5 questions to ask 55+ buyers that most agents skip

Most buyer intake conversations start the same way: bedrooms, budget, neighborhoods, timeline. For most customers that is the right opening. For a buyer aged 55+ who plans to grow older, this is not the case.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX STUDY

The 55+ buyer makes a different type of purchase. They often choose a home they want to live in for the next 20 or 25 years, planning for changes in mobility, vision and energy that they have not yet experienced. The house they buy has to work for them at age 60, at age 70, at age 80 and beyond. The standard intake interview never comes close to that.

5 questions to ask 55+ buyers

Five questions, asked early and clearly, will tell you more about what this client actually needs than an hour of MLS browsing. Each reframes the search in a useful way.

1. What does growing older in the right place mean to you?

‘Aging in place’ without context sounds vague. Some buyers mean, “I want to stay in this house until I die.” Others mean, “I want a house that will last the next fifteen years, after which I can reassess it.” Others mean, “I want a home where my kids don’t have to worry about me.”

Each answer leads to a meaningfully different search query. Asking this question signals to the client that you take their goal seriously enough to define it before showing them anything.

2. Are there any specific health or mobility considerations you are taking into account – for yourself, your partner or anyone who might eventually live with you?

Ask nicely, with the buyer free to share as much or as little as they want. Some will tell you about a knee replacement scheduled for next year. Some will tell you that their mother is moving in with you. Others will say they are just planning ahead. All three answers are helpful, and each changes which houses you should show.

3. How Is it important that the house works for you on day 1, and that you can easily adjust it later?

This is the most practically useful question in the conversation. Some features, such as step-less entry, a ground-floor bedroom, and wide doorways, are extremely expensive to add to a home that doesn’t already have them. Others, such as grab bars or a raised toilet, can be added in an afternoon. The buyer’s tolerance for future renovations determines how strict the Day-1 requirements should be.

4. What do you think of stairs?

Almost every 55+ buyer has an opinion. Some are fine with stairs and will remain that way for decades. Others already hate them. Some are only open to a multi-storey house if there is a bedroom on the ground floor and a bathroom with a shower.

The answer here often determines whether you are looking at bungalows, single-storey apartments or multi-storey houses. This is one of the biggest filtering decisions in search.

5. Do you want this to be the last home you buy, or do you expect to move again later?

This is worth asking directly. The answer constitutes everything. A buyer who wants this to be their last home will weigh heavily the features of aging and rule out anything that won’t work for him or her at age 85. A buyer who sees this as a 10- to 15-year home before a possible later move has more flexibility. They can now accept a beautiful two-story home, knowing they can move again before stairs become a real problem.

Both are valid plans. You cannot show the same homes to both buyers.

Ask these five questions before the first showing, not after the third. The 55+ buyer is one of the most disadvantaged segments in residential real estate. The agents who serve them well start by asking the right questions early.

Karen Light is a real estate agent with the designation SRES (Seniors Real Estate Specialist) and founder of Age Wise Indexa real estate screening platform for real estate agents who work with home buyers over 55 years old.