Local relocation specialists and real estate agents team up to make stressful moves easy

By Jessica Hardin

jhardin@vindy,com

CANFIELD

While many services struggle to serve Youngs-town’s large aging population, one has sprung into existence to capitalize on the specific needs of this growing group.

Dan and Stefanie Earley of Earley & Sons Relocation have teamed up with Melissa Partain and Kim Sauerwein of Burgan Real Estate to manage home transitions.

While the four have known each other for more than a decade, they officially started working together at the beginning of this year.

The team facilitates moves and manages everything in between including packing, organizing, donating unwanted items and conducting estate sales. “We even come in after the move and we’ll unpack and set up the whole entire home. From start to finish, we can help their clients,” said Dan Earley.

The team is even able to ease the stress of out-of-state moves.

“Another service that Melissa and I provide is, we will interview [real-estate] agents out of town to make sure they’re going to have someone working for them that cares about them as much as we do,” Sauerwein said.

The services of the group are uniquely suited to empty-nesters or older folks who are downsizing into a smaller home or condo.

“We are really a good option for people who live out of the area who have people here that they’re not able to be with and help through a move. Let us be your local family, because we are going to seriously take care of your family member,” Sauerwein said.

While the process is uniquely helpful for older people downsizing, the team’s services are useful for any stressful move.

“We’ve helped young families with five kids and don’t have the time to pack their kitchen,” said Stephanie.

Sauerwein added: “There may be times that a younger person has to relocate for a job, and they want them on that job immediately, and they don’t have time to pack their place up and get it ready.”

The team brings to its work a deep understanding of the meaning people attach to homes and belongings.

“It is a big transition, especially when you’re talking about people who have lived a lifetime in a home, and their kids are off to college. They have an emotional attachment to that home,” Sauerwein said.

Dan Earley explained that it’s necessary to respect the moving process as an emotional one.

“We take our time. A lot of times, [clients] have stories behind their items, they sit there and tell you about it. We don’t rush them through the process of trying to determine if they want to take it with them, donate it or give it to a family member,” he said.

For one client moving from a home he lived in for decades, Sauerwein commissioned a watercolor of his old home.

“He had tears in his eyes,” when she presented the gift, Sauerwein said.

At the man’s funeral, his family displayed the painting at the funeral home.

The trust the team builds with clients is reflected in its connections with each other.

“Coming from a family-owned business, the fact that they’re a family-owned business just feels right,” Sauerwein said.

She described Dan and Stefanie as professional, yet “very easy to know.”

“I like to think that’s how Melissa and I are as well,” Sauerwein said.