I’m
proud to be a SRES sales rep
Just
under one year ago I earned the designation Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) as I
took an extensive course operated through the Ontario Real Estate Association
(OREA), which not only offered credits to my Realtors’ lisence renewal, but
certainly also included a wealth of information.
Just
like the (Toronto) newspaper story below indicates, there are many advantages to work alongside
a Realtor who specializes in a particular niche in the market and who has
received specific topic training.
The
SRES course included background on everything from demographics, studies about
our aging society, information pertaining to renovating a current home or
negotiating a reverse mortgage, but most importantly mentioned the difficulties
someone has in finally deciding now is the time to sell the ‘family’ home
especially when the owner requires assistive living.
If
you’re thinking about selling your house, or selling your parent’s house, call me anytime at
(519) 537-1553. More contact info is noted below:
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Special ‘accredited
senior agents’ step into real-estate niche
Field
has challenges, but also brings rewards to agents.
Published: March, 2013
The
elegant grand dame on a prime Riverdale street was more than just another
listing for veteran Realtors Irene Kaushansky and her husband, Philip Brown.
It
was a massive brick time capsule crammed with three floors of family heirlooms
and a lifetime of memories for its ailing owner.
The
elderly woman had lived in the gracious house since childhood. She’d raised her
own children on its upper floors, nursed both her parents in the home until
their deaths. The 72-year-old resident had to move from the big, multi-levelled
home due to health and heart problems, and she was scared.
The
woman had known Kaushansky and Brown for years, and knew they brought special
skills to what was going to be a hugely difficult decision: The two are among
just 1,000 or so “accredited senior agents” in Ontario.
Those
specially trained Realtors do more than just buy and sell homes. They hold
hands and calm nerves while helping seniors and often their adult children make
difficult choices about the future. That can involve someone who has lived for
decades in the same home moving into a seniors residence, a smaller home or
even making alterations to the existing house that will allow a senior to “age
in place.”
Accredited
senior agents come armed with a list of professionals they’ve personally
vetted, ranging from lawyers and accountants who specialize in tax and
inheritance law to “transition managers” — professionals who will sort and help
sell or give away aged furniture, china and silverware that has far more
sentimental than real value.
“Our
goal isn’t just to meet seniors and sell their homes,” says Kaushansky. “It’s
an entire intake process that assesses their needs.”
Accredited
seniors agents will also connect families with needed supports, such as
home-care providers.
“You
have to have the right personality for this,” says veteran Realtor and real
estate expert Barry Lebow, who designed the two-day ASA program more than a
decade ago in anticipation of the tsunami of seniors coming as baby boomers
age.
“This
is about involvement. It’s about commitment. It’s also about pulling your hair
out because sometimes people will not listen to you.”
Lebow
says the voluntary program faced resistance at first because it was seen as
taking Realtors into the realm of counsellors rather than sales professionals.
“It’s
no different than a Realtor walking into a place and saying, ‘I think you have
a leaky roof, let’s get a roofer in here.’ It’s just about recognizing issues
and sending seniors and their families to the right expert.”
Getting
things right requires patience. It took Kaushansky and Brown three years to
find the Riverdale woman a home that would work, a tiny bungalow a few blocks
east of her children’s house, without stairs or hills that might impede her
mobility.
The
couple made sure her old Riverdale house was cleared and cleaned, then they
calmed the woman as multiple offers rolled in — all far beyond her wildest
dreams.
“Often
these seniors may have very strained relationships with their children, if any
relationship at all,” says Brown. “This can be a long-term investment.”
Kaushansky
and Brown stress to their older clients the importance of planning for the
future, having up-to-date wills and discussing with their children where they
would ideally like to live until they die.
It
can be difficult, say Kaushansky and Brown, a former social worker, to convince
seniors that the home they bought for just a few thousand dollars is now worth
over a million. Worse yet is bracing them for the likelihood it will be razed
and replaced with a modern stone-faced mini-mansion.
Some
ASAs charge fees for their co-ordinating efforts. Others just pocket the
commission for selling the house but may help oversee payment of any other
professionals the senior may require.
Kaushansky
and Brown don’t tend to charge for their co-ordinating efforts, but stress that
helping seniors is just 10 per cent of their real estate work.
“We
don’t want it to be our whole business because it’s very time consuming,” says
Kaushansky. “But it’s also really rewarding. By the time you are done, you feel
you have made a difference.”
()()()()()()()()
Mark Schadenberg
Sales
Representative
Royal LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas St,
Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell
or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Discussion . . .
Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
