A lot of agents say they specialize in downsizing or senior moves. The difference is not what the website says. It is what they pay for and what they hand back to you.
I am not going to tell you other agents are bad at this. Plenty are very good, and some have been doing it longer than I have. But specialist is not a protected word in real estate. Anyone can put it on a page. The gap between an agent who knows a great deal about downsizing and an agent who does the downsizing is wide enough that it is worth five minutes of questions before you sign anything.
These are the questions. Ask them of me too.
What do you pay for, and what do you refer out?
This is the one that settles it. Most agents who advertise this will refer you to good people: a stager, a mover, a decluttering specialist, a junk removal company. Those referrals have real value and the people are often excellent.
But a referral is a phone number. You still hire them, you still schedule them, and you still pay them. Ask for two lists: what comes out of their commission, and what comes out of your pocket. Someone who does this regularly can answer that in about thirty seconds. If the answer stays general, you are being offered a referral list, which is a perfectly honest thing to be offered as long as you know that is what it is.
Who books the trades and meets them at the house?
A prepared house usually means six vendors on six schedules, each needing access. Somebody has to hold that calendar, and if it is not them it is you, usually by phone, usually during the working day, usually while you are also trying to decide what to do with the contents of a garage.
What actually happens to everything in the house?
The belongings are the hardest part of this job and the reason most moves stall for years rather than weeks. I can recommend someone is an honest answer. It is also an answer that tells you the hardest part is still yours.
Does the designation mean a course, or a service?
Designations in this area are real education and worth something. Someone who has taken one has thought properly about later-life moves, and that is not nothing. But a designation is a course, not a service. It tells you what they have studied, not what they will do on your behalf. Ask what is different about their service because of it.
How old are the numbers you are quoting me?
Moving, staging and junk removal have all moved a long way in five years. If someone gives you a figure, ask what year it is from. A planning number from 2018 will leave you badly short, and being wrong about the cost at the start is one of the main reasons people abandon a move halfway through.
My answers
For qualifying moves, these come out of my commission and are never billed on top: packing, moving day, unpacking, upkeep of the house until it sells, cleaning, light repairs, staging and professional photography. I book and meet every trade. Whether a move qualifies depends on the combined value of your sale and your purchase, and I tell you exactly what applies to you, in writing, at the first consultation.
What I do not cover: anything to do with your finances, your taxes or the law, which belongs to your own advisors. Sorting help from a professional organizer is arranged case by case, because not everyone wants one in the house.
I publish what this costs, with the real figures I pay Halton trades, so you can check the arithmetic rather than take my word for it.
When a specialist is not what you need
If you are not selling a house, you do not need me. Moving a parent into a retirement residence, moving between condos, clearing a house the family intends to keep: hire a senior move manager and pay them directly. That is the better answer for those situations and I will tell you so on the phone rather than halfway through.
The point of the questions above is not to catch anyone out. It is that you are about to hand someone the biggest asset you own at a moment when you have a great deal else to think about. Five minutes of plain questions, asked of everyone you interview, will tell you more than any amount of reading.
Thinking about a move?
A phone call and a short visit at your home, with no obligation. I will tell you exactly what applies to your move before you commit to anything.
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