Why SASH, with Rebecca Bomann

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider, hurt, on the answers for elders radio show. And Welcome back everyone to answers for elders radio. And this hour has flown by as we have had a wonderful conversation to day with the CEO and founder of Fash Services and sash stands or sell, a seniors home, and Rebecca Bowman, your founder and CEO, you have been so amazing and you know, in our last segment I would love for you to tell us a little bit about you know, I’d love to hear like how you work. Do you haven’t, like, any classic story that you could share with our listeners of how you’ve helped a family? Oh, so many stories. We could be here all day, but I would love to share one. We’ve got hundreds of stories and, of course, each one unique. This particular couple called me because they had listed their home a couple times in here in this Seattle, the hot Seattle market, unsuccessfully and they were very frustrated. They were tired of their home being on the market and when I went out to see them I could understand why they had been struggling to sell. They are living in the home and so, you know, all of their things are there and all of the original finishing of the home and buyers were just coming in seeing it as the this couple’s home and not really as this, you know, hip young home. And so they couldn’t move out, though, because they hadn’t been able to sell their home yet and they needed the funds from their sale to pay for their move. And so one of the things that we do is we help our clients move out first in the very beginning of our service, because we know it’s much less stressful for seniors not to be in their home during the sale, and so we help them pack up the home, we actually help them relocate to another state where they were going to live near family. And then after they moved out of the home, we came in and we got all of the items donated that were left, we did a renovation on the home and then put it on the market and we were able to sell it for a much higher price because the home had been updated, because the couple was no longer living in there and now the house was really attractive. But the important part that we were able to provide that a lot of brookradges cannot. Is that financial bridge where we said will front the funds for you to relocate, will front the funds to clean your home out and to help you move, so you don’t have to be here and you don’t have to be sitting day after day waiting for buyers and hoping for an offer, and their well being is protected by already moving out before our process begins. And and we closed on their home and we sent them the funds from their home sale and they didn’t have to be there during any of the work that we did. And that’s what we love to do, is just allow our clients to move on to the next phase, wherever that is, and allow us to shoulder all of the long to do list and the stress and the expenses of the home sale for them and and and then and for you to handle that. How do you work financially with a with a family? So that’s a great question, Susan. I’m glad you asked. You know, as with many other real estate brokerages you we don’t get paid until the very end. We don’t get paid unless there’s a successful outcome of the sale, at the very end when the home cells. So we have no upfront, see no hour, we see no monthly, see no retainer. What we do is take a very small percentage of the net proceeds of the home when it selves and then we’re paid at the very end. And that process actually we love to pay for ourselves. So by increasing the home’s value by what we come in and do, that increased value often pays for our services and so the client makes more than if they had been just putting their house on the market. As is sure, we lay it all out in black and white at the very beginning and give our clients different options and because we are a full service brokerage, if they would rather not do the managed sale that we provide and they just want us to list it, we can do that too. So we always provide options and things for our clients to choose from, so they can have choices, they can be empowered and datacide how they want their home sale to go. But we don’t collect anything until the very end when we have finished the job and done it well well in the in. The good news about that, which I can see is the fact that not only do you know the market very well, but giving a senior upfront funds that is going to make a huge difference in allowing them to get settled in their new place. Is Amazing and certainly being a partner with them. I can see too, it’s in your best interest to sell the home for as much as possible as well well, because you make a percentage of that. So it’s like you’re basically just an extension of the senior and obviously all focused on, you know, the same goal we are. We’re totally aligned in our interests and we sometimes laugh that we could be called rent a daughter or rent a son, because we’re coming in and we’re pushing for that highest sale price for them as if we they were our own family, they were our own grandfather grandmother, because we know that every dollar matters when you’re paying for care for the rest of the light. So we are talking again to Rebecca Bowman, the CEO of Fast Services, and just and closing, Rebecca, let’s talk a little bit about where you served and what all the processes that you know that you provide for families and what the strategy is behind the whole concept of fash absolutely so. We serve the entire puget sound region and we help with all kinds of homes, if from the lowest price to the highest price, and everything in between, urban, rural, acreage, equestrian, little little cottages, everything that you can imagine that is a home that can be sold. And our processes we just want our clients to feel really well informed about what their choices are and to have all their options of their home sale available to them, not just the option that they think is, which is a realtor comes in, gives them a to do list, tells them to get everything done on the to do list and says call me when you’re done and I’ll sell your home. We want to take that to do list on for our client and so we come in and we learn about what their needs are, their specific goals, what their timeline, the best way that this could go. Our favorite question is if you could wave a magic wand and this went exactly the way you wanted, how would that look? And we learn what we want from their home sale and then we go from there and build out a reasonable plan for them. And you’re absolutely right, Susan, that the financial part is a big deal, because if they know that we can provide an upfront cash add answer of twenty or Thirtyzero or Fortyzero to pay for six months of care and they don’t have to get their home sold first. Wow, the peace of mind and just watching the stress roll off of their face when they find out that we cannot only handle this for them, but we can provide that financial bridge to pay for care. And so well, on me form the clients and and just work directly with them. And you know, I worked with a family not too long ago that was so afraid because their parent was a horder. And Yeah, is. I assured him, the person I worked with, that this is more common than you realize. So you know, we may have lists out there that says, Oh yeah, but, Rebecca, you have to understand my my mom is our dad as a hoard their horder. You’re obviously can’t help me. That’s not true. It’s that correct. We have helped with so many and we call them collectors. These are folks who amass collections of everything you can imagine, and we’ve helped with so many families that were had a loved one who was a collector. In fact, we hosted seminars for the elder care community, taught by a license mental health professional about this because it is so common and these seminars were, you know, booked solid when we offered them. That mental and emotional attachment that that they’re loved one has to their household items is very strong and we come in with the full understanding not just of the logistical part of boxes and things that need to be done, but the emotional part, the mental part and the journey ahead of helping mom or dad downsights from the home full of all these collections that they love. So yes, we certainly have helped with many situations and we just encourage adult children who are facing this to just reach out to us and just talk to us. There’s no cost for station, for a home visit to find out what their resources are and just to know that they’re not facing this by themselves, and that in itself is valuable, because I know that when I was going through my mother’s stuff, she wanted me to tell wanted to tell me a story about every little item that she had, and of course I didn’t have want to deal with that because I was being with daughter, trying to get to the and so we probably kind of had some frictionate times because my mother wanted to reminisce. This was important to her or you guys are going to yes, it’s time, you’re going to talk to them because you know that’s a that’s a primary need. That as part of your role and you’re not in a hurry to get to, you know, the next destination. You’re there for that senior in that family and I think that is such a very, very important piece of this is the emotional attachment that you recognize that a senior will have to their home and the whole process that they go through. And I would be remiss, I’m certainly making an assumption here that wherever they go to their next if they’re moving down to a cottage or something like that, you can help do aging a place, renovations at the next location. Is that correct? We either we can or we know people who can, but certainly we have a whole team of professionals that we can help and just like you’re saying, Suzanne, it’s the bottom line is that I got into this because of going through with my grandfather and so every client that we help, I want them to receive the care and respect and kindness and patience and professionalism that I would have wanted for my grandfather. Had someone come in and done this for them. That’s our standard. That’s what we want in every single situation of a client we take care of and we’re just really passionate about delivering it day in and day out in for fifteen years now. Well, Rebecca Bowman, you are such a jewel that we have you here in the Pacific northwest. How do we re to we’ve got a website Atash servicescom. We’ve got lots of information there, how we began, our core values, stories, pictures, before and after pictures and, of course, books. Can just call us directly at two thousand and sixty five hundred and one, four, three, seven five or triple eight four hundred sash. So everyone, if your family is thinking about how do we make that shift and how do we help mom and dad downsize our move or anything like that, we hope that you will support staff services and understand the emotional process that a senior goes through. I know that I went through with my mother and Rebecca, thank you so much for being on the show today and to all of our listeners, I want you to know that it’s fall season. Take care of everyone, stay warm and be good to each other. Answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman. Hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. Check out more podcasts like this to help you find qualified senior care experts and areas of financial, legal, health and wellness and living options. Learn about our radio show, receive our monthly newsletter, receive promotional discounts and meet our experts by clicking on the banner to join the Senior Advocate Network at answers for elders, radiocom. Now there is one place to find the answers for elders