For one week each year the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) pays special recognition to senior and specialty move managers. During this week, NASMM members around the world promote the value of Senior & Specialty Move Management and members’ commitment to assisting older adults and their families with later lifestyle transitions.
Senior and Special Move Managers assist families with downsizing to remain in their current home, as well as with the entire process of moving to a new residence. They specialize in helping their clients with the emotional and physical aspects of sorting through a lifetime of memories in the transition process. Move Managers provide effective options and resources to increase efficiencies and reduce stress.
The theme of the 2022 Celebration was “Our Time to Shine,” which underscores the dedication, compassion, commitment, unique skills, and bright attitude that professional move managers provide throughout the downsizing, relocation, or aging in place process.
What is a Senior Move Manager?
Marie LeBlanc, President of Transitions Liquidation Services, says, “I’ve been a senior move manager since 2002 and I still get asked:
What exactly IS a senior move manager?”
We are not a moving company, although we work very closely with preferred movers who do the actual packing and moving to a new home, often to an assisted living or continuing care community.
Senior Move Managers are committed to helping individuals and couples organize and complete their transition to a new home with minimal stress and anxiety, making sure that they are not only comfortable with the decisions they make regarding what to take with them, but are involved as much as they want to be in the entire process.
I have been the owner of Transitions Liquidation Services for more than 20 years. I started the company after experiencing first-hand the stress of spending nights and weekends sorting, packing selling, and disposing of personal property following the death of a loved one. I knew then that my mission was to lift that burden from others facing this difficult task.
A senior move manager has the expertise in project and program management necessary to efficiently plan and coordinate a transition of any size and scope with care and support.
The Process
I begin the transitioning process by getting to know my clients and the challenges they face. Sometimes family members live in distant cities and cannot be there to assist. I often become like “one of the family” which helps me to identify the significant ways in which we can help.
Change may be exciting, even exhilarating for some. But for most people, the changes brought about by the transition points in our lives are often difficult and unsettling … transition points such as:
- Moves to assisted living, retirement homes, or continuing care communities
- Moves to downsize or “rightsize”
- Estate distribution to heirs and family
- Estate sales
- Household cleaning out after the move
- Personal property distribution during a divorce
- Home staging for real estate sale
Experienced, professional senior move managers organize the move step-by-step. I create a floor plan of the new home so that we can proceed to the next step: sorting into “piles” what my clients want to take; what they want to give away to family or friends; what they want to donate; and what needs to be disposed of.
We then orchestrate the actual move, working with the moving company to pack, transport, and set up everything so that when our clients walk in the door to their new home, they feel a sense of relief and calm. Their new home is set up as much like their old house as possible. It is familiar and we often hear. “Walking in, I felt like I was home.”
About NASMM
Founded in 2002, The National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) www.nasmm.org is a not-for-profit, professional association of organizations dedicated to assisting older adults and their families with the physical and emotional demands of moving. NASMM is the only professional association of its type devoted to helping the rapidly increasing 55+ population with middle and later lifestyle issues. Its 900-plus members are committed to maximizing the dignity and autonomy of all older adults.
Before achieving full general membership, all NASMM members must pass four competency classes. Additionally, all NASMM members must show proof of insurance and sign and adhere to the NASMM Code of Ethics and agree to the guidance and oversight of NASMM’s Ethics Compliance Commission.
The experienced and professional move managers at Transitions Liquidation Services assist with life’s challenges to affect smooth and stress-free transitions when moving, downsizing, or organizing your home. For more information about downsizing, de-cluttering, or move management, call Marie LeBlanc at 617-513-0433 or email … and be sure to visit our website for more information.