It is much better to make a move when you can make your own decisions.
How can her life improve? If she moves to appropriate senior housing, she will have her own apartment, with all the privacy she wants. She will also have new friends just outside her door. Our pandemic has made it harder to visit with friends and family, but if they are in the same building it is easier. She will get good meals, which could improve her health and her memory. Those often get better when someone moves into senior housing. She would have activities to do in the building during the pandemic, and trips to the theatre or events once things open up. Her apartment would be cleaned regularly, which is not happening now in her home, and she would not have to worry about maintenance. She is certainly well enough now to make her own decisions, to choose the right place, to make and remember new friends. She is able to get used to a new home, and as she needs more help in the future it will be there.
So how would this happen?
Senior housing consultants such as Stan McKenzie with A Change is Afoot know the different places that are available, and can interview the client to find out what will work for her. She would start by choosing a place to live. Next, with help from a move management company like Seamless Moves and Laurie Lamoureux she would decide which possessions to take to her new home. Laurie and her team would help her work out placement of her things in her new home, and then pack, hire the movers, and unpack in the new apartment. After she has moved out, John Meskel with CJ Estate Sales would either hold an estate sale, or if there wasn’t enough value in the things she didn’t take, would simply empty the house and donate everything she left behind. Once the home was empty, I would arrange any work to the house that she wanted to do, and then put it on the market. And good news! It’s a sellers’ market! Homes are selling really well, pandemic or not!
It just might be the right time. How about your timing? Would you like to meet to discuss it?
Give me a call. I’m happy to help!
Mindy Garner
Coldwell Banker Bain, Managing Broker
206-914-2970