Saskia Wijngaard: Realtor, SRES, Certified Genealogist
Years ago, Saskia witnessed two wonderful ladies being taken advantage of from a financial perspective. Appalled at the situation, Saskia decided to take action and create a company called Everything 4 Seniors. Saskia’s goal was to find companies to network with that were truly senior-friendly. Saskia then developed the largest database of senior friendly companies in North America. The sites were available in Canada and the United States and was called Find Help for Seniors.
When deciding to return to real estate Saskia brought her passion of working with seniors with her. One of Saskia’s first referrals was in 2013 when a Rotarian friend referred one of her clients, a delightful 80 year old lady named Jean. Cognizant of the great responsibility of working with a friend’s client Saskia met with Jean only to discover that Jean was her first neighbour when Saskia parents moved to Canada some 50 years before. However, Jean was too young in mind and spirit to be called a senior and needed someone to work side-by-side with her to determine a solution that would fit her lifestyle and yet finance her retirement.
Together they looked at several solutions. Downsizing, a retirement community and even the reverse mortgage. However, after exhaustively researching all of these options we realized nothing fit her requirements.
Saskia then created Sell ‘n STAY® to address Jean’s desire to stay in her home while accessing 100% of her equity. Saskia was mindful of the simple formula K. I. S. S. ( keep it simple stupid) when designing the program. The premise of the program was to be transparent, fair, and beneficial to all parties concerned. She wanted to make the process secure, less stressful and protect the privacy of her clients. Jean was the first participant in this program and it worked out beautifully. She still lives there even now some 10 years later. Saskia when on to help 200 other homeowners achieve their dreams of independence.
When her son purchased an estate sale, which took 18 months to close, Saskia decided to create a Pre-Estate program for people who were diagnosed terminally ill and wanted to help them approach their final curtain their way , as Frank Sinatra would sing. This program took all of the benefits of the regular Sell ‘n STAY® program however because it is done well before death it eliminates the cost of probate as the house is not the original homeowners anymore. Not only are the probate costs eliminated but the frustration, stress and closing issues are gone too.
Sue Spizziri: Realtor, SRES B.A. PSY., Certified Hypno-Therapist
Sue has been in the helping-people business her whole life, in sales, marketing and counselling services; always offering caring, compassionate and resolution-based professional customer service. There is no bigger thrill for Sue than when she is able to help her clients, picture, articulate, create and realize their ideal next best life move.
Sue relates well to seniors because she is one. Real Estate Transitional services is a career she dove into after she semi-retired at 63. It begins with truly listening to our clients as they describe what’s holding them back from realizing their next step; resolving obstacles getting in their way… a lack of funds, knowledge about what’s possible or discouragement from lack of support. Encouraging and helping seniors to plan and settle their estates while they have the time to do so can eliminate so many problems; like losing precious equity to probate taxes, creating family conflicts without a clear well planned will, getting caught in ballooning reverse mortgage lending traps, having to move into nursing homes too soon or too late due to lack of funds to age gracefully at home, which is what 75% of seniors say they would prefer.
That was why Sue joined the Sell ‘n STAY® Team. Sue loved the challenge of Helping people figure out a system that would allow them to finance their retirement.
Sue knows that By tapping into our wealth of affiliate professionals and combined decades of real estate
knowledge and experience, there isn’t a problem or contingency that we can’t resolve.