Courtesy of Susan Hindman

If you’ve ever moved a parent out of a longtime home and into an assisted living facility, you know the task can take a tremendous amount of effort and uncountable hours away from your family or job, sometimes causing tension between you and your parents or siblings. But in just the past seven years, an industry called senior move management has arisen that serves clients by organizing all aspects of a senior’s move out of one home and preparing the new residence to feel like home from the moment of move-in.

Senior move managers (SMMs) help with not only the physical aspects of the move, but also the emotional ones. Consider that 80% of people over 65 live with one or more chronic conditions, and many suffer from dementia. A sudden deterioration in an existing condition, or a new illness or accident, may necessitate an unwanted move. Helping to minimize the anxiety that accompanies the move is part of the move manager’s job.

What the SMMs do is more than just box up belongings and move the person. The next home may be a quarter of the size of the current home, so downsizing becomes the key component of the move. Challenges emanate from there, but SMMs are a creative bunch, and they craft a move that will work for that person. They sift through decades of possessions, helping to decide—based on a floor plan they create of the new residence—where things will go and what’s to become of the items left behind. They arrange for estate sales or auctions, if that’s what’s needed, or simply find a place for the items to be donated. They pack things up, schedule the mover, and then oversee the move. Then they unpack everything and, following the floor plan, set up the new home quickly—hanging drapes and pictures, arranging furniture and decorations (sometimes even painting the new home ahead of time)—so that the senior can move in and feel at home right away. SMMs might also arrange for the sale of the former home.

They may do all this with their own staff, or they may partner with other businesses to provide the services. Fees range from $40 to $120 per hour.  

“The hardest thing is helping someone downsize,” said Mary Kay Buysse, executive director of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM). “A lot of times, a relocation is motivated by a medical crisis, and people are trying to do it quickly. How do you downsize 40 years quickly?” They may be moving from a four-bedroom, 2,800-square-foot home into an assisted living apartment that’s 400 square feet. “With every possession that doesn’t go with them, there’s a loss.”

That’s where SMMs get even more creative. She gave an example of an elderly woman who had a collection of 85 miniature teapots. “Intellectually, she knew they couldn’t go with her, but emotionally she was devastated,” Buysse said. The move manager asked the woman to choose her three favorites and then took pictures of the rest. The photos were made into a large, framed poster that became the focal point of the new dining nook. “This woman was thrilled, and the family was thrilled,” she said.