July 22, 2025 • 44 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with Ben Souchek, owner of Home Downsizing Solutions. Ben shares a story of a client that received a competitive offer that wasn’t so competitive after all, explains that many large corporations are selling more inventory than they’re buying, and explains why your mortgage payoff could be different than what you expect. Steve reviews the hidden risks and liabilities of hiring your own private caregiver and offers his “homecare provider screening tool” FREE of charge to Senior Care Live listeners. Steve also explains that IF you’re planning on moving to a senior care community by the end of the year, NOW is the time to conduct your search! #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Steve Keecker. Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm
Steve Keeker. You're a senior care consultant and I really
appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program
on tap with my friend and special guest in studio.
He's mister Ben Sochek. He's the owner and operator of
Home Downsizing Solutions. Write this information down. You're going to
(00:45):
want to reach out to Bend. It may be tomorrow,
it may be in the near future, it may be
a year from now. You never know, but you're gonna
want to listen to Ben. But here's how you reach
out to him eight five five two nine one five
zero zero five where you can also go online at
home Downsizing dot com and Ben welcome back to Senior
(01:06):
Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hi, Steve, thank you for having me on today and
as always, looked forward to talking to the listeners and
hopefully providing some great value and information for them today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Absolutely. And you know you and I spoke right before
the program today. You were sharing a couple of stories
on and I'll let you tell the story, but essentially
what it was was you met with the homeowner, you
did all the evaluation, you made a really attractive and
fair offer to buy their house, you know, as is,
(01:37):
and then they they called you back, and that's where
the story gets interesting. And I guess I'll let you
take it from there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Okay, thanks, Steve Yes met with a homeowner and he
had contacted a couple of different companies, Yeah, and spoke
to me, told me all about the house. I sent him
a proposal for the property and he called me and said, well,
you know, I have an offer that is the numbers
(02:06):
on it is more than what you're willing to pay.
Is are you willing to come up on your offer
or is there anything else that you can provide that
would provide more value than this other offer? And I
said no, I said, if you're comparing apples to apples,
and he's going to give you a net figure that
is higher than mine and accomplish the same thing, which
(02:28):
was letting him stay in the house for more than
thirty days and all the benefits that we offer. I said,
I'd probably take the other offer too, and so that
was kind of the end of the conversation for the
time being. And about four days later, though, he called
me back because one of the things is he wanted
to close within a few days but stay in the house,
or he wanted to close in a few days to
(02:49):
have the funds to buy a new house, but not
move until thirty or so days afterwards, which is a
common thing that we work with.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's a timing issue, correct.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
And apparently the off the other offer that he thought
he had was not what he was told, and so
he decided to go with our offer because I could
give him the benefits that were of value that he
expected with that house sale.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
See, so that's interesting. So I tell this story all
the time that falls into the category squarely into the
category of over promise and under deliver. And so for
our audience, you know, some of these offers, some of
these services that sound fantastic, you have to wonder is
(03:42):
there a gotcha in there, or maybe it's just not
quite as attractive as it was sold or promoted. And
that's exactly what happened here.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That's exactly what happened. Yes, and I'm not sure how
often that happens to people, But there certainly are companies
out there, like we've talked about Steve in the past,
that are what are called in the industry wholesalers that
if you look at their website, they state that they
buy houses. On the phone, they will tell you they
buy houses. If someone even comes to your house to
(04:14):
look at it, they will tell you that they're going
to buy your house. But if you look at the
paperwork closely, they sometimes have closing dates of twenty one
to thirty days from the time of signing the agreement.
Their mode of operation is that they want to get
their inspectors or contractors into the house before they close
to get quotes. But these so called quote unquote contractors
(04:38):
are actually potential buyers that they are hoping to flip
that contract to. And so if that's the case, I'm
not saying all the companies are like that, because they're not,
but there's certainly some of them out there that are.
And if you think the house is sold but it's
one of these wholesalers, it can leave you in a
very bad position.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, because they own the rights to that property for
a period of time. Whatever your contract says, that's great.
And so what you're saying is that, okay, hey, well
we'll buy your house. But in reality, now they're average,
they do not have the cash in hand by that house,
correct or they're not willing to do that. And so
all they're trying to do is then advertise your house
and then sell it to someone else, collect the proceeds,
(05:21):
and then pay you what the offer was. And if
they don't get that done, you're you were led down
a road that is not not so good.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
That's correct. And I've heard of situations where they will
either tell the homeowner you know, I didn't realize that
your house needed more work than what we thought it did,
and so they will try and negotiate a lower price
so that they can accomplish their their flip the flip
of the contract, or they'll just disappear and you won't
(05:52):
hear from them again. And or sometimes if the original
contract states that they have maybe nine days to accomplish
what they want to accomplish, and you as a seller realized,
you know, this is something that I didn't realize was happening.
I want to get out of the contract. Yeah, I've
heard of situations where this wholesaling company will sue the
(06:12):
homeowner to enforce their contract.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not a good situation, Nope, So look, just avoid all
that and call Ben. The The individuals that I have
on my program, Senior Care Live are straight up trustworthy
individuals and trustworthy services. Ben is as great as it gets.
(06:38):
Ben is a veteran, veteran owned business. High top rating
from the Better Business Bureau. Ben in business for you know,
well over twenty years doing all of it? How long?
How many years?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Just went? Over? Twenty eight years?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Okay, okay, well all right, darn near thirty. So I'm
sure changing you on that. But yeah, so Ben knows
what he's doing. Okay, you can try us been. He's
going to make you an offer. If it looks great,
go for it. If if if you want to go
a different path, I mean, he might even recommend go
go go a different way. But here's the bottom line.
(07:11):
Give Ben a call. If you're thinking about selling your house,
you want to you want the convenience of downsizing and
just moving out of out of your house as is
and not leave all the all the stuff in the
house to bend the repairs and everything and walk away
from it. Eight five five two nine one five zero
zero five. That's toll free anywhere in the country. Eight
(07:31):
five five two nine one five zero zero five. And
he has an excellent website, Home downsizing dot com. And
then we were also talking about interest rates. A lot
of folks, I think, felt like maybe they were gonna
they were gonna start to fall, and maybe there's been
just a tiny bit of movement, but there's still like
around seven percent, aren't.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
They depending on where you're at, that's correct. The long
term thirty year mortgage rates are still around seven percent,
which is still making it expensive for a lot of
people to get into buying a home these days. That's
that's correct.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And you know, we all and maybe I remember, and
this has been a long time ago. It has been
you know, the late seventies. I remember twelve thirteen, you know,
eighteen percent, yeah, maybe even twenty So it was just
just crazy. So relative to that, seven doesn't seem so bad.
But we got spoiled rotten on you know, two and
a half three percent for a really long time. But
(08:25):
the bottom line is they're not coming down. But and
it's still a pretty good seller's market. We could use
some more inventory. But you mentioned that a lot of
these large corporations, for the first time maybe in a
long time, they're actually selling more of their inventory than
they're buying. So what effect does that have on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
That's a story that I saw earlier this week Steve
that I believe in the first quarter, first half of
this year, there were more net sales from investors or
investment companies than there were purchases since I believe twenty
twenty one for that. And so again, this is very
locality dependent. Sure, sure, so in some areas you're not
(09:10):
they're not going to see the effects of this as
much as other areas. But you know, some of the areas,
even back in twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, parts of Florida
where a company would have fifteen thousand houses in that
one metro area and that was just one company back then,
even wow. And so depending on what these companies do,
(09:30):
they can really influence a local market if they decide
to liquidate or anything like that. And so what it's
going to do locally, you know here in Kansas City,
who knows. But just be aware that there are factors
out there that influence your housing market. You might not
that most people might not think about.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, and if they sell it a bunch of their houses,
it's going to flood the market with inventory. And now
you have a lot more supply, and maybe that exceeds
the demand, and all of a sudden, then the home
prices or the sales price is going to drive that
down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Potentially might come down and might make the seven percent
interest rates you know, more affordable to buy. So yeah again, Yeah,
it just depends on your local market.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Excellent reach out to ben so check it Home Downsizingsolutions
dot com or you can just tighten that up a
little bit Home Downsizing dot com eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five And now the Senior
Care Live Question of the Week. In reference to a
person's mortgage, the payoff is the same as your balance
(10:38):
do Is that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. A recent
Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City provided thirty
(11:06):
two million results. It's daunting to think that there are
over three hundred and fifty senior care communities to choose
from in the Kansas City metro and on average, you'll
spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
A place for your loved one.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
If this sounds overwhelming, that's because it is. I invite
you to reach out to Senior Care Consulting. We've been
serving family since two thousand and two. With our premium service,
we do most of the work for you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Few hours of your time finding the best place available,
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To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine three
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(11:57):
Consulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go to Senior
Care Live dot com. Now back to the Senior Care
Live question of the Week. In reference to a person's mortgage,
the payoff is the same as your balance. Does that
statement true or false? And the answer is false. The
(12:33):
answer is false. And Ben, why is that statement false?
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Well, see, when a person receives a monthly statement from
their mortgage company, they usually have a balance on there,
and of course that's the principal balance, But a payoff
is always going to be something a little bit different.
But especially in situations that I've run into in the
last couple of weeks, actually where and this might not
(13:02):
be an issue with your listeners near as much as
the general population, I guess I'll put it that way.
But in one situation, a person had been behind on
their mortgage back when, actually when COVID happened several years ago,
and during that time, they signed a what they thought
(13:26):
was a modification to their mortgage with the lender, and
it actually ended up being instead of a modification for
their primary loan, it was actually paperwork to create a
second loan. And they had really no idea that they
had even signed anything like this, And apparently they're not.
(13:46):
They weren't the only ones in this situation. Our title
company had heard of this happening numerous times with a
large nationwide lending company. So instead of having a payoff
amount for around one hundred and fifty thousand. They actually
had two loans that required about one hundred and eighty
(14:10):
or ninety thousand, which made the debt more than the
houses worth.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Oh mine, now they're upside down.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So they're upside down, which would have required a short
sale what's called a short sale in order to sell
that property. A second issue was a gentleman that I
mean anytime a person gets into not being able to
make mortgage payments as an unfortunate situation, but in this
especially was a health related issue that had been going
(14:37):
on now.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
For about two years.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And he also was under the assumption that he owed
about two hundred and thirty thousand or so, and when
we requested a payoff from the lender because it had
almost gone to a foreclosure sale, he actually owed closer
to two hundred and eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh boy. So what happened was what made up that different.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
You have things like when a lender, when a person
is not making the mortgage payments, then the lender has
the ability to make tax property tax payments to the
local municipality for tax payments, okay, home insurance and back payments,
back interest, legal fees. They there can be all kinds
(15:23):
of different things that a person doesn't think about.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Late fees and penalties and late fees.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
All of that stuff add up as well. And so
when a person thinks, okay, I don't owe you know,
I owe X, well, it can be a lot more
than X by the time you include all of those items.
And fortunately for him, even though he contacted us less
than a week before the forclosure sale, even though this
(15:50):
has been going on for two years now, the lender
was willing to stop and postpone the sale because we
showed him a purchase agreement that we were going to
our company he was going to buy the house, and
the proof of funds that we could actually financially do that.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So that's another situation where a wholesaler probably does not
have a real proof of funds, but we could show
him something from the bank that we had the proof
of funds. So we're in the process of closing that right.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Now, okay. And then what that did was it saved
him from getting literally kicked out of his house because
of foreclosure.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
That's correct. So because he was in the kind of
a unique situation that he still had equity in his house.
But he's able to We're able to buy that house,
let him stay there for a few months so that
he and his family can transition to a new home
without being pushed out of their current home.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yep, and just kind of start over with the cleed slate.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Just start that's correct, and at least have some money
in his pocket from the equity instead of some people. Understandably,
nobody wants to lose their home, but some people hang
on to that home for so long that they lose
any equity that they would have had and they're kind
of a slave to that house. Yeah, which is not
(17:16):
a good situation either. So at least he's able to
get out of the house, get a new home, and
have some money to start over with.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
If this is resonating with you, I know this is
turning some heads. I can feel it right through the
radio waves. Reach out to Ben Sochek. He knows what
he's doing. He may be able to help you, even
in a difficult situation like we just discussed with these
couple of clients here eight five, five, two nine one
five zero zero five. We're online at home downsizing dot
(17:49):
Com and Home Downsizing Solutions is not one of these
I think there in my opinion, I think it's a
little bit shady to be potentially misrepresent yourself and say, oh,
you're going to buy it, and when you really have
no intention of buying that property. You're just trying to
find a buyer to buy that contract and then you
(18:12):
would just send them the net. So I don't like that.
So with Home Downsizing Solutions, you don't have to worry
about any of that stuff, any of that funny business
Home Doownsizing dot Com eight five five two nine one
five zero zero five And Ben tell us about your book.
You have a really really helpful workbook that can help
(18:33):
people who are in that downsizing mode. Correct.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
One to have the Stress Free Home Downsizing Book that's
available on Amazon. And I would love for your listeners
to go to Amazon buy a copy, and hopefully you
like it and give me a good review, because could
certainly utilize those on Amazon. Sure, but if you would
like a free copy of our stress Free home Downsizing
(18:59):
work book, you can just go to Home Downsizing Solutions
or Home Doownsizing dot Com go to the resources tab.
There's a number of free resources under that tab that
you can download and one of those is that workbook
that you can download, and I think it would be
a good resources, a good resource if you are looking
(19:21):
at selling a house and moving to a smaller home, apartment,
or other type of senior living community.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And I'll tell you what. We've talked about this before,
but I've spoken with so many people, and you've spoken
with way more than I have. But most people, that's
the hardest part of moving is oh my gosh, what
do I do with all this stuff? And what can
I take with me? What do I need to sell, donate,
throw away, et cetera, et cetera. And this workbook would
(19:50):
help you work through all of that. That's correct.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I think it really is not that it's just me
talking about my resource here, but I've been told by
other people that it's a really good if you are
in that process, because yes, I've talked to a lot
of people that want to downsize or they know that
they really need to downsize, but they just have no
idea where to start. And so this can certainly start
(20:13):
a person with that process.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So you go to home doownsizing dot com and then
go to the resources and then find what's what's that workbook?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Called again the stress Free Home Downsizing Workbook.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All right, Ben Socheck with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five,
five two nine one five zero zero five were online
at home Doownsizing dot com and Ben, thanks so much
for coming in today. Excellent as always.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Thank you Steve for having me. Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
All right, We'll have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Stick around.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
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Care Consulting Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(22:10):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program,
visit seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, So I visit frequently with potential clients. They called,
we have a nice conversation. We do offer a free consultation,
(22:30):
so feel free to do that. But a lot of
times they're like, you know, we're not quite ready to
move to assisted living. I think what we're going to
do is keep mom or dad or my spouse, whoever
your elderly loved one, is keep them home and hire
our own caregiver, because you know, these home care companies
are getting kind of expensive. And I'm like, oh boy,
(22:52):
here we go again. So, and I haven't talked about
this for quite a while, so I wanted to review
today the hidden risks and liabilities of hiring your own
home care provider or home your own home care giver
if you will hiring your own staff, and I have
(23:14):
a lot of questions. I'll have a couple of stories,
a couple of horror stories. You see where this is going? Right? So?
Number one, how will you do a background check? I mean,
are you set up to run state, local, and federal
background checks and drug checks and all kinds of stuff?
Are you able to do that? Spoiler alert, your simple
(23:36):
Google search does not cut it right. You might be
able to find out a little bit of information. But
what if they are in another state and did some
terrible things, dastardly things, and they're in that state database,
but you didn't happen to check that. Do you really
know who you're letting into your home to provide care
(23:59):
for your elder loved one? What about the background check?
Number two? What training do they really have? Well, I mean,
you know, Steve, I mean they've done you know, this
and that and the other, so they should be pretty good.
Do you want someone who's pretty good? Do you want
to trust them to provide excellent care for your loved one?
(24:23):
Number three? What recourse do you have if something is stolen? Okay,
here's a horror story. It was on the news. There
was his son. His mother was at home and she
was non communicative, so she had some major medical issues.
(24:45):
She understood what was going on, but she couldn't speak,
and he started noticing that, you know, when he came
home after work and everything, she was really upset. But
again she's non communicative and she can't really tell him
what was going on. And this fella did speak with
a home care provider, but oh, oh, you guys are
(25:07):
too expensive. You know, I can save ten bucks an
hour and hire my own and just manage them. Okay,
Which that's fine. You might get lucky, it may work out.
But here's how this one worked out. Next time he
came home, the caregiver was getting ready to leave, and
he's looking at the caregiver and he's like, are you
(25:28):
He didn't say anything out loud, but he wondered, are
you wearing my mom's clothing? That looks like something that
my mom owns. And again he's been noticing his mom's
been very upset for the past week or two. So
the caregiver left, He goes downstairs, he checks his mother's clothing.
(25:49):
He knows what clothes she has. That outfit was missing.
That caregiver took her outfit and was wearing it. I
guess the caregiver thought that the son wouldn't notice, so
he thought, Okay, something's really wrong here. So he secretly
set up a bunch of cameras in the house, and
(26:14):
he's watching the cameras, and he is blown away by
watching this dumb caregiver, this horrible human being, taking her
his mother's clothing and walking around in front of his
mom and trying on her clothes saying, oh, these are
now mine, and his mother was just losing her mind.
(26:36):
But again she couldn't speak. So he caught that. He
caught this lady stealing her mother's clothing and some other stuff,
turned it over to the police. And now that horrible
human being of a caregiver, if you want to call
her a caregiver, she's now in prison. What recourse do
you have if something is stolen and you hire your
(27:00):
own caregiver out of a Craigslist or whatever? All right,
Number four? What happens if they don't show up? So
if you don't have a backup plan, now you have
to cancel your important appointments in doctor's visits and all
that sort of thing. What happens if they don't show up.
Number five, what happens if they have an accident on
(27:25):
your property? They fall down the stairs, they break their arm,
they fracture a hip, they break a leg, they do whatever.
Will your homeowner's insurance cover it? Or are you personally liable?
And let me say this, this isn't just a visitor
(27:47):
coming by your house. Say you know all of the
homeowner's policies have a medical provision on there, but at
this point, you are an employer. They are an employee.
Is your homeowner's insurance going to covered that? That really
falls outside of the realm of what the medical coverage
is intended to cover. There's a good chance you will
(28:10):
be liable and have to pay out a pocket Number six,
what about employers based taxes? Here's another horror story. So
I'm aware of a couple and both husband and wife
they both needed a little bit of help. They're like, oh,
we're not going to hire a home care provider. That's
(28:32):
just too expensive. We're going to save a couple of
bucks and hire so and so. She's you know, they
found her through some kind of a personal connection somehow
or another. And guess what they hired this lady. And
for about a year or so it went fine. Everything
was fine, and then one day it was not fine.
(28:53):
They had a falling out and that the lady just quit.
She has walked off the job. Guess what she did?
She the next day she filed for unemployment and the
unemployment office said, well, well, wait a minute, we don't
have any record here that you've been working. Oh yeah,
I've worked for the for the past year or so
for you know, so and so. And they just handed
(29:13):
me cash under the table and they're like, who was that?
What are their names? Do you have their address please?
And how about their their phone number? And then click,
boom boom boom boom boom, here comes to knock. You
now owe the state unemployment tax and all of the
(29:34):
employer based taxes, and all of a sudden, that great
deal of saving a few bucks wasn't such a great
deal at all to save a few bucks? Is it
really worth it? Now? If you go with a proven
licensed home care provider, all of these issues are resolved.
Number One, A reputable home care provider will do background checks,
(29:56):
and they may do many background checks and different levels
of A reputable home care provider will train their staff.
You will have trained staff entering your home. Number three,
a reputable home care provider is bonded and insured. If
something is missing, okay, they're going to cover it, and
(30:18):
we're going to have to prove that it was there.
We're going to have to prove that they stole something,
but if that can be proven, they will cover it.
Number four, reputable home care provider has backup caregivers just
in case a staff calls in sick, or maybe their
child is sick, their car broke down, you know what.
Stuff happens. So they're going to have backup staff that
(30:40):
can fill that shift so that you don't have to
cancel your important appointments. Number five, a reputable home care
provider is ensured just in case a caregiver has an
accident on your property. So I know of one caregiver
who went over to provide care for a client and
(31:03):
their dog jumped up and bit her, and she was
trying to hold the dog back and the dog bit
her pretty badly. On her hand, Her employer took care
of those medical expenses. The home care provider did, okay.
Number six, a reputable home care provider pays all employment taxes.
(31:23):
I would not recommend a home care provider that just
hires ten ninety nine staff where they're on their own.
They need to be a direct employee, and the home
care provider again pays all employment based taxes. So for
these reasons and many many more, I recommend hiring a
(31:43):
reputable home care provider because this is absolutely a you
get what you pay for service, There's no doubt about that.
And I've offered this before, I'll offer it again. I
have a home care provider screening tool that I would
offer Senior care Live listeners and audience free of charge,
(32:05):
no strings attached. Send me an email, just say hey,
I'd like to request that homecare provider screening tool and
I will email that back to you. It's in a
PDF format and it has over thirty questions on how
to that you can ask when screening a home care provider.
So again, just just give me a call or just
(32:27):
go to seniorcare Live dot com, send me an email,
and I will send that to you. It's a fantastic
tool to compare and contrast maybe your top two or
three choices for homecare providers. And don't go away. I'll
have so much more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
We'll have more coming up. So you've been living independently
at home, but now it's not working out. It's time
to begin searching for a senior care community. But with
hundreds of independent living, assisted living, long term care, and
(33:15):
memory care options, how are you supposed to determine the
best place for you? Hello, I'm Steve Keeker, and this
is exactly why I created my firm, Senior Care Consulting.
I help my own grandparents through this difficult process, so
I know how overwhelming this can be. Our business model
ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly for you and
(33:37):
we never receive reimbursement from any provider. We've helped hundreds
of family since two thousand and two, and we can
help you and your family as well. Call today for
a free consultation at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred a placement service with integrity at Senior Care
(34:00):
Consulting dot com. Welcome back, you're listening to Senior Care
Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question,
visit seniorcare live dot com. All right, Back to that
(34:21):
homecare provider screening tool. So choose two or three trusted, solid,
reputable home care providers. There could be dozens, if not
one hundred or two of these homecare providers where you live. Okay,
choose your top two or three and then use this
(34:43):
homecare provider screening tool. Just interview them, ask them all
the same questions that will help you organize your thoughts
and then determine which one of these questions may be
a higher priority than another, et cetera. And that will
help you think through this and then hire the home
care provider that you are most comfortable with. If you
want to request your own copy of the homecare provider
(35:05):
screening tool free of charge, just give us a call
at one eight hundred three three one six four four five.
The person answering the phone just say, hey, I want
to copy of that homecare provider screening tool. We're going
to need your name and your email address and we'll
send that right out to you, no strings attached, free
of charge. All right, So this is one of the
(35:30):
worst horror stories I've heard about hiring a caregiver. You
talk about going south quick woof this this is so,
this is awful. So there's this family and they are
(35:50):
very well off. There were I don't know, gosh, several kids,
all of these kids. This is a pretty high power family.
We had senators, police officers, owners of you know, one
hundred million dollar a year businesses. You get the idea, judges,
(36:13):
it goes on and on it. This is a high
power family and mom wanted to stay home. They ended
up contacting me so that I could help them research
the market to find an assisted living community connected to
long term care, so that when the time comes that,
you know, they already have their their search and selection.
(36:35):
They've already had their choices are made. They're on the
waiting list, and it was just a matter of timing
at that point. But until then, they hired a caregiver,
someone that they found out through a friend, and you know,
all the stuff, they didn't go on Craigslist or anything
like that. This is kind of a referral. So this
caregiver somehow endeared herself to their mom. I don't know
(37:03):
how she did it, and then gained the complete and
total trust of their mom. And then again, somehow, I
don't know how on earth this happened. Somehow turned their
mother against every member of that family. Somehow, I don't
(37:24):
know how she did it. She was a master manipulator,
and something tells me, and I'm just giving the just
the highlights of this story. I don't think this is
her first radio on this stuff. Turned this lady against
all of her children. Pretty soon mom wasn't taking the
phone calls of the children because the children are now bad.
(37:47):
Then before you know it, this caregiver had a legal
copy of power of attorney, superseding the legal authority of
this family of all of their kids. Pretty soon, the
caregiver is driving a new car. Pretty soon, this caregiver
(38:13):
has an extra forty fifty thousand dollars of cash in
her bank. Pretty soon, this caregiver has been gifted heirloom
family jewelry from the safe. Be very careful on who
(38:33):
you let into your house to care for your elderly
and many times vulnerable loved one, And especially if there's
a memory issue involved, some communication type issue, be really careful.
I wouldn't hire an individual. There's no way, and there's
(38:54):
no way in the world i'd do that. I would
go with a proven home care company period. The other
thing like, well, Steve, we already have one in our
house and we do have some concerns. Put cameras up
when they're gone, place cameras all over the house, and
have those things recording and uploaded to a cloud, and
(39:19):
just watch and make sure everything is going okay. If
it's not, you've got your proof. You can fire them.
If it's worse than that, you can report it to
law enforcement, et cetera. But let me say this, if
living at home is no longer an option, or you
can see this coming, my firm, Senior Care Consulting, can help.
(39:44):
We can help you explore all of your options. We'll
walk you through that whole process. This is a red
carpet service I called our full service placement program. We
are true consultants. We don't receive any reimbursement from any
of the providers. We work directly for you. And sometimes
(40:04):
this is all about timing, So believe it or not,
right now is the time to search for a senior
care community. If you planned to move, let's say by
the end of this year, or I hear this all
the time. Yes, Steve, we're looking at we want to
get mom moved in, you know, before the holidays, or
(40:27):
I hear this even more frequently. Yes, Steve, we're going
to get through another round of holidays and after the
first of the year, we're going to get mom moved
into you know, insisted living community or memory care community,
long term care community. After the first of the year. Well,
we're already past the midpoint of July. And you say, well, Steve,
we've got plenty of time. No we don't, we do
(40:49):
not can there's some urgency in my voice. Can you
hear that? Because guess what? If we want to consider
the best places for your loved one, guess what, most
of the time they have waiting lists. And sometimes these
wait lists can be three months to six months. Sometimes
(41:10):
they can be a year. I know a place that
it's over a year and it's a good place. Everybody
wants to go there. If you think, oh, yeah, we've
got plenty of time, that's not till this fall, or
that's not till the end of the year, well we
don't have plenty of time. So now, look, I get
I get the calls from people's I just actually I
(41:30):
just received a call about a week or two ago
from a fellow that said, Steve, I listened to your
radio program. I know you're constantly saying be proactive, get
out ahead of it, and I knew I should have
called just six months ago. And here we are. How
fast can you move because we need to now all
of a sudden, we're in a crisis and we need
we need to move quickly. Yes, Senior Care Consulting can
(41:53):
help you turn something to turn this around very quickly.
The challenge is we are limited to the options that
have space available right now. But if you're proactive and
you get out ahead of it, we have the luxury
of considering a place that might have a three to
six months or so a waiting list, and that way
(42:13):
we have all of our options, maybe even better options available.
So this is resonating with you and you're like, wait
a minute, I hadn't really thought about all that, but
that makes sense. Reach out today. Call Senior Care Consulting
at nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine three nine four five twenty eight hundred or visit
(42:34):
seniorcare Consulting dot com. We'll give you free consultation. See
if this is a good fit for you. I'm Steve
Keeker and I wish you grace and peace. May God
bless you and your family on this day and always
join me next week right here on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing care, and they need to know about you.
A unique and successful radio program called Senior Care Live
is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience know
about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live is
(43:14):
currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and if
you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk to you.
They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups, home
care providers, estate planning and older law practices, financial advisors,
insurance companies, real estate brokers, home health agencies, and other
providers serving the elderly and their caregivers. Senior Care Live
(43:38):
has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities, so call
now at nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
or visit seniorcare live dot com seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(44:15):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer a placement
service with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(44:39):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred Replacement
service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Steve Keecker. Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm
Steve Keeker. You're a senior care consultant and I really
appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program
on tap with my friend and special guest in studio.
He's mister Ben Sochek. He's the owner and operator of
Home Downsizing Solutions. Write this information down. You're going to
(00:45):
want to reach out to Bend. It may be tomorrow,
it may be in the near future, it may be
a year from now. You never know, but you're gonna
want to listen to Ben. But here's how you reach
out to him eight five five two nine one five
zero zero five where you can also go online at
home Downsizing dot com and Ben welcome back to Senior
(01:06):
Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hi, Steve, thank you for having me on today and
as always, looked forward to talking to the listeners and
hopefully providing some great value and information for them today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Absolutely. And you know you and I spoke right before
the program today. You were sharing a couple of stories
on and I'll let you tell the story, but essentially
what it was was you met with the homeowner, you
did all the evaluation, you made a really attractive and
fair offer to buy their house, you know, as is,
(01:37):
and then they they called you back, and that's where
the story gets interesting. And I guess I'll let you
take it from there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Okay, thanks, Steve Yes met with a homeowner and he
had contacted a couple of different companies, Yeah, and spoke
to me, told me all about the house. I sent him
a proposal for the property and he called me and said, well,
you know, I have an offer that is the numbers
(02:06):
on it is more than what you're willing to pay.
Is are you willing to come up on your offer
or is there anything else that you can provide that
would provide more value than this other offer? And I
said no, I said, if you're comparing apples to apples,
and he's going to give you a net figure that
is higher than mine and accomplish the same thing, which
(02:28):
was letting him stay in the house for more than
thirty days and all the benefits that we offer. I said,
I'd probably take the other offer too, and so that
was kind of the end of the conversation for the
time being. And about four days later, though, he called
me back because one of the things is he wanted
to close within a few days but stay in the house,
or he wanted to close in a few days to
(02:49):
have the funds to buy a new house, but not
move until thirty or so days afterwards, which is a
common thing that we work with.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's a timing issue, correct.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
And apparently the off the other offer that he thought
he had was not what he was told, and so
he decided to go with our offer because I could
give him the benefits that were of value that he
expected with that house sale.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
See, so that's interesting. So I tell this story all
the time that falls into the category squarely into the
category of over promise and under deliver. And so for
our audience, you know, some of these offers, some of
these services that sound fantastic, you have to wonder is
(03:42):
there a gotcha in there, or maybe it's just not
quite as attractive as it was sold or promoted. And
that's exactly what happened here.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That's exactly what happened. Yes, and I'm not sure how
often that happens to people, But there certainly are companies
out there, like we've talked about Steve in the past,
that are what are called in the industry wholesalers that
if you look at their website, they state that they
buy houses. On the phone, they will tell you they
buy houses. If someone even comes to your house to
(04:14):
look at it, they will tell you that they're going
to buy your house. But if you look at the
paperwork closely, they sometimes have closing dates of twenty one
to thirty days from the time of signing the agreement.
Their mode of operation is that they want to get
their inspectors or contractors into the house before they close
to get quotes. But these so called quote unquote contractors
(04:38):
are actually potential buyers that they are hoping to flip
that contract to. And so if that's the case, I'm
not saying all the companies are like that, because they're not,
but there's certainly some of them out there that are.
And if you think the house is sold but it's
one of these wholesalers, it can leave you in a
very bad position.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, because they own the rights to that property for
a period of time. Whatever your contract says, that's great.
And so what you're saying is that, okay, hey, well
we'll buy your house. But in reality, now they're average,
they do not have the cash in hand by that house,
correct or they're not willing to do that. And so
all they're trying to do is then advertise your house
and then sell it to someone else, collect the proceeds,
(05:21):
and then pay you what the offer was. And if
they don't get that done, you're you were led down
a road that is not not so good.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
That's correct. And I've heard of situations where they will
either tell the homeowner you know, I didn't realize that
your house needed more work than what we thought it did,
and so they will try and negotiate a lower price
so that they can accomplish their their flip the flip
of the contract, or they'll just disappear and you won't
(05:52):
hear from them again. And or sometimes if the original
contract states that they have maybe nine days to accomplish
what they want to accomplish, and you as a seller realized,
you know, this is something that I didn't realize was happening.
I want to get out of the contract. Yeah, I've
heard of situations where this wholesaling company will sue the
(06:12):
homeowner to enforce their contract.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not a good situation, Nope, So look, just avoid all
that and call Ben. The The individuals that I have
on my program, Senior Care Live are straight up trustworthy
individuals and trustworthy services. Ben is as great as it gets.
(06:38):
Ben is a veteran, veteran owned business. High top rating
from the Better Business Bureau. Ben in business for you know,
well over twenty years doing all of it? How long?
How many years?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Just went? Over? Twenty eight years?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Okay, okay, well all right, darn near thirty. So I'm
sure changing you on that. But yeah, so Ben knows
what he's doing. Okay, you can try us been. He's
going to make you an offer. If it looks great,
go for it. If if if you want to go
a different path, I mean, he might even recommend go
go go a different way. But here's the bottom line.
(07:11):
Give Ben a call. If you're thinking about selling your house,
you want to you want the convenience of downsizing and
just moving out of out of your house as is
and not leave all the all the stuff in the
house to bend the repairs and everything and walk away
from it. Eight five five two nine one five zero
zero five. That's toll free anywhere in the country. Eight
(07:31):
five five two nine one five zero zero five. And
he has an excellent website, Home downsizing dot com. And
then we were also talking about interest rates. A lot
of folks, I think, felt like maybe they were gonna
they were gonna start to fall, and maybe there's been
just a tiny bit of movement, but there's still like
around seven percent, aren't.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
They depending on where you're at, that's correct. The long
term thirty year mortgage rates are still around seven percent,
which is still making it expensive for a lot of
people to get into buying a home these days. That's
that's correct.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And you know, we all and maybe I remember, and
this has been a long time ago. It has been
you know, the late seventies. I remember twelve thirteen, you know,
eighteen percent, yeah, maybe even twenty So it was just
just crazy. So relative to that, seven doesn't seem so bad.
But we got spoiled rotten on you know, two and
a half three percent for a really long time. But
(08:25):
the bottom line is they're not coming down. But and
it's still a pretty good seller's market. We could use
some more inventory. But you mentioned that a lot of
these large corporations, for the first time maybe in a
long time, they're actually selling more of their inventory than
they're buying. So what effect does that have on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
That's a story that I saw earlier this week Steve
that I believe in the first quarter, first half of
this year, there were more net sales from investors or
investment companies than there were purchases since I believe twenty
twenty one for that. And so again, this is very
locality dependent. Sure, sure, so in some areas you're not
(09:10):
they're not going to see the effects of this as
much as other areas. But you know, some of the areas,
even back in twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, parts of Florida
where a company would have fifteen thousand houses in that
one metro area and that was just one company back then,
even wow. And so depending on what these companies do,
(09:30):
they can really influence a local market if they decide
to liquidate or anything like that. And so what it's
going to do locally, you know here in Kansas City,
who knows. But just be aware that there are factors
out there that influence your housing market. You might not
that most people might not think about.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, and if they sell it a bunch of their houses,
it's going to flood the market with inventory. And now
you have a lot more supply, and maybe that exceeds
the demand, and all of a sudden, then the home
prices or the sales price is going to drive that
down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Potentially might come down and might make the seven percent
interest rates you know, more affordable to buy. So yeah again, Yeah,
it just depends on your local market.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Excellent reach out to ben so check it Home Downsizingsolutions
dot com or you can just tighten that up a
little bit Home Downsizing dot com eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five And now the Senior
Care Live Question of the Week. In reference to a
person's mortgage, the payoff is the same as your balance
(10:38):
do Is that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. A recent
Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City provided thirty
(11:06):
two million results. It's daunting to think that there are
over three hundred and fifty senior care communities to choose
from in the Kansas City metro and on average, you'll
spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
A place for your loved one.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
If this sounds overwhelming, that's because it is. I invite
you to reach out to Senior Care Consulting. We've been
serving family since two thousand and two. With our premium service,
we do most of the work for you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Few hours of your time finding the best place available,
and you can trust us to be objective because we
don't receive reimbursement from any provider. We work for you.
To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine three
nine four five twenty eight hundred nine nine four five
twenty eight hundred, a placement service with integrity at Seniorcare
(11:57):
Consulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go to Senior
Care Live dot com. Now back to the Senior Care
Live question of the Week. In reference to a person's mortgage,
the payoff is the same as your balance. Does that
statement true or false? And the answer is false. The
(12:33):
answer is false. And Ben, why is that statement false?
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Well, see, when a person receives a monthly statement from
their mortgage company, they usually have a balance on there,
and of course that's the principal balance, But a payoff
is always going to be something a little bit different.
But especially in situations that I've run into in the
last couple of weeks, actually where and this might not
(13:02):
be an issue with your listeners near as much as
the general population, I guess I'll put it that way.
But in one situation, a person had been behind on
their mortgage back when, actually when COVID happened several years ago,
and during that time, they signed a what they thought
(13:26):
was a modification to their mortgage with the lender, and
it actually ended up being instead of a modification for
their primary loan, it was actually paperwork to create a
second loan. And they had really no idea that they
had even signed anything like this, And apparently they're not.
(13:46):
They weren't the only ones in this situation. Our title
company had heard of this happening numerous times with a
large nationwide lending company. So instead of having a payoff
amount for around one hundred and fifty thousand. They actually
had two loans that required about one hundred and eighty
(14:10):
or ninety thousand, which made the debt more than the
houses worth.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Oh mine, now they're upside down.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So they're upside down, which would have required a short
sale what's called a short sale in order to sell
that property. A second issue was a gentleman that I
mean anytime a person gets into not being able to
make mortgage payments as an unfortunate situation, but in this
especially was a health related issue that had been going
(14:37):
on now.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
For about two years.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And he also was under the assumption that he owed
about two hundred and thirty thousand or so, and when
we requested a payoff from the lender because it had
almost gone to a foreclosure sale, he actually owed closer
to two hundred and eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh boy. So what happened was what made up that different.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
You have things like when a lender, when a person
is not making the mortgage payments, then the lender has
the ability to make tax property tax payments to the
local municipality for tax payments, okay, home insurance and back payments,
back interest, legal fees. They there can be all kinds
(15:23):
of different things that a person doesn't think about.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Late fees and penalties and late fees.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
All of that stuff add up as well. And so
when a person thinks, okay, I don't owe you know,
I owe X, well, it can be a lot more
than X by the time you include all of those items.
And fortunately for him, even though he contacted us less
than a week before the forclosure sale, even though this
(15:50):
has been going on for two years now, the lender
was willing to stop and postpone the sale because we
showed him a purchase agreement that we were going to
our company he was going to buy the house, and
the proof of funds that we could actually financially do that.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So that's another situation where a wholesaler probably does not
have a real proof of funds, but we could show
him something from the bank that we had the proof
of funds. So we're in the process of closing that right.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Now, okay. And then what that did was it saved
him from getting literally kicked out of his house because
of foreclosure.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
That's correct. So because he was in the kind of
a unique situation that he still had equity in his house.
But he's able to We're able to buy that house,
let him stay there for a few months so that
he and his family can transition to a new home
without being pushed out of their current home.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yep, and just kind of start over with the cleed slate.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Just start that's correct, and at least have some money
in his pocket from the equity instead of some people. Understandably,
nobody wants to lose their home, but some people hang
on to that home for so long that they lose
any equity that they would have had and they're kind
of a slave to that house. Yeah, which is not
(17:16):
a good situation either. So at least he's able to
get out of the house, get a new home, and
have some money to start over with.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
If this is resonating with you, I know this is
turning some heads. I can feel it right through the
radio waves. Reach out to Ben Sochek. He knows what
he's doing. He may be able to help you, even
in a difficult situation like we just discussed with these
couple of clients here eight five, five, two nine one
five zero zero five. We're online at home downsizing dot
(17:49):
Com and Home Downsizing Solutions is not one of these
I think there in my opinion, I think it's a
little bit shady to be potentially misrepresent yourself and say, oh,
you're going to buy it, and when you really have
no intention of buying that property. You're just trying to
find a buyer to buy that contract and then you
(18:12):
would just send them the net. So I don't like that.
So with Home Downsizing Solutions, you don't have to worry
about any of that stuff, any of that funny business
Home Doownsizing dot Com eight five five two nine one
five zero zero five And Ben tell us about your book.
You have a really really helpful workbook that can help
(18:33):
people who are in that downsizing mode. Correct.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
One to have the Stress Free Home Downsizing Book that's
available on Amazon. And I would love for your listeners
to go to Amazon buy a copy, and hopefully you
like it and give me a good review, because could
certainly utilize those on Amazon. Sure, but if you would
like a free copy of our stress Free home Downsizing
(18:59):
work book, you can just go to Home Downsizing Solutions
or Home Doownsizing dot Com go to the resources tab.
There's a number of free resources under that tab that
you can download and one of those is that workbook
that you can download, and I think it would be
a good resources, a good resource if you are looking
(19:21):
at selling a house and moving to a smaller home, apartment,
or other type of senior living community.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And I'll tell you what. We've talked about this before,
but I've spoken with so many people, and you've spoken
with way more than I have. But most people, that's
the hardest part of moving is oh my gosh, what
do I do with all this stuff? And what can
I take with me? What do I need to sell, donate,
throw away, et cetera, et cetera. And this workbook would
(19:50):
help you work through all of that. That's correct.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I think it really is not that it's just me
talking about my resource here, but I've been told by
other people that it's a really good if you are
in that process, because yes, I've talked to a lot
of people that want to downsize or they know that
they really need to downsize, but they just have no
idea where to start. And so this can certainly start
(20:13):
a person with that process.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So you go to home doownsizing dot com and then
go to the resources and then find what's what's that workbook?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Called again the stress Free Home Downsizing Workbook.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All right, Ben Socheck with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five,
five two nine one five zero zero five were online
at home Doownsizing dot com and Ben, thanks so much
for coming in today. Excellent as always.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Thank you Steve for having me. Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
All right, We'll have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Stick around.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Hello, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(21:23):
not another run of the mill free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy. Operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(21:46):
owning a senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six or visit Senior
Care Consulting Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(22:10):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program,
visit seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, So I visit frequently with potential clients. They called,
we have a nice conversation. We do offer a free consultation,
(22:30):
so feel free to do that. But a lot of
times they're like, you know, we're not quite ready to
move to assisted living. I think what we're going to
do is keep mom or dad or my spouse, whoever
your elderly loved one, is keep them home and hire
our own caregiver, because you know, these home care companies
are getting kind of expensive. And I'm like, oh boy,
(22:52):
here we go again. So, and I haven't talked about
this for quite a while, so I wanted to review
today the hidden risks and liabilities of hiring your own
home care provider or home your own home care giver
if you will hiring your own staff, and I have
(23:14):
a lot of questions. I'll have a couple of stories,
a couple of horror stories. You see where this is going? Right? So?
Number one, how will you do a background check? I mean,
are you set up to run state, local, and federal
background checks and drug checks and all kinds of stuff?
Are you able to do that? Spoiler alert, your simple
(23:36):
Google search does not cut it right. You might be
able to find out a little bit of information. But
what if they are in another state and did some
terrible things, dastardly things, and they're in that state database,
but you didn't happen to check that. Do you really
know who you're letting into your home to provide care
(23:59):
for your elder loved one? What about the background check?
Number two? What training do they really have? Well, I mean,
you know, Steve, I mean they've done you know, this
and that and the other, so they should be pretty good.
Do you want someone who's pretty good? Do you want
to trust them to provide excellent care for your loved one?
(24:23):
Number three? What recourse do you have if something is stolen? Okay,
here's a horror story. It was on the news. There
was his son. His mother was at home and she
was non communicative, so she had some major medical issues.
(24:45):
She understood what was going on, but she couldn't speak,
and he started noticing that, you know, when he came
home after work and everything, she was really upset. But
again she's non communicative and she can't really tell him
what was going on. And this fella did speak with
a home care provider, but oh, oh, you guys are
(25:07):
too expensive. You know, I can save ten bucks an
hour and hire my own and just manage them. Okay,
Which that's fine. You might get lucky, it may work out.
But here's how this one worked out. Next time he
came home, the caregiver was getting ready to leave, and
he's looking at the caregiver and he's like, are you
(25:28):
He didn't say anything out loud, but he wondered, are
you wearing my mom's clothing? That looks like something that
my mom owns. And again he's been noticing his mom's
been very upset for the past week or two. So
the caregiver left, He goes downstairs, he checks his mother's clothing.
(25:49):
He knows what clothes she has. That outfit was missing.
That caregiver took her outfit and was wearing it. I
guess the caregiver thought that the son wouldn't notice, so
he thought, Okay, something's really wrong here. So he secretly
set up a bunch of cameras in the house, and
(26:14):
he's watching the cameras, and he is blown away by
watching this dumb caregiver, this horrible human being, taking her
his mother's clothing and walking around in front of his
mom and trying on her clothes saying, oh, these are
now mine, and his mother was just losing her mind.
(26:36):
But again she couldn't speak. So he caught that. He
caught this lady stealing her mother's clothing and some other stuff,
turned it over to the police. And now that horrible
human being of a caregiver, if you want to call
her a caregiver, she's now in prison. What recourse do
you have if something is stolen and you hire your
(27:00):
own caregiver out of a Craigslist or whatever? All right,
Number four? What happens if they don't show up? So
if you don't have a backup plan, now you have
to cancel your important appointments in doctor's visits and all
that sort of thing. What happens if they don't show up.
Number five, what happens if they have an accident on
(27:25):
your property? They fall down the stairs, they break their arm,
they fracture a hip, they break a leg, they do whatever.
Will your homeowner's insurance cover it? Or are you personally liable?
And let me say this, this isn't just a visitor
(27:47):
coming by your house. Say you know all of the
homeowner's policies have a medical provision on there, but at
this point, you are an employer. They are an employee.
Is your homeowner's insurance going to covered that? That really
falls outside of the realm of what the medical coverage
is intended to cover. There's a good chance you will
(28:10):
be liable and have to pay out a pocket Number six,
what about employers based taxes? Here's another horror story. So
I'm aware of a couple and both husband and wife
they both needed a little bit of help. They're like, oh,
we're not going to hire a home care provider. That's
(28:32):
just too expensive. We're going to save a couple of
bucks and hire so and so. She's you know, they
found her through some kind of a personal connection somehow
or another. And guess what they hired this lady. And
for about a year or so it went fine. Everything
was fine, and then one day it was not fine.
(28:53):
They had a falling out and that the lady just quit.
She has walked off the job. Guess what she did?
She the next day she filed for unemployment and the
unemployment office said, well, well, wait a minute, we don't
have any record here that you've been working. Oh yeah,
I've worked for the for the past year or so
for you know, so and so. And they just handed
(29:13):
me cash under the table and they're like, who was that?
What are their names? Do you have their address please?
And how about their their phone number? And then click,
boom boom boom boom boom, here comes to knock. You
now owe the state unemployment tax and all of the
(29:34):
employer based taxes, and all of a sudden, that great
deal of saving a few bucks wasn't such a great
deal at all to save a few bucks? Is it
really worth it? Now? If you go with a proven
licensed home care provider, all of these issues are resolved.
Number One, A reputable home care provider will do background checks,
(29:56):
and they may do many background checks and different levels
of A reputable home care provider will train their staff.
You will have trained staff entering your home. Number three,
a reputable home care provider is bonded and insured. If
something is missing, okay, they're going to cover it, and
(30:18):
we're going to have to prove that it was there.
We're going to have to prove that they stole something,
but if that can be proven, they will cover it.
Number four, reputable home care provider has backup caregivers just
in case a staff calls in sick, or maybe their
child is sick, their car broke down, you know what.
Stuff happens. So they're going to have backup staff that
(30:40):
can fill that shift so that you don't have to
cancel your important appointments. Number five, a reputable home care
provider is ensured just in case a caregiver has an
accident on your property. So I know of one caregiver
who went over to provide care for a client and
(31:03):
their dog jumped up and bit her, and she was
trying to hold the dog back and the dog bit
her pretty badly. On her hand, Her employer took care
of those medical expenses. The home care provider did, okay.
Number six, a reputable home care provider pays all employment taxes.
(31:23):
I would not recommend a home care provider that just
hires ten ninety nine staff where they're on their own.
They need to be a direct employee, and the home
care provider again pays all employment based taxes. So for
these reasons and many many more, I recommend hiring a
(31:43):
reputable home care provider because this is absolutely a you
get what you pay for service, There's no doubt about that.
And I've offered this before, I'll offer it again. I
have a home care provider screening tool that I would
offer Senior care Live listeners and audience free of charge,
(32:05):
no strings attached. Send me an email, just say hey,
I'd like to request that homecare provider screening tool and
I will email that back to you. It's in a
PDF format and it has over thirty questions on how
to that you can ask when screening a home care provider.
So again, just just give me a call or just
(32:27):
go to seniorcare Live dot com, send me an email,
and I will send that to you. It's a fantastic
tool to compare and contrast maybe your top two or
three choices for homecare providers. And don't go away. I'll
have so much more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
We'll have more coming up. So you've been living independently
at home, but now it's not working out. It's time
to begin searching for a senior care community. But with
hundreds of independent living, assisted living, long term care, and
(33:15):
memory care options, how are you supposed to determine the
best place for you? Hello, I'm Steve Keeker, and this
is exactly why I created my firm, Senior Care Consulting.
I help my own grandparents through this difficult process, so
I know how overwhelming this can be. Our business model
ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly for you and
(33:37):
we never receive reimbursement from any provider. We've helped hundreds
of family since two thousand and two, and we can
help you and your family as well. Call today for
a free consultation at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred a placement service with integrity at Senior Care
(34:00):
Consulting dot com. Welcome back, you're listening to Senior Care
Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question,
visit seniorcare live dot com. All right, Back to that
(34:21):
homecare provider screening tool. So choose two or three trusted, solid,
reputable home care providers. There could be dozens, if not
one hundred or two of these homecare providers where you live. Okay,
choose your top two or three and then use this
(34:43):
homecare provider screening tool. Just interview them, ask them all
the same questions that will help you organize your thoughts
and then determine which one of these questions may be
a higher priority than another, et cetera. And that will
help you think through this and then hire the home
care provider that you are most comfortable with. If you
want to request your own copy of the homecare provider
(35:05):
screening tool free of charge, just give us a call
at one eight hundred three three one six four four five.
The person answering the phone just say, hey, I want
to copy of that homecare provider screening tool. We're going
to need your name and your email address and we'll
send that right out to you, no strings attached, free
of charge. All right, So this is one of the
(35:30):
worst horror stories I've heard about hiring a caregiver. You
talk about going south quick woof this this is so,
this is awful. So there's this family and they are
(35:50):
very well off. There were I don't know, gosh, several kids,
all of these kids. This is a pretty high power family.
We had senators, police officers, owners of you know, one
hundred million dollar a year businesses. You get the idea, judges,
(36:13):
it goes on and on it. This is a high
power family and mom wanted to stay home. They ended
up contacting me so that I could help them research
the market to find an assisted living community connected to
long term care, so that when the time comes that,
you know, they already have their their search and selection.
(36:35):
They've already had their choices are made. They're on the
waiting list, and it was just a matter of timing
at that point. But until then, they hired a caregiver,
someone that they found out through a friend, and you know,
all the stuff, they didn't go on Craigslist or anything
like that. This is kind of a referral. So this
caregiver somehow endeared herself to their mom. I don't know
(37:03):
how she did it, and then gained the complete and
total trust of their mom. And then again, somehow, I
don't know how on earth this happened. Somehow turned their
mother against every member of that family. Somehow, I don't
(37:24):
know how she did it. She was a master manipulator,
and something tells me, and I'm just giving the just
the highlights of this story. I don't think this is
her first radio on this stuff. Turned this lady against
all of her children. Pretty soon mom wasn't taking the
phone calls of the children because the children are now bad.
(37:47):
Then before you know it, this caregiver had a legal
copy of power of attorney, superseding the legal authority of
this family of all of their kids. Pretty soon, the
caregiver is driving a new car. Pretty soon, this caregiver
(38:13):
has an extra forty fifty thousand dollars of cash in
her bank. Pretty soon, this caregiver has been gifted heirloom
family jewelry from the safe. Be very careful on who
(38:33):
you let into your house to care for your elderly
and many times vulnerable loved one, And especially if there's
a memory issue involved, some communication type issue, be really careful.
I wouldn't hire an individual. There's no way, and there's
(38:54):
no way in the world i'd do that. I would
go with a proven home care company period. The other
thing like, well, Steve, we already have one in our
house and we do have some concerns. Put cameras up
when they're gone, place cameras all over the house, and
have those things recording and uploaded to a cloud, and
(39:19):
just watch and make sure everything is going okay. If
it's not, you've got your proof. You can fire them.
If it's worse than that, you can report it to
law enforcement, et cetera. But let me say this, if
living at home is no longer an option, or you
can see this coming, my firm, Senior Care Consulting, can help.
(39:44):
We can help you explore all of your options. We'll
walk you through that whole process. This is a red
carpet service I called our full service placement program. We
are true consultants. We don't receive any reimbursement from any
of the providers. We work directly for you. And sometimes
(40:04):
this is all about timing, So believe it or not,
right now is the time to search for a senior
care community. If you planned to move, let's say by
the end of this year, or I hear this all
the time. Yes, Steve, we're looking at we want to
get mom moved in, you know, before the holidays, or
(40:27):
I hear this even more frequently. Yes, Steve, we're going
to get through another round of holidays and after the
first of the year, we're going to get mom moved
into you know, insisted living community or memory care community,
long term care community. After the first of the year. Well,
we're already past the midpoint of July. And you say, well, Steve,
we've got plenty of time. No we don't, we do
(40:49):
not can there's some urgency in my voice. Can you
hear that? Because guess what? If we want to consider
the best places for your loved one, guess what, most
of the time they have waiting lists. And sometimes these
wait lists can be three months to six months. Sometimes
(41:10):
they can be a year. I know a place that
it's over a year and it's a good place. Everybody
wants to go there. If you think, oh, yeah, we've
got plenty of time, that's not till this fall, or
that's not till the end of the year, well we
don't have plenty of time. So now, look, I get
I get the calls from people's I just actually I
(41:30):
just received a call about a week or two ago
from a fellow that said, Steve, I listened to your
radio program. I know you're constantly saying be proactive, get
out ahead of it, and I knew I should have
called just six months ago. And here we are. How
fast can you move because we need to now all
of a sudden, we're in a crisis and we need
we need to move quickly. Yes, Senior Care Consulting can
(41:53):
help you turn something to turn this around very quickly.
The challenge is we are limited to the options that
have space available right now. But if you're proactive and
you get out ahead of it, we have the luxury
of considering a place that might have a three to
six months or so a waiting list, and that way
(42:13):
we have all of our options, maybe even better options available.
So this is resonating with you and you're like, wait
a minute, I hadn't really thought about all that, but
that makes sense. Reach out today. Call Senior Care Consulting
at nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine three nine four five twenty eight hundred or visit
(42:34):
seniorcare Consulting dot com. We'll give you free consultation. See
if this is a good fit for you. I'm Steve
Keeker and I wish you grace and peace. May God
bless you and your family on this day and always
join me next week right here on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing care, and they need to know about you.
A unique and successful radio program called Senior Care Live
is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience know
about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live is
(43:14):
currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and if
you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk to you.
They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups, home
care providers, estate planning and older law practices, financial advisors,
insurance companies, real estate brokers, home health agencies, and other
providers serving the elderly and their caregivers. Senior Care Live
(43:38):
has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities, so call
now at nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
or visit seniorcare live dot com seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(44:15):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer a placement
service with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(44:39):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred Replacement
service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
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