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The active downsizing process generally begins with selecting your next residence. Once you’ve chosen your new home, apartment, or living arrangement, you’re ready to begin downsizing and determine what personal items, furnishings, and household items you’ll want or need. Next, it’s important to identify an approximate move date. Then, the following steps can be scheduled according to a timeline that aligns with your goals.

Our primary goal is to focus on the items you will be taking with you. Sorting and organizing may begin early in your downsizing. What are the essential items you want to keep, recognizing that you are moving to a smaller space? You will nevertheless come across items that you want to set aside to pass on to family members or special friends, or items that need to be returned to their owners. Your Downsizing Team Professional will offer guidance on this as well.

Your Downsizing Team Professional will assist you in creating a scaled floor plan which is an essential part of the planning process. Equally important is space planning for contents of closets, cabinets, and any other available storage. Our goal is for you to arrive at your new home with everything fitting in place. The key to a stress-free move is to focus primarily on essentials and extras only during this phase. Essentials are considered non-negotiables. These may include your favorite chair, coffee pot or tea kettle, nightstand items, personal toiletries, commonly worn clothes, regularly used kitchenware, computers, personal documents, family heirlooms, treasured art, family photos, etc.

This is your day off, with your Downsizing Team Professional on-site at your home to oversee both the packing and the moving process. Most often, packing takes place the day prior to the move. In some cases, it can be the same day. While Seniors Living Smarter Services does not provide professional moving services, local and interstate moves can be coordinated with our approved vendors and overseen by SLSS, if the client elects this service. In addition to coordinating the logistics of the move with the preferred mover, the Downsizing Team Professional will coordinate logistics with the community where you are moving. If the client chooses to hire their own professional local or interstate mover, the client is responsible for obtaining estimates and coordinating mover-related tasks.

The process of unpacking and setting everything up begins as the truck is being unloaded. Your Downsizing Team Professional will have your essential items unpacked and put away so you can enjoy the first night at your new place with important items available and accessible. The final boxes will be unpacked right away — usually the day following the move or within 72 hours (depending on your preferences and the quantity of items). Boxes will be unpacked and removed, decorative items hung, etc. Some clients elect to have their Downsizing Team Professional assist with only a portion of this task and take their time unpacking personal items on their own. Most, however, appreciate having all the essential boxes unpacked and their home tidied up so they can get on with doing what they enjoy most!

Emptying the house of what you no longer need or what is not going directly to family members is a major part of the downsizing process. Our preferred liquidator is available for an early consultation to determine the best strategy for the final liquidation. Strategies include estate sales, online sales, buy-outs, donations, and clean-out. If an estate sale is determined to be an option, the client must agree not to get rid of any designated belongings at the time the agreement with the liquidator is signed. Anything has the potential to sell, provided it is not broken, chipped, on in some way damaged. It is important to remember that the goal is to empty the house and maximize potential profit — but it is also critical to understand the cost of disposing of unsold items must be deducted from any potential profits. (Note: items to be given to family members should be done as early as possible in the downsizing process.)

Most homes, no matter how immaculately kept, require a deep cleaning following a move. Generally, this includes cleaning all appliances and surfaces, including base boards, cabinets, shelves, and drawers. Carpet cleaning, window cleaning, and pressure washing of front porch and patio are generally included as part of the deep cleaning. There may also be items needing repairs or other “make ready” tasks necessary, including enhancing landscaping and curb appeal. Your Downsizing Team Professional will coordinate with our Property Preparation Specialist to assess the property and make recommendations. With your approval, your Property Preparation Specialist can arrange for and supervise the work to be completed by our trusted service providers. Invoicing and payment can be handled through SLSS with reimbursement to be made to SLSS.

Seniors Living Smarter Services are available exclusively to real estate clients of Virginia Lazenby, Texas REALTOR affiliated with Keller Williams Realty Lone Star in Georgetown. As the final step of your downsizing journey, Virginia Lazenby will finalize the sale or begin preparing and staging your home to go on the market. To learn more, please visit www.SeniorsLivingSmarter.com.