[Peggi Howell]

List at least three things you learned from the course materials (text, articles, group session, etc.) this week as it pertains to being a senior downsizing coach:

The three things that I challenged myself this week were being silent and allowing the client to decide how to proceed, using metaphors, and preparing my hard questions to have deeper conversations.

2. Describe a scenario whereby you were able to implement something you learned:

A new client decides how they will move and when they want to move—allowing the client to choose to move forward and sit back to listen.

3. What challenges did you experience as you considered or attempted approaching conversations from a coaching perspective?

The risk of giving the client trust in the process of moving by asking about their faith, knowing they are faith-based. The client decided that the call wasn’t necessary.

4. What successes did you experience using your new coaching skills/understanding?

Using words, pausing, and the significances were to break was helpful.

[Peggi Howell]

List at least three things you learned from the course materials (text, articles, group session, etc.) this week as it pertains to being a senior downsizing coach:

This week, I listened to my potential client describe her concerns about moving to a community closer to her children. She has anxiety, uncertainty, overwhelm, fear of making mistakes, urgency, the burden of decisions.

2. Describe a scenario whereby you were able to implement something you learned:
3. What challenges did you experience as you considered or attempted approaching conversations from a coaching perspective?
4. What successes did you experience using your new coaching skills/understanding?

When I arrived, I asked Mark and Heather to take me on a tour of their home. During the tour, Heather left the tour. Mark excused her for leaving, and he explained to me that she had anxiety about the move. I was able to ask for his permission to speak to her about her concerns. Mark pretended he had a call to make and left us together to discuss her concerns openly. She opened up after a few minutes about her anxiety and explained to me that she didn’t know how they would afford the new house without selling the old home.

Heather’s concerns were that since they didn’t own anything in their current home, she didn’t understand how they could afford to purchase a new home and maintain a mortgage payment until their existing home sells. She explained that their current home needed some work, and she didn’t know how everything would get done. She also could not tour the new home due to some health issues and wasn’t feeling connected to the new house, even though she knew it was the right decision because she would be closer to her children.

Mark returned to the table. We discussed the handyman repairs around the house, and I offered a few suggestions that would allow them to make the call, such as if painting the back wall instead of installing a backsplash be helpful? They both agreed that would be the easiest, and I was able to show them pictures of current homes on the market that had painted kitchen walls instead of a backsplash. We agreed that a few more repairs with similar fixes would help get the house on the market sooner. These solutions seemed to address Heather’s concerns because she explained to Mark that he should listen to me. They said they were getting expensive quotes to do simple handyman repairs and asked if I had a handyman who could come by and provide a quote?

After discussing the current sellers’ market and showing them the pictures of current homes selling quickly, they asked me to return with the listing paperwork that afternoon. I came to the appointment without the listing paperwork because my desktop pc crashed that morning. Honestly, I thought it would be a consultant because that’s how I described the meeting over the phone. They had a trusted realtor who is solely a seller’s agent that already came by and gave them a list of repairs. However, my move manager explained that they didn’t need to do all the work that the realtor suggested. When I called, I explained that I worked with buyers and sellers and was happy to explain the current market conditions. They agreed to meet with me.

The move manager asked Heather if she would like to take a ride to see the new home. The move manager needed to understand the floor plan and set up a time with Heather to show her the house the next day.

When I arrived at their home in the afternoon with the listing paperwork, they signed quickly and didn’t ask any questions. Heather took the lead, telling Mark where to sign. She checked the documents and clarified that we were listing next month.

During the afternoon, I connected with my handyman, who met me at the house in the afternoon that day. My handyman arrived and followed Heather through the house with her notepad, and she gave them a list of items that needed to be done. The handyman had new clients scheduled for the following week, and I left home with a listing agreement and a plan, and I could tell Heather was in a happier place. She was smiling, and we were all happy about the results we achieved that afternoon. And before I left, she told me her neighbor was selling, pointed to her house, and told me that I should talk to her.

It was gratifying giving control to Heather to help her make the decisions about her move.

[Peggi Howell]

1. List at least three things you learned from the course materials (text, articles, group session, etc.) this week as it pertains to being a senior downsizing coach:

I went on a listing appointment this week and met a man that has Narcolepsy. Before going on the meeting, he had shared with me that his 16 yr daughter had committed suicide a few years ago. So I knew about the tragedy but not the narcolepsy. I had a hard appointment ahead of me and applied my listening skills, but also I sat back and mimicked his body language and let him talk.

2. Describe a scenario whereby you were able to implement something you learned:

During my listing appointment, I asked questions about his narcolepsy condition. When he brought up the subject, I was able to ask how he felt, how he managed his schedule and how he shared with me how he was able to overcome his feelings of embarrassment about this condition when a guest would come over.

3. What challenges did you experience as you considered or attempted approaching conversations from a coaching perspective?

My potential Narcolepsy client went upstairs to turn on the guest wifi for my presentation during the meeting, and he didn’t come back for more than 10mins, so I thought he had fallen asleep. So I politely yelled upstairs to see if he was okay?

4. What successes did you experience using your new coaching skills/understanding?

I started the conversation with a story he didn’t ask me to sit down, so I stood up and did the presentation standing up with my booklet. I had a hard time connecting with him and thought about our last class on mental illness because I felt something was off. Finally, as we went through the presentation and numbers, he asked me to sit down at the table. Then after a few minutes, he started to upwind, and his soar and sadness poured out like a tall glass of water. He told me his story about his daughter’s suicide and what it’s been like living with Narcolosepy, more importantly, what it would mean to sell the house and move on for him and his new wife.

5. List any topics, concerns, or issues you would like to discuss with your coach either in an upcoming session or in a private conversation/email:

none at this time

[Peggi Howell]

1. List at least 3 things you learned from the course materials (text, articles, group session, etc.) this week as it pertains to being a senior downsizing coach:

This week, the three prevalent things to me were intuition, intruding, and curiosity.

My primary was intuition. One year ago, I had to show a property, and an impulse I had about that property showed up in my video. The showing was virtual, but while I was vibrantly describing the home, it had vibes something “felt off.” That feeling was so strong it was as if my gut instinct was warning me that danger was afoot. When I ran into those clients this week, they recalled that showing out of the 20 previous showings. I had never said anything while on the call, but they wanted to know if that house ever sold and how creepy the home was to them. This conversation struck me funny because that’s the only property that I ever lost the keys to while at the property.

2. Describe a scenario whereby you were able to implement something you learned:

I practiced intruding on my husband’s conversations this week. I decided to practice a bit on him first to see if he would notice a change. Then, when he would speak, I would interrupt with another question and change the direction of the conversation. In addition, I also tried a question with new buyers “what does your ideal home look like to you”?

3. What challenges did you experience as you considered or attempted approaching conversations from a coaching perspective?

My biggest challenge was thinking about the right words instead of “just asking questions”. Instead, I was thinking more about what I wanted to achieve from asking the questions.

4 What successes did you experience using your new coaching skills/understanding?

This week, I had a curious conversation and asked more meaningful questions about my client’s needs. For example, my client’s eyes lit up when I asked them to paint a picture of their ideal home. Then, my client pops up a picture on his phone as if he was waiting for me to ask him this question.

5 List any topics, concerns, or issues you would like to discuss with your coach either in an upcoming session or in a private conversation/email:

How to avoid coming across as argumentative?

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