Moving can be very traumatic for older adults, especially those who have lived in their current home for decades and raised their family there.
Leaving the home behind can be both physically and emotionally difficult, but it is a decision most older adults eventually will make. Part of the process of downsizing is finding a real estate agent to help with the process.
Making a Plan
Some agents specialize in working with clients who are 50 years and older, called Senior Real Estate Specialists or SRES for short. An SRES has been trained by the National Association of Realtors to handle, not only the financial aspect of selling a home, but also the physical and emotional aspects of selling a longtime family home.
Working closely with you, an SRES will develop a customized and individual plan to sell your home. For example, an SRES will schedule a time to come to your home to discuss the downsizing. You’re invited to include anyone you choose to involve in the process.
During that consultation, the SRES will help determine if you can sell your home as-is, what projects would make your home more salable, and will identify areas that might need to be addressed before a home inspection.
Most SRES Realtors have a vast team of professionals they can recommend to help you prepare your home for selling, as well as people who can help you with space planning, packing, moving and more.
The process of downsizing can take as little as two months to as long as 18-24 months. Among the decisions the SRES will help you determine are where you are going to move to and what you intend to do with your possessions and furniture.
An SRES agent will support you through each step of the process and guide you through the financial and lifestyle decisions of selling your family’s home. They understand a lot is involved and will help you determine the different types of housing available. They will be patient and do everything they can to make the process as stress-free as possible.
For many homeowners, the thought of strangers walking through their home when it is for sale can be overwhelming. Your SRES Realtor can tailor the marketing and showing process to meet your needs. They will create a strategy for showing your home that includes protocol for COVID-19.
Moving out of state to a warmer climate or closer to children and grandchildren? An SRES Realtor can tap into a vast referral network to help you find a trustworthy realtor with similar qualifications in every part of the country.
To learn more about what an SRES does or to find one near you, go to sres.realtor and click on the tab “Work with an SRES.”
Jennifer Herron Underwood is a real estate agent and a Senior Real Estate Specialist. She can be reached at 440-371-2862 or [email protected].
