The upside of downsizing – our luxury retirement community podcast

Jennifer Hornacek of Moving Station, a national relocation company specializing in senior living communities, discusses local housing trends and how her company can help ease the burden of downsizing and moving into The Arboretum Villas.

FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF OUR PODCAST:

Nitsa Foundos:
Well, hello. Welcome to Living Without Limits, our fun and informative podcast about the Arboretum Villas at Plymouth Place, right here in La Grange Park, Illinois. I’m your host today, Nitsa Foundos, and joining me today is Jennifer Hornacek, Vice President of Client Relations at Moving Station. Hey, Jen.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Hey, Nits.

Nitsa Foundos:
My gosh, I’m so happy to see you.

Jennifer Hornacek :
I’m happy to be here.

Nitsa Foundos:
You know, we go way back, don’t we?

Jennier Hornacek:
We do.

Nitsa Foundos:
How far?

Jennifer Hornacek:
I have to think about that. How many dress sizes ago was it?

Nitsa Foundos:
I’m not telling you that.

Jennifer Hornacek:
I think it was six years.

Nitsa Foundos:
All right. Whatever. But anyways, we’ve got a great relationship and I love everything about Moving Station, but most importantly, I value your friendship

Nitsa Foundos:
In today’s podcast, we’re going to draw on Jen’s expertise to discuss upcoming trends in the housing market, the upside of downsizing, and the services our company can provide to our founders. So, Jen, before all of this, tell us about yourself, will you?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Well, actually, before I joined Moving Station some time ago, I spent about 25 years in residential and commercial real estate and corporate relocation, which is very similar to what Moving Station does as well for senior living.
Relocation, in my opinion, it’s almost like a juggler. You have so many balls up in the air at the same time, and having the right person alongside of you to help you through the process, whether it’s a corporate relocation or a move to a senior living community, it’s the same thing.

Nitsa Foundos:
Where is Moving Station?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Moving Station is a national company that is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Nitsa Foundos:
Okay. So Jen, what the heck is Moving Station? Because people think that you’re moving furniture.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Moving Station is a total solution to help your future residents with anything they need from their current front door to their new front door, whether it’s moving into Plymouth Place or moving into the Arboretum Villas.

Nitsa Foundos:
Well, you know we hand selected all of our partners, and Moving Station was one of those we hand selected. And the reason for that is because of the years of expertise. But how many projects would you say that you’ve been involved in?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Since I’ve been with Moving Station, quite a few. I actually was counting that number today and it’s something like 50 different projects.

Jennifer Hornacek:
And by the way, we’re honored that you chose Moving Station to partner with all of your future residents at the Arboretum Villas. Because it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work to move and moving isn’t fun.

Nitsa Foundos:
No, it certainly isn’t. But I’d like you to talk a little bit about the trends right now that are going on in the market, because I know that there’s some apprehension out there. What would you say is happening currently with the market today? Especially here in the downtown La Grange and the neighboring suburbs?

Jennifer Hornacek:
I’d love to talk about the market. I love real estate.
The pandemic, none of us, nobody predicted, even Warren Buffett himself, that real estate would do what it did during the pandemic. It was crazy. What’s interesting is for anybody that’s listening right now, you might remember the bubble and the bust back in 2006 and ’07 and ’08, and it was a mess. That’s not what we’re seeing right now, we’re just seeing our economy changing. Real estate is changing. Interest rates are going up. But the demand is still there.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Now, none of us can predict or have a crystal ball with what will happen, But I can tell you today is still a great time to sell your home. I’m going to talk about La Grange and La Grange Park specifically.

Nitsa Foundos:
Thank you.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Of course, we can provide information for any town you’re coming from, even if you’re coming from out of state, because we are a national company. But La Grange, right now the average days on market, and that means from the day that you list to the day that you go under contract, is 39. That’s up 32 days from just a year ago today. So we’re seeing changes and homes are taking a little bit longer on the market than they were.

Me personally, Jennifer’s opinion, I don’t think we’re going to see huge price drops. I think we’re going to see more increased market time. Although we were very spoiled by 2%, 3%, 4%, the rates are still not bad. I mean, all of us have to think back to when we bought our first home, my interest rate was, I think, 11%, and we thought we just got a smoking deal in the early 90s, so it really is relative. But rates are still low. There are still buyers out there.

Nitsa Foundos:
There’s so much I want to bring up, but the Villas will not be completed until sometime in 2023. With that said, you sell your home today, where are these folks going to go? I mean, we truly don’t want them to feel that they’re going to be displaced. So, I want to inform the listeners that our job is to provide seamless options that take the stress out of the overall impact of changing your residency.

Jennifer Hornacek:
A lot of that has to do with timing. When do we put our home on the market? When do we start downsizing or right sizing for our new home? So, we are very involved. We are truly experts when it comes to real estate.

Well, and I think that’s why I love that you’ve brought Moving Made Easy, powered by Moving Station, to all of your founders of the Arboretum Villas, to the future residents of Plymouth Place. There are more than one way to sell your house, so to speak.

Through the Moving Made Easy program, there is a suite of home sale solutions such as our program, QuickBuy. We are not We Buy Ugly Houses, if you ever see it on the corner at the stoplight, our program, QuickBuy, truly was designed to support our senior living communities. And it’s just that, it’s a quick buy. We are the buyer. I’m not going to go into the net of the program because every single home and neighborhood… Real estate is really about location and local.

Nitsa Foundos:
It’s really about what’s the right solution for you. We want you to feel that you have an out of how to get out of the home. How am I going to free up funds so that I can complete the entrance fee portion of the investment and be able to move on schedule?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Absolutely. And through QuickBuy we have a quick buy lease back program and our QuickBuy lock program. The lease back is probably the most appealing for folks that want to take advantage of the market today. And because we’re the buyer of the home, they can stay in their home until their new home is ready at the Arboretum Villas.

Again, you’ve thought of everything to provide all of your future residents, arm everyone with as many resources available to really make this transition and move as seamless as possible.

Nitsa Foundos:
Well, we know this is a big step and it’s not an easy decision to even come to the conclusion that you want to sell your home. So with that said, they’re prideful, they want to make sure that their most valuable asset that they’re going to be able to get funding out of it that’s going to allow them to live a comfortable life.

Because truly, what is the alternative? Move twice?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Nobody wants to-

Nitsa Foundos:
Invest in something else and then hope you can sell something smaller?

It’s absolutely crazy. Especially in this time. So let me ask you, Jen, if someone wanted to learn more about the programs, because we’re not getting into all of the specifics of each of the three or four programs that you mentioned, how do they go about doing that?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Well, I think that’s what I love about the Arboretum Villas, is that if people want to just test the water, they’re not sure if this is the right move for them, and understanding what their home would really sell for, what financially are they getting into, all they have to do is talk to you or anyone on the team. There’s no obligation. It’s really simple. You work with your very own personal relocation manager. It’s a one-to-one relationship. They’re going to do the vetting of finding the right realtors. We have proprietary technology, which is unbelievable, coupled with our access to the multiple listing service nationally. It really allows us to have a true bird’s eye view of everything going on in the neighborhood.

Nitsa Foundos:
No. And I love that there’s no risk. And the fact is, you don’t solicit them. Unless you come to us, Margo, Gilbert, myself, Shelene, Nagy, and that we’re able to get your approval to be contacted, that’s the only time we share your information with Jennifer and her team.

Nitsa Foundos:
I have to say, we have so many testimonials from our current residents, and I know that it’s going to be a wonderful transition for the Arboretum Villa residents as well, once we narrow down the right time to introduce everything.

Because there’s going to be folks that may not choose an option of yours, and that’s okay. They still need to understand when is the right time. And this is where Jennifer and her team really partner with our sales team to ensure that we’re educating folks at the right time so they know exactly when to do things at what stage of development. Would you agree?

Jennifer Hornacek:
You’re right. Everybody’s timeline is going to be different and everybody’s priority is going to be different. So something will be working hard together with Nitsa and the team is creating a timeline, just our recommendation of maybe what you should be thinking about each month, of what’s projected for when your new home will be ready.

Jennifer Hornacek:
But one thing I want to ask, Nitsa, something you might want to share, if somebody wanted to really get an understanding of what their home would sell for without listing their home, and they wanted to work through Moving Made easy with a personal relocation manager, what would that cost them?

Nitsa Foundos:
Absolutely nothing.

Jennifer Hornacek:
And why is that? Because who pays for the program?

Nitsa Foundos:
Well, because the Arboretum villas, AKA Plymouth Place, covers all those initial consultation fees.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Exactly. It’s one of those, why not? Why wouldn’t you take advantage of just learning and exploring. If you’re listening today, you’re thinking about a move, just take advantage of, again, the why not? Why not set up a no obligation appointment? Why not talk to a personal relocation manager? Educate yourself to find out if this is the right move for you.

Nitsa Foundos:
Jen, I know that you mentioned you’ve given some unsolicited advice to our listeners, but when we know we have someone who’s trying to downsize and sell their home, let’s say, I don’t know, three to six months from now, what advice would you give them?

Jennifer Hornacek:
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are many professionals out there that can help you with the downsizing. Don’t decide to clean out the attic you haven’t been in in 25 years when you’re going to start your downsizing, you’re going to get overwhelmed. Start small. But my best advice is, even if you’re a founder and you are just waiting for that timeline of when your new home’s going to be ready, start today, start small, start with your pocketbook or your purse or your wallet, then move to a drawer in the kitchen. But all these little projects over time… And give yourself 30 minutes a day maybe or 30 minutes a week, just start small and start making piles with something.

Pick a room you don’t use, make sure it has a door so you can close the door and don’t have to look at it, but have three contractor bags in there, or two contractor bags. When you find things, do the three second rule, have three seconds to make that decision. Do I need it? Do I want it? Does it work? And then you are going to have a bag for donate and a bag for that you’re just going to throw away.

Nitsa Foundos:
Is there anything else we should know, Miss Jennifer?

Jennifer Hornacek:
There’s no obligation, no pressure to do a thing. Take advantage of talking to a personal relocation manager to understand what your home would sell for. I think that’s probably how I would summarize it.

Nitsa Foundos:
As Jennifer said, we want this to be a smooth transition. We want to help you. Whether you have a home to sell or not, we want to help you. If you need to pack your things physically, downsize, what to get rid of. Where do I give stuff to? Where do I take it? We have all of those resources. All you need to do, again, is come to visit us.

Nitsa Foundos:
If you’d like to know more about Jennifer’s programming, Moving Made Easy, and everything else about the Arboretum Villas, you need to give us a call. You can reach us at (708) 482-6634, or visit arboretumvillas.org. You can also check out our events page for upcoming lunch or dinner presentations.

Nitsa Foundos:
All right. So, if you’d like to see our beautiful floor plans and finishes in person, stop on by the design center at 26 South La Grange Road in downtown La Grange. We’re open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 to 5:30 PM.

Nitsa Foundos:
Thank you so much, Jen. I so appreciate your being candid.

Jennifer Hornacek:
My pleasure.

Nitsa Foundos:
Well, my heart goes out to you for everything you’ve done for Plymouth Place and the Arboretum Villas, and, most of all, your loyalty and your friendship.

Nitsa Foundos:
Thank you so much, everyone for tuning into Living Without Limits. We look forward to talking with you again. Until then, I’m Nitsa Foundos.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Thanks, Nitsa.

Nitsa Foundos:
You’re welcome.

Jennifer Hornacek:
Bye-bye.