When an aging parent begins to need more help, families can suddenly find themselves facing a long list of difficult questions. Is it time for Mom or Dad to move? Can they safely remain at home? Who should help manage their care? What happens to the family home? Do the right legal documents exist? And what happens when siblings disagree about what should happen next?
These questions are at the heart of a five-part conversation on Care & Crossroads, hosted by Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements with Rebecca Bomann of SASH Realty and SASH Services. The conversation explores the practical, financial and emotional challenges families encounter when an older adult needs to transition from a longtime home or prepare for changing care needs.
The five-part series originally aired as four radio segments, followed by an exclusive YouTube aftershow. Together, the conversations offer a roadmap for families who are beginning to navigate senior care, home transitions, family dynamics and planning for the future.
Selling a Senior’s Home Is More Than a Real Estate Transaction
For an older adult, selling a longtime home can be profoundly different from an ordinary real estate transaction. The home may represent decades of memories, independence, family history and identity. A move may be necessary because of increasing care needs, difficulty managing the property, isolation, mobility challenges or the cost of maintaining the home—but knowing that doesn’t necessarily make the decision emotionally easy.
Rebecca Bomann brings a perspective shaped by both real estate and senior care. Her experience includes helping her own grandfather through the sale of his home and caring for him during the final months of his life. She later founded SASH with a focus on serving seniors and their families through significant home transitions.
The Care & Crossroads conversation emphasizes the importance of planning before a crisis. Instead of waiting until a parent has fallen, experienced a major health event or can no longer manage the home, families can begin discussing what the next chapter might look like while the senior can still participate in the decisions.
That distinction matters. A senior should not simply feel that decisions are being made about them. Whenever possible, they should have a voice in determining what happens to their home, belongings, finances and future.
Build a Senior Care Team Before You Need One
One of the strongest themes throughout the series is that one person should not have to manage every aspect of an aging parent’s transition alone.
A family may need several different professionals, depending on the situation. The team could include a senior placement advisor, elder law attorney, financial professional, home care provider and senior-focused real estate professional. Each person brings different expertise, and together they can help families make decisions more thoughtfully.
A senior-focused real estate professional can be especially valuable when the home is connected to a larger care transition. The job isn’t simply to put a house on the market. Families may also need help coordinating repairs, organizing belongings, preparing the property, managing contractors, arranging cleanout services and communicating with family members who live somewhere else.
SASH describes its work as providing guidance and resources to seniors and families as they navigate significant life transitions, and its elder-care network includes professionals such as social workers, elder law attorneys, placement advisors, home care providers, nurses, assisted living professionals and financial advisors.
For families, that kind of network can make a significant difference. Rather than receiving a checklist and being told to figure everything out themselves, families can look for professionals who understand how the pieces fit together.
When Siblings Disagree About an Aging Parent’s Care
Senior care decisions can become especially difficult when brothers and sisters have different opinions. One sibling may live nearby and handle most of the day-to-day responsibilities. Another may live across the country and have a different perspective based on occasional visits or phone calls. Family members may also have different financial circumstances, relationships with their parents or expectations about inheritance.
The Care & Crossroads discussions repeatedly return to one important question: What does Mom or Dad want? That doesn’t mean every family decision will be easy. But keeping the senior’s wishes, safety, dignity and values at the center can help families move away from arguments about who is right and toward the question of what best supports the person receiving care.
The same principle applies when a parent needs to sell a home. A move may feel like a loss to the senior, even when everyone else believes it is the practical choice. Giving the parent time to process the decision—and allowing them to express sadness, anger, fear or uncertainty—can make the transition more respectful.
Rebecca describes these moments as ones where professionals may need to “hold space” rather than rush a senior toward a decision. There is no single emotional response to leaving a longtime home. Some people cry. Others become angry or resistant. Others may need time before they are ready to discuss what happens next.
The goal isn’t to force a reaction that makes everyone else comfortable. It’s to respect the senior as a person going through a major life transition.
Power of Attorney and Dementia Planning: Don’t Wait for a Crisis
The YouTube-exclusive aftershow takes the conversation into another critical area: power of attorney and cognitive decline. Families sometimes assume that having a power of attorney document somewhere in a filing cabinet means they have completed this part of their planning. But Rebecca points out that documents can be written differently, may contain different provisions and may not provide the authority a family expects. More importantly, a document that has never been properly executed cannot help when it is needed.
The aftershow includes a powerful example of an older couple who had power of attorney documents prepared but never signed them. When the wife later experienced advanced cognitive decline and was unable to communicate, her husband needed authority to sell their home. Because she was still on the title and there was no effective power of attorney, the family had to pursue additional legal steps before the home could be sold.
The result was months of work, court involvement, additional expenses and enormous stress for an older caregiver. The lesson isn’t to frighten families. It is to encourage them to plan while everyone still has the capacity to make and document decisions. Families should discuss these issues with an appropriately qualified legal professional and review their documents periodically. They should also make sure trusted people know that the documents exist and know where to find them if an emergency occurs.
The purpose of advance planning isn’t necessarily to take away a senior’s independence. In the conversation, Daphne and Rebecca describe it in another way: planning can help preserve a person’s voice when they are no longer able to speak for themselves.
Helping an Aging Parent Through the Next Chapter
Ultimately, the five-part Care & Crossroads series is about much more than selling a house. It is about what happens when a family realizes that an aging parent needs more support—and how to respond with preparation rather than panic. That might mean beginning a conversation about future care. It might mean building a professional care team. It might mean addressing sibling disagreements. It might mean getting legal documents in order. Or it might mean sitting quietly with Mom or Dad while they process the possibility of leaving the home they’ve lived in for decades.
For families, the most important message may be that they do not have to do everything themselves. Senior care transitions involve emotional, legal, financial, medical, housing and practical considerations. Getting the right people involved early can reduce the burden on one overwhelmed family member and give everyone more time to make thoughtful decisions.
And while a move from a longtime home can feel like an ending, it can also be the beginning of a new chapter—one that allows an older adult to receive the support, connection and care they need.
Watch on YouTube
1 Selling a Senior’s Home: When Is It Time to Consider a Move?
2 How to Build a Senior Care Team Before a Crisis
3 When Siblings Disagree About an Aging Parent’s Care: Finding Common Ground
4 Feeling Overwhelmed Caring for an Aging Parent? You’re Not Alone
5 Care & Crossroads Aftershow – Power of Attorney for Aging Parents – What Families Need to Know
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Frequently Asked Questions About Aging Parents, Senior Care and Home Transitions
When should a family start planning for an aging parent’s future care?
Ideally, families should begin conversations before a crisis occurs. Planning while a parent can still participate in decisions gives them a greater opportunity to express their wishes and allows the family to prepare legal, financial, housing and care resources in advance.
What professionals should be part of an aging parent’s care team?
Every family is different, but a team may include an elder law attorney, financial advisor, home care provider, senior placement professional and senior-focused real estate professional. Depending on the situation, medical and other care professionals may also be important.
Why is power of attorney important for aging parents?
A properly executed power of attorney can allow a trusted person to advocate for an older adult and handle certain decisions when the person is unable to do so themselves. Families should work with a qualified attorney to understand what documents and provisions are appropriate for their individual circumstances.
What if siblings disagree about an aging parent’s care?
Start by returning to the senior’s wishes, values, safety and dignity. Family members may have different perspectives, but the focus should remain on what best supports the parent. In difficult situations, bringing in a neutral professional can help the family navigate complicated decisions.
Is selling an aging parent’s home only a real estate decision?
Not necessarily. For many older adults, a home is connected to identity, memories and independence. A sale may also be connected to a move into assisted living, an adult family home or another care setting. That’s why a senior home sale can benefit from professionals who understand both real estate and the broader care transition.
