Senior Living LIVE! Rightsizing Into Senior Living

Video Transcription

Hello, everybody, and welcome into Senior Living Live. My name is Melissa. Thank you so much for being with us. When is the right time to move to senior living?


That is a very good question, and we hope that this webinar today will arm you with the right information you need to make that decision. Today is all about rightsizing. I love that title. Rightsizing your life.


Kirby Valverde is with us, and she brings, years of experience helping families navigate the emotional and logistical challenges of downsizing. And if you've ever made a move, you know exactly what we're talking about. If you have questions about this topic, you've come to the right place. Kirby and I, will have a Q & A session together.


And once that Q & A session is completed, we will then move to the Q & A with those of you who are joining us here today. To be a part of the conversation, all you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of your screen to the Q & A box. Feel free to type your questions out there, and I will be happy to read those to Kirby. We expect the webinar to last about an hour.


Kirby, good to see you today. Thank you so much for being with us. Feel free to introduce yourself to our audience.


Thank you. It's so great to be here today.


Like Melissa stated, I have been in the business with seniors for a long time. So my background is real estate. I have over twenty years of real estate experience. And then five or six years, I had the privilege of entering into the senior living world.


I have been on a sales team for the last five or six years and loved that position. And then that led me to becoming the owner of Caring Transitions. I really saw the need, to help seniors relocate, downsize, get that whole move coordinated. So we bought a franchise. And so now we have the whole package where we can help seniors in all the realms of that.


Yeah. And it really does take a village, doesn't it?


It does.


Yeah. It's it's definitely something that, as we accumulate more things, as we get older, it is it just becomes tougher to tackle. So we're gonna, again, try to arm you with as much information today as we can, to help you make all the right decisions if and when you decide to make that move. So let's get started. Q and a rapid fire, Kirby.


When people decide it's time to sell their house, the first thing that comes to mind is, what is the current market, and is it the right time to sell, now or wait until later? How do you help people navigate that question? And then, how do we help people navigate that question, when it comes to geography where they happen to reside?


Right. Because you're all you're all over the place. So I'm gonna try to speak to all of that. So the truth is, while market conditions do play a role and they're very important and that are those are definitely things we wanna address when you get ready to move.


The right time to sell isn't always about what are the home prices and the interest rates. Okay? So for a lot of the families and the seniors that I work with, it's about what's right for you and your quality of life. So I want you to take a minute.


I want you to think, you know, am I able to maintain my home right now? Am I able to prepare myself nutritious meals every day? Am I still taking myself to my own doctor's appointments? And I am I able to navigate that lifestyle with ease?


If the answer is no, then I think you need to consider, you know, your other options because we want you to have peace of mind, and we want you to have freedom to make those choices. So going back to the market, the market is steady right now. In most parts of the country, it's balanced. Okay?


Buyers are not in favor. Sellers are not in favor, but it is balanced, and it is leaning towards the buyer's market. K. So we can help you navigate that.


But what I bring to the table is I I I educate you on the market, but I can also help you plan for that move with the downsizing, the packing, the move management, getting rid of things, estate sales, all of those pieces that come with it because there's a there's a lot more to it than what are the market conditions.


Yeah. And and, again, geography, again, really dictating the buyer's market. You know? And it's it feels so good to finally be in that in that position now.


You know? It's it's been a seller's market for, it seems like, several years now. Right. So thanks for mentioning that.


And and that, you know, for a lot of people will be a a a huge determining factor as to what they do next. So, so following that, let's say that somebody says, okay. Yep. It's, it's it's that kind of market, and, you know, I I wanna get in somewhere.


I wanna sell now, and I wanna get in somewhere where I can lock in kind of a lower rate.


So what does that process look like for someone who hasn't moved in a couple of decades?


Yeah. And we see that a lot. I will show up to homes on a regular basis, and the senior or seniors have lived in the home thirty, maybe even forty years. So as you can imagine, they have accumulated a lot of things.


Right? There's a lot of stuff to deal with. So the first thing we do is we have a discovery session. We sit down.


We talk about what are your goals and what is your vision. Okay. Are you moving into a smaller condo? Are you moving closer to family out of state?


Or are you gonna maybe venture into senior living? We've gotta figure out what that is first and what space you're moving into.


Then we go through and we tour every room of your house, and we take a very detailed inventory because we really need to identify what's going, what's getting donated, what might we sell.


There there are so many pieces along the way, so we help you with that process.


We inventory things, and then there's a pack day. So we schedule the day that we will help you pack. We schedule the move after that, and we can even help with the unpack and the resettle.


So that doesn't answer all your questions quite yet. We will get to more of that down the road here, but there's a lot of stuff to deal with. And our plan is to help you step by step figure out how to make that transition by determining what your goals are. And let me just say, one question I always wanna know too is what are you what are your worries? What are your fears? Because once I can identify the thing that is causing you the most apprehension, then I can help deal with those fears, and we can reassure you that there is an answer to that problem.


Yeah. And that's really where someone like you, comes into play big time. I mean, we we're you're initially talking about the logistics of of everything and logistics of making that move. And now we're we wanna talk about the emotional side of things because Yes. We talk about being in a place for decades and being having this attachment. You know, maybe your children grew up in this house. So what are some of those emotional, hurdles, Kirby, that you see space when it is time to downsize?


Yeah. It's incredible because this is probably one of the most stressful things that seniors will go through is making that move. In their minds, it's like this is probably my last move. Right? So the number one emotional hurdle that we have is the attachment to the memories.


I might be taking a senior from four thousand square feet down to a thousand square feet. And in inevitably, we have to get rid of some of those items, but every photo, every keepsake, every piece of furniture has a story behind it. So we alleviate those, you know, apprehensions by letting them story tell. Tell me about that metal that's laying on your dresser.


What what is that from? And we help them, you know, talk through it. It's like the grief process. You're talking through it and somehow it makes it feel better.


There's also the fear of regret. I heard my grandmother say a hundred times, honey, I'm gonna keep that because I might use it someday. Right? They hang on to things because they think I might need that someday.


So what we do is we create a holding space. Let's have a room or, you know, a corner of a room where we can put things that are a maybe. K. I might take that and I might I'm not ready to part with it just yet.


Then I want you to revisit that every week, two weeks, three weeks, and see how you feel about it every time you look at it again. Did you use it? Did you need it? Did you miss it?


If you didn't, it might be time to let that go. Another thing is loss of control. That's a really big emotion as seniors are going through this. It's very hard to cede your control to movers and downsizers and your family members and your adult children.


You're like, I'm losing control here. I wanna be involved in this. So we are very intentional about including the senior in the decision making process, you know, and really trying this is your life, and we are going to help you do this, with dignity. Okay?


Because we don't want you to feel that loss of control.


Another thing is to see decision fatigue and overwhelm.


It can be very overwhelming and exhausting to sit there for hours during the day with us and say, this goes, this doesn't, this goes, this doesn't. That is extremely exhausting. So we work in small increments. We will go over for maybe two hours at a time, and, you know, we will go through that process.


Say we get a little area cleared out a closet, and then I'll say, hey. Great job. We just finished this this closet. Sometimes the senior will say, hey.


I feel pretty good. Let's press on. Okay. So we are constantly just tracking how they're feeling and making sure that we're dealing with that.


And and the last thing on the emotions is just the guilt of of getting rid of sentimental gifts. You know? My granddaughter gave me that or my daughter, you know, gifted that to me, you know, ten years ago. And with those things, I would recommend maybe giving them back to the person that gave them to you.


Maybe they would like to hang on to those or giving them to family members, but we have lots of ways that we can, you know, deal with those emotions, which there are a lot of in a move like this.


Yeah. One of the, hesitations I could see, bringing, maybe an outside party into this situation would be, the feeling of of needing to do things quicker or rushed, because now you've got somebody else involved.


How do you mitigate that? How do you, help families sort of approach that transition so they don't feel overwhelmed and rushed in the process?


Right. It's it's it's true because, you know, we wanna get my company. We wanna get in and get the job done, but you don't want them to feel rushed. So we gotta slow down and go in pieces. So when I was working in senior living and I was touring with families, they would give me a deposit to, to make that move to senior living.


Nine times out of ten, the first question they would ask me is, oh my gosh, where do I start? I don't know where even to start because the overwhelm would start right there at the table.


And so that's kind of why I phased into caring transitions, but what helps with that? And what always helps me when I feel overwhelmed is to sit down and have a plan. So we have a planning session and we have a very clear phased timeline.


I will write it. Phase one. We're just gonna be doing sorting and organizing.


Once we get through that phase two, we're gonna have a pack day. Phase three, this is gonna be the move and the move management.


Phase three, phase four, wherever we're at, we're gonna unpack and resettle you. But even after that, people don't realize how much there is to this. Even after that, we have to go back and possibly do an estate sale. Then there's the clearing out of the home for the sale.


Then there's preparing for the real estate sale. So we really break it down into small pieces and and even write it out, type it out and print it out so that they can see it on their counter. Okay. We're in this phase right now.


This is all I need to worry about. And someone's walking me through this process. That's really the best way to do it.


Yeah. It sounds like twenty different professional services being offered there all in one. So, what are those professional services that, you know, if if you put it all together in a pot, what does that all look like to to sort of help ease that downsizing process?


It is so much. It it really is. It's mind blowing. But when you go and you deposit at a senior living community or even if you're not going to senior living and you're just gonna sell your home, your realtor or the senior living professional probably has a list of vendors for you.


So you can consult with senior move managers. That's that's kinda what I'm doing. So Caring Transitions, Ideal Move. There's several of them out there and in different regions, but they will do all of that under one umbrella.


There's professional organizers that that's all they do. There are estate sale and auction companies to help with those items.


There's donation and and consignment coordinators.


Of course, you've got your real estate agents.


You've got professional cleaners and junk, you know, removal companies.


And there's appraisers and valuation experts because a lot of people have fine art and things that they wanna sell. But when you look at all of that, there's there's plenty of professionals out there that can help you.


But but getting the help you need and maybe it's a family member that can help you organize all the vendors, but there's plenty of help out there.


Yeah. And and say somebody is listening now, and they're like, you know, I don't maybe need to move right now, but, but I know it's coming. You know?


Maybe that they have health that's declining or maybe that they've realized the house has become too much, and and they don't wanna do it all at once. So what advice would you give to to maybe those individuals who are not quite ready to move, but they want to get that process started early?


I would say, yes. Start early because anytime you can get a jump start on that, you are gonna feel like you aren't being rushed and like you are in control of the choices that you're making.


So, you know, if you're in your home and you're thinking, I'm just gonna start now. I don't wanna move for a couple of years. Go ahead and go through and take an inventory of the things in your home that you know are gonna go with you. Make a list of those.


Just have an inventory. Know what's in your home. You'd be surprised at how many seniors don't even know what's up in the attics and in the, you know, the doors, but just go ahead and take that inventory. Go ahead and create that maybe box, that maybe area of I might get rid of that.


I might not. And then we can decide at a later time.


Go ahead and gather community intel if you're thinking about senior living. Go ahead and, you know, tour the communities, make your spreadsheet with your pros and cons list.


What amenities do they offer?


You know, all those things go ahead and and start doing your research search on the communities.


And then what I would say is declutter very small zones at a time.


Go to a drawer, a a cabinet, a closet. Just do one thing at a time and you are gonna feel like you're getting a jump start on the process.


I'll tell you when I go in packing kitchens and unpacking kitchens is the hardest thing. We have enormous amounts of dishes, China, utensils, bowls, casseroles, like so many serving platters. Like, if you can even go in your kitchen and just go through one small cabinet at a time and start that decluttering process, you are gonna feel better and it's gonna save you money on the downsizer. Okay? And then the last thing that I'm gonna share on that one is get together any important documents that you have.


I'm really kinda surprised at how many times I come across people that haven't done this and it and it hurts them and causes them stress. So I recently had a lady that we moved to North Carolina probably six months ago. Her and her husband had just moved to Florida about five, six years ago. She was seventy five. He's eighty, you know, doing great, big house, beautiful yard.


Last November he suddenly passed away. She calls me in January and she said, he paid all the bills.


I don't even have an email. I don't know what bills we owe. I don't know where the documents are. I don't know.


She was so stressed because she didn't know where things were. K. So we helped her go in and navigate that and pull everything together, but it but it was a mess and it caused stress in her that she really didn't need. So I would say get all of those documents together that will save you, a lot of stress down the road. And it's really the unknowns in our lives that cause us stress and worry.


Yeah. And and maybe that's a really good example of of a reason not to wait to do these things that can be accomplished, now, so that you're not stressing like the example you just gave us, on on the back end of things. So, for those who decide to wait and I've heard it a a thousand times for those who maybe made that move to senior living specifically, and we're talking, you know, we're we're kind of brushing with broad strokes here. I mean, we're talking about those who may wanna move to senior living and those who may just wanna move to a condo. You know? So it it's for our entire audience, but maybe those, who are considering it but then keep putting it off. Why should someone not wait?


Yeah. I mean, there's a few very obvious things that come to mind. So here's the situation. When I was in senior living, once again, in a community, everyday touring families, Someone would come in and they would tour. And then as a sales counselor, I would be calling them every two, three months. How's it going? Have you what are you thinking today?


No. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. What happens is that I I I wish I kept statistics on this, but I would get a call from an adult family member.


Mom or dad has fallen. They are now in the hospital. They're going to rehab. They've declined cognitively because of this.


Now we have to have the situation where we're rushing to get them into assisted living. You have now taken the control out of the seniors hands and everybody is scrambling to make things happen. That happens more times than not. So unpredictable health declines, you cannot predict those things, and they happened so often.


The other thing is reduced housing options.


So I had a lady that we moved about a year ago. She and her husband had toured the community I worked in two years prior. And she was like, we need to go. We need to go.


Our house is too big. Let's do this. He kept saying, no, no, no, not ready, not ready. He suddenly passed away.


So she quickly came down to us and said, I'm ready to get on that wait list. She had to wait eight months for something to open up for her. So reduced housing options is one thing that could definitely happen, if you wait. Okay?


And there's higher costs associated with having to rush at the last minute from higher costs for movers, senior living communities. Their prices are going up every year. There's just there's a lot of reasons to do it if it's even an inkling in the back of your mind that you should go.


The one thing I wanna point out on this question, I went through the last recession, as a realtor in o eight. You know, the the great one, the great recession. It was terrible.


Think about if you were, a senior and say o seven, o eight, and you were getting ready and you had some health issues and your house was a big equity, you got all that equity and that's you were kinda counting on that to be something that would finance your senior living and that market crashed.


Many of us lost fifty percent of our, our equity. And do you have the time? I want you to ask the question. Do I have ten years to wait to recover that, that equity.


You know, you have to think, can you bear another market downturn? And if you go over last hundred years, you see ups and downs. They ebb and flow. And we're about fifteen years into a pretty darn good market.


So I'm not saying it's coming. You can't predict them, but you have to think about all those things.


Waiting can be a deter it's not always good.


Yeah. And, you know, we're we're looking at what's going on in Florida right now. Right?


And Yeah.


It seems to be there's a lot more, a lot more availability for things to purchase, than there have been in quite a long time, and a lot of people have purchased in that area believing that they would hold on to some some and and gain quite a bit of equity, and now it's, the tables are sort of turning there.


They sure are. And that's where I am, and it's yeah. Feeling it. Yep.


It's unfortunate, but that's a that's an excellent example, one I hadn't even thought of. So, now on the heels of of that question, what are some of the benefits that you've seen with individuals who have chosen to move to to a senior living community, and then maybe those who waited too long? So so I think you've you've kind of nailed the reasoning why, but can you give us maybe some examples?


Yeah. Of of, you know, reasons, the benefits of going sooner than later. Obviously, greater choice and availability.


One I one thing I will say after observing in senior living, it is a much easier adjustment when you are making the decision to go rather than a family member or a crisis driven event is pushing you into senior living. It and and it's also much easier to start at the independent living level in senior living than the assisted living.


You you have the the luxury of making your friend groups and settling into the community and getting into the activities at your own pace. It's just a much easier transition when you are making that decision.


And so many times I you know, seniors would wait and wait and wait and then they would go ahead and move in and I'd I'd be talking to them a few months later and they're like, I don't know why I waited so long. I've been eating dinners alone for the last five years and why did I wait so long? So there really are so many benefits. But I think the main thing is we all wanna maintain control of our own decisions, and you want to transition on your own terms. Right? I think that's probably the number one reason. Do it on your terms when you can, and you're the one still making those decisions.


Yeah. And who doesn't want that? Right? Right. I'm the one making the move. I I should be the one that determines how, when, why, and and where I go, especially where I go. So, if if that's not reason enough, that should be number one at the very top of the list, so that you still have control over the situation.


Okay. So now how do you typically partner with senior living communities? And, really, what should we be looking for or asking senior living communities about move in, coordination, timelines, etcetera?


Right.


I the it's pretty simple. Communication is key and having coordinated logistics. So there's so many logistics. You've heard me talk a little bit about all the pieces that go with a move. And just having a main contact point person that is communicating with the senior, communicating with the family, and also communicating with the community, really helps the whole process be more synced and smooth for everybody.


What we don't want is we don't want the community staff to feel burdened by this process. The staff is already very busy. They need to be focusing on their care plans and on assessments and making sure that when that resident comes in, you know, the dining team has arranged for someone to have dinner with the new resident.


The engagement team has activities that that that new resident can, you know, engage in. They need to be focusing on what they do best, not, you know, hey. We gotta get the boxes. You know, the maintenance team needs to get the boxes out of the apartment.


They don't need to be worrying about that. So having somebody that can communicate and coordinate the logistics really helps the community. And, really, we have stronger outcomes. Really, the best outcome is for the senior to have a great move in day and have a great experience that that bodes well for both the community and for my company.


Yeah. And, we're about thirty minutes into this conversation with our q and a, our rapid fire. And anytime those of you watching wanna be a part the conversation or have any questions for Kirby just based on what you've heard even so far or maybe what you brought to the table here today that you'd like answered, really good time to get your question into the chat. Again, scroll down and, check out that q and a button there.


You could click on it, type your questions, and and I'll be happy to read those to Kirby throughout our q and a session. So now we, sort of move to, we've discussed some of the the issues that maybe seniors run into when it comes to trying to downsize and sell a home. But but, Kirby, I know that there are some things that you know based on your experience that we don't. So what are some of those maybe smaller issues that come up that become really big problems that people don't even think about?


Yeah. When you're when you're touring with the senior living communities, I mean, there's questions that you can answer and you don't always know to ask them, so I'm gonna tell you some of those things you can ask.


What are typical timelines from the time I deposit to move in day?


Just ask. You know? What is what is typical?


Are there any blackout dates? Are there holidays or days of the week that you don't want me to move in? Because really in assisted living, they don't want you moving in on the weekend because we want all the staff all hands on deck for that resident. It's very important that they have a good experience and that everyone is available when they move in. So ask if there's any dates or periods that, they're not allowed to move in.


Ask them how far in advance can I reserve an apartment or a cottage or a house?


Ask that question. If a community is in the early lease up phases and they've got a lot of availability, they may allow you to reserve thirty days or maybe even sixty days in advance. But if a community is ninety five to a hundred percent full, there's no way they're gonna allow you that time. They're gonna say, basically, you need to be paying rent in a couple of weeks' time. So you need to understand that.


Ask if family members can help you on move in day. Where can they park? Can they get guest passes for meals?


You know, are there community orientations and things that I contend in the meantime?


Now one thing the last thing that I would say is understand the difference between your financial occupancy date and your physical occupancy date.


We we throw those terms around a lot, but financial occupancy is the date that the community is gonna require you to start paying rent. K? So you may start paying rent, but really not be moving for another few weeks. But just know that if you're on the rent roll and you're paying rent, you can go attend activities. You can go have your meals in the dining room. You can pop into the community, and there's a lot of things you can be doing in there in the meantime while your move is wrapping up. So so just be proactive and ask a lot of questions.


Yeah. And on the the housing end of things, when when somebody's trying to sell, what are some issues that you see people run into? Maybe they're trying to use the equity in their home to to, maybe move into senior living or for the the next opportunity that they wanna move to. Do you see any issues, on that end?


Yes. So there's three things that when I go into a senior's home and and they wanna sell the home and move you know, and I'm gonna be listing the property for them and helping them downsize, one of the things I see a lot is deferred maintenance and repairs. A lot of times with seniors, you know, maybe mobility issues have arisen, some health concerns, just age related things.


What we see is a lot of things piling up. Rooms are piling up with clothes and, you know, just just things are piling up and there's pathways to the rooms because they just don't have the energy to keep things all tidy. That is a big challenge. You can't list a home when it's like that.


We also see a lot of leaky faucets. We see peeling paint. We see, you know, maybe toilets running. Just things that have been put off because of health issues or or various reasons.


Maybe family doesn't live nearby. But those are all things that we have to deal with before we can sell the home. One thing I would recommend, you can get a prelisting inspection done. So you can call a home inspect home inspector and say, you know, I'm gonna be listing my home.


Can you come through? They will give you, like, a a thirty page report of all the things. And then with your realtor, you can sit down and say, you know, let's focus on these. And that's a great thing to have laying on the kitchen counter when buyers come through and say, hey.


We went to the trouble to fix all of these items. You know? So it really looks good for the future buyers, but we really need to work on those basic maintenance and repair issues.


Another big issue we have is just the clutter and the staging challenges because seniors have collected a lot of things. So it's very important to utilize a downsizer or somebody that can help you go in and clear things out. It's very important for a buyer to be able to go in and envision them in the home and envision their things in the home rather than yours. Okay?


And then as far as accessibility and showings logistics, this is a big one. With seniors, a lot of times, they can't quickly clean up the house and get out of the house for a showing. And I'll give you an example. I'm about to buy a property with my daughter, you know, as an investment, and we've got we're kinda honed in on one of them.


But over the weekend, I saw one pop up on the MLS, and I'm like, that looks like you know, showed really well. It looks like it's had some updates. So I tried three or four times to set up a showing and was denied every time. So I called the agent.


I said, what's going on? Well, there's an elderly couple in the home, and, you know, they just can't they there's just a few times of the week that they really can show the property. And you know what I did? I just moved on.


I just, I'm like, there's enough to choose from in the market right now that I don't have to hone in on that one. So it makes it very difficult. A buyer cannot go in your home when you're there and feel the liberty to open up cabinets and, you know, open up closets and see the spaces. They are not comfortable looking when you're in the home.


So, you know, it truly is ideal if you move and then sell the home. It's ideal now. A lot of times people are like, well, I gotta have the home sold first. I need the equity from that home.


There are companies, lots of them. I know that Arbor uses ElderLife, and basically, you can call them up and they will put a bridge loan in place, and they will basically grab the equity out of your home. You can pay your, you know, community fee a few months rent. You can clear out the home.


Your realtor can stage that for sale, get the home sold. And then when that home sold sells, go ahead and use that equity to pay off the loan. But it really is much easier on the real estate side, if we have cleared out and really staged it for the sale.


Yeah.


Those are all things that you don't really consider, when you are in the process of moving, but those are all very valid points.


And and then maybe one other thing. When we talk about somebody being in a home for decades, right, the assumption may be and maybe it's a correct assumption, maybe an incorrect assumption depending on who it is. But perhaps maybe the home hasn't been updated from an aesthetic standpoint, over the course of that time because it's my home, and this is what I like. And, you know, I haven't seen the need to update the cabinets to be more, quote, modern.


What does even modern look like? Right? What does all that look like now? So so, how can seniors go about preparing their, homes for sale from that sort of aesthetic standpoint?


As you mentioned, people wanna come in and they wanna envision themselves in their home and not what they have to do to bring it maybe more modern or up to date.


Right. And I come across this a lot. For one location trumps everything. Right? So if you're in a good location, your home's gonna sell.


Well maintained homes are still selling. But I I recently I'm I'm about to list a home, and I went in. You know, the adult child had called me and said my mother passed away, and I need the home sold. And it hasn't been updated in forty years.


It's eighties. Right? It's clean, and it's well maintained, but it's very, very dated. So I told her, I said, what I want you to do is I want you to make a list for me of the things that maybe are not I can't visibly see, but but maybe things that we can focus on in the listing.


So she let me know that it has a fairly new AC unit.


The roof was replaced five years ago, which is big in Florida. Right?


So I really, you know, take the opportunity to capitalize on the the features and the things that it does have, the location, how close we are to the beach.


And a really, really important thing is you wanna have good curb appeal. So even if the inside is dated, if a buyer dries up drives up to the home, you wanna have the lawn maintained, put some potted plants out there. You want good curb appeal because you want them to at least come inside. Once they come inside and, you know, they they can start envisioning and all of that. It's not necessary to go out and remodel your entire home. Okay?


But there are things that you can do and you your agent can capitalize on the things you do have.


Yeah. That that's really good advice. And and one more thing. Let's go back to, you know, the maybe, the seniors that are living in the house just can't get up and leave every time somebody wants to stop by and look at it per your example of moving on from that property because it's, you you know, as you said, it's hard to open up cabinets when the people are still sitting there. What do you recommend on that end? Do you recommend maybe just setting specific open houses maybe once a week? I mean, what can be done on, to to help somebody who maybe can't immediately leave the house every time somebody wants to go see it, or they just wanna minimize the traffic in their home?


Yeah.


Minimizing traffic in your home shouldn't be your objective in a market that's pretty scary. Right? So you you don't ever wanna turn away showings. And, unfortunately, people just aren't giving us twenty four hours notice all the time, but maybe we can find slots of time. Hey. Are there if we do a little planning, tell me what days you visit your doctors over the next two weeks. And your realtor can work with you and find those pockets of time, and we can load up in our showing time in our MLS.


Hey. Show during these times. So we can help in that. I know that a senior cannot always move out of their home before we do that.


Another thing you can do, if you can at least step outside of the home, what when the buyers come, just say, hey. I'm just gonna go sit in the backyard on a on a patio chair and let them have the liberty. That makes a big difference. It really does.


So you don't feel like you're having to leave every time, you know, but at least you're stepping out so that they can look around and and poke around in your house. And, you know, I would definitely say you gotta declutter. So if you can't do it, hire somebody just to come in and box things up. You're going to be moving anyway, so those things are going to be boxed up.


So go ahead and box them up, put them away, take down the family pictures. They need it needs to be as sterile as possible, kind of minimalist, and and just fewer things, need to be visible.


But but it just get help with that. Don't feel overwhelmed. Get help with that because there's plenty of assistance out there for that.


Yeah. Those are excellent, excellent tips. Very good. We're, starting to wrap up our, end of the q and a session. So, again, if you have any questions for Kirby, it's a really good time to get those in.


As we sort of wind down here, Kirby, can we talk about the current trends? I mean, we I did touch on Florida, right, and the current trends that we're seeing there, and and, it's it's sort of on the trend of a buyer's market now, more than it was a a seller's market.


But what are some of the trends that you're seeing in the housing market and things that people, should be aware of maybe now and coming up in the near future?


Yeah. So it's just a slower market in twenty twenty five. In a lot of parts of the country, you're seeing maybe a one to two percent increase in appreciation.


But in a lot of markets, you're seeing a one to two percent depreciation in market. I'm in Florida, so it's really scary for condos in our market right now. Unfortunately, I have three condo listings right now, but the number of condo sales is down forty percent this year from one year ago, and the number of listings is up ninety five percent.


So there is a lot more on the market. I'm about to list a condo here in Florida, and there are five of them in this thirty unit association on the market. So I told my people, we're gonna declutter.


We are going to, we have to price below everyone else. We just have to. And you have to be very realistic about the prices if your market is doing that.


Strangely, in the market that I'm in, costs are still rising. So appreciation is still there in general home sales, and we're seeing that a lot across the the board. Now there's still a lot of buyers. There's still a demand.


There's more inventory, but we're in a gridlock because, you know, the interest rates are still high enough that buyers are just waiting and waiting and waiting so that inventory is not moving. So we're kinda just waiting for something to bust open, and I don't know which way it's gonna go. You know? It's it's very difficult, but there's a lot more inventory. So the shiniest penny sells. Homes are still selling, but you need to do everything you can and employ the help that you need to get your home ready for a good showing and and and a good sell.


Yeah. You you see in the news kind of certain markets where maybe a a lot of people ended up moving to after COVID, and now they're moving out of it. Like, you know what? I got the bill. I get it. I understand. Or you are talking about some larger housing markets that it used to be a lower cost of living, and now it's skyrocketed.


Like, Atlanta is a perfect example. You know? And and now it's it's harder to to live in the city, and you're happy to look further and further further out of the city with all that traffic, get to work. So, you know, we we wanna maybe talk about what is causing some of the issues so that we kinda have a pinpoint as to why maybe in Florida, for example, there is sort of this mass exodus.


What is causing, beyond the obvious, which is, you know, everything seems to just cost more these days. But what else seems to be going on, Kirby, that you're noticing, trending wise in the markets?


Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm in Florida. So, obviously, in Florida, you know, the hurricanes all the hurricanes haven't helped. Our insurance prices are out of control, homeowners insurance, and a lot of insurance companies left the state.


I was very encouraged to hear, a condo that I am listing next week, their association was just able to reduce the condo association fees by forty percent because more companies are now coming back because of some legislation that has happened, coming back into Florida. So things may stabilize, but there's just a lot of uncertainty. There's still a lot of buyers. New homes, sales are down.


So we gotta depend on the resales, but sellers are still expecting top prices, but buyers can't reach those prices with the interest rates. So like I said, we're at a gridlock. It's like buyers aren't budging and sellers aren't budging because they still think they can get those COVID post COVID prices, and it just isn't so. We've gotta be a little bit more flexible.


I'm testing the market. We just you got you just gotta test it. It's just it's it's just a constant game of where we at here, but it's it's tough.


A little bit of of self awareness too, I think, can also go Yes.


Way. Right? Right.


Like you said, people are asking for prices that they think they could get from several years ago, and that's that's in in a lot of places, just not the case.


I mean It's not happening.


Yeah. You have there are certain pockets around the country where it will always, be a kind of a hot place to buy, but, those seem to be fewer and fewer. And and a lot of people just seem to be sort of buckling down a little bit on on that additional spending. If they don't have to leave, they're probably not going to at this time just to see sort of the volatility and and how things are gonna settle down and where the dust settles at the end of the day.


Right. And a lot of people are choosing to stay because they locked in their current home at three percent. You know? And it's like, I know I want a bigger house right now, but but is that really feasible? So it's just we're kind of at a standstill.


There's there's not a lot moving, but but I'm still selling homes. I know a lot of agents that are still doing well. My daughter's a realtor in California, and things are popping there in her market. It's really strange.


So, really, you just have to, you know, find an expert in your market and just get a true picture of what's going on. But but bottom line for seniors, if you're seventy five, eighty, eighty five, ninety, whatever, you really timing them are it's about your peace of mind and the freedom that you are experiencing in your lifestyle. Staying in a home and being isolated and not having what you need from other individuals, that's just silly to me. It's like, you know, you've gotta think about your health, your mental health, and and your physical state over everything.


As you said, it's silly, but the the statistics back up, it's it's, not good for your mental and physical health. It just it just is not. And so, anything we could do to prevent, that sort of isolation, that depression that could lead to cognitive decline and and other issues, you know, no one wants to have a fall in their home and and no one be there to help, you know, because the home is not, situated in a way that, can cater to you where you happen to be right now. So this is why we have these conversations.


And, again, it's for everybody. It's if you wanna move into senior living, fantastic. Plenty of options, no matter where you live, on that end. If you wanna move into something a little bit small smaller and just truly downsize just into an apartment, we're here for that too.


So, Kirby, I think, excellent information here today.


We are super appreciative of all the years of the experience you had to back this up, and the examples, I think, really speak to, those viewers who maybe find themselves within those, examples. So I appreciate you bringing those up as well.


Herbie, thanks for being with us, and please come back.


Absolutely. Thank you for having me.


Yeah. You bet. Now for those of you who are a part of our webinar today, we say thank you.


A link to this, very webinar will be in your email that you use to RSVP here today. Also, if you found this webinar with Kirby informative and you wanna watch more just like this one, all about senior living, head on over to our website. It's w w w dot senior living live dot com. All of our videos are on demand, and they are all free. Thank you so much for being a part of Senior Living Live. Have a great day, everybody.