About Us
If you or someone you know is in transition, we can help. Smooth Transitions is a company providing relocation, downsizing, estate dispersal, and residential cleanout services for Eastern Washington and North Idaho clients. Since 2011, we have helped over 400 clients, including individuals, retirement communities, banks, trust departments, attorneys, geriatric case managers, financial planners and realtors by providing solutions for their clients. Our initial consultations are always free and without obligation.
How We Got Started
Like many seniors, my grandmother lived in her house for 45 years and did not throw away anything - after all, she might need that ball of string. The task of clean out fell to me and I learned a lot about estate dispersal: sorting thousands of items into categories - keep, sell, toss, recycle or donate. The "Sell/Donate" category was a challenge. I didn't want to give away something of substantial value but didn't know the difference between trash and a treasure. In 2011, I became a member of the American Society of Estate Liquidators and am trained in identifying, pricing and find buyers for antiques and collectibles. Smooth Transitions is a member of NASMM, National Association of Senior Move Mangers, with the highest A+ Certification they offer. Let me help you through the downsizing, organizing, packing, move management, unpacking, setting up the new home and estate dispersal process.
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (9)
"DeAnne Wilfong provides the moving and downsizing services with the compassion, professionalism..."
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"DeAnne Wilfong provides the moving and downsizing services with the compassion, professionalism and care that anyone would want for their parents. Her experience is excellent and she has the NASMM A+ Certification to add to it!"
"Dealing with an estate can be overwhelming. DeAnne not only has suggestions on how to approach..."
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"Dealing with an estate can be overwhelming. DeAnne not only has suggestions on how to approach the task, recommendations on reliable people to call, and perspective/knowledge on how to identify and maximize valuable of possessions but she also acknowledges the emotional aspects of the transition - helping to smooth the way. Plus she is fun. "
Products & Services
Develop an overall move plan, organize, sort and downsize; custom floor plans, arrange for disposal of unwanted items: auction, estate sale, online...
Gallery
Recommendations Given (14)
"Carol is the real deal - she lights up the room with a genuine smile and bubbly personality. If..."
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"Carol is the real deal - she lights up the room with a genuine smile and bubbly personality. If I could just pick one person to brainstorm ideas with, over coffee of course, it would be Carol. "
"Over the years, Ann has been willing to share her experience and knowledge with other senior move..."
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"Over the years, Ann has been willing to share her experience and knowledge with other senior move managers. Her mentoring skills are excellent as is her service to her clients"
Recent Activity
Smooth Transitions is a Senior Move Management business providing relocation, downsizing and estate dispersal for seniors and their families. Our business is down significantly - more than 75%. Seniors are not moving unless it is an emergency and then they are terrified. Once they are relocated...
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Smooth Transitions is a Senior Move Management business providing relocation, downsizing and estate dispersal for seniors and their families. Our business is down significantly - more than 75%. Seniors are not moving unless it is an emergency and then they are terrified. Once they are relocated to the retirement community, they will be in quarantine for at least 14 days in their apartment or room. They will not be allowed to have visitors and they will not be allowed to leave the facility for an indefinite period of time. COVID-19 has disrupted senior moves and the senior care industry in unimagined ways and this disruption could continue perhaps indefinitely.
We adopted the guidelines laid out by the CDC to protect our employees and the client at a great expense in time to the company that cannot be recovered or passed on to the client. Will we survive? Probably. Will we thrive? Only if we invest a lot of resources in getting the word out that we are open for business. Referrals from retirement communities will likely be down. A lot of our referrals came from SRES (senior real estate specialists) but seniors are not going to rush to put their house on the market and move. More will be aging-in-place and we can get some additional business from that market if we can get the word out. We are in uncharted waters, we know recovery will not be a sprint, it will be a marathon but a race without a defined finish line. I welcome the opportunity to connect with others who provide services for our most vulnerable population - seniors in transition.
Give me a minute to grab my "soap box". I have been a small business owner for 8 years which means I beat a lot of odds - some reports are that 80% of U.S. businesses fail within the first 18 months. There are numerous reasons for my survival but a big reason is that I have good financial...
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Give me a minute to grab my "soap box". I have been a small business owner for 8 years which means I beat a lot of odds - some reports are that 80% of U.S. businesses fail within the first 18 months. There are numerous reasons for my survival but a big reason is that I have good financial management. I AM NOT an accountant, I am a Senior Move Manager. A defining question to ask yourself when making a decision on what to do yourself and what to hire is this: "what business am I in?" If you bake cakes, bake the best cakes you can and hire an accountant to help you get All the deductions throughout the year. Do you want to avoid an audit to the extent possible? If you make too many mistakes on tax forms or are too "charitable", you may be inviting the audit. Many business owners think that a tight budget means you won't be able to hire an accountant. Think again, the time and effort you spend on trying to manage your accounting and bookkeeping could be spent on increasing your business. Focus, it is the road toward your business success. Your accountant is a financial advisor to help you with budgeting and monitoring cash flow on a steady real-time basis. Want to know if you can make that big office purchase or hire more employees? Your accountant knows!
1 Reply
As a move management company, we pack clients possessions for a move, pickup by charities and for a sale after the move. Each employee has a tote that is recognizable by all members of the team so that their personal items are not packed for a move, pickup by charities or to add to a sale pile. ...
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As a move management company, we pack clients possessions for a move, pickup by charities and for a sale after the move. Each employee has a tote that is recognizable by all members of the team so that their personal items are not packed for a move, pickup by charities or to add to a sale pile. It happens if their personal possession, keys, wallets, files, drinks, snacks, are not in a tote that is easily idented. The tote has to stand out and I am always looking for something that is functional, serves to promote the company and looks great.
