SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS: “The goal of Walsh Senior Solutions is to provide families with helpful solutions during downsizing and stressful moving situations. Our team is very efficient. We are professional organizers, helping people clean up, move out, and move into their new home,” says John Walsh, founder of Walsh Senior Solutions. Shown from left are employees Jack Sander, John McCollum, and Celeste Twamley.

By Jean Stratton

John Walsh

“Keep the memory, not the item.”

This suggestion by John Walsh is helpful to many of his clients as he assists them to transition from one living locale to another. The founder and owner of Walsh Senior Solutions in Princeton, he helps families with the often challenging and stressful decision to leave a home of many years and settle in a new location.

One of the most difficult aspects of this move is the dilemma of “excess possessions.” Parting with prized and meaningful items accumulated over the years is extremely hard for many people, and Walsh is cognizant of and compassionate about this major concern.

“Certainly one of the hardest things for people is to get rid of things,” he points out. “Books, memorabilia, childhood toys, all kinds of things. There can be a real emotional attachment, and we are careful to deal with that compassionately. Sometimes, I will suggest that they take a picture of something instead of keeping the item.”

Growing Need

Walsh opened his company in 2018 after a previous career in corporate insurance in New York City. Personal reasons played a part in his heading in a new direction, he explains. After he and his sister helped their parents downsize from their Princeton home of 20 years into smaller surroundings, he recognized a significant and growing need.

“I saw how overwhelming this is,” says the Princeton native. ‘Especially when physical ailments are involved, and the emotional issues are so strong about leaving a home of many years,”

After helping them move twice in a 15-month period, he decided to embark on a career change. “Through my own experience, I saw an opportunity to help local families in New jersey and the greater Philadelphia area navigate this difficult time in their lives. I began to think about offering this service about a year after helping my parents, and I quickly saw there was a real need.”

Indeed, as the Baby Boomer generation continues to age, with 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day until 2029, more and more people will be faced with these decisions — whether to downsize and move or whether to remain in their home but make it more appropriate for their changing needs. Walsh Senior Solutions can help with both of these situations.

Walsh Senior Solutions assists families of all ages, with a focus on the 55-plus population and their families, in their transition either to a new independent home, a smaller home, or senior living community, as well as offering organizing and decluttering services for those not moving to help them live independently and remain safely in their current home and age-in-place.

As Walsh explains, “Our mission is to reduce the stress for the entire family and reduce their moving bill by supplying the required physical labor needed to efficiently downsize, all the while coupled with the friendly attitude, empathy, and compassion that seniors and the entire family deserve.”

Full-Service

“We are a full-service move management company, as well as an insured moving company,” says Walsh. “We help families to sort, keep, sell, donate, discard, or move their possessions. In addition, we provide home staging services to get the home ready for real estate photography, and help the family with floor planning to decide which of their current furniture and items can fit appropriately into their next home.

“Additionally, we help with selling excess possessions through various sources, such as an estate sale, consignment, online auction, or online selling. We do not take any commission for anything that is sold. For unsold items, we can physically remove them from the home, transport them to donation organizations and have them donated on your behalf, and email a copy of the donation receipt to you.”

“We also offer junk removal services, estate clean-out, house cleaning before the real estate photos are taken, and/or the closing date,” says Walsh. “As we are a traditional moving company, we handle packing and moving, as well as the unpacking services to provide the new home all set up and live-in ready with all the moving boxes removed. We can also pack and bring items to storage or pack and load a POD-like moving container, and have it shipped to the next home or relocated for extended storage.”

In addition, the company can serve as professional organizers to help families that are not moving, but who want to address “problem areas” such as basements, attics, closets, garages, etc. “We can help with selling, donations, and junk removal as part of our organizing efforts to create more space in your current house,” points out Walsh.

Not only did his personal experiences with his parents’ move figure in his new career, it was also his facility for organization and efficiency coming to the fore.

“I like making things easier and more efficient,” he explains, “I like to create order and calm in what can be difficult and stressful situations. It also involves problem-solving and providing clients with solutions.”

Best Way

Once he started on his new career journey, Walsh received training, certification, insurance, and bonding from the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM.org), the global organization for senior move managers that specializes in helping older adults and their families with the process of downsizing and moving.

He also quickly realized that he needed a team, and there are now 11 employees. “Our team is very professional,” he remarks, “and also very visual. They come in, look at the house, and see the best way to stage it and move forward.”

The business has grown steadily, he adds, with all sizes of projects and clients from Princeton and the area, as well as all of New Jersey and greater Philadelphia. Clients are all ages — from individuals in their 30s to those 90-plus, with the majority fifty and older.

“We are very encouraged. In the past six years, we have helped 2,400-plus families in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The business has increased beyond our expectations, and we see that we are really filling a need. No one in the area provides all the services we offer. We have seven different components to help clients.”

“I have kept learning all the way,” he continues. “We are very focused on emotional intelligence, helping clients deal with the stress and emotional aspects. We have been called the ‘compassionate SWAT team!’”

This can involve a range of experiences both for the team and the clients. They encounter a variety of situations and challenges, notes Walsh. “One client had 2,000 dolls, which she had begun collecting in her childhood. She couldn’t bring herself to part with them, and they were not valuable enough for professional collectors, so they moved with her to the new location but were put in storage.”

Engagement Ring

“Another time in the course of our work in a client’s home, we found the grandmother’s engagement ring, which had been missing for years. It had been hidden all that time in the back of a drawer.”

Clients have the option to select any or all of Walsh Senior Solutions’ services, and payment is according to their choices. Initially, a free consultation is available, followed by an estimate. Pricing is at a per person, per hour rate.

As the business has grown, Walsh has given presentations at the Center for Modern Aging Princeton (formerly the Princeton Senior Resource Center) at their “Journey of Aging” Conference, and at the Mercer County Top Producers Realtors. He has also held classes at the Princeton Adult School on “Downsizing and Transitioning Efficiently to a New Home or to a Senior Living Community,” and been the guest of realtors, financial advisors, and elder care attorneys on radio shows.

In October, he will speak at the Nassau Club about helping clients deal with the emotional stress involved in downsizing.

Whether you need a management overview of an upcoming move, encouragement about downsizing and discarding, help with staging the house for sale, safety suggestions in your current home, or floor plans for the new location, Walsh Senior Solutions is there for you.

John Walsh knows that his career change has benefited many people, which is a source of great satisfaction for him.

“I enjoy helping clients, and I am happy to be able to assist them during what can be such a difficult transition. It is very meaningful to me.”

For further information, call (609) 558-1830. Visit the website at WalshSeniorSolutions.com.