Always Home, Inc. Meets Local Senior Needs
By S. Lynn Maxwell
Their clients refer to them as "angels, answers to prayer, and godsends." They are Mary Ewing and Veanne Stewart, a pair of real estate agents with firsthand experience in helping seniors move from a larger residence to a smaller one.
Having worked with both elderly clients and their own parents, Ewing and Stewart opened Always Home, Inc. in April 1998 in recognition of the local need for a service-oriented business to help those facing this potentially stressful situation. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company offers a menu of specialized services to assist senior adults who are facing the monumental and often traumatic task of downsizing their residences. The goal is to eliminate as much of the stress and frustration of downsizing, both for the senior and for the family.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), estimates that 85% of seniors want to stay in their communities after retirement rather than move to another area. A great percentage of these seniors have no assistance available in performing the overwhelming tasks involved in actually moving from a larger home to a small residence.
Failing health, aging, the death of a spouse or the inability to maintain a larger home, according to Ewing, Always Home president, often perpetuates downsizing. At times seniors wait until something catastrophic has happened that forces them to go through the mountains of things they've accumulated for 40-some years and make a major lifestyle change for which they are unprepared.
"This is a service whose time has definitely come, and we've tried to do this as flawlessly as we can," says Stewart, company vice president. "We'd like to provide an avenue that will give senior adults the choice to downsize while that decision is still in their hands. At the same time, we want to handle the process with the sensitivity and dignity it deserves."
Stewart has 14 years of experience as a sales assistant and executive secretary and was the coordinator for the Foster Grandparent program in northern Alabama. Ewing, a former schoolteacher, had a career in full-time professional sales for almost 20 years. She also worked directly with seniors and long-term care insurance issues. Each began her real estate career in 1995. Together they did extensive research in the geriatric field, consulting with doctors, hospital administrators, assisted-living facility administrators, retirement centers, senior citizen groups, social workers, the Council on Aging, the AARP, and others.
Always Home works to enable the adult child to remain a comfort and encouragement to the parent and not become the 'bad guy.' "They feel very guilty in trying to talk their parents into making these decisions, although they know it's best for their parents," says Ewing. "The parent many times does not have the ability to make these type of decisions on their own. It puts them in a very uncomfortable position to have their children now telling them what to do."
She adds that "these situations frequently complicate the downsizing process for many seniors. We find that parents many times are reluctant to ask for assistance from adult children, especially those with families and careers of their own. Often family members are traveling great distances to provide assistance, which can become burdensome both financially and timewise."
Stewart notes that in today's corporate world there are as many leaves of absence by workers to take care of aging parents as there are for childcare. She says that corporations are asking Always Home how they can offer their services to employees so they can remain on the job while handling family situations. Other factors complicate such a move for families. For instance, some clients, according to Stewart, are in their 90s with adult children in their 70s who are physically incapable of keeping up with the strenuous task of downsizing. Or there's a generational lifestyle difference between adult children in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are more accustomed to moving households compared to their parents who may have lived in the same house all of their married life.
As an impartial and trusted third party, Always Home can sell an existing residence, coordinate moving, set up a new residence, handle an estate sale, serve as a family liaison, and provide professional referrals. In addition to coordinating and orchestrating the entire downsizing process, Always Home serves a liaison between the senior adult and family members to ensure that the loved one is receiving the competent care and counsel needed.
Stewart emphasized that while Always Home offers services specifically related to the actual downsizing process, the company is part of a much larger network of services for seniors including health care, legal counsel, and social services. They can also connect seniors with appropriate providers. Fees are based on specific services provided. Work is done by Always Home staff or by carefully screened and selected vendors. Services are not limited to the elderly, but to anyone making a transition in their living arrangements.
Ewing and Stewart agree that it's a personally rewarding and satisfying business, especially when they visit their clients in their new homes. They are in the process of franchising the company across the state and hope to take the company national in the next five years.
Reprinted with permission from the Nashville Medical News, Nashville, TN, July 1999