EPISODE 35 – Downsizing, Transitions & Senior Home Sales

Downsizing, Transitions & Senior Home Sales

with Launie Myers of Century 21 – The Dream Team**

In this episode, Jamie Callahan sits down with Launie Myers, a long-time real estate professional and former senior living director who has spent decades helping older adults navigate one of the most emotional and challenging transitions of aging: selling the family home and downsizing safely.

Launie brings a rare perspective—she’s a senior herself, she has worked inside retirement communities, and she understands the fears, financial realities, and family tensions that arise when it's time to move.

You’ll hear:

• Why seniors often struggle with downsizing—and the emotional weight of “a lifetime of possessions”
• The TRUE cost of aging in place when 24/7 caregiving is needed (often $25,000–$40,000 per month)
• Why pricing a home correctly from day one matters more than ever
• How isolation and safety risks drive seniors toward better housing solutions
• What family members often misunderstand—and how to avoid common pitfalls
• Real stories of seniors Launie has helped transition with dignity, compassion, and the right support
• The wraparound services she coordinates: cleaners, packers, movers, downsizing specialists, and more

Launie is part of Century 21’s “Dream Team,” one of the top-performing teams in the entire state of Oregon—and a trusted advocate for seniors facing major life changes.

📞 To contact Launie Myers: 541-315-3385
📧 LaunieMyers@gmail.com

📞 For Team Senior resources or placement help: 541-295-8230

At Team Senior™, our mission is to guide you and support you through the maze of Southern Oregon Long-Term Care.

📞 For Team Senior resources, call: 541-295-8230

Or visit our website for more information: https://www.teamsenior.org/

Transcript

EPISODE 35 – Downsizing, Transitions & Senior Home Sales

Host: Jamie Callahan
Guest: Launie Myers, Real Estate Agent, Century 21 - The Dream Team

JAMIE CALLAHAN: Hi, this is Jamie Callahan with the Team Senior Podcast. Our goal is to simplify aging. Society grooms us to plan for retirement, but what about life beyond retirement, where the rubber meets the road? Perhaps you've had a stroke, or you've been diagnosed with cancer, or maybe you're forgetting things and now you have dementia. That's our area of expertise, and we are here to share our insight.

And now, the Team Senior Podcast.

Hi, this is Jamie Callahan with the Team Senior Podcast, and I am so excited to introduce Launie. Launie and I have been working together for quite a number of years. She is a real estate agent in Grants Pass with Century 21, and she has a long history of assisting seniors. Launie, tell us about that.

LAUNIE MYERS: Thank you so much, Jamie, for asking me to come. And this is definitely a topic near and dear to my heart. I am a senior myself, as you can see. And however, this is my second real estate career. As a youth, I was a realtor for almost 20 years. And when I got out of the business, interest rates were 18%. People were losing their homes left and right, and I went to college and said, "I'm never going into real estate again." And I actually had a 25-year career working with seniors in senior living and really became passionate about being of service to people that were transitioning from their own homes into congregate living. And I was so blessed to be a part of that as a food service director in retirement, and that is what I retired from and moved to Grants Pass. I was looking for a home myself. And that is what made me decide to go ahead and get my real estate license so I could be of service to other people that were not having the luck I had in finding a home and having good service.

So I have been passionate about being there for my clients, and this community with our senior population has such a need for people that move here and think they're going to buy a home with five acres and manage it and age out in place. And they come to find out that isn't in their best interest for finances and safety. And so we often are faced with helping people downsize.

JAMIE: Boy, isn't that the truth? That's something that everyone is facing on a regular basis when anything goes sideways in their life. But it is the dream to move from these larger cities where you have banked some equity, and you're going to move here and you're going to buy that ranch that you always dreamed of. But you're at the age of retirement when you're moving here.

LAUNIE: Exactly.

JAMIE: And I know from experience, and I am not of the age of retirement, that maintaining that is a lot of work.

LAUNIE: A lot of work, and also a lot of money, as we have seen in the last couple years. The amount of money that it takes just to run a regular tract home, as I just found out about my electric bill, my water bill—they were just exorbitant. So I moved, downsized myself back into a condo that I had just for that very reason.

JAMIE: Certainly understand.

LAUNIE: Yeah. The cost of living is absolutely outrageous.

JAMIE: Yes. Being a senior yourself, Launie, which I would not have called attention to that if you did not already do that—what are some of the unique challenges or emotional hurdles that homeowners face when they are seniors?

LAUNIE: Really, one of the biggest ones I find is that most people gather so many possessions, and everything is precious to them, and they don't want to get rid of these sorts of mementos or photos. And so that's one reason they want to stay in the larger property. But finances and sometimes family push them to downsize and go into something else. And if a senior can stay in the larger home and maybe bring in some care in the home, it may be in their best interest to do that, which is always number one choice. Yeah, definitely. But because of safety, perhaps being alone in a home where they could be hurt, or drain their finances—

JAMIE: Oh, absolutely.

LAUNIE: Number two is to downsize.

JAMIE: Yeah, to downsize, for sure. The two biggest challenges that we see people face when they have purchased a home is social isolation. That's huge, right? You live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, and you're no longer really able to drive, and you're not as capable of getting out to see people. But then two, the cost of care in living at home rather than just downsizing and moving to someplace where you can receive wraparound services is that caregiving these days, post-COVID—the cost of caregiving that is available to folks after COVID ranges—if you need 24/7 care, we're looking at a minimum of $25,000 a month.

LAUNIE: Wow.

JAMIE: If you have a higher acuity of care needs, we're now upwards of $40,000 to $50,000 a month for you to be able to stay at home.

LAUNIE: Wow.

JAMIE: So when you put those two things together, now you're socially isolated because you need 24/7 caregiving, and it's costing you $25,000 to $40,000 to stay in your own home. It does not make any sense at all.

LAUNIE: Yeah. So it definitely is a best option then for that type of person to go into some kind of congregate living. We're fortunate we're in an area where we have a lot of facilities that are excellent. And when you place a monthly amount at maybe $6,000 to $8,000 compared to what Jamie just mentioned, it may be the better option.

JAMIE: Definitely a huge savings.

LAUNIE: Definitely a huge savings. Yeah.

JAMIE: So let's talk about the process. So how do you help a senior client prepare and execute a downsize and then a move? And then who do you provide as wraparound services to execute all of that? Movers, downsizers, housekeepers, someone to help them if they need to move into assisted living—all of those parts and pieces.

LAUNIE: We have been very fortunate on the Dream Team. We have been able to accumulate an excellent Rolodex of support services to refer to our clients, and these are all people that we have used ourselves. We've tried them out, so we know they're great workers. If they're not, we cross them off our list. And I can give you some examples of some of the recent seniors that we have helped. And it's been amazing that this topic came up today because these people are just near and dear to my heart. Elizabeth called me last week, and her husband just passed away two weeks ago. And because she is 86 years old, being in her own home is next to impossible, and her daughter is completely encouraging her to move as quickly as she can to her house. And the daughter is handicapped. So for her to come to town and actually help her mother make the move is next to impossible, or it wouldn't happen until roads are probably closed with snow going to a northern state.

Fortunately, I had a great little housekeeper worker that was over there for three days cleaning and packing and sorting things out, and they actually had a party going on as they did that. And Elizabeth was so thrilled to have the company, just to have the comfort and knowledge that she was in good hands. It was very rewarding. So we now have her house up for sale, and she'll be moving out within the next few weeks to her daughter's, and her daughter is just as delighted as can be.

JAMIE: Yeah. That's really important, I think, for people to know is that sometimes what feels very daunting. Yeah. And what doesn't sound very appealing in the beginning—once you start putting that ball in motion and you are working with the right organizations to provide those wraparound services, it can actually get very easy for you.

LAUNIE: Yes. And exciting.

JAMIE: Yes.

LAUNIE: Yes. That's true. Yeah. So that was a great example and a wonderful scenario that is going to work out really nicely for her. There's been a number of other seniors, too, in the same situation where they needed to downsize. I had a lady recently that had broken her back three times, and they were on some acreage and fairly good-size home, but any size home was difficult for her to manage. And she had family living with her, but it was difficult to manage the healthcare and the home. So we had to sell their home and move them into a mobile home park, which was very manageable for them. And there again, she couldn't pack or move. So we had a number of people available at very reasonable fees to go over and pack and clean and stage their house so we could get it up for sale, get top dollar, and get them safely moved to another location before there was an accident with her falling trying to take care of the house. So that was a big relief, too.

JAMIE: That's awesome. That's probably the number one thing that we see first when we start to see someone declining is that they're falling.

LAUNIE: It's a very commonplace for that to happen.

JAMIE: Yes, absolutely. When we consider putting all of this in place, what are some mistakes or pitfalls that you see seniors making, or sometimes well-meaning family members? What are those pitfalls and mistakes?

LAUNIE: It's very difficult to make this sort of decision. It's the toughest decision anyone is ever going to make. And so, of course, people are hesitant to do it and not follow our advice. But I would say that is probably one of the biggest drawbacks is that the senior doesn't want to leave her home. She doesn't want to leave all these little possessions she has accumulated, which are just really in her way of having a comfortable, safe home. Can't take those things with you.

JAMIE: Yes. Yeah. That's a message that we try to convey on a very regular basis, and I know that there are many people in the community that are trying to convey that same message, right? When you work with folks around the money piece of it, the financial side, you are assessing home equity, helping them set budgets, estimating costs, helping them to figure out how to get into a smaller home. And maybe if a smaller home isn't appropriate, maybe independent living or assisted living—what does that look like? How do you guys help people navigate that?

LAUNIE: Yeah, that is a big challenge, too, because, of course, every person we talk to thinks their home is the nicest and it's worth more than anyone else's. And so we have to look at it realistically, as a buyer would look at it, or as an appraiser would look at it once we get into escrow. If a buyer—if their buyer is getting a loan, we have to be able to successfully close the escrow, or it's to no avail. So pricing a home is of the utmost importance so it will sell. And then giving them a very good estimate of what their bottom line is going to be after they pay all the closing costs. And of course, commission is always the main topic of conversation with people. And commission is completely negotiable. We also have to impress upon people how hard we work to earn our money and how worth it is when you have someone that cares so much and is a full-service realtor to make sure none of these loose ends are unattended and they don't have a successful closing, because that serves no good purpose if they're half-packed, ready to move, and it falls out of escrow. We never want to see that happen.

JAMIE: Sure. Many years ago, I used to have my real estate license, and I do remember that being a hot topic—setting the price of the home and commissions. But I want to just quickly touch on the price of the home because this is something I see happen even within my own circle of friends and family. Like you said, folks usually want top dollar for their house. But what we see as a consumer is that when something first comes to market, that is when it is most exciting. When something comes to market and over the course of 10 months, it's getting reduced in price every month or every other month, it's no longer exciting when that buyer that comes to the table that wants to see it—one, they're asking themselves, "Why has the price been reduced so many times?" And two, it's not first rolling out, so it's not so exciting anymore. Setting that price at a realistic price is really important right out of the gate.

LAUNIE: Jamie, you hit the nail on the head. And that is what I mean when I say everyone thinks their home is the best and they want top dollar, and "Let's just try to get this price for a while." And that serves no purpose. It doesn't, because that's exactly how they end up. They end up sitting on the market. And right now, I have one listing that I was talking to my seller about their competition. We have a lot less buyers right now, and when you have 48 homes up for sale in their price range and theirs was priced too high, and they lost that initial market appeal, the initial excitement—that's it. They're sitting on the market.

JAMIE: Yep. Now everybody's seen it, and they're waiting to see the new stuff that's coming out.

LAUNIE: Yes. Yep.

JAMIE: That's absolutely right. Let's talk about success stories. Tell me about a senior client that you've helped to transition, you've helped them sell their home, and whatever that looked like on the end of that. Tell me about a great story.

LAUNIE: I already mentioned Elizabeth, but we don't have the end of the story yet, and I feel confident that we're going to have a great ending to that story because Elizabeth listened to me, and she's priced her home to sell. She's priced her home under everything else that's sold in that area, and that's what we need because it's an older home. I mentioned to you the lady who broke her back, and she wasn't able to do anything in the house. We successfully got her moved. We got top dollar for their home. It was sold about five months ago, I believe. So we were still selling a little faster then than we are right now. And then there is another one I'm actually just working on right now. One of my dear friends passed away from our Newcomers Club, which Jamie's very familiar with. And so her kids are settling the estate, and they've come to me to help them with it. And we're in that same position with negotiating on what the price will be and trying to get as much as we can without overpricing. So hopefully that'll be a happy ending. But there are dozens of seniors that we have helped in the last few years that I can give you some amazing success stories on, too. But those were just some of the most recent people we've been working with.

JAMIE: I'm familiar with your team and all of the amazing things that they're doing. Launie is with Century 21, the Dream Team, out of Grants Pass. Launie, let people know how they can contact you.

LAUNIE: We would love to hear from you by phone or stop by our office. My number is 541-315-3385. My partner is Don Teague, like "league" only with a T. And we have been partners for, I think we're in our seventh year, the last three years the top team in the state of Oregon with all of Century 21. So we're really blessed that we have loyal customers that refer their friends to us. And we also have a marketing coordinator now and soon to be another licensed broker. So we have quite a great team, including someone that helps with paperwork.

JAMIE: So that's important.

LAUNIE: It really does make a difference when you are a team and you're not just an individual.

JAMIE: And I will say, working with the Dream Team at Century 21, which is Launie and Don, they are—they're really a dynamic duo. I want to share their contact information once more. So if you want to reach out to Launie, you can get her at 541-315-3385. Again, 541-315-3385. You can also get her by email. It's LaunieMyers@gmail.com, and I'm going to spell that out for you. Launie is L-A-U-N-I-E-M-Y-E-R-S@gmail.com. Again, Century 21, the Dream Team—they're fabulous. If you need to sell your home, I would definitely encourage you to reach out to them.

LAUNIE: Yeah, thanks so much.

JAMIE: And again, I always close with letting you know that if for any reason you fast-forward a year from now or a month from now, and you heard this podcast, but you don't remember who this Dream Team was, you can always reach out to Team Senior, and we will immediately help you get connected to them. Thanks so much.

Thank you for listening to the Team Senior Podcast. We're here every week sharing new and relevant information. Remember that we're just a phone call away. Team Senior can be reached at 541-295-8230. Again, 541-295-8230. Until next time, this is Jamie Callahan.

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