Moving Into the Next Phase of Life: Senior Housing Professionals Guide Late-Life Relocations

For retired people planning their next move, perhaps from a long-held home to senior housing, there is much to consider to ensure the transition is smooth and enjoyable. That’s where a Certified Senior Housing Professional comes in.

The Seniors Real Estate Institute, headquartered in Oklahoma, trains real estate agents and brokers in the niche of guiding mature homesellers through late-life relocations.

Lorna Leibowitz, an associate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty, is the first Certified Senior Housing Professional in New York City and the founder and president of NYC Senior Living Solutions, which helps clients not only to sell their homes but also to link up with services and resources for transitioning to the next stage of life and preparing for their future care needs.

During a recent phone interview, Leibowitz spoke from Oklahoma City, where she was attending the Seniors Real Estate Institute’s Legacy Conference to hear presenters share ideas on how to better serve the senior demographic.

She explained that for many seniors with a home to sell, the transition is about downsizing and making life simple while moving to a place with stimulating intellectual activities. She said the seller could be someone saying: “I want to live in a cruise ship environment where all my needs are taken care of and I don’t have to cook my own meals, I don’t have to do housekeeping, and I’m surrounded by a vibrant population of like-minded people.”

Those like-minded people are “typically like the kind of people we know in the Hamptons and on the Gold Coast of Manhattan,” she said.

“They want stimulation. They want entertainment. They want to be treated with respect. They don’t want to be treated like people who don’t have value anymore,” she added.

She noted that when they move into senior residences in the New York area, the kind of entertainers who visit to perform are coming from Broadway.

She recalled recently speaking to a Fifth Avenue resident with a $7 million apartment to sell who told her: “I want to be with people who are professionals, who may be retired, who had a strong intellectual life and are interested in art and design and music and theater, and I can have meaningful conversations with them. Just because we’re retired, it doesn’t mean that we are not relevant anymore.”

The seniors Leibowitz works with could also be military couples with pensions, she said. “They don’t want to be treated like they’re no longer meaningful. They still have value to society, to their family, and they want to be treated accordingly.”

She said that not everyone who downsizes intends to retire totally, and people are living longer and aging smarter. She pointed to the trend to “rewirement” rather than full retirement for younger retirees and those in their 60s, 70s and 80s who wish to be productive members of society after they have had their years of making their money.

Carefree Living 
And Independence

Leibowitz said senior residences mean carefree living, like living in a hotel while not paying hotel prices, while seniors maintain their independence. She cites Manhattan senior apartments like Coterie Hudson Yards, Inspir Carnegie Hill and The Apsley and the people who live there.

“They come and go out that front door all day long,” she says. “They can have as much independence as they can handle, and yet, when the time comes for them to have more help, it’s easy to get that help there. Plus on the site of these posh senior living residences, they have entertainment, they have intellectual stimulation, they have a spa.”

Seniors who downsize from large Manhattan apartments to senior apartments may hang on to their Hamptons homes for their continued enjoyment and that of their children and grandchildren, she noted.

Sell As-Is or Renovate?

Leibowitz raises the question many homesellers ponder: “Do you do the upgrades now, or do you sell it at the lower price and just get your cash out?”

When it comes to cosmetic work, she advises getting the simple things done to make the home look nice for showings. Rip up the 50-year-old carpet. Take down the 25-year-old wallpaper. If not replacing the floors, at least have them buffed.

She does not recommend taking on more invasive work that will involve breaking down walls and upgrading electrical and plumbing — “unless it’s really a mess.” She said it’s not worth it to spend a whole lot of money on upgrades that buyers would rather do themselves according to their own sets of plans.

“People can imagine themselves doing the work that’s required to make it their own home,” she said. “But you give it a fresh look. You bring in the stage furniture.”

In most cases, the 25-year-old custom furniture that is dear to the homeseller is not adding to the value of the home, according to Leibowitz.

She tells homesellers to take out the furniture they want to bring with them to their next home, and let an estate sale company come in and sell the rest. Then let home stagers prepare the home for showings.

Sometimes, she said, you do as little as possible and take a hit to get out ASAP. But that is not an option for everyone.

“If you live in a fancy co-op on Fifth Avenue, they’re not going to let you sell for very much less than market value,” she explained. “So in that case, it might behoove you to do a little more work and cash out at a higher price. It’s going to take more time to do that. It’s going to take more work to do that, but it may actually be in your financial interest to do it that way.”

Move Out Before Selling

For people who are active and well — not those who are moving to dementia care or assisted living — it may be OK for them to stay in their home while it is for sale, Leibowitz said. “But in general, it’s best to get out, figure out what you’re taking with you, and leave the rest.”

She said no one wants to live through the estate sales and home staging.

“It’s not fun, it’s not pretty, and it’s unsettling,” she said. “Let’s face it, you don’t want to be there when all of this is going on. It’s not going to be to your happiness, your enjoyment. You want to remember your home, your loving home, and move on to the next phase of your life. Let the professionals do their job, and you will be happier for it, and you will probably be financially in a better position than you would have been if you sat there and tried to let the broker sell the property with your 25-year-old stuff.”

Leibowitz wants people to understand that moving into senior living is not moving into “God’s waiting room.”

“It’s the next phase of life,” she said. “… This can be a fabulous time of life, of letting go of possessions, of letting go of obligations of their daily living.”