How a Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES®) Can Help You Retire In Style!

When I my husband and I are ready to buy another piece of property we will be looking for a real estate company and agent that serves senior citizens. I decided this when I discovered a REALTORS^® certification for agents called SRES^{® (Senior Real Estate Specialist).}  This guarantees that the agent is trained and certified to serve seniors (50+). I just makes good sense.

Yesterday I  discovered a real estate agency that not only employs SRES^® agents but they have a whole division that serves clients 55+.  The agency is located in NYC and the division is called Seniors on the Move. 

Real Estate Ad:  Established in the late 1990’s, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Seniors on the Move Division is a dedicated team of real estate professionals that focus on the specific needs of the 55+ buyer and seller. Our Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES^®) are certified and have completed the educational requirements, which ensure they offer the best service to this growing community. 

We launched our Seniors on the Move website to make that the process of finding your new Senior Lifestyle home easy and our SRES^® specialists are always just a phone call or email away to assist you. Inside you’ll find properties which have been designated for Senior Living to make your search easier. 

I love the idea of a real estate company offering a whole division designed to serve 55+. I think a large percentage of newly retired people fantasize about moving. The idea that they can live anywhere without worrying about finding a job is very enticing. My husband and I were those people 15 years ago. However, we were on our own. We were not aware of any real estate companies or agents trained to help us find the perfect forever house. So we had to set our own criteria and educate the person we chose as a real estate agent. We wanted our dream location to meet these needs:

• Financing
• City life
• Reasonable price
• Aesthetics/luxury
• Amenities
• Square footage
• Services

Oregon Condo for Sale

We bought a condo in a planned community with restaurants and a grocery in walking distance.  Now we have our condo for sale and we are thinking of moving to another "perfect" location. Our list of needs has not changed that much. We live in Portland, Oregon metro area so NYC is just a dream. We are in our early 70s and common sense says no!  Sigh!

FIY:  The SRES^® designation by the National Association of Realtors carries education requirements with it. Once an agent completes the program, the agent can then add SRES^® as a title after their name.   The SRES^®  is a certification available to REALTORS^® across the USA.  They describe the certification like this:

Seniors Real Estate Specialists^® or SRES^® designees are REALTORS^® qualified to address the needs of home buyers and sellers age 50+. The SRES^® Council awards the SRES^® Designation to those members who have successfully completed its education program.

This type of agent could be very valuable for you!

I need to let you know that what I find to be a good idea may or may not work for you.  It is your choice and I don't guarantee anything.  I can only give you the information.

b

Small Spaces in Hot Weather: The Affordable Heat Pump by Air & Water

     Part of my job here at Retire In Style Blog is to share products that will help you be comfortable living in a small space.  I have told you about downsizing, products that you might need and how to make that small space beautiful.  In every case I have told about things that I know first hand.  I am not an expert unless you want to call "living" an education but I do know what I love.
     A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a company that sells home appliances.  The email started like this:

NewAir AC-10000H 

10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner 

and Heater with Remote Control

My name is Andreah, I work in the marketing department for an independent online appliance retailer called Air & Water, Inc.  We sell a variety of home appliances on our website Air&Water.com.  I heard about your blog through my mom, who is a regular reader.  She's always talking about your great travel ideas and looking in to day trips that are closer to where she lives.  It's great to see her so active and enjoying her retirement!

     She had me at the "I heard about your blog through my mom....".  When I read the rest of the letter, I felt as though I were talking to an old friend.  What the company wanted was for my husband and I to try out a new product they are marketing this summer.  I agreed to test it and then give you my review here on my blog.  The portable air conditioner and heater came in the mail last week.
     Air&Water is a company that sells everything from air conditioners to BBQ grills.  Their tag line is The Way Online Shopping Should Be.  When I clicked on their website I was immediately offer an chance to chat online with a representative.  I don't know about you but I like it when a company makes it that simple to get information on a product I want to buy.


About Us
     We live in Portland in the summer and Tucson in the winter.  Our heating and cooling needs are very unique.  Here in Portland the humidity is high and we may require heat part of the day and cooling at another time. 
     In Arizona we live in a park model with a TOTAL square footage of about 400 square feet.  It is very small.  We have a very old heat pump that is not working properly.  Replacing that unit would cost us somewhere around $4000.  We do not use either the heating or cooling daily there but when it gets cold or very hot we do need a little help so we can be comfortable. As a result we have been looking for a more affordable way to heat and cool our tiny space.


About the NewAir AC-10,000H.
     So the question we asked ourselves turned out to be "would we use something portable and carry it back and forth?"  After we opened the box, set it up the NewAir AC-10000H in our condo upstairs, we both knew the answer would be "yes".  It was easy to install, inconspicuous/sleek and very quiet for a portable AC unit.  Best of all it included a remote control. (Specs for it are on the webpage.)
     The NewAir AC-10000H can 1) cool, 2) heat, and 3) dehumidify.  We will make use of all three of these functions this summer.  Our condo here in Oregon is 1400 square feet but our upstair bedroom and office is a total of 350 square feet.  We will close unused rooms off upstairs when we are heating or cooling.  This unit is designed to heat or cool 325 square feet.  It also features a timer so we can set it for the heating/cooling to come on in the early evening before we go to bed.   Perfect!
     What I have discovered after trying both the AC and heating unit, the performance meshes with the information from the manufacturer.

From the Air Water Website:  The NewAir AC-10000H also offers 10,000 BTUs of cooling and easily covers areas up to 325 square feet, making it ideal for both primary or supplemental cooling of individual rooms or areas.

     The price is $469.00 but they are offering free shipping for a limited time. Today I see they are offering a price break of $110.  My husband and I thought the cost sounded a lot better than the $4000 for a new heat pump in Arizona.  
     I only tell you what I know.  I can't guarantee that you will love what I love.  Take a look at the information, guarantees and pictures.  You will have to decided for yourself.  I can only send you in the right direction.


b

TV Ads with a Social Conscience? Chrysler and Tom's Shoes Show the Way

Note: Article first published as TV Ads with a Social Conscience? Chrysler and Tom's Shoes Show the Way on Blogcritics.

From Blake Mycoskies bio on Tom's website. 

An article posted by AARP this week talked about a business that had found a way to connect consumers with a social conscience to a wonderful product. I had been aware of this small company for several years, but up until its commercial-within-a-commercial TV campaign, I had not been aware of the concept. It was pure genius on the part of some advertising agency.

Tom's Shoes
AT&T partnered with a small shoemaker, (Website informationTom's Shoes), which provided free shoes to children around the world. The young Blake Mycoskie saw a need for children's shoes in poverty-stricken communities and he was looking for a product he could sell. So he started a business based on this need and found a way to do it profitably. As I remember the business plan, he hired people in third world countries to make the shoes and marketed them with a tag line telling the consumer that every pair of shoes sold also included a pair of Tom's shoes for a barefoot child in a third-world community—a sort of two for one sale. Enter me, a lover of children, and you have a senior with a social conscience who is wearing a pair of Tom's shoes! That was back in 2009 and I still wear that original pair. Read more at Blog Critics Business....

How Yelp.com Portland helps us + Thai Flombe in Hillsboro, Or

First Day of Summer is coming!

If we are going to eat in a restaurant in downtown Portland, we check with Yelp.com to see what other people think.  Words like "dirty" or "terrible service" make us take pause, especially if there are several agreeing opinions.  But out here in the west part of the metro area things are different. We are overrun with franchises and drive through in Hillsboro, so we are more apt to try a family owned restaurant no matter what the reviews.  If we are planning a special evening out we will check with Yelp but we know that the reviews may be submitted by people that are not locals.  That is very important.

So yesterday when I had a very good meal at a local main street restaurant, I knew I had to tell you about it. My husband and I were shopping for a screen door knob at the antique stores in downtown Hillsboro when hunger hit us both right between the eyes!  Main street is turning into a trendy place for busy working people meet for lunch.  Local government workers along with Intel employees fill restaurants during the lunch hour. We went to the Thai Flombe Restaurant. I ordered the Red Curry with chicken.  Yum yum yum!  This dish was so creamy, spicy with a touch of sweetness.  I have never tasted Thai food locally that was this good.

When I got home I looked at Yelp.com to see what other's thought of the restaurant and to add my review.  I was not surprised to see that 85% of the reviews were favorable.  I thought that the reviewer, Spawna, said it the best:

I love this little jewel of affordable deliciousness [Thai Flombe] in the heart of downtown Hillsboro. The restaurant is owned and run by an extremely friendly Thai couple who provide excellent and quick service. This is one of the few restaurants in the Hillsboro area that is not a corporate chain, and the difference is dramatic. 

After reading this comment I suddenly realized that, when we talk about the best ever restaurants, we really are talking about the choices in a specific community.  It is all relative and relatively speaking, Thai Flombe is very good...especially for here in Hillsboro, Oregon.

A special thanks to Yelp.com for providing reviews for the best eating places around.  It really is a great help.

b

Buying a BETTER mouse trap at Target!

We own a cat that loves to hunt.  If he were a human he would be a card carrying member of the NRA. His need to hunt exceeds his need to eat by about 200 percent.  How do I know this.  Well, once he is full, he brings them into the house and turns them free in our kitchen. That, my friends, is where the quest for a better mouse trap began.

In this day of miracle poisons and cardboard set them free traps, a real mouse killing machine is very hard to find.  There are so few hardware stores anymore that we must drive many miles to find one, so we generally opt for Target or the grocery store to get the mundane things like a package of various sized screws or nails.  But a mouse trap in the grocery store?  That didn't seem right. So we headed out to look for one.

I encouraged a trip to Target.  You can buy clothes or a purse at Target even if you don't find a mouse trap. The trick at Target is choosing the right department. We thought that traps should be among the hardware items but it turns out Target did not see it that way. So we headed for the groceries department because we were pretty sure they were not in electronics or down the baby clothes aisle. And there they were, between the bread and the peanut butter.  It was a much better mouse trap, made in China.  I whooped a little and did the "discovery" dance in the aisle.  We were going to be the proud owners of a better, Target designed mouse trap.

The mice (meaning more than one) were camping out under the stove and under the fridge. We saw them wandering around in the dining room.  I think they had parties at night since there were three of them.  I think the female was promiscuous and loved the night life. Or maybe there were two females and one male and he was having a party.  Being a female myself, I new by instinct that this was not going to have a happy ending...not for the mice and certainly not for me.

The better mouse trap did not look right to me.  It had an orange square on the top and didn't have the right advertising stamped on the wood.  Somehow I was a lot more comfortable with a mouse trap that looked like the one I was raised with.  So my husband, the fearless human hunter in our house, set two traps, one by the corner of the stove and another near the refrigerator.

We had pancakes the next morning and my husband was the cook.  When he looked to check on the stove. mouse trap it was no where to be found.  We accused the cat and searched the house high and low for the device.  Finally, after disassembling the stove we found the trap buried deep under the drawer. The peanut butter was licked up clean and the mouse trap was empty. Yikes!  How smart were these mice anyway?

My husband reset the trap and we waited.  That night we heard the cat coming up the stairs chattering all the way.  He had the mouse in his mouth and attached to the mouse was the new improved mouse trap.  He took it in the bath room and had a celebration of his own.  What a deal he seemed to say...his humans were catching the mice for him now!  He was soooooooo happy.

We finally caught three mice in the kitchen.  The last mouse we caught was attached to the mouse trap by his leg. We found it deeply hidden under the stove too..she/he was not dead so now my husband became a mouse murderer.   That is just so wrong I can't even begin to tell you.

A better mouse trap??? I think not.  I like the old kind with the red stripe around the out side and blue advertisement in the middle.  No orange thingy for the bait to be put on.  Just a piece of wire and a trap the will spring on your finger if you are not careful.  I want that kind. So Target, are you listening?

b

Related articles

• What mouse trap is the best mouse trap in the World (wiki.answers.com)

Question #2: What 10 things would you buy?

I am inviting you to think about this...10 things that you could not live without.  I am retired, 69 and live in a small space.  If you were wanting to shop for my favorite things this is what you would look for:

1. My Microplane Zester...I yearned for one of these for years but just could not make myself buy one.  I even used a rasp from my husband's shop for a while.
2. The exfoliating gloves I use in my shower.  
3. My Kindle reader...this device has made it possible for me to read again.
4. My Mac computer...how would I ever live without it.
5. The counter top oven/toaster Pacific Coast ® Down Around ® Standard Pillow(good for small food items).
6. The Pendleton blanket that belonged to my parents.
7. Hooks for clothing.
8. The magnetic wall rack for my spices (a great space saver).
9. My Dyson vacuum.  Really, I will never own another brand.  It is the best.
10. My iphone...I even take most of my pictures for this blog with it.

There you have it. Give me a list of 10 things you like for your small space.

b

A Hobby for Retirement? Dabbling in Genealogy

In a recent article on the AARP website the writer talked about how easy the Internet has made genealogy research. "Your Family History is Just a Click Away" was the name of the article. The article includes many links and lots of information. This what they had to say:

There's a bonanza on the Internet for anyone searching for their family roots.

As more records go online worldwide, a click of a mouse can take you back in time by hundreds of years in a matter of minutes via websites designed to help you hunt down your past.

I love it when a website like AARP does a lot of the hard work.  However, because my husband and I are nerds (all be it old nerds) we would rather do at least part of it ourselves.  Here what happened this last week.

Genealogy our way!

Genealogy is not my bag.  I just think "let sleeping dogs sleep" and I can not even remember what my Great Grandmother's first name was.  I'm funny that way.  My husband, on the other hand, has been dabbling around with it for quite a while.  He is curious and I suspect he has always been looking for a jailbird in my background. Then he found a little golden key hidden within the cemetery records of the Baker City, Oregon. When you type Baker City Cemetery in the google search a web site called Access Genealogy comes up. He began following the pathway it opened for him. 

Eventually he was led to a website was called Find a Grave where serious genealogist, usually family members, can post a virtual memorial and pictures of grave sites along with photos and synopsis of the information about the person and their ancestors. There is also a page that will allow you to see the comments and exchange of idea that have gone into the research. It is very interesting and it was all free...my husband liked that a lot!  

All the research had been done for him and he found answers to my families ancestry going back to 1715 on the Find a Grave website. It seems that a cousin of mine several generations removed had done a great deal of research into the family. It was like a family tree just grew up in the front yard.

If you are a reader and love a really good story, I think you would love this hobby. I found the information on my grandfather's ancestors just fascinating. They are not famous or related to the king but they were remarkable in their own way.  For example,  Pheobe, wife of my great grandfather Isaac Boyle was a very strong willed and unbendable woman. She married Issaac Boyle when she was 15 and he was 40.  She managed to get herself arrested by the county constable and her daughter was arrested at the same time. My grandfather left her when he was 70 years old. She was buried far from the rest of the family in the community cemetery.  Like my cousin that did the research, I too wondered "What was that all about?" Great Grandmother Phoebe, what were you really like?

One of my great grandfather's son's, my grandfather's brother, was named Joseph Lane Boyle. It is possible he was called after Joseph Lane, the man Lane county and Lane Community College is named for. Lane was the governor of Oregon Territory and after a lifetime of politics, retired in Roseburg, Oregon. Roseburg is located just north of Canyonville, Oregon. Because Issac Boyle was one of the first settlers/explorers around Canyonville and they were contemporaries, it seemed entirely possible that the two men may have known each other. At any rate, I love the idea that there could have been a connection

I will leave the genealogy to the true history lovers. As for me I love filling in the gaps with what I imagine might have been. WOW!

Are you interested?

Are you interested in looking at your family tree?  This may be something you should look into.  I think that we need to keep learning all through our lives. Many retirees are seeking SOMETHING to engage their minds. Genealogy could be a very interesting hobby. I have a friend that has traveled all over the United States digging through court house records and newspapers to find out about her family. She sees it as a treasure hunt and who wouldn't like to do that?  She has collected a serious amount of information.

Sometimes we are just curious about the past but don't want to turn it into a full time obsession. I am finding that many many others are doing the work for us and love to share that information. My husband did email my distant cousin and her reply gave us permission to print and share the information with our children. We thought it was common courtesy to just say "please" and "thank you".  

Links for beginners: 

How to: Getting Started on about.com. Where: Find a Grave Lots of Links: Genealinks  App for ipad/iphone: Ancestry (free on itunes)
Family Tree: Tech tips Family Tree: Tech tips  LDS church. We are not LDS but I do know that the church has accumulated a great deal of information and you can go to their website to link with that library data base. I think Family Search is part of that group.14 day free trial: Ancestry.com       AARP:  Relationship/Genealogy

Have fun with this...I know I certainly did. And leave a comment to let me know what you have done in this area.

b