The Herald-Sun (North Carolina) - September 28, 2004

"Business handles details for seniors downsizing homes"

CARRBORO -- Karen White has seen it many times. A couple in their 80s visits a retirement community, enjoys a free lunch there, takes the tour and falls in love with the place.

They head back home with big plans to move to the retirement community, but then they take a look around their home and think, "What are we going to do with all our stuff? How will we possibly move to a small one- or two-bedroom unit?"

Soon the doubts about having to get rid of so many things, deciding what to take and deciding what to get rid of become so overwhelming that the couple decides to put the move off for a year or so.

White helps those seniors make the move with her business, which is called The Right Moves. She recently moved to Orange County from Florida, where she lived and worked south of Sarasota. Although she still plans to do work in Florida, she's trying to establish her business here, too.

She says she's helped more than 200 people move to retirement communities, assisted living centers or smaller homes.

"In Florida, my [clients'] average age is 91," she said. "The problem is they wait too long. Can you imagine moving at 91?"

White tries to encourage people to make the move sooner rather than later. But no matter their age, she's willing to fly into action to make the move as stress free as possible.

"I handle everything," she said. "It's done very, very stress free for the senior."

Usually, White starts working with a client two or three weeks before the move. The first challenge is to help clients decide what to take along and what to get rid off. Usually, they're moving from a much larger residence into a smaller unit.

And once they decide to get rid of it, what do they do with it?

She's had clients moving from a small two-bedroom home to a studio apartment, and she also once had a client moving from an 8,000-square-foot home to a two-bedroom unit at a retirement center.

First, they make decisions about the large furniture and appliances. Sometimes, if the move is long distance, she advises her clients it's easier and less expensive to get rid of the furniture, if it isn't an antique or family heirloom, and buy new furniture at the new site. (She'll help with that, too.)

Then they go through all the small items, "all the things that have been in the house for 35 years," White said.

She helps them decide what to take and what to let go. She boxes up all the stuff they want to take, and then makes arrangements to sell the rest on consignment or to donate it to a charity and receive the tax benefit from it. Or she'll arrange to ship items to other family members.

White finds that selling items on consignment is a better way to get the most money from them than is holding a yard sale.

White calls the movers, schedules the moving date, and helps make the travel arrangements for the client if necessary. The next stop is the retirement center or assisted living center.

She's there when the movers arrive, and she arranges the furniture, puts the kitchen supplies away, and hangs the curtains and the pictures. She's even been known to pick out the material for window treatments and have them sewn and hung. She hooks up the computer, stereos and televisions, and once she even programmed the telephone for a woman who asked for help with that.

"The whole place is set up, and then every box is emptied, all the clothes are put away, all the knickknacks put in place," White said.

When the clients return from dinner, everything is in its place and all they have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy their new surroundings.

George Lascher moved from his home to a retirement community in Venice, Fla. "[White] moved us," he said. "She did a very good job. She put everything away."

Before she started her moving service, White worked as a geriatric counselor. She holds a master's in the field from the University of Michigan.

"If you've got a 90-year-old, they want me to be with them," she said. "I'm not e-mailing them with ideas they should be doing. They want me right there."

White, her husband -- a robotics engineer -- and their daughter moved to the area so her daughter can attend Emerson Waldorf School. She couldn't quote a price for her work because it differs for clients depending on the size of their home and where they're moving.

For more information call 942-5993.