| You have lived in your home for 30 years. Now, the kids have grown and moved away, the neighborhood is changing and you would like to move to a smaller home where you can enjoy an active retirement.
The problem is you are not sure what your house is worth, you are concerned about tax planning and you do not know what your options are in terms of what or where to buy.
You might want to consider hiring a Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES).
A national program since 1998, the Senior Advantage Real Estate Council® offers a specific designation, Seniors Real Estate Specialist® (SRES®), to identify those REALTORS® who have successfully completed its education program along with other prerequisites. By earning the SRES designation, Realtors demonstrate knowledge and expertise to counsel senior clients and are prepared to offer those clients a variety of options when making life-changing decisions. One of the fastest-growing and most timely programs for REALTORS®, the council now has more than 15,000 Senior Real Estate Specialists® in all 50 states and Canada and adds hundreds of new members every month.
Basically, an SRES designee is trained to help seniors make wise decisions about selling the family home. They also offer knowledge about financing, buying or selling rental properties and managing capital gains. They also can explain current trends and opportunities for seniors in the housing market.
An SRES Realtor cannot give legal or tax advice. However, according to the council, designees are urged to maintain referral relationships with accountants and real estate attorneys so they can refer their clients to those professionals as needed.
Rosemarie and Angela, said they have found the SRES training valuable. They work with seniors, attorneys who are trustees for estates and children who have inherited family property.
While some of their clients are moving to find camaraderie or to be closer to kids, others need help finding assisted-living arrangements. Rosemarie and Angela see their role as an SRES as part counselor and part confidante, handling the details and informing their clients about all the options.
While the majority of Rosemarie and Angela's clients are the homeowners, they've had a few cases where the clients were family members and their duties had to extend beyond the norm.
When Jim, who lived in Kansas, came to town to put his parent's home on the market, he and his sister (from Maryland) interviewed many local Realtors. After meeting with Rosemarie and Angela they felt totally comfortable in the fact that they would be handling the transaction from start to finish. Jim and sister could focus on getting their mother into assisted living and not have to worry about the house being sold.
Also, when one 80's plus couple, Stanely and Sylvia, decided to sell their home and move to assisted living in New Jersey, Rosemarie and Angela helped arrange the move up to the last item to go out the door, not to mention finding Sylvia's hearing aid for her.
"Through their contacts, Rosemarie and Angela helped hire someone who specializes in moving the elderly from their homes," They also found professionals to deal with personal possessions, help clear out the house and get it ready for sale, said the husband, Stanley.
"I am so thankful for the way it worked out," he said.
While any licensed Realtor can handle a transaction, it is the wise senior who seeks out someone with experience in the 55-plus marketplace, according to the Council on Senior Citizens. Rosemarie and Angela consider that type of specialized training to be an asset.
"There are so many factors particular to the seniors’ circumstance that they will be better off with a Realtor who is familiar with that terrain.
For Realtors like Rosemarie DiChiara and Angela Parisi, the extra training has proven helpful. Realtors with Re/Max Innovations, Rosemarie and Angela took the SRES course two years ago in order to better understand how to help their older clients.
"If someone is entering into a real estate transaction at an older age, it’s for an important reason - they lost a spouse or they need to downsize," he said. "This course helped them see all the things they need to be thinking about in order to really help these clients."
We have found that often times working with older clients is like working with first-time buyers.
"They haven’t had to buy or sell for 45 years," he said, "and now, all of a sudden, they have to deal with all the new laws and red tape. When they bought their house, the contract may have been one page long. Now, it’s about 18 pages."
While help with navigating the paperwork is one of the benefits seniors can realize with a trained SRES Realtor, another is finding out about recent laws and options that apply to seniors that might not apply to other property owners.
The Seniors Advantage Real Estate Council (SAREC) now has more than 8,000 SRES designees in all 50 states and Canada and adds hundreds of new members every month. If you find yourself in the position of having to sell a property, wouldn't it be wise to use one of them.
Please feel free to call us for any help we can offer.
ALSO, ask for our FREE booklets:
1. 23-Page Report "A Special Report on Senior Housing" - IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SELL IT FOR, BUT WHAT YOU GET TO KEEP THAT COUNTS, Answering Mature Property Owners' 15 Most Frequently Asked Questions.
2. 8-Page Report "A Special Report on Property Maintenance" - COST EFFICIENT WAYS SENIORS CAN MAINTAIN THEIR HOME & EQUITY.
3. -Page Report "A Special Report on Assisted Senior Housing" - ANSWERING 12 MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.
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