A Manageable Move

By CAROLYN SNYDER
January 31, 2007

Los Altos boasts a large population of senior citizens. Nearly 20 percent of city residents are over 65, according to data from the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce.

While senior citizens bring a wealth of experience to the community, the demographic also opens up niche business opportunities, as Kate Brauner of Senior Moving Assistance can attest. Brauner's compassion and desire to offer a comfortable, secure relocation prompted her to simplify the moving process for seniors in transition.

Brauner's mission is to provide stress-free, seamless moving assistance to seniors, whether downsizing to a retirement or continuing-care facility or simply moving closer to family. The company, based in Cupertino, tailors each move to the individual needs and requests of her senior-citizen clients.

Over the past two years, the company has assisted about 15 seniors in the Los Altos area. Brauner has worked with clients moving into local retirement communities such as Pilgrim Haven and Bridgepoint Los Altos.

Seniors on the move

Karl and Ann Bizjak of Portola Valley are moving from their home of 28 years to The Forum Retirement Community in Cupertino with the help of Brauner and her Senior Moving Assistance crew. Rather than chaos, there is calm.

There are stickers everywhere - green, blue, yellow and red.

On one wall, green stickers are placed beneath an Indian basket and Eskimo artwork; on another, they adhere beneath colorful oil paintings. Blue stickers are on items scattered throughout the house. Boxes are labeled and stacked neatly in a corner of the living room, and there's an open box with a big "VIP" printed on it waiting to be filled.

The color-coded stickers are an easy way to identify the item's destination on moving day or before. Brauner and Karl were doing an inventory of the wine cellar and found some missing wine glasses that will get a green sticker - green for go, as in going to their new home. Only moments before, Karl was seated on the floor in the den sorting through books with Brauner's help while her assistant, Rachel Gorini, wrapped and packed knickknacks.

"It's amazing what you can collect in all these years," Ann said. "We're finding things I didn't know I had. Kate is helping us with the difficult decisions on what to keep."

The 13 Kachinas the Bizjaks collected during their love affair with New Mexico are among the "keepers" that will require special care and handling - Brauner's forte.

"I collected Indian baskets and my husband collected dolls," Ann said of the Kachinas.

Brauner already has scoped out a place for them. It's how she works. She takes digital pictures and measures the new living environment so that she knows beforehand what it can accommodate.

"She's a super gal. She made our move very easy," said former Los Altan Ralph Gesell. "It would have taken us five times as long if we'd had to work with independent contractors. It could have been a semi-disaster."

Gesell and his wife, Nancy, moved to a two-bedroom villa at The Forum in December after 28 years in a 2,800-square-foot house.

"We went room-by-room, and Kate told us how to downsize. She was like a consulting firm," Gesell said. "On moving day I wasn't even around. At the end of the day, we just walked in and it was like we lived here. Everything was put away in cupboards, there were towels in the bathroom - even toilet paper."

Gordon Newell, who moved to The Forum from Palo Alto, said, "I've had many compliments on how distinctive the place looks and shows - a great job."

Brauner made "a wrenching move almost bearable" for Ross Staley, also a former Palo Altan, who was grateful for her help.

Hands-on help

The desire to help is the very reason Brauner started her business nearly four years ago.

"My mother-in-law was moving from her home of 45 years and she had a meltdown. She opened one drawer and started to cry and said, 'I can't do this.' So I did it," Brauner said.

Because she is a people person who likes organizing, she had been researching the feasibility of just such a business venture for about a year. Her mother-in-law's situation was "the impetus to get off the log." She formed her "hands-on" company with her husband, Alan, and their daughter, Abby.

"My husband hangs all the art - everything from a wall-size kimono to tiny pictures. One client had 70 pieces of art," Brauner said.

The clients are what makes her job rewarding.

"The generation I work with is phenomenal. They have some real history," Brauner said. She's worked with retired generals, aviation pioneers, even a former cocktail waitress who was "Queen for a Day" on the television show of the same name.

"Who did you meet today?" is a question she's often asked.

Among the more challenging items she has moved was a painting that wouldn't fit in the elevator at The Forum. Up it went, over a balcony, through an apartment (not the client's), down the hall and into its new home.

And then there was the oenophile's wine storage unit and 420 bottles of wine that were packed, transported and put back in exactly the same order.

Each move is handled in the same fashion. She does one room at a time, working with the clients.

"Everything comes out of the closets, and we put back only what they are planning to take with them. We find a home for everything else," she said. Some things go to family members, other things are sold, donated or recycled. She arranges for it all.

Brauner works only three hours a day because after that, her clients are tired and might "want a nap or lunch or a cocktail. They just want me gone." When she leaves, boxes are packed and labeled, packing supplies stowed away and upheaval kept to a minimum.

A spatial designer, Brauner takes digital pictures of the new living space so that she will know what will fit. Then she makes suggestions on which furniture and other belongings to move.

The night before moving day, her clients "have to camp out. I leave them a few plates and tell them their homework is to eat all the fresh food in the refrigerator and drink up the wine," she said.

The movers come at 9 a.m., and by 5 p.m. the beds in the new place are made, the refrigerator stocked, the television and computer hooked up and the cupboards filled. Even the dresser tops will look like "home," with items in the same places because of the pictures Brauner took beforehand.

The client's only responsibility is to bring the box marked "VIP," which, by now, has been filled with important personal items such as medications, address books or a phone that can be plugged in right away.

Prior to starting Senior Moving Assistance, Brauner worked as a stockbroker, sold European horses and assisted with a dressage barn (riding is her passion), helped set up an independent book store and did public relations work.

"With this job I get hugs at the end of the day," she said. And that makes it all worthwhile.

For a free consultation, call Kate Brauner, founder and moving coordinator, Senior Moving Assistance, at (408) 739-7516 or visit www.seniormovingassistance.com.