What You Need to Know About Moving Elderly Parents to Another State

If you’re thinking about moving your elderly parents out of their home, it can be quite the undertaking. Moving them out of state means you’re adding all the more stress to the situation.

Maybe you’re trying to move them closer to where you live so it’s easier for you to take care of them.

Perhaps they’re finally making the move they’ve always talked about making down to a warmer climate.

Whatever the case might be, there are certain precautions that you can take to make things easier. Here are some tips on moving elderly parents to another state and how you can best handle the entire situation.

1. Find Moving Help

You cannot rely on your elderly parents to assist you in lifting or carrying of any kind. 

In fact, you want to make sure that they don’t help you at all. As much as they might want to, it’s dangerous for them to do any sort of lifting.

For that reason, you want to invest time in finding a professional moving company that can offer you creative solutions for your moving needs.

This might be the first time that your parents have moved in decades. If so, there’s going to be a lot of stuff that needs to be prioritized, moved, or even downsized, heading into their new place.

Make sure that you find your parents an expert that can help them sort through everything and move everything in a neat and organized fashion.

2. Remind Them of the Move Often

Everyone tends to become a bit more forgetful as they age. Elderly people, even if they aren’t dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease, can find themselves forgetting about the moving date.

Be sure to serve a helpful reminder to them several months and weeks out from the big move. Constantly ask them about where they are in the process and remind them of how many weeks/days away from the move that they are.

If they’re caught off-guard the day of the move, it can overwhelm them and cause unwanted stress.

Helping them to prepare for it ahead of time can help the process go that much smoother when it comes time.

3. Find a Great Situation for Them

Even if your parents are in incredible shape and condition for their age, don’t leave the moving and planning entirely up to them.

Be sure to help them find a great situation in the new city and state that they’ll be moving to before making any other moving plans.

Finding a great place for them to move to (such as a new house, apartment, retirement center, etc.) will help ease their mind about the moving process in general.

They’ll see it as a light at the end of the tunnel. It will help them to keep their eyes on the prize, knowing the temporary stress of moving will all be worth it in the end.

Be sure to set some time aside for you, your siblings, or other relatives to tour some properties with your parents and visit them in-person. Do some online research about all your options and help them to make the best decision possible.

4. Find the Appropriate Transportation for the Move

Now that the moving company will be in charge of transporting all of your parents’ belongings in the most efficient way possible, you just have to worry about how your parents will be transporting there.

If they are still fully capable of driving themselves, then this isn’t as much of a concern for your situation. 

However, if the distance is over 5 hours or so, you still might feel more comfortable driving them there yourself and having their car transported to the final destination.

If one or both of your parents require special medical attention, then you can hire medical transportation companies (non-emergency) that can help them get there safely.

5. Find Social Outlets Before the Move

Social outlets are very important for your elderly parents’ overall health. They help them prioritize healthy lifestyles and help them to build friendships with others.

Many people make the mistake of waiting until they move somewhere to find social outlets. However, social outlets should be part of your decision-making process for determining where they should live.

This is especially true for those of you that are moving your parents to a retirement facility or nursing home.

Try to find things such as church locations, fitness classes, hobby clubs, etc. that your parents can look forward to participating in after the move is complete.

6. Find a Good Real Estate Agent

You may or may not be working with 1 or 2 real estate agents, depending on whether your elderly parents are moving to a new property or not.

Regardless of that, make sure you’re in as many of the conversations as possible. Help them find good real estate agents that they can work with to sell their current home.

Be sure that you line yourself and your parents up with an agent that has the experience and know-how to sell the home at the right price and in good timing.

Ask your parents how much they’d like you to be involved in the real estate process, and respect their wishes. However, don’t take “no” for an answer, you should at least be involved to some degree.

Moving Elderly Parents to Another State: Be Respectful and Diligent

Be respectful about the fact that moving elderly parents to another state means you’re turning their world upside-down.

Be sure to read this article about tips for moving with pets and how you should approach it.

To get started, be sure to fill out your free instant quote and we’ll be happy to assist you further.