Our golden years bring lots of changes. When it’s time to make a change to your home, you’ll want a REALTOR® with the Seniors Real Estate Specialist® (SRES®) designation by your side. From market trends to economic issues, your SRES® is specially qualified to address the real estate needs of adults ages 50+ and can empower you to make the best decisions for your future.
Are you ready to buy a home? Buying a new home when you’re 50+ can leave you with mixed emotions. On the one hand, a new beginning presents a lot of exciting opportunities and may also overwhelm you with anxiety. An SRES® designee can help outweigh the negative emotions with the positive. Whether you know exactly what you want or are still sorting through the array of residential options for adults ages 50+, your SRES® helps you understand the best choices available to you. They sit down with you and your loved ones to discuss your needs, wants, and resources then outline a specific plan for you. The unique experience and training of an SRES® allows them to find properties, determine appropriate offers, and negotiate purchases on your behalf. SRES® designees have a deep well of resources that benefit you as an older buyer. A network of home inspectors, movers, attorneys, and CPAs experienced with adult buyers ages 50+ ensures the entire buying process, from purchasing to moving in, goes as smoothly as possible.
Are you considering selling your home? There are a lot of moving parts in action when selling your home. For adults ages 50+, the often complex process can be made more difficult due to physical and financial limitations, and the strong emotions connected to your family home. Having an SRES® at your side can simplify selling your home every step of the way.
Perhaps you would like to stay in your home. Most of us would prefer to age in our current home. But as health and aging issues make more areas of the home hard to access or pose a greater risk of injury, doing so can be difficult. We can begin to feel trapped and that selling our home is the only option. It’s not. Adapting your home to meet your aging needs is something your SRES® can help with when the time comes.
Your SRES® is there to help you find the most knowledgeable and qualified resources to make the appropriate home modifications. You might know every corner, creaky floorboard, and exactly where every light switch is in your home, but at some point, familiarity turns to risk and everyday tasks become harder to manage. Knowing those potential risks and difficulties can help determine when adapting your home is necessary. Items such as raised thresholds, bathrooms, area rugs, stairs, doorknobs that are difficult to turn, cabinets and shelves become harder to reach are all potential hazards. A certified aging-in-place specialist (CAPS) is a trained professional who can evaluate the home, find problem areas, and suggest the right home modifications. The answer may be as simple as adding grab bars in bath areas, flattening thresholds, and installing brighter lighting, for example. However, two-story living may require more significant remodeling to overcome these unique challenges. Whatever the potential risks and difficulties are, a CAPS will advise on which changes will be the most beneficial and suggest cost-effective solutions. Certified aging-in-place specialists are trained in the unique needs of the 50+ population, home modifications, common remodeling projects, and solutions to common barriers.
Are you interested in senior living options? You may not feel like a senior but for adults 50+, a variety of housing options known as senior housing are available to you. These options cover a broad spectrum from active living communities to those providing full and continuous care. Your SRES® is available to help you navigate these senior housing options as you age paying great attention to cost, location, services, amenities, activities, and current and future care needs.
What about your financial needs? Real estate plays a major role in your overall financial picture. But how does it fit in among the other players like taxes, retirement savings, long-term care, inheritance and others? Your SRES® will be at your side to uncomplicate these financial relationships.
Your SRES® is highly qualified to help you understand and manage the financial implications of owning real estate as someone aged 50+. They will provide you with professional recommendations, advice and support for things like reverse mortgages, taxes, assistance programs, 401Ks and more. With an SRES® by your side, you’ll have the confidence to make informed financial decisions related to your home.
If you’re at least 62 years old, you may be able to turn the value of your home into cash in your pocket. This kind of borrowing is what’s known as a reverse mortgage. If you need cash but don’t want to sell your home, a reverse mortgage may be right for you. Talk with your SRES® about your options. They can connect you with reverse mortgage counselors and lenders to help you determine your eligibility and the best course of action for your unique situation.
Selling your home presents a variety of tax issues that can quickly become complicated. Your SRES® can help explain how the tax structure works and introduce you to legal, accounting and tax professionals that will help you maximize your home sale profits.
As you can see, a REALTOR® with the SRES® designation has the knowledge and resources available to guide and assist you in whatever direction you want to go.
About Carmen Donaldson
Carmen Donaldson is a native Houstonian. She has worked in several major industries including banking, retail and non-profit prior to becoming a licensed real estate agent in 2007. Having lived and worked in Houston her entire life, she has built an extensive network from past childhood friends, schoolmates, co-workers and though her church life. A friend once said that she collects people. In other words, she has formed and nurtured close relationships with many people as well as local businesses and service providers related to her real estate business.
Carmen has been a top producer in her brokerages, has served on Agent Leadership Councils as well as trained, taught classes and mentored agents. Because of her love of continued education, she remains passionate about learning and keeping up with the latest real estate trends and tools.
Due to Carmen’s deep roots in the Houston area, she is familiar with many parts of Houston but because of her 30 plus years of residing in the Northwest Houston, she chooses to focus in the Northwest quadrant of Houston from Spring to Tomball, Cypress, Copperfield and Katy. This knowledge allows her to give her buyers and sellers the best advise possible.
The most important factors in selling a home are price and condition. Carmen’s extensive knowledge in pricing strategies and partnerships with expert service providers can give her selling clients the best tools to meet those two most important factors. Another critical factor in the home selling process is negotiation and communication. She believes in the Win/Win concept; everyone feeling like they got a “good deal”. When it comes to communication, that means keeping everyone in the loop; the sellers, the buyer’s agent, the buyer’s lender, the title company. Everyone matters.
Since the beginning of her real estate career, Carmen has known that the best place to begin in the home buying process is a face to face meeting in order to find out exactly what a buyer is looking for in a home. Everyone is different and has different needs so finding out what the most important features of a home are for a particular buyer is crucial. This in-depth meeting not only uncovers the buyer’s needs and wants but the why. This saves time and money in the long run.
Carmen sees herself as a guide. Guiding you through the process with seller or buyer at the helm. And most importantly as a fiduciary all along the way.
On a personal note, Carmen is married and has 2 adult children, 2 grandbabies and 1 grand dog. She was born and raised just east of downtown Houston but has traveled extensively in Europe and SE Asia. These days, she spends most of her time entertaining family and friends nearby her current home in Northwest Houston.
