Su Swanne, Realtor - GRI, CSHP, SRES
Graduate, Realtor Institute
Certified Senior Housing Professional
Senior Real Estate Specialist
520-248-6297
Empower Your Move!
Flower for May - Lily of the Valley - My mother’s favorite flower! Every Mother’s Day these flowers are a sweet memory of her. As I write this, we have already enjoyed some of May with Mother’s Day and Cinco de Mayo. So what other ideas can we focus on?
May is also Asthma Awareness Month. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that has no cure. I’ve had asthma since I was five years old. Fortunately, the medicines available today are so much better than the ones when I was a child. Here is a photo of the kind of nebulizer I used; epinephrine was the inhaled agent to clear the lungs.
Looks kind of ancient, doesn’t it? Since 1980 asthma death rates overall have increased more than 50% among all genders, age groups and ethnic groups.
A Word About Real Estate in Tucson
- In the Tucson Main Market area, April 2019 active inventory was down 5% from April 2018 to 1.9 months. Closings in April 2019 were up 6% from April 2018. Median price of sold homes was $215,000 for the month of April 2019, up 2% from April 2018. The Tucson Main Market area had 2,146 new properties under contract in April 2019, up 6% from April 2018. To read more visit my website.
- Mortgage lenders have lots of ways to help you obtain the funds you need to buy a home. And the current interest rates are down slightly, hovering around four percent, depending on your loan. Contact your mortgage lender to see what s/he can do for you. If you need a referral, you can contact me (520-248-6297). NOW is a great time to buy a new home!
- A new hotel at the Tucson Convention Center is now under construction. A DoubleTree by Hilton, it will include a pool on the second level, a rooftop bar, restaurant, coffee bar, 4,000 square feet of meeting space, 170 rooms, four suites and a presidential suite. The hotel is scheduled to open late 2020.
A Word About Seniors
A few weeks ago my friend Peggy passed away in one of Tucson’s newer assisted living communities. She was 89. Her husband remains in memory care in the same community. From the day they moved in they were separate as their needs were quite different. Their main contact was at mid-day meals when they ate together.
I also have a client, 79, who has been in either the hospital or skilled nursing care for the past few months. This week the limits of skilled care will be reached and my client will be moving to...where? The family lives a few hundred miles away; they are not available to help.
Both of these scenarios are common for the Senior population. The difference between these stories is that my friend and her husband had financial resources to cover their living arrangement. My client, who made different choices for end-of-life care, is struggling to find the resources that are needed.
My question is: What is really required to meet the needs of our Seniors? Trendy, upscale apartments? Low-cost shared rooms with two beds? The competition for Seniors’ money is strong. As the Baby-Boomers continue to “flood” the market for Senior housing, what will be the outcome? My opinion is that there is an imbalance in the kinds of housing available for Seniors. Is the quality of care unbalanced, too? If you are a Senior, or you are helping a Senior determine the “right place”, take a moment to think about what is needed, and what is not.
A Word About Me
The past couple of months I’ve been living with my husband in his house, while abandoning my own. Now I’m in full “move” mode, and getting ready to put my house on the market through the Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT)
The PCCLT provides an alternative for low to mid-income buyers to be able to buy a home. When I bought my home I was moving out of a travel trailer I’d lived in for seven years. I had totally downsized and sold my condo to go traveling. I would never have been able to afford a new “sticks and bricks” home without the help of the PCCLT. If you are thinking about buying a home, and would like to know more, come to a workshop on May 22, 5:30-7:30, 801 W Congress.
At the end of the month we will be taking a trip back east to investigate the possibility of yet another move. Having family on the East Coast we hope to get a little closer to them. What that means for me here is completing the transactions I’m involved in, and then saying goodbye to the world of real estate in Tucson and the many wonderful folks I’ve met and worked with. I haven’t decided whether I will obtain a license in my new location, but it is a possibility. It is also possible we won’t like the new location, and we’ll return to Tucson to make other plans.
As a Senior myself, I am finding that everything I have learned about serving Seniors applies to myself as well. Learning to downsize, getting help with packing and cleaning, finding the right professionals - all has helped me to take on moving out of my house, and thinking about what I need and want in a new home. Considering my health needs, whether or not to age in place...all of it has been in my thoughts as I make the transition.
This will probably be my last monthly newsletter. If you would like to stay in touch, please let me know. In the future you may find me on my blog, SwanneSong - Views From the Edge, voicing my perspective on issues of all kinds.
It’s been a pleasure to offer my newsletter every month, as I’m a bit of a writer at heart. After three years of presenting information about real estate, I hope you have found something that has given you something to think about. I thank you for your support!
A Word About Events in Tucson
- Eyeopeners Toastmaster Club meets every Wednesday, 6:15-7:30 a.m., 801 W Congress. If you’re interested in learning how to speak before an audience, this is the place to be!
- May 22, 2019 - Free tour of 14 Demonstration Gardens at UofA Pima County Cooperative Extension, 4210 N. Campbell Ave. 9-10:30 a.m. Expand your gardening knowledge and get ideas for your own landscape.Let a Master Gardener volunteer lead you on a journey of discovery through these beautiful and interesting gardens. Meet at the plant clinic.
- Enjoy improvisational humor at The Unscrewed Theater - 4500 E Speedway Blvd, #39. See their website for dates and times of shows.
