Serving seniors on the move
At 88, Agnes Babian found it “very difficult” to uproot herself from the apartment she owns on a quiet side street in Irvington with a view of the Hudson River.
“I”™ve been here 40 years and more,” she said, as helpers on an April afternoon sorted her belongings and marked items to be packed and hauled by a moving company with “Take” labels. “If it weren”™t for going to a very nice beautiful place, I would go kicking and screaming.”
Babian was moving to a one-bedroom apartment in The Bristal at White Plains, the Engel Burman Group”™s 148-apartment assisted living residence that opened this past winter at the former St. Agnes Hospital on North Street. She had hired Leslie Abelson and Randi Silverman, partners in The Platinum Move, to organize her possessions and personally oversee the move from her Irvington apartment and help her settle into her White Plains residence.
Abelson and Silverman had measured each piece of furniture to be moved for their client and, using a Bristal floor plan, laid out their placement in her White Plains abode. (A keen-eyed Babian later had at least one large piece moved to another corner of her living room.)
“The floor plan and the measuring, that”™s number one,” said Abelson, “after you consult with your client: ”˜What do you need?”™ It kind of sets the tone.”
Later they will oversee the cleanout of Babian”™s Irvington apartment, disposing of items left behind through auction, sales to collectors and dealers, consignment and tax-deductible charitable donations. Silverman, a licensed real estate agent at Century 21 Royal in Scarsdale and a certified seniors real estate specialist, will list Babian”™s apartment for sale.
Silverman said The Platinum Move specializes in “the profitable disposition of people”™s goods” after a downsizing and relocation and in estate cleanouts. “It really does help offset the cost of a cleanout or a move. We would rather see clients make enough money at least to cover our costs, and make a profit,” she said.
The Platinum Move charges $75 an hour for each partner”™s services.
Though the cost of their services might be borne by an elderly client”™s adult children or other family members, their first responsibility is to “the person in transition,” Silverman said. “That”™s the client.”
“When there are children involved,” said Abelson, “the dynamic really changes because the children want to be in charge. If the person is of sound mind, the children don”™t need to be in charge.”
On this sorting and labeling day, a buyer of antique linens, contacted by Abelson, had driven from Long Island to appraise Babian”™s collection. It was not valuable vintage material, and the dealer paid only $50 for the lot.
“It really depends on what people have,” Silverman said. “A lot of times they don”™t even know the value of what they have.”
Partners since last summer, Abelson and Silverman call The Platinum Move a relocation concierge service. About half of its business comes from elderly clients such as Babian who are moving to retirement communities where daily assistance by staff is available. The business started as “a luxury service for wealthy people,” said Abelson. “Then all of a sudden we moved one person into an assisted living community and ”“ boom! ”“ it”™s like another end was born.”
The Platinum Move is a preferred provider at the Bristal in White Plains. Its owners aim to forge like relationships with the growing number of other continuing care and assisted living communities in the area.
“This senior market, there are so many companies that have risen out of it,” said Abelson, a Rye resident who was looking to return to full-time employment after several years of part-time work as a personal organizer. “The senior market is just exploding. You can”™t believe the businesses that spawned from this”¦ It”™s like a little rolling tidal wave that”™s growing across the country.”
In Westchester County, The Platinum Move partners have competition from four other concierge services, she said. .
“Mostly it”™s solo practitioners or partnerships,” Silverman added. “That”™s what you see.” Westchester”™s aging population and a growing trend among residents to remain in the area in their retirement years represent new opportunities for entrepreneurs and for developers such as the Long Island-based Engel Burman Group. And as the baby boom generation ages into retirement, business owners expect that senior market to expand and flourish over the next two decades.
Unlike Babian”™s more thrift-minded generation, “The baby boom generation is a generation that outsources,” said Abelson, who is in her late fifties. “We get tutors, we get decorators, we get gardeners. So the idea of helping you move is not that strange to a baby boomer.”
Abelson and Silverman are members of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), an organization launched in 2002 by 22 founding members. In less than 11 years, it has grown to include more than 800 member companies in the U.S., Canada and overseas.
The real estate industry too has responded to that aging population trend. Silverman, a licensed real estate agent since 2008, last year completed a two-day course sponsored by the New York State Association of Realtors in White Plains for certification as a seniors real estate specialist. The course offers instruction in how life stages impact real estate choices and network resources for brokers.
A spokesperson at the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors headquarters said the course might be offered here once or twice a year, though it still is more common in typical retirement areas such as Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.
Silverman said she also advises elderly clients on their options for long-term care while remaining in their homes. “A lot of times I don”™t make any money,” she said. “I”™m not getting a listing.”
The Platinum Move partners met two years ago, when “I hired Leslie to move me,” said Silverman. “I saw that Leslie”™s business was an amazing business in the right place at the right time. I saw this niche as one that was definitely growing and there was going to be a real need for.”
“I was doing this on my own and was really needing a partner,” said Abelson.
“It”™s also honestly more fun to do together than alone,” said Silverman.
For the two women ”“ Silverman also is in her fifties ”“ the concierge service for seniors on the move also returned them to full-time employment in a difficult job market for skilled, typically well-paid middle-aged workers.
Before venturing into real estate sales, Silverman for 25 years ran a magazine publishing consulting company. “I saw the demise of my business,” she said. She also saw that her age and salary expectations “were working against me”¦ It”™s definitely a career transition. I was looking for something new, something that I could be in my own business.”
“We”™re really trending right now,” said Abelson. ”This whole industry of helping seniors is people in their fifties and sixties helping people.”
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Looking more relaxed, Agnes Babian welcomed her Platinum Move helpers and a visitor to her Bristal apartment. “It”™s beautiful, I think,” she said, surveying a room both familiar and strange to her.
“If I couldn”™t bring my own furniture, I wouldn”™t come,” she said.