When it’s Time to Move Your Loved One to Independent Living
My grandmother has lived with my mom for a number of years. She is a vibrant and gentle 81-year-old. Being able to spend so much time with her has been an absolute gift. But, I am aware that in the coming years, as my grandma’s needs become more complex, my mom may no longer have the ability to care for her. We may need to make the difficult decision to move her to an Edmonton Independent Living facility. I’ve always predicted that it would be challenging, but through my work with Realty Unleashed, I’ve really come to understand how that upheaval can affect all members of a family.
Knowing that Independent Living homes typically have multiple levels of care has alleviated a lot of the anxieties for the grown-up children of our clients. But there is still a huge emotional toll, and often a very physical one, when it becomes your duty to help your loved one leave their home. It is not just a matter of filling out a change of address card, it can be a time where families grieve the loss of their collective memory, of the place that they have called home for so many years.
This transition is loaded with emotion.
In many cases, you are helping an ageing parent leave their house, perhaps it was the place they felt the safest and secure. The wonderful thing about Independent Living is that you can have peace of mind in knowing that your loved ones will be safe and cared for. And, on top of that, their more challenging home maintenance needs will be handled for them. Even though some of these difficult chores are handed over, there is still plenty of freedom for residents. Driving, attending community events, running errands, attending fitness classes, eating out, and maintaining a social life are all still on the table! They have full access to their independence and comfort in their daily routine. There are many different kinds of Independent Living in Alberta, so you are bound to find one that best suits the needs of your loved one, whether it is in an apartment, house, townhouse or duplex.
At Realty Unleashed, we aim to make this process, or any moving process, as smooth and painless as possible for you and your family. When you list a home with Realty Unleashed, we take care of some of the house and yard duties of our client’s homes. Our Curb Appeal Crew will come to your home and do an expert clean to make sure that the home puts its best foot forward. Our team completes interior window washing and will do a final move-out clean once your house sells. Often moving to Independent Living in Edmonton means some significant downsizing. For this reason, the Curb Appeal Crew will also handle donation center & eco-station runs. Many of our clients who have been in similar situations have found this step particularly difficult. We have noticed how being able to match a specific item of furniture with a charity or a particular recipient has given our clients much relief.
We are happy to stage our client’s homes with our furniture and decor items for free, but if the house is staying filled with belongings, we will also happily do a staging consultation and make some small adjustments to ensure the house photographs well. We want the house to make a great first impression for potential buyers. To make regular maintenance easier, we offer lawn trimming in the spring and summer months, and snow removal in the fall and winter. And lastly, we perform regular check-ins on our vacant properties to make sure that everything is as it should be!
Because we believe that you and your family deserve the absolute best customer experience, we offer all of these services to you at no extra cost. We hope that offering these services will help ease your family’s transition, giving you more time to focus on finding the best Alberta Independent Living facility for your loved one. If you are wondering where to begin looking, we have a few wonderful resources for Independent Living in Edmonton below.
A great first step would be speaking with the Expert Senior Living Advisors at A Place for Mom. These advisors are going to help you find and narrow down the best Edmonton Independent Living Facilities. A Place for Mom partners with 44 Independent Living Communities in Edmonton and the surrounding area, so you can be sure that there will be many different options. Another excellent resource here in Edmonton is the SAGE Seniors Association, which can help direct you to certain programming and activities closer to the new area your loved one is residing in. And as we mentioned, Realty Unleashed is ready to help list and sell the home of your loved one. We are fully equipped to handle much of the behind-the-scenes work that needs to be done to make the sale. We understand this transition is not easy, and it is extremely important to our whole team to make sure both the selling and moving process is done as graceful and as smoothly as it can be for you and your family.