Senior Living LIVE! Real Estate Insights for Senior Home Sales

Video Transcription

Hello everyone, and welcome to Senior Living Live. My name is Jenay Sherman. Thank you for being with us today. So today we have two special guests who are gonna be sharing their best tips and real estate insights for senior home sales. Jeff Hudson and Jason Waugh will give you a beat on the current trends and the real estate market and discuss options for you and your loved ones that can help bridge the gap between selling a home and making the move into senior living communities. We're going to have an open Q and A session at the end of this webinar, and we'd like you to be a part of the conversation. So all you have to do is type your question in the Q and A box anytime during today's presentation, which we expect to last about an hour. Our chat today is being transcribed so you can follow along. And once we're finished, the full recording will be sent to your email address that you used to register for this webinar. But before we begin, I'd like to let Jeff and Jason introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about their backgrounds. Who would, who'd like to start?

Thanks, Jason. Yeah. Hey, guys. So I'm Jeff Hudson. I've been with ElderLife Financial now for seven years. ElderLife Financial has been around for twenty four years, helping families build their long term game plan to pay for a senior living community. And we've been proud partners with Arbor company since two thousand eleven. So financial uncertainty is really the number one barrier that many families face when they transition a loved one into a senior living community, and that's really where elder life can help come in and overcome by working similar to a financial aid office at a college or university, we help families identify and coordinate all their different private pay resources. And as you can imagine, selling a home is a big step in that process. So really excited today because we have an expert with Jason on the phone, and really his insight into the current real estate market will be valuable for everybody and understanding how to best navigate that transition.

Thank you, Jeff, and thank you, Jenay. Hello, and good morning, everyone. Jason Waugh, I am the president of Coldwell Banker Affiliates Coldwell Banker is one of the largest real estate companies, not only in the country, but internationally. We operate across the country, but also, operate in forty countries around the world. August was my thirty first anniversary, in the real estate business. Done it all, everything from production and sales to executive leadership into my current role as president of Coldwell Banker. So appreciate the opportunity to be here. This real estate's a passion of mine and and certainly interesting times and hopefully can be a a good resource of market intelligence to you today. So thanks for the opportunity.

Well, thank you guys for both being here. I think that we are gonna have a great webinar today. So let's get started. For many seniors making the transition into senior living communities, their largest asset is the equity in their home, so it's important to maximize the value. Let's start with Jason and learn a little bit more about the current real estate market. So, Jason, what's the market doing right now? And the million dollar question, is now a good time to sell?

Well, great question. I will, I would submit the data, you know, and I tell our teams all the time and all the people that we serve, you know, data is our most valuable currency. And so there's, I would contend that today's market is really a complex time from the perspective of we had such a great real estate run, the longest on record from from really mid twenty twelve to mid twenty twenty-two, we saw a decade's worth of good appreciation. And then the final two years of that decade, I've coined the unicorn years of COVID, which really went against conventional wisdom. The real estate market really took off those those two years. And so since mid twenty twenty two, the market really just had to recalibrate itself. I do believe the data supports that twenty twenty three was the bottom of the current real estate cycle that we're in. And so now we're in a marketplace that we're just kinda floating along the bottom, and a lot of that is due to interest rates, affordability, the job market is softening some. The feds meet today, so everybody expects today is gonna begin that rate reduction cycle. So we'll see. I know housing starts data just came out this morning. Housing starts increased the fastest pace since April. So there's kind of this ebb and flow between good news, no news, flat news. I guess the question is now a good time to sell? The data still supports it's a seller's market. Inventory has grown. We're about four months worth of inventory. The average days on market today or at least in August was twenty four days on market. Last year, same time was twenty. So there hasn't been that much volatility. I think, ultimately, it's the same principles ring true today. If the house is show ready and it is priced right, there is a lot of demand. And so it's really just typically, is there a life event that requires the need to either move, buy, sell, downsize, relocate? And that's typically a life event drives that.

Okay. Well, is it a seller's or a buyer's market? And how are mortgage interest rates affecting the market?

So conventional wisdom will tell you six months of inventory is a balanced market. Less than six months, it's a seller's market. More than six months, it's a buyer's market. Today, we sit at four months. Now I'm not sure or confident even because that theory has, I've been thirty one years in the business and that was the same rhetoric thirty one years ago. I don't know if it still holds true. I would still contend that the data supports it's still a seller's market because if it's priced right even though inventory's up, there are fewer buyers in the market, but we are still seeing price increases. We're seeing low average days on market. So if the home's taken to market, it's show ready, it's priced right, it will sell. So that would suggest it's still a seller's market.

K. So are homes values holding?

Not only are they holding, they're actually appreciating, and it's really an interesting dynamic, and I've always said and I'm not an economist, but kinda economics 101 would suggest that price is really just an interaction between supply and demand. And as long as supply is low or flat, there will be a demand. And in that scenario, prices are either gonna be stable or rise, and that's what we're seeing. So we saw such a price acceleration through those COVID years. I mean, to the tune of forty, forty five percent. Depending on some markets, sixty percent up over that two year span. The difference today is it's a deceleration of appreciation. It's not a price decline. So prices from a medium price range home for the country is up four and a half percent compared to same time last year in August. So it's still appreciating. It's just not at the pace that we saw in those unicorn years of of COVID.

Okay. That's an important thing to note. Well, if there is a recession, how does that impact the real estate market?

You know, it's interesting. If you look at the last six recessions and really, you know, jobs and interest rates, mortgage interest rates really is what drives kind of the real estate market. And if you look at the last six recessions, mortgage rates in all six of them came down. So, again, the data would lead somebody to draw a conclusion that if we enter a recession, mortgage interest rates will come down based on the trend of the last six recessions. With respect to prices, four of the last six, we saw home values increase. Two thousand and eight was one of those and, you know, it was not a housing collapse. That was a financial system breakdown that impacted the whole economy. So take that one because that's, I think, an anomaly of those the last six recession years. The other one was nineteen ninety one, and home values dipped one point nine percent. The other four, we saw price increases. So, again, the data's pretty overwhelming that a recession doesn't mean that mortgage interest rates go up. It doesn't mean that home values go down. It's actually just the data supports just the opposite.

Okay. Now, of course, we all know it is a presidential election year. How does the presidential election impact the housing market?

This is a, you know, this is a great question, and I love this because the data is overwhelming, and it comes up every four years. People, there's often an attitude of, Hey. I'm just gonna sit on the sideline, wait and see who takes office, see what new policies, are put into place and how that impacts, you know, the housing market. Interestingly enough, there's been thirteen presidential elections since nineteen seventy. Now eleven of those thirteen, the year after the presidential election we saw a year over year increase in existing home sales. Ten of those thirteen actual presidential election years, we saw an increase in existing home sales year over year. So the data is very overwhelming that that single event doesn't have a negative impact on housing sales, at least existing housing sales. So, when anybody's talking about, I'm going to wait and see who takes office, the data kinda contradicts that sort of reasoning or thinking. I do think that this one is maybe a little bit different, all things considered, the economy, the market, and, again, we had a decade of record historic growth, and the market is still recalibrating itself. So there's some other variables that I think impact that, but just the presidential election itself, the data would support that as a single event does not impact negatively, existing home sales.

K. Well, let's shift gears a little. Let's talk about the steps that a family can take to simplify moving a loved one and selling their home. Many seniors have lived in their home for over fifteen years, which I imagine can create some challenges. So what are some things that you need to do to get a house ready for sale?

Well, first of all, I would say today is that getting a home prepared to take to market is more important than it's been probably in the last, you know, five or six years because there was a period in our marketplace, twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, first half of twenty twenty two, where you didn't really have to do anything. Throw a price out there. You get multiple offers, over asking price, waive all contingencies. I mean, it was really the wild, wild west. Now, you know, the how it appears both online as well as in person that, you know, curb appeal, is really really important. It has moved back into what I would describe a more normal sales cycle where buyers are more picky. They feel like they can negotiate repairs. They're going to be more intentional in looking for potential issues. You know, a few years ago, you know, you get people that wrote offers sight unseen. So it's just I think understanding that dynamic in today's marketplace, making sure that home is show-ready. I mean, we have one opportunity to make a first impression. That's really critical today given just kind of the market conditions and how it's recalibrated itself. And then and then certainly, you know, depersonalizing it as much as you can. You wanna put it in a position where any perspective buyer can envision themselves living there. And the more personalized it is, it's just harder to really envision that. And so, again, I think it's decluttering is really important. That first impression is more important than it's been in in the last decade. And then price, price right, and there is a demand regardless of kind of the affordability constraints.

Okay. Well, when it comes to selling a home, there are obvious costs like repairs, cleaning, moving expenses. What other costs should we be thinking about? Are there any that might come as a surprise to a seller?

Yeah. I just refer that to probably a local, adviser who they're gonna have a consultation with, because everybody may have different offerings with respect to their representation services. But with respect to settlement closing costs, you know, that that's a pretty standard formula, if you will, with respect to settlement costs, closing costs. You know, the buyer absorbs inspections. They may negotiate repairs, and that just boils down to negotiation between buyer and seller. There's really not, or should not be a real last minute surprise related to the settlement cost to close the property. Now depending on is somebody relocating nearby, is it relocating cross country, you know, those sort of issues are really kind of unique to that particular situation. So can't really put a dollar amount to that, but there really should not be a surprise relative to what are the settlement cost to close that transaction.

Thank you. So you've been talking about the first impression. How important do you feel it is to stage a home?

Well, hey. Again, I think it's you gotta take every situation, you know, kinda individually and unique. Is there the timing opportunity to do that? So in a perfect scenario, there's enough time to do all that prep work in advance, take the home to market. And so if you have the, if time is your friend, then it's absolutely critical today. Again, I think the mindset and mentality and opportunity given the market adjustment that we've experienced. And most folks start their search online, so they're gonna begin by pictures and videos. So the quality of the pictures and the videos gotta be first class or at least best in class. And then when they get on-site, again, how it presents itself, in terms of just, depersonalized to the best of one's ability will help, that, that show. But it really boils down to some folks don't have the benefit of time. There's an immediate need to do something and so that you know, again, it's kind of a, you know, a unique situation. It's kinda case by case. But in a perfect world, show ready and staging I believe is highly critical.

Okay. Thank you. Would it be wise to have a home inspection before listing the home?

Yeah. There's two schools of thought. Right? So if you do that, that puts a seller in an informed position. If they want to, if there are any issues they can remedy those in advance and put that home in even a better position, move those potential negotiated items out of the way. You will have to disclose those. So if you take that extra step in advance, you'll have to disclose whatever was found in your property disclosures, which is fine. You should. If you're aware of potential issues that impact the value of the home, you've gotta disclose that. And if you do that, it's wise to make that available, upon request, because it could potentially put people's mind at ease. Alright. So these things have been remedied. Here's how they were remedied, what time or date they were remedied, and by who's a quality contractor. So that is, you know, one school of thought. There's another school of thought. Like, put that onus on on the buyer. Right? So it's their investment in the purchase of this property, and then that just becomes a negotiation. But if there are issues, it becomes a negotiation between buyer and seller. So, you know, I think, again, it's some of that is timing. Do you have the time to go through those steps? And if you don't, maybe it's not even a possibility. But there's, you know, sound reasoning, for and against.

Okay. So a big question I'm sure a lot of people have. How do I determine how much my home is worth? Because we don't wanna take a dollar less on doing it.

Well, it all starts with representation matters. Hire an experienced real estate consultant that really knows the marketplace and can present the data in a way that helps you make an informed decision. And ultimately, the market will dictate the price. Right? So and what I mean by that is if you've engaged and hired the right real estate adviser, they know the marketplace. They know what's sold. They know what's pending. They know what's active that are like properties. And so you can have that discussion around here is what the market is doing right now. And then the recommendation, most people would you know, it's a range, probably. And then it's, you know, really a matter of, you know, the homeowner or homeowners depending on how many there are decision makers in that process, just trusting the data. And I think it starts with, and I'll go back to my first comment, representation matters. There's a lot of realtors out there, so there's a lot of choices and a lot of options. So hiring right, and I believe in good representation, obviously. But, and then I would ask for references and look at somebody's background and things like, okay. What is your list to sale price ratio? I mean, I believe that the best in class real estate advisors can tell you, here's all of my transactions, here's my experience, my history, and they can provide references. And if folks want to, if they don't know them, potentially, they already have a preexisting relationship, so all of this has kinda been satisfied. But let's go under the assumption that maybe you don't have a local realtor today. You know, that just make sure that you, feel comfortable with their local expertise and that they are really a part of that marketplace and really have a pulse on recent sales, what is currently pending, what is active, and able to interpret that market data to package that up, tell a story to the homeowners so they can make a good, informed decision.

That sounds, it sounds like you're, I mean, I know a lot of people with all the apps and all the things out there right now. It sounds like you're not recommending for sale by owner situations. You're saying representation matters. Am I hearing you correctly?

You are. And the majority of for sale by owners actually convert and hire a real estate adviser. Anyways, you know, I don't want to, you know, be dismissive of that population, but I also do think that the market is so complex today that to not engage a real estate professional, I think, will cost you in the long run. And so, again, representation matters, and so hire the best in your local market that that is experienced as a good knowledge base of the the local activity.

Okay. Well, thank you so much for this. We wanna move on to Jeff. But before I do, if you have any questions for Jason, please make sure you get them in the Q and A box at the bottom of your screen. We're gonna have him come jump back in and answer a bunch of questions at the end here. So make sure you get those in while we still have him live because he's going to have all the information you need. So thank you, Jason, very much.

Thank you, Jenay.

Let's let's turn now to Jeff with Elder Life Financial and look a little deeper into making the transition into senior living. So, Jeff, considering how important it is to stage the home before listing it on the market, how should families support this situation financially if they need the equity in their home to afford moving into the senior living community?

Yeah. That's a great question and really a catch twenty two that many families face when they're transitioning a loved one. You know, the loved one needs care right away, but they really can't afford it when you think about the moving expenses or, as Jason mentioned, the importance of staging the home and getting that ready to sell for top dollar. There might be enough for a community fee and month one, month two expenses of living there. And that's really where ElderLife was founded, was around our bridge loan to help families in this specific situation. So for over twenty four years, our bridge loan has been bridging the gap from a time that a senior needs care until the time that they can really afford care. So what the bridge loan allows the family to do is to move their loved one into a senior living community right away to get the care they deserve today, but then that buys the family time to focus on maximizing the value of the home, Sort through mom and dad's belongings, make the necessary repairs. Maybe it's a fresh coat of paint, new carpet, getting everything done and then listing the home for top dollar. At the end of the day, the goal of the bridge loan is to get that family to list and sell that home for top dollar, maximize the equity in their home, and then use those long-term funds to pay for their desired Arbor community as they settle in and live there long term.

Okay. But isn't a bridge loan, is a bridge loan something seniors can obtain from their bank? Or is that something they can only get from somewhere like ElderLife Financial?

Yeah. Great question. And there's many different financing solutions out there.

ElderLife being our own lender, we underwrite our own loans. We hold our own loans. We lend our own money. And we've done this for over twenty four years and have actually lent out over three hundred million dollars to families making the move into a senior living community. Our bridge loan is designed specifically for the seniors and the families in that unique situation where they need immediate access to care before the other resources come available. So what differentiates our financing options is really a few things. First is speed. Our team, we can go from first phone call with the family to a funded loan within twenty four hours. A lot of times these move ins to senior living are more urgent, so they need to make that move right away where a bank with a home equity line of credit or or another financing solution might take thirty, forty five days to even get that loan funded. So speed is really one thing that differentiates our offering. Additionally, as I mentioned, the Bridge loan was designed for seniors in this unique situation. This is not a long term loan. This is a short term loan where families typically only need, you know, four or five or six months to get that home sold, where banks are more focused on long-term financing options. And as our own lender, we review every family situation. We right size the bridge loan based off what their needs are gonna be, and then the loan is actually taken out in the senior's name where adult children and family members, friends can join the loan to get the senior the best rate possible. So our lending criteria is a little bit different as well. Where banks are a little bit more strict on their lending criteria, Elder life being our own lender, we can be more flexible in our guidelines and make life easier such as sending funds to the community and working directly with that family to understand what the funds are needed for.

Well, speaking of criteria, what criteria does someone need to meet to work with Elder Life Fund?

Yeah. So, you know, as a lender, we have lending guidelines and there's, you know, forty to fifty data points that we look at. Really, I like to bubble it down. There's four main pieces of the bridge. First is, as you can imagine, credit score. So our credit score, you know, for our ideal loans is a credit score above six fifty. Next, we're looking at annual income where we would like to see an annual income greater than around forty thousand dollars or a debt to income ratio as well. So those are really three of the primary criteria that we look at. But with that being said, we have our guidelines. And if a family doesn't necessarily meet the credit score requirement, we have the ability to add other family members on the loan to get them eligible, or we can work with them on a best path forward from there. And then the fourth criteria that we really look at is the equity in the home. The last thing we wanna do is to lend out money to a family up to a hundred percent loan to value. So let's say that they have a remaining mortgage balance and they utilize the bridge loan, we're not going to go up to a hundred percent value there because we want that family to have funds to pay for their community long term after the home sells. So once the home sells, they get the remaining equity back to be a long term resident within their desired community. So, again, there's a lot of different data points and every family's application is reviewed by our in house underwriting team, truly understand what their needs are, what's the lending criteria of the family, and how can we help this family and make that move happen as quickly as possible.

Okay. It sounds like you work really well with the community they're moving into. How would ElderLife co coordinate a bridge loan with the realtor who's listing the house for sale? So do you work on both sides of that, transaction?

Yeah. Absolutely. So when a family gets connected to ElderLife, they're gonna be connected to a financial concierge. And that's really the quarterback in this entire situation. They're working one on one with that family to help them identify and coordinate which resources are available and then help them maximize each resource from there. So if a family you know, a common instance is mom owns a home in Florida, but she wants to move closer to her adult children in Georgia, and they might not have a real estate professional in that other market. So ElderLife has a national network of senior focused agents that are local to that family and will help that family build a game plan to, again, help sell that home for top dollar. These aren't agents that just got in the business the last few years. These are agents that have really been in the business for a while and tailored their expertise around helping seniors and families with that transition. So the financial concierge working with that family is not only gonna work with the family, but also help coordinate with that real estate agent on any needs that as they go back and forth and that process moves forward. But with that being said, every family's unique situation is unique. So a family might have a great local real estate agent that they wanna work with. They don't have to use elder life real estate agents in order to utilize the bridge loan. It's all based off that family situation. We're just here to help provide that expertise and that coordination to help move that process.

Okay. So in what other situations does the bridge loan come into play where it could be utilized?

Yeah. As you can imagine, over twenty four years, families have used the bridge loan in many different situations. Essentially, what you're looking at is there's a short time period, you know, less than twelve months that a family is waiting to receive a certain set of funds. Most common, that's the sale of the home. There's also a VA benefit for senior living where you have to be incurring the cost of care in order to apply. And then it takes four or five or six months to be awarded that benefit. But what if the family can't afford the community until that monthly benefit is received by the VA? Our bridge loan can be utilized in that situation. A long term care insurance policy. It's not uncommon for them to have a ninety day waiting period before that long term care insurance policy pays out. So we can bridge that gap as well. You know, it might be something as unique as the family's gonna get access to a trust in six or eight months, and then that trust is gonna be used to pay for the long term care for their loved one. Again, it could be a whole host of situations. We've even helped families that wanted to delay liquidating assets due to to tax purposes. So it all depends on that family situation. Essentially, when it's utilized is when a family needs immediate access to funds to help pay for care, but they have a long term resource that will be coming available in the next twelve months to then pay for care long term.

Okay. So it sounds like that concierge is gonna be very helpful for them to determine what they're doing during that period.

Exactly.

Okay. Well, aside from the bridge loan and selling a piece of real estate, what other financial resources are available to seniors if they're making that move to senior living?

Yeah. As I mentioned, there is an aid in attendance benefit that's offered by the VA. That's the most common utilized resource when paying for senior living. And it's a great benefit. It's a monthly benefit where a senior could receive up to over thirty two thousand dollars a year. And, again, the goal of this benefit is to help families pay for increased care expenses. There are eligibility criteria that comes with the aid and attendance benefit such as service dates, discharge type. The senior must be needing a certain level of care. There's income and asset thresholds that need to be met in order to be eligible. So it's not really a cut and dry answer if someone's eligible or not. So that's where our team can also help families understand eligibility of that criteria and their best next steps to submit that application. One important note about the aid and attendance benefit, though, is that is a resource that can be utilized by surviving spouses as well. So it's not just eligible for the veterans, but if there is a surviving spouse, they can also be eligible for the aid and attendance benefit. So if your loved one was a veteran or married to a veteran, absolutely, you need to look into the aid and attendance benefit. Another very common resource is a long term care insurance policy. So a lot of times, seniors have purchased these policies many years ago. They've been paying on them monthly. And, truly, that's one of the best resources to pay for care long term. But with any insurance, as you can imagine, there's a few challenges that come along with that. You know, there's over four hundred thousand variations of long term care insurance policies in the market. It's a contract. It's a legal document. They're not always easy to understand the differences between the policies and what each policy will pay for. And as you can imagine, insurance companies, they like to receive money more than payout. They don't always make it easy to start that policy, but there are experts' help available that can help understand and navigate that policy to make sure that it's paying for everything that that senior is all the different care types that the senior is receiving within that community. So VA benefits, long term care insurance policies. Some life insurance policies have a rider that will allow that family to convert the life insurance policy to a long term care insurance policy to help pay for senior living expenses prior to that senior passing away. There's also potential tax deductions out there when paying for senior living, which is kinda in simple terms, it's any expense that goes to treat, cure, or prevent injury or illness and it's paid to a licensed facility. So treat, cure, prevent injury or illness. Essentially, if a senior is moving into independent living because they're tired of cutting the grass, that's not tax deductible. But on the other end of the spectrum, if they're moving into a secured memory care community, that entire state of the community could be tax deductible. And where we see the biggest benefit come out of tax deductions is when adult children are helping to pay over fifty percent of mom and dad's care at the community. The adult children can actually be the ones to utilize the tax deduction. So there's a lot of different options out there. VA benefits, long term care insurance policies, life insurance policies, potential tax deductions, a lot of fields that you gotta navigate, and that's where elder life can come in and help, again, Identify what's available and then coordinate each of those resources to make sure that families are paying for senior living and Arbor communities the best way possible.

Okay. Thank you. That's a lot of resources. So thank you for all this information. You guys have both been very helpful today. I have a couple questions here. I'm actually trying to discreetly take notes while you guys are talking. So I want to ask some questions. If any of our viewers today have any questions and you want to get the answer live, then this is your chance to get that question in. Please go down to the Q and A box, the button at the bottom of your screen, and type that in so I can make sure to ask them before I let them go. If we don't get a lot of questions, I'll give you your time back, but let's see what happens after I get some of my questions answered first. Okay. So first, Jason, you were talking about the election and the interest rates right now. What would you say? I know a lot of people have said, it's not the time to move. I wanna wait and see what happens with the rates. I wanna wait and see. What's your advice to them?

I would say this. Well, first of all, do you wanna own a home? And so if there's a life event that forces a homeowner to move that's, you know, there's then it's just putting that strategy and that plan into action. But from a buying perspective, is now the right time, you know, to buy? I think if you wanna be a homeowner, the question simply is, can you afford to be a homeowner today with the cost, the down payment, kinda interest rate? You know, it's typically not the monthly mortgage. It's the down payment that usually is the obstacle. So if you can afford to buy, then you should buy regardless of, you know, all the external events, the election, you know, the market, the economy, I think it simply boils down to that one question. Can you afford to buy? If you can, then let's put a plan into action. If you can't today, then work with somebody to put a plan together to save and do whatever you have to do to build that, savings up where you can afford the down payment. I think it's as simple as that question on the buy side. It's just that simple. On the sales side, it's again, it's typically a life event is something that the majority of the time triggers the move. It could be a job relocation. It could be a downsizing. It could be a bigger home. For this community, it's moving, you know, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, you know, grandparent, whatever that unique situation is. So, to me, it's, you know, it's usually a very straightforward, really simple question. Can you afford to to buy? And then, again, on the sales side, is there some life event that's, you know, forcing this decision?

Yeah. I know at the Arbor Company, we often hear the biggest regret is people didn't move sooner because they could have been in a place where they were getting, you know, all of these benefits. And so it hurts me to hear people are holding off on selling because they think people aren't buying because of the rates. So it's good to hear that, you know, that shouldn't be something that encourages us to to put a pause on our plans. So Yeah. I was just wondering about that because I hear it all the time. And then, so it's important to sell before, you just mentioned this, it's a life event that's forcing it. So maybe either one of you could answer for this one because you've had some experience with your different clients. How important is it to sell when you still can rather than when you have to? I mean, is there anything you can speak to that?

Well, I think, you know, Jeff, and I'd love for you to weigh in on this. I think that just puts more stress and pressure. I mean, this is typically a pretty significant transaction on either side, whether it's a buy or sell. And so if you're operating in a compressed time frame, that just adds more pressure and I think because of the pressure, it then limits your options. Right? The more advanced preparation, you can see more options. When it's, again, working on a compressed time frame, those options seem to narrow, and it just puts more pressure on already a stressful event.

Yeah. I would say, my wife and I were planners. The last thing we wanna do is be forced and rushed into anything. And it's one of those where the more that you can plan before you're ready and that really stems from the family. You know, the adult children helping mom and dad and sorting through both their belongings and making sure they have an understanding and the game plan of who gets what belongings from a family. That's really where we hear the difficult obstacles from a family standpoint is when they're not on the same page. So the more that you can have that conversation upfront and all be on the same page going into when you when that life event might happen, it just is gonna reduce stress on the backside.

Yeah. And that's what I'm about. Planning and reducing stress sounds like exactly what I want for my life. So what if we've got viewers here who are like, okay. You've convinced me. I'm ready to make, I'm ready to do it. What's the first step? What, this is, it's so overwhelming. What's the first thing they should do?

Talk to the family. Make sure the family's on the same page. You know, what's mom's goals? What's dad's goals long term? And what's best for them? And if the family goes into that conversation and they're on the same page, then you can truly build a strategy to make those results happen. So it all starts with the family, the siblings being on the same page and understanding mom and dad's goals and their desires of what they see their next few years like. And once you get a firm understanding of where that's at, then you can really build that game plan and understand, okay, what can we afford? Where's mom at from a financial position today to then make the best decisions to build that that long term path?

So, Jeff, when people reach out to you, is it usually the senior who's making the the move that reaches out to you, or do you get contacted by adult children and family members?

Yeah. I I would say eighty percent of the time we're working with adult children. And a reason for that is a lot of times when they've reached out to Elderlife, it's come to that position of where they've toured an Arbor company community, and now it's time for them to move. And it's time for them to pull together the decision. So lot of times, as you mentioned, that's driven by a medical event. And so we're working with families that are a little bit more on a shorter time frame, not necessarily the long term planning side, but it's the last minute of, hey. We're making the move. Our goal is to move in before October first. What resources are available? So that's where we work with a lot of families in that high stress environment to help calm the nerves and understand, okay. Here's your game plan forward. Here's your goals. You have that lined out. Let's go get the job done. So a lot of times, we are working with adult children because, again, it's that medical event that drove them to do the research and and the transition into a community. But, again, the more that you can plan up front, the more successful you're gonna be when that time comes.

Okay. Thank you. So we can start wrapping up now. I just before we let you two go, I just wanna know if both of you can answer this question. If you could just leave us with the most important thing, whether that's a resource, whether that's advice, the biggest thing you want us to get from this, if you could each leave us with that before we let everyone leave today.

I think you know where I'm going. Plan ahead. But I've already said that, so I'll give you number two. Trust the experts. You know? Trust the experts. There are experts in every field. As I mentioned, there's experts to help with the long term care insurance policy. There's experts to help you understand if there's VA benefits that are available to your loved one. There's experts when it comes to the local real estate market. Right? Everybody gets on Zillow and they say, oh, my home's worth x. It might be worth x, but it might take a year to sell it at that price. Trust the expert, understand your game plan, and then how you can get that done. Work with people that have helped families in your situation, and that's kinda where I would leave it.

Yeah, I'd echo the very last comment because I think that there, this is a more unique set of circumstances than maybe another traditional resale type situation. There's typically a heightened degree of emotion in this transition, and there may be resistance to leaving this home that I've lived in and owned for fifty or sixty years maybe. And I think working with the real estate professional that understands that from an empathy perspective. So, again, representation matters. Ask good questions. Have you worked with a lot of people in a like situation? Meaning, multiple decision makers that are transitioning somebody from, you know, their family home, if you will, into another living arrangement. That's a, you know, that's just a more sensitive transaction. And so I would look for and advocate for real estate professionals that have experience and expertise in that kind of transaction because they also have relationship with other service providers like estate sales and other things that may be a little bit more unique to that type of transition and sale than, say, just a traditional resale and person's moving up or relocating cross country. So, again, representation matters, and I think this is a unique transaction. And so the profile of real estate professional, I think, is unique. So I would wanna work with somebody that has navigated families because, again, there's usually multiple decision makers in this type of transaction. So that would be my my advice.

Well, thank you, guys. This was very sound advice, very timely advice. So I'm sure that's been very helpful. Thank you both for being here. The real estate market's always changing, and we just really appreciate you both giving our viewers some insight into what's happening now. For our viewers, we've got more videos just like this webinar covering just about every topic in senior living on our website, w w w dot senior living live dot com. Our videos are available on demand, and best part, they are all free. So make sure to go over there, check out the website, get more of your questions answered. Once these guys are gone, you can still get a lot of these questions answered on that website.So thank you so much for being a part of Senior Living LIVE today, and have a great day everyone!