It took Eadie Allison a couple of years to decide to sell her four-bedroom family home in Shoreview and move to something smaller. Her husband died five years ago, and "the house and the yard were too big," she said.
The decision she made is one being faced by increasing numbers of retirees and empty-nesters. But moving away can be difficult. And as if the logistics weren't daunting enough, there often is emotional turmoil connected with leaving. A Real Estate Specialty
Helping people in this situation has become a growing specialty in the real estate industry. A growing number of agents in the Twin Cities focus their marketing on seniors, and some are among about 8,100 nationally with Senior Real Estate Specialist certification. Thirty-seven Realtors in Minnesota have the designation, under a National Association of Realtors program by the California Association of Realtors. It requires 12 hours of courses in generational differences, estate planning, equity conversion, the retirement process and communicating with clients and their families and advisers.
People 55 and older are the nation's largest group of property owners. Many prefer someone who displays sensitivity, compassion and understanding about the emotions of selling and who has patience.
Those who work in such niches say they often do far more than the usual marketing, and they're likely to do a good deal of counseling and helping to arrange for the move.
Ted Field, who founded Edina Realty's Senior Services, said he often shows homes and apartments to seniors with no obligation that they list their homes with him. The hope is that they'll call him when they're ready to sell, but sometimes he just has to pat himself on the back for doing community service.
Seniors don't take the decision to move lightly, said Lori La Bey, a Coldwell Banker Burnet agent in Maplewood who has specialized in older clients for years and has the Senior Real Estate Specialist designation.
"It's a huge, huge thing," she said. They have to define their financial, emotional and physical needs and look seriously into the future, determining "not only what are you going to need when you move in, but what will you need months or years later. ... They don't want to do this again," she said.
"The problem with seniors is that they don't have a clue of where they would go, so they tend to have a fear of the unknown," Field said. That makes the whole process overwhelming. "People know they should move, or the kids say they should move," he said. "But they say, 'Where am I going to go? I've been living here forever.'"
The timing of the move is critical, La Bey said. "I'm finding more and more people are figuring out where they want to go, moving into that place and then selling the home. It's less stressful. A lot of times they have a cash-flow problem, but I have to educate them that you can get a swing loan or a bridge loan.
By moving first, there's opportunity to bring what they want, even if that means a few pieces and possessions get moved back again.
Allison moved about four miles to a one-level detached townhouse in an association of more than 40 homes.
She'd never sold a house before. "When I talked to Lori, I said, 'I don't know how to do any of this.' "she recalled. "She said, 'Don't worry, I'll hold your hand all the way.'"
"One of the big things they're fearful of is who can they trust," La Bey said. Not only do they need an agent with whom they're comfortable, but they need to know where to turn if they must make repairs before they can sell, hire a mover and figure out the order in which to do everything. Most agents know tradespeople they can call on for rapid repairs, and usually have experience in helping people schedule events.
Seniors have much anxiety about how they are going to deal with their possessions: "What are they going to take, who's going to move it, how do they weed through all of their stuff," La Bey said. "Even though they're the driving force in this move, there's a lot of feeling of lack of control."
"Many of my clients move for medical reasons," Field said. If the need is sudden, the pressure can be great. But a move before it's required can provide choices. He listed three big considerations. The first is location. "If someone always has lived in Edina, and you move them to the other side of St. Louis Park, you might as well have moved them to St. Cloud. If they have to change doctors, banks, post offices and stores, it's tough.
"Second, we have to look at what services do they need or are they likely to need in the near future," he said. "We want to avoid that double move."
The third consideration is financial. "The services they need often will predict what they have to spend. There's a huge number of places to go. It used to be 'my home or the nursing home,' but now there's dozens of options between the two." That's important to emphasize, especially for those who resist the idea of moving even when they know they must. "If you can take them to a place that they can see would be a good space for them, you can almost hear the strings to the home being cut," he said.
Health is the most-common motivator for a move, Field said. While seniors fear that a move might cost them independence, sometimes it gives them more - freeing them from some cooking and home-maintenance chores so they can do things they want to do. Children also gain peace of mind when parents move to a more communal setting where someone will notice if they don't appear when expected.
Field encourages people to make their decisions early. "If you become incapacitated, someone else is making the decisions."
Finances are a big concern, but a lot of homeowners "don't realize how much equity they're sitting on," he said. "People have $100,000 or $300,000 equity in their house, and they're walking around broke."
Allison said that as much as she and her children loved the house, they realized she needed to move. Her biggest problem was what to do with all the stuff.
La Bey said the possessions problem can be overwhelming. The key is to start early, she said.
Also, the paperwork for a swing loan, if appropriate, can be done in advance and then updated when the time comes. Moving companies can provide estimates so a choice can be made quickly.
Choosing a real estate agent in advance also is desirable, La Bey said. Interview several, ask what services they'll provide and ask for a marketing plan.
La Bey said the entire process can be scary, "but if you go into it saying, 'This is what's best for me, that's my reality,' then you can go into it informed. Most people love it so much when they've made the change because they've worried about it so long that it's better than they thought."
Allison said she'd read about making such a move, thought about it and talked with friends who'd done it. "I wanted to do the move while I still was in good health and felt I could handle it," she said. She couldn't have done it alone. "I would have been crazy." With the move behind her, "I feel very good," she said.
This is an abbreviated version of an article by Neal Gendler (with contributions by Scripps Howard News Service) in the StarTribune, Saturday, January 24, 2004