Lisa Dunn is a licensed real estate agent in the state of Minnesota. While...read more
Senior Real Estate Answers
How to Hire a Realtor Who Specializes in Working with Seniors
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With the graying of America, small business is already trying to capitalize on the increase of aging baby boomers. Many service-driven businesses have concocted designations that signify they “specialize” or are “experts” in working with seniors. As a consumer, you should know what the service professional did to earn the designation of “senior specialist.” Some designations simply require the professional to warm a chair in a classroom for eight hours, while some require study and grueling written tests. Then, once the designation is earned, still others require the professional’s ongoing dedication to classroom work, and some don’t. Realtors are famous for stringing letters behind their names. It’s never been more important to be sure you can trust the professionals you hire. So how do you evaluate that string of letters—a virtual alphabet soup—behind someone’s name?
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES)
The Senior Real Estate Specialist designation is the only designation offered to realtors through the National Association of REALTORS®. This course offers realtors information on: reverse mortgages; Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and how they impact real estate decisions; integrating real estate decisions into estate planning; mortgage finance schemes that target the 50-plus market; counseling the 50-plus buyer and seller; and the importance of establishing a team of experts to serve 50-plus clients. You can use the Senior Real Estate Specialist Web site to find an SRES near you.
Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)
The Society of Certified Senior Advisors offers the Certified Senior Advisor designation. This designation is most often awarded to professionals in financial services, but is available to anyone who offers professional services to seniors. The CSA requirements are more comprehensive and rigorous than the SRES requirements. In addition to financial considerations for the 50-plus consumer, the material also includes information about: caregiving; health; nutrition; fitness; the social aspects of aging; Alzheimer’s; chronic illness; Medicaid planning; long-term care; grief and loss; end-of-life planning; spirituality; and funeral planning. The designee is required to undergo ongoing ethics education and must commit to ongoing volunteer hours working with seniors.
Be wary of other titles you see behind realtors’ names. Titles such as “senior housing expert” or “senior specialist” may be something an agent has bestowed upon him or herself. You can contact your local board of realtors to see if they offer a senior designation to realtors which isn’t mentioned here.
One more consumer awareness tip: don’t assume the more letters in the alphabet soup behind a real estate agent’s name, the more qualified and experienced he or she must be. The spectrum of requirements varies greatly for each designation. In fact, the Society of Certified Senior Advisors offers the following disclaimer:
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Important: Certified Senior Advisors (CSA) have supplemented their individual professional licenses, credentials and education with knowledge about aging and working with seniors. Know what those licenses, credentials and education signify. The CSA designation alone does not imply expertise in financial, health or social matters. |
Any designation earned through education means the professional you’re working with is invested in learning about what is important to you, and has invested time and money in self-development in order to be able to do the best job possible.
How important is it to you that the professional you choose to work with has earned specialty designations?
Posted in Senior Moving Solutions, Senior Real Estate Answers: Lisa Dunn, What About My House?
how much time do you think is enough for someone to be qualified to help a particular market such as seniors? is it just about training or is number of years in the business important too?
Donald, What a great question. There are really two issues.
The first deals with the general skill set of having the knowledge and skills to be a licensed real estate agent. It’s not as much a matter of time, as it is the number of transactions. If you’ve been in the real estate business for 5 years, but only completed 3 transactions, you aren’t as experienced as a first year agent who completes 12 transactions. Even new agents can be great agents if they have the support of their broker throughout the transaction. Instead of telling you an agent should have X number of years of experience, I would suggest that you know how many years your real estate agent has been in the business, and what kind of results they’ve had. If your real estate agent is new (5 years or less) what kind of support will he/she get from their broker during your transaction?
Second, is the issue of knowledge and training. There are basic skills I have to be able to perform, such as fiduciary duties for my clients, no matter their age. Working with seniors requires me to have a greater breadth of knowledge including senior housing, effects of capital gains taxes, trusts, life estates, retirement planning, and financial planning that are unique to seniors. This increased knowledge helps me know which questions to ask so I can steer my clients toward other professionals that can help them avoid pitfalls of hasty decision-making in real estate transactions.
Knowledge is power whether learned through experience or through classroom learning.