This education-based designation addresses the fastest growing market in real estate.

Adults aged 55+ represent more than 20% of the U.S. population. For most senior adults, the homes that they live in are their largest asset and account for most of their net worth. Completion of the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES®) Designation Course is an essential step for REALTORS® in understanding the distinct real estate goals, concerns, and needs of seniors today. This course looks at key differences in housing options, from age-restricted communities to age-in-place design to assisted living; applications of the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA); the ins and outs of reverse mortgages; the use of pensions, 401k accounts, and IRAs in real estate transactions; and developing a team of senior specialists, including estate planners, reverse mortgage lenders, clutter and staging specialists, and more.

Why are aged 55+ clients moving? To be closer to grandchildren. To start that vineyard they've always dreamed of. To address health concerns. The list goes on and on. Can you speak to the unique motivation they have? Do you know how to counsel your client on their options? This is the kind of distinction that can set you apart. You can be the hero.

As an SRES® designee, you'll be able to instantly:

     - Join a group of REALTORS® who comprise one of the
       fastest growing markets in the country.

     - Connect to a nationally advertised brand in the consumer
       market.

     - Market your personal brand with designs and tools you
       receive with membership.

Seniors Real Estate Specialist Designation Course Outline

The SRES® Designation course will help you:

• Understand and have empathy for 55+ real estate clients and customers.
• Be committed to developing the business-building skills and resources needed for specialization in the 55+ real estate market.

I. Foreword
A. SRES® – A Market Distinction
B. Learning Goals
C. SRES® Designation Course Benefits
II. The 55+ Market

Learning Goals:

• Learn distinguishing characteristics and trends of the 55+ market so that you can discern them in your own market area.
• Challenge stereotypes and draw valid generalities about 55+ real estate clients and customers.
• Raise awareness of some dos and don’ts when striving to gain and serve the 55+ market.

Topics:
A. Demographics / Defining the Market
B. Exercise: Generations /  How do REALTORS® Compare?
C. Aging – Myths and Realities / How the Baby Boomers Are Changing Retirement
D. The Client Across the Desk

III. 55+ Communities and Properties

Learning Goals:

• Raise awareness of the issues and factors that go into community and property selection.
• Evaluate your market area’s attractiveness to the 55+ market.
• Master the vocabulary of the range of housing options for the 55+ market.
• Learn the application of federal laws for Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA)

Topics:
A. Market Geography / Housing Options
B. Active Life Styles / Independent Living
C. Assisted Living / Continuing Care
D. Care Facilities / Age-Restricted Communities
E Housing for Older Persons Act / Is Every Second Home a Future Retirement Residence?
F. Promoting Your Market Area / Exercise: Promoting Your Market Area
G. Cost of Living

IV. Gaining the Market

Learning Goal:

• Develop business building outreach methods for communicating and gaining 55+ market share.

Topics:
A. Business-Building Outreach / Exercise: Meet the Market
B. Relating to and Communicating with the Senior Market / Smart Senior Marketing
C. The SRES® Marketing Edge / Make Your Web Site Senior Friendly
D. Senior Seminars / Exercise: Putting Your Ideas to Work

V. Counseling Buyers and Sellers

Learning Goals:

• Adapt methods for counseling the 55+ buyer and sellers.
• Stay focused on the transaction and avoid inappropriate involvement in family matters.
• Develop sensitivities to 55+ issues and priorities when counseling buyers and sellers,showing properties, and managing transactions.

Topics:
A. Understanding the Senior Client /  Goals of a Counseling Session
B. Exercise: What Are the Questions? / Alternate Exercise: Preparing a Presentation Packet
C. Needs and Wants / Exercise: The Real Meaning
D. Disclose Agency Obligations / Review the Buyer Representation Agreement
E Staying Out of Family Business / Selling a House Below Market Value?
F. Staging a Property

VI. Providing Services for 55+ Clients and Customers

Learning Goals:

• Develop services that win and sustain client and customer relationships and position you as a trusted real estate advisor.
• Assemble a team of experts to help you serve 55+ clients and customers.

Topics:
A. Providing Services /  The Seniors Real Estate Specialist’s Team
B. Exercise: Who Is on Your Team? / Sensitivities / Elder Abuse and Neglect

VII. Financial and Tax Matters

Learning Goals:

• Learn about the uses, benefits, procedures, and issues involved in reverse mortgages.
• Learn about uses of pensions, 401k accounts, and IRAs in real estate transactions.
• Gain an understanding of how Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security impact 55+ real estate decisions.
• Recognize mortgage finance and loan schemes and scams that victimize 55+ borrowers.

Topics:
A. Declaring a Domicile /  Understanding Capital Gains Tax
B. Capital Gains Tax on the Sale of a Personal Residence / Understanding Federal Estate Tax
C. Gift Tax / Unified Estate and Gift Tax Credit
D. Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax / What Does a Seniors Real Estate Specialist Need to Know?
E Taxes on Social Security and Pension Income / Tax-Deferred 1031 Exchanges
F. The True Cost of Housing / Exercise: The True Cost of Housing
G. Reverse Mortgages / Misperceptions about Reverse Mortgages
H FAQs about Reverse Mortgages / Installment Sales
I IRAs and Pensions / Social Security, Medicare, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid
J Schemes and Scams

VIII. Planning Ahead for Life Transitions

Learning Goals:

• Identify key life stages, viewpoints, and transitions in relation to housing choices.
• Recognize how a home can be adapted for safety, comfort, and aging in place.
• Help clients integrate disposition of real property into estate plans.

Topics:
A. Understanding How We Age / Exercise: Interview Your Elders
B. Preparing to Age in Place / Universal Design Standards
C. Estate Planning / Medicaid Estate Recovery
D. Trusts / Probate
E. The Probate Process / Wills and Directives

IX. Building a Resource Bank

Learning Goals:
Assemble a knowledge bank about housing options, programs, resources, and services for 55+ clients and customers and facilitate contacts.

• Use your knowledge bank as a business building tool.

Topics:
A. Finding and Tapping into Resources
B. Organizing a Resource File

SRES® Designation Course Delivery Options

To offer this course via Live Lecture, please contact Candace McGranahan
at candacem@car.org (213-739-8359).  
To offer this course via Face2Face™ video conferencing, contact Ana Montoya
at anam@car.org (213 -739-8214).

For more information about the SRES® designation and the SRES® Council, visit www.seniorsrealestate.com.