3. The Unique Challenges of a Downsizing Move...and Who Can Help!

Downsizing isn’t just a typical move—it’s an emotional, logistical, and sometimes overwhelming process that requires extra care and expertise. In this episode of The Downsizing Roadmap Podcast, we dive into why downsizing moves are so much harder and the hidden challenges you may not expect. More importantly, we’ll introduce you to the resources and support systems you might not know exist—like estate planners, senior move managers, donation services, and more. Learn how to build your 'downsizing dream team' to make the process smoother, less stressful, and even rewarding. Whether you’re planning a move for yourself or helping a loved one, this episode is packed with tools and tips to get you started!

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Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time. Hey, welcome back to Downsizing Roadmap. We're here today. I'm Jodi Roscoe. I'm Heather Fisher. And we're talking today about how downsizing moves are different than other moves.

Heather Fisher 0:31

Yeah, more challenging sometimes, and how you can build a team of people you didn't even know that you need to make it easier.

Jodi Rosko 0:40

That's for sure. When when we um when I ended up with my mom's house, um I definitely needed a group of people and I didn't even know all the people that I needed until I started digging into it.

Heather Fisher 0:50

So I'm glad that, you know, through that we have found the people because going through a lot of that for my own family and just gathering those sources, it's good to have it. And the things you don't even know that you don't know. We hope to share some of that.

Jodi Rosko 1:06

Exactly, because I I sometimes uh people will say, Well, what questions do you have? And I'm like, I don't even know what questions I like you don't sometimes even know the questions, let alone who to ask them to. So we'll figure out uh today we'll talk about building a dream team. Um a downsizing dream team, right?

Heather Fisher 1:22

Yes, and I I think that there's hope if you're feeling like things are really hard, we'll show you some ways that there are people that make those hard steps easier, simpler, and quicker. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 1:36

So For sure.

Heather Fisher 1:37

Yeah. Okay. So um why do you think that a downsizing move is more challenging?

Jodi Rosko 1:44

I think there's a bunch of reasons, actually. Um, you know, when you when you're i just starting out and you're moving, you know, you maybe you have a child um or you're just getting your first house, you don't have a lot of stuff to bring in. Um that's totally different from being in a house for 30 or 40 years and collecting things. Um, really things that mean something to you.

Heather Fisher 2:05

Um and college coffee table and your milk crates and you know, all of your stuff in four or five boxes coming from an apartment is much different.

Jodi Rosko 2:17

Yeah, it's not the same. And you fit. You fit in the new house because there's so much room in it, you don't even have enough furniture for all the rooms. I remember my my first house that we bought, we we needed to buy furniture for some of the rooms, right?

Heather Fisher 2:28

Absolutely, absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 2:30

So, but downsizing, you are taking all the stuff that you've accumulated and trying to put it into a smaller space instead of a bigger space. So that's one thing I think that is really challenging, just maybe the amount of stuff that people have. Um and then the uh the emotional around the stuff that the people have, right? It it's it's sometimes hard to let go of things.

Heather Fisher 2:54

Absolutely, absolutely. And we because it's hard, we don't do it along the way. So we all forget that one in, one out rule, and we just bring in more and all the in and then of the out. Yes, yes. Hopefully we're not still finding that college coffee table in the basement somewhere, but you know, I'm pretty sure Mark's things moved his way their way out way before my things did. Yes, yeah. So I think definitely the stuff is what we hear most, and and we've talked about that a little bit in other episodes, and we will a lot because that's a big piece, a main piece of it. A main thing. I think um sometimes what we find is that it is a lot of people working on the process, meaning family. If it's adult children helping their parents, or it's um a home that you're trying to go through all of the things that someone has passed away, or you're handling decisions, but you are not the one living in the house, you know, all of those pieces, you know, you you hope that you have the right documents in line and that someone has done estate planning, financial planning, all of that, but you're not sure if you don't do this every day. And so I think you need a team of um, you know, us as the real estate agents and title companies and a financial planner or um, you know, estate and elder law attorneys to make sure all of those pieces, paperwork-wise, work together to let you sell the home or do the financial pieces that you need to and you need those resources to look at it for you and and make sure that's all in line.

Jodi Rosko 4:50

Yeah, so if the if you're uh moving to a smaller place, there's all this stuff, you know, there may be, like you said, financial constraints. Where are we gonna go? That's a question. I think that there's a lot of fear actually around it. So that's I think another reason why downsizing is different than uh maybe upsizing. That's more seems maybe more exciting. Sometimes if it's downsizing, it might be a little bit scary.

Heather Fisher 5:13

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 5:14

You know, you know where you are, you know what your house is like, you don't know what that future looks like. And so spending some time thinking about that future and what it looks like and how it could be great, because I don't think I think sometimes our mindset gets in a place where maybe it's something that's happening to you or you have to do this and you don't want to, but if you kind of change your mindset around that and think, oh my gosh, this could be great. I do not have to mow that lawn one more time. I do not have to take care of those 27 flower beds I thought were a really great idea. And even if you love gardening, it could be a smaller amount of gardening in a s you know, a smaller place.

Heather Fisher 5:52

So it's not like you're giving up things um that you really have to find those ways to make them more manageable in a different space or a different um, you know, time of life. You can still do the things you enjoy, just finding how it fits into whatever phase you're in, you know.

Jodi Rosko 6:13

Yeah, I think sometimes you you do have to just make it in uh smaller pieces of what you love, but in you know, something more manageable. And really start to think about uh get a little dreamy about what it can be, um what that what those goals are gonna look like. Is it gonna be that you get to travel more, that you get more spend more time with your family, that you just don't have to take care of as big of a space? Peace of mind from safety or health concerns. Right. Safety is a big deal. You know, does the house not work anymore? Can you not get upstairs really easily? Like those kind of things. And so really start thinking about it as a positive instead of something that's scary, because I do think that sometimes fear kind of comes into it and causes people to have a bit a less good experience than they could have.

Heather Fisher 7:04

Yeah, yeah. I think sometimes um the downsizing move is different because of timeline too. That um, you know, hopefully you're you're listening and taking some advice and doing lots of um planning ahead and taking it at whatever pace you can, but oftentimes we run into clients that um haven't done that and then it's crisis and quick timelines and getting all the things done in a quick pace on your own is not easy. So that's where that dream team of people who do it day in and and day out can come in and do something quicker that you know, things that are possible to do on your own, but if you've run out of a timeline and you have to do it quicker, those resources can pick up that uh, you know, slack for you and do it quickly and get it accomplished in the easiest way.

Jodi Rosko 8:03

Yeah, I think that um sometimes I think it I think if you're listening to us, what our goal for you would be would be to just get started. And whenever it is that you're ready to make that move, you will be ready. So as we start talking about these things, and we'll get in depth in s in some other ep episodes specifically about you know financing and all kinds of paperwork and all kinds of things, pictures, what are you doing with all your pictures, you know, yeah, all kinds of things. We'll get in depth with that stuff. But our goal is for you to just get yourself ready. And sometimes that may may take a year or two. Um and but if you don't have that time, don't worry about it. We if you have to get something done immediately, we can absolutely help you get that done no matter how overwhelming it it seems to be. If you have that team of people, um it can happen really quickly.

Heather Fisher 8:54

Yeah, absolutely. And that is the best advice um that we can give is to be ready to be ready. Right. And if you're not, we can help with that piece. So, you know, either way, the path works.

Jodi Rosko 9:10

Yeah, we have a five-step process. Um, and the first three steps are basically the getting ready, and then the second two steps have to do with selling the house, which you know eventually is gonna have to happen or mo you'll want it to happen, actually. Again, the we talk to people all the time who have felt so overwhelmed and you know weren't sure where to start. And once they get do it and they move, they're always like, oh my gosh, why didn't we do this sooner? This is so great. Absolutely. So over and over we hear that so many times. So um so don't if you're stuck, that's okay. We're we'll we'll try to get you unstuck. Um but I do think that waiting too long, um, we have definitely seen that, and then that makes it just so painful because then it comes from a point of crisis and and you know, either you're not healthy enough to handle it, uh you know, make those choices yourself, somebody might have to make them for you. Um so again, we we get started soon. That's what our goal of this of this podcast is, is to get you uh motivated to go.

Heather Fisher 10:11

And if you you know, if you do that and you're ready to go, that time that you're living in your current home and uh you know haven't made a downsizing move yet is actually more enjoyable as well because you've gotten rid of stuff to dust and you have you know the freedom of your space being clean and clear and you don't have the weight of, oh, I should fill in the blank, whatever, you know, clean out the spare closet or go through the paperwork. You've done that. So whether you're ready to make that move or not, you have freed up time and energy and um you know freedom in your life where you can just enjoy your hobbies and all the things. So either way, get started and and get to that point of being ready.

Jodi Rosko 11:01

Yeah, because I think um whether you think so or not, it weighs on you. You know that you're leaving a mess for your kids or that you are living in, you know, up in something that doesn't feel great for you. And even though you just deal with it every day, um, when you clean it out, it just feels so amazing. It just feels so amazing. So um so yeah, I think those are the reasons. Um I think I think dif um diff decision fatigue can also be a little bit of a problem when you're doing downsizing because you have so many so many decisions to make. Um not only like where you're going and what that's gonna look like next, but each individual item that you're looking at in your house, you know, is a decision and that feels like a lot. And so I think there's a little bit of that too.

Heather Fisher 11:46

Yeah. When you get started and you do a little bit at a time, you can manage that decision fatigue much better because when it w sets in and you're wanting to cling to the, you know, gum wrappers is what the example you always give, like, oh, I can't get rid of this, you know, last gum wrapper. It's my most important one. Right. You know, when when you're at that point, you can stop for the day and reward yourself that you did a little bit of action. And um, you know, we know from our own business and own things, a little bit of action each day adds up to, you know, incredible results. Right. So although it seems overwhelming, you take those small bites every day and then suddenly you've accomplished so much. So it it's definitely a good way to approach it.

Jodi Rosko 12:36

Yes, I totally agree. So let's talk about who are who are the kind who are the vendors, who are the kind of people, what kind of dream team do we need to put together? Like who are they and what what can they do for us?

Heather Fisher 12:49

Yeah, I think there's a couple different big broader categories. And um, if the first category we talk about is stuff, um, you know, that can be anyone from estate sales to donation um resources to clean out people. Um so do we want to d dive into a little bit um to what each of those do and what those are? Yeah. Um an estate sale is a great path if you are ready to um, you know, you're ready for that next place and you know where you're going. Um the estate sale path pretty much looks like taking what you want, what your family wants, um, you know, all of those choices, but all of the rest that you know you don't need or want anymore, you don't have to, you know, sell each item individually yourself or pack each item or store each item or convince each kid to take it one by one. Guilt is not a gift. Yes, I love that. Guilt is not a gift. Um you can just take what you're taking and what the family's taking and move to your next place, and then an estate sale company will come in and do the sorting and pricing and advertising for the sale and handling um, you know, of a sale. I don't think there's well, I personally do not like garage sales. So someone else to have them, so someone else, you know, having that sale and handling all of that, I would much rather do. Um, you know, I don't think there's a lot of people that love all that um time and effort for a garage, you know, holding a garage sale and the estate sale is, you know, that but better, you know, a professional version of that. So if other people are doing that and you are comfortably settled in with all the things you love at your new place, that is a really great option to do that. And um, an estate sale company typically will then handle it from that point to your home is empty and ready to sell and clean. So all of those steps follow behind that you're not coordinating with donating what did not sell, um, you know, final trash out of things that were broken or damaged and things that can't be donated, and then a a cleaning crew to get the home ready to go on the market. So all of that being handled for you.

Jodi Rosko 15:31

Yeah, I think um an estate sale is great if um you're you want to move fast. Uh well, sort of fast. State plan estate sales are are are a couple months out. And so if you really have to move fast, um, then that may not be the option for you. But if it it and we found that most estate sale people are are booking um you know a month and a half to to a couple months.

Heather Fisher 15:57

And they need a little time to prep for the sale and advertise it. Right.

Jodi Rosko 16:01

So there has to be a little bit of time in there, but but if that if that kind of if you have a few months time frame um and you don't you don't want to go through every single thing in your house, then I think an estate sale is great. Um I think some misconceptions about estate sales are I think that you're gonna just make tons of money. And don't we wish. And so um I think that estate sales are really great for what you just said in that they get it's like a you know, you put that in that machine into into process and it just it just gets handled and at the when they're done um then the house is empty and you know whether you have to make some repairs or whatnot, other than that, it's ready to go, you know, ready to be put on the market. So I think estate sales are fabulous for that and you're not the one doing it. Yeah. You know, whether that's hefting things into the dumpster. I have done that. Driving it carload by car load to to donate and back to the decision fatigue, you know, trying to decide, you know, where should each of these things go. Now, if you have a couple years and you think that's what you want to do, you know, maybe you do go ahead and donate and you know get things into the places that you want them to and just kind of live in that, you know, more simplified, cleaned out house. Um and then, you know, at the end You're ready to be ready. Yeah, you're ready to be ready. So um I do love estate sales f for that purpose, especially. Um, but I think sometimes unless you have uh things that ha had a lot of value to begin with that you were really spent a lot of money on, um the best part of the estate sale is that handled for you. Yes. So um big fans of that. Big fans of that. Yeah. So um and auction is the same kind of idea. So a little bit different way that they handle it, but the same kind of an idea of an of an auction versus an estate sale.

Heather Fisher 17:56

Yeah, correct, correct. And then, you know, staying on the house for a minute, um, you know, if someone's been in their house for a long time, uh it's likely that uh, you know, hopeful sometimes all the maintenance items have been kept up on. Sometimes it's a situation where there's been some um deferred maintenance and things need done. And sometimes it's a matter of we've been here a long time, we're not sure if we should do updates to get it ready, what repairs should we do, what repairs should we put on hold. Um so I think you know, real estate agents, us, we're a big part of that dream team at the front end um to get the ball rolling on any of those suggestions so that you can make decisions that make you the most money when you sell the house, but don't spend money that you're not gonna get back in return.

Jodi Rosko 18:52

Right. I hate I hate it when I go to talk to somebody about selling their property and they've done things that they're just not gonna get their money back from, and there's still things that need to be done that they you know that they have to do really to get the house sold. Um and so I want them to spend their money um really in a places that actually will, you know, get them back a return and not spend their money if that's not the case. And so um we're happy to talk to people, even if it's gonna be a year or so before you're actually gonna move, um, call us and we will, you know, make a plan with you, not only help you with some of these these vendor people that you know, dream team people that can help you, but also talk about the house and what that plan could look like and um what absolutely would, you know, should be done and what shouldn't be done and what doesn't need to be done, because I I just don't like to see people spend money they don't need to spend.

Heather Fisher 19:44

I think more often than not when we're talking uh when you know when we're walking through someone's home with them, more times they're surprised at what we tell them they don't need to do. Um, you know, the market, the real estate market is different in different eras, different, you know, whatever. And I I think they're surprised maybe before we were there, they're thinking, oh, I need to r totally remodel this kitchen and these bathrooms. And that's you know not the case all the time. And so I think you might be pleasantly surprised that your list is shorter after that strategy session versus what you might have imagined in your head to get a a home ready to sell down the line.

Jodi Rosko 20:30

Yeah. So if you can't get yourself motivated to to do things, um somebody else that could be on the dream team is a professional organizer.

Heather Fisher 20:40

Absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 20:41

Yeah, so you so there uh we have some uh people who do that, and you definitely could have somebody just come walk hand in hand with you. Basically, how they work is they they usually come kind of assess what needs to happen, work alongside you for a little while, and then give you some some homework and kind of make that be like an accountability situation so that next week when they come back, that stuff is hopefully, you know, you've gone through that one box, not overwhelming amount, but just have somebody number one in the beginning to walk you side by side and just talk to you about it, and then you know, give you some homework to get that done.

Heather Fisher 21:20

Yeah, absolutely. That goes back to that decision fatigue and that strategy. If you know, the big concept of I need to get rid of things, I have too much stuff, that's not a defined plan. So I think that professional organizer, you know, she can make that same type of plan for the downsizing of your stuff and helping know what what do you need to make decisions on today, I'll be back, you know, tomorrow, and and doing some of that together and and maybe some of the the labor part of it too, as well.

Jodi Rosko 22:00

For sure, yeah. If the boxes are too heavy or any of that stuff needs to happen.

Heather Fisher 22:04

Yeah, setting up those stations for the yeah.

Jodi Rosko 22:06

And same for actually moving and moving into the new place. Like um, we have people that can unpack you, you know, help set up the set set up the house, you know, all of those things, depending on if you need that, you know, because your level of ability is not able to do that. We absolutely have that. Or if you're just overwhelmed by the thought process of it, you know, sometimes it just genuinely helps to have somebody walking alongside of you doing it.

Heather Fisher 22:31

Yeah. I mean it's it's almost a designer with your own things. Yeah, they're setting up your new space with the things that you love and you know, in a way that um you know, maybe is just a lot for any of us to to do on our own. So that's great. That's great.

Jodi Rosko 22:50

If you have you if you have gone the path where you um are going through things, we have some great donation places on our website. So you can take a look at that at www.downsizingroadmap.com and you know take a look at different places that you can donate things if you're looking specifically um for that. I always I do love to find you know places that really need certain items and be able to get them in the hands of the people that need them.

Heather Fisher 23:18

Yeah, absolutely. It makes it uh much easier to get rid of things when you know they're gonna be loved and needed by the next person. Right.

Jodi Rosko 23:27

So uh if you're going that route where you're going through the stuff yourself and you're looking for donation places, take a look there. Um but there in every city there are some amazing people doing amazing things and and can help you with donations. So that's another uh another one. Professional cleaners, you might, you know, you're probably gonna need somebody to clean the house uh once you're done. Yeah. Um I know I would want that. I mean, can you do it? Yes. Um and if that's in your time frame, that's okay. Um but sometimes um somebody can just come in and in several hours um get that house, you know, clean. Because when you're doing that, once the house is empty, now we're cleaning baseboards and you know ceiling fans and blinds and all of that.

Heather Fisher 24:11

Yeah. I mean, this is one of those things that any move can use this on their on their team. Um but it once you it's not a reflection of um, you know, how you've kept your house and all of that. Every house, once you move all that furniture out and once you, you know, pull things out of the cupboards, every house needs that really deep clean. You know, no matter what it looked like from the start, it it needs all that dust and you know the stuff that was tucked behind dressers you didn't move and you know, under the bed and things like that. So that's a great you know, resource to have and just have it handled, move to the next place and be settled and let someone else be doing all of that scrubbing.

Jodi Rosko 25:02

Yeah, yeah. Have we handled everything in the house? Contractors, um, you know, we have all of those, whether no matter what needs to happen with the house, we have all of those um people. And i if you're not in our area, your realtor also probably has those people or some good resources to be able to find those people. But um sometimes I'm not gonna advocate storage facilities, but sometimes um you do need to take some things out of the house um to sell it if you're if your you know your move is is a transition. So um sometimes storage units or pods or something like that could be part of your moving, but I'd really rather have you let it go.

Heather Fisher 25:44

Yes, yes. And if you have the storage unit already, you know, make that part of the whole process and don't, you know, let's move that budget item off the list and um, you know, what does our Jerry Seinfeld uh video say that you're you're paying to go visit your garbage.

Jodi Rosko 26:06

That everything is in the in the process of becoming garbage. And so um once you have put it out of sight, out of mind, right, it's m more likely to be that than than not. And it may not actually be garbage, but it might be not useful to you anymore in your life, which means it's time to let it go.

Heather Fisher 26:23

Get it to the place it needs to go. If that's family, move it to the you know where they need to have it. If it's donation, let someone else get life out of it. If it's something that you you know love so much that you want in your life every day, let's find a way to honor, you know, that piece and make room for it or m you know, make a piece of a collection something that you can enjoy every day. That's the most important part, I think, is enjoying the things you love, not having dusty boxes of things you don't love. Right, for sure. That's it at a in a nutshell.

Jodi Rosko 27:01

And and and you have to be honest with yourself. If it's in a box, you don't love it. Because or you don't have the room for it, so something else needs to go so that you can display it.

Heather Fisher 27:12

And so you need some ideas to get it out of the box and use it in a way that works for the space and life stage that you're in, honestly.

Jodi Rosko 27:22

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 27:22

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 27:23

So a different category um, and I guess part of it goes with going through your things, but paperwork and um financial documents. Um you you may need a financial advisor um and or a an estate lawyer. Yeah. So um both, probably. Probably both. Yeah. So we want to make sure that you know the deed is is properly uh uh written so that if it's it's it's a survivorship deed so that if uh one spouse passes away, it automatically goes to the other one. There's a lot of things that there are um unknowns about sometimes um that you didn't know it wasn't set up the way that it needed to be set up. We've had that happen with our own clients. And so having somebody look over that information is super important.

Heather Fisher 28:13

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 28:14

Um and also um protecting your assets.

Heather Fisher 28:18

Yes. Um you know, it would be wonderful if we just worked and saved our money and and it was uh, you know, that was the simple part of it, and we were done, and you know, we just knew how much we had. But I I know for me personally, it can get overwhelming and confusing to just not know um all of the things financial that you don't know. Laws change, policies change, everything happens. So make sure you have um just someone reviewing your financial picture and all of the um estate planning documents that you've done once a year would be ideal, at least every couple years. Just make sure that you um, you know, have someone in your court that is looking at that and looking at ways that you know you will benefit, not be penalized for decisions that you make. Um I think that's really important. I think too if you're you know looking to move to another home, um, a condo or a smaller home or a ranch, um, there's a lot of unknown financials if it's been 30 years since you bought a house last and you haven't had a mortgage for a while, and you know, you might, you know, are you transferring equity from your current home to the next? How do you do that without you know being homeless in the interim? How do you you do that if you need a mortgage on that next place? How do you do that if you're in retirement and your income is not different? I mean, I think there's just a lot of questions that can come up. Um, so part of that dream team that you're assembling, you definitely want to be those financial people that can make sure you're making a good decision.

Jodi Rosko 30:14

So your job to get to that point um is to get all of the important papers in your house in one place. And so um I I know this uh specifically because it took me two weeks to find the title to my mom's car after she passed away, along with you know all these other papers that it was in with like junk mail and stuff. It was just a mess. And so um if you put all that paperwork together in one place, um that makes it easy for you to take to your financial advisor and your estate attorney because they're going to need it anyway. Um but most of the paper that we have in our house can go away. Um tax returns from 1972 don't need to be with us anymore. Um we just need basically our our most recent um statements from all of our accounts that we have, and then and you know, uh a lot of the uh you know, marriage certificates, uh deaths, you know, anything like that, um military paperwork, those kind of things. Title to the car. Title to the car.

Heather Fisher 31:13

Yes, titles for anything, passwords, a list of um your passwords. Um and I think it as more and more things are electronic, um, just kind of a list of companies that you have uh credit cards with, bank bank accounts with, auto pay with, just uh basically an a budget overview of where you pay things and who you pay them to, because if someone, uh you know, your spouse needs to take over handling something that you handled, or your adult kids, or you know, anything, uh if someone is stepping in to help with those things, if it's all electronic, there's not a stack of mail to go through and look at what bills are coming in. Um, you know, so make sure those email passwords so someone can see what's coming in if it's done by email or you know, logins and passwords to those accounts that would be critical to the financial picture. Make sure that they're all in one place that someone trusted knows where they are.

Jodi Rosko 32:23

And the other thing that you need is you need to write down your um password to your phone. If you have your phone password, you know, a code to your open your phone, you need that because um I found out the hard way that if you try to change the password on uh one because you don't know it, like for example, you're trying to look at their utility bill or whatever, um then they will send a um email. Security code to the phone. And if you don't know the code for the phone, then you can't get the security code to change the password. So it's a whole thing. But circle of frustration for sure. So make sure that you um put all that information in one place um as you're cleaning out your things. Um you don't need any of your old magazines or any of those things, everything all that can be found on Google, but just important paperwork all in one place. And we'll we'll do an episode on paperwork because it's a big deal.

Heather Fisher 33:14

Yeah, a deep dive is needed for sure, but back to that, be ready. Um you know, if a a crisis situation comes up, minor or major, if you know, you need all of that suddenly because someone's in the hospital or someone is um, you know, something has changed, when you have it all in one spot, everything is easier. Yeah. And you're not like I I think it's in one of these 12 file cabinets. Let me look. Um in moments of that when you're ready to do something else and you need that paperwork, you don't have time to dig through. So do that early. Have it organized.

Jodi Rosko 33:56

Totally agree. Um, that would have made my life so much easier. I think the last uh section and um is where you're going next. And so if you're going to a condo or a small house, then it's the realtor. It's us, you know, that that can help you. If you're thinking about maybe independent living or something like that, um there are some really great resources. Um, people who do that for free will know all of the different uh places and what amenities they offer financially, what that looks like. They have a wealth of information. Um, and I think that they are well worth seeking out because number one, it is free to you. Um but that is is an overwhelming thought process of where would I pick? Um, and so I think those people would be an a really huge asset to the dream team.

Heather Fisher 34:45

Yeah, that process usually looks like just having a consultation over the phone most of the time with that placement advisor, and they're gonna ask for, you know, what are all of the things? What stage are we at? Do you need just independent living? Are we at assisted living? Are we looking for a continuum of care community where you know that is something on the horizon and we want to make sure that there's not a second move involved, right? The financial picture, and then most importantly, you know, your hobbies, your social, you know, how much social activities do you want, the amenities, and there are a lot of great amenities out there available, um, you know, especially in the independent living communities. They're beautiful, and you have just so much at your fingertips uh to meet new friends and have things to do and and all of that. Um so that consultation would be which pieces, what stage are we at, which pieces are most important, and you know, where can you afford with your financial picture to be and get all of those, and then giving, you know, three or four of the best options so you're not overwhelmed by, you know, a Google search result of here's every place within 50 miles. Right. There how do you even dig in to that and know what questions to ask? So it's an amazing service. It really is. The people that we know doing that are just the best hearts that will work so hard to make sure that you're finding that perfect community to land in and enjoy.

Jodi Rosko 36:33

Yep. Yeah, so I think that's the last kind of piece of that puzzle. So um if you need help putting together a dream team, um that's something that we do as part of our downsizing for people that come and sell their house with us. Um our job, our part of it is to sell the house, but um but we put together all of the rest of it with you as a plan and connect you with the people that you need to be connected with. So um yeah. I wish I'd known some of these people existed.

Heather Fisher 37:03

Um Yeah, we had a quote to uh, you know, we we try to have a quote each time, and I think this one is perfect for this idea of having a team of people around you. But um the quote is from Helen Keller Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much, and I think that that's perfect, and it is always easier and less overwhelming if you have some help making that strategy and breaking it into small pieces.

Jodi Rosko 37:32

Well, and I think just don't look at help as a weakness, right? Look at it as it is as a strength, right? You're doing your part that you're good at, and you're gonna have some other people that are doing the parts that they're good at, and um together you're gonna make it happen. Teamwork. So much. Yes.

Heather Fisher 37:48

Yeah. We love teamwork. Awesome. Well, stay tuned, and uh we will see you next episode.

Jodi Rosko 37:54

Yeah, so next time um we're gonna do uh a book, uh a book report.

Heather Fisher 38:01

I feel like I'm in the fourth grade again, yes.

Jodi Rosko 38:03

We're gonna do a deep dive into uh a book called Keep the Memories Lose the Stuff by Matt Paxton.

Heather Fisher 38:10

Love it.

Jodi Rosko 38:10

Yep, he uh was uh he had 20 years of experience in downsizing. He was on the TV show Hoarders and now he has his own um TV show called Legacy List and PBS. Um but his book, uh Keep the Memories is the stuff, uh, has some really, really great things. So we're gonna talk all about his thoughts on downsizing next time.

Heather Fisher 38:30

Awesome. We will see you then. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes, reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.