“I highly recommend Family Matters for any and all family transition needs. In our case, this included moving my parents to assisted living, de-cluttering their house, preparing for an estate sale, and preparing for the sale of the house. Family Matters handled each step directly with care and efficiency. The founder of the company, Kim Falahati, has a vast network of professionals with whom she works and was able to recommend someone for any other work needed for the project that they did not handle directly. Also, with her background in psychology, she provided emotional support for my parents with their move, and for me as well with issues that came up along the way. Going into this alone and my own home 1000 miles away, I could not have asked for better partners than the Family Matters team. They were recommended to us as a One Stop Shop for the transition. During the period of our family transition from the move to the first offer on the house, I only really needed to communicate directly with Family Matters and would have been able to work with them from home and not be there personally. They worked independently, coordinated meetings among the other contractors and kept us updated on progress each step of the way.
For the free initial consultation, Kim let me know she was on a job that day but wanted to come by that night as it was important that I be there as well. I was planning on going home the next day. She said that in her experience, it helps if everyone in the family that will be involved in the transition was there for the first meeting. I was impressed that she would take personal time in the evening after working with clients all day just to make sure she could meet with all of us. During that first meeting, she was professional and genuine, and walked us through her process. Right off the bat she sensed my father’s hesitation at moving at all but was able to ease his fears. She helped him see that the move was just an initial step and he did commit to a move date. She laid out a tentative timeline for the pack days and the move. I received a contract and formal estimate after the holidays and was able to take care of all that via email from my home.
My parents were anxious about the pack days, but when the time came, they became comfortable as the Family Matters team was professional, friendly and upbeat. Kim was also there to ease them into the now very real transition. The move was well planned and organized. Kim had measured their apartment and identified what furniture from their house would fit in their new space. The Family Matters team unpacked and set up the furniture in the new apartment. The apartment was arranged for them to be homey and functional to make them feel comfortable. The hours and cost of the move came in right in line with the original estimate. The movers themselves were professional, efficient and careful. There were no damaged or missing items.
My parents are “collectors” and had managed to fill their house to the point where much of the floor in some rooms was not visible. Every drawer, cupboard, and closet in the house was also filled with miscellaneous odds and ends. The Family Matters team, though, was incredibly positive and efficient throughout the declutter process. I had to trust them as they touched pretty much everything in the house, including personal family items and valuables. They earned that trust every day by handling everything with respect and bringing any personal items to me for review.
Kim suggested we go with an estate liquidator after decluttering, even though it meant she would lose business as her team was going to help with us doing a sale ourselves. She helped contact and interview estate liquidation companies. After signing on with a company, Family Matters worked with them to get all saleable items organized to the point where the estate liquidators could take over for pricing and inventory. After the sale, Family Matters helped to donate or haul anything left over from the sale. Their fees for the declutter job were more than fair and reasonable for the work and value provided.
My parents and I did not always agree that this was the best move for them. Kim helped my parents adjust by visiting them at least once a week and updating them on progress. She supported me as well as I did question many times if what I was doing the right thing. Kim first told me she thinks of herself as a Family Facilitator and that is what her company is all about. She succeeded in that with our family in not only helping with each step in the actual process, but also helping us communicate better with each other so we could move forward with the transition and get to where we are now. Trusting in Kim and her team allowed us, as a family, to navigate the transition from start to finish.”
together!