Downsizing & Retirement Moves · Metro Atlanta
Senior Movers in Atlanta for Downsizing and Retirement Moves
- 4.8 Google · 396+ reviews
- Licensed & Insured
- Background-Checked Moving Professionals
- Georgia DPS (MCCD) Certificated
Moving a parent from the family home into an apartment or a retirement community? Our crews help with the downsizing, work to the new floor plan and handle the community’s move-in rules, at your parent’s pace.
What a senior move with LIOO covers
Short answer: a senior move is usually a downsizing move. An older adult leaves a long-held house for an apartment, a condo or a retirement community, usually with family helping from nearby or from out of state. We help sort what goes, work to the new floor plan, place the furniture where it will be used, and run the day around the community’s move-in rules. It’s billed at the same hourly rates as any local move.
Just updated · Reviewed by Tavion McCullough, Operations Manager
How it differs from a standard move
| Standard local move | Downsizing move with LIOO |
|---|---|
| You decide what goes before the crew arrives. | We work room by room while your parent and the family decide what to keep, give to family or donate. |
| Furniture goes wherever you point. | Furniture goes where the new floor plan puts it, with clear paths between the bed, the bathroom and the chair. |
| Boxes are stacked and the crew leaves. | Beds are put back together and boxes go to the rooms on their labels. Unpacking can be booked as well. |
| One address, one schedule. | The community’s move-in hours, elevator and paperwork set the schedule. |
Senior mover or senior move manager?
LIOO Moving is the moving crew. A move manager plans the whole transition: the sorting decisions, the floor plan, selling or donating what doesn’t go, and hiring and coordinating the movers. Many families use both, with the manager planning and our crew packing, carrying, placing the furniture and putting the bed back together. If the family is running the sorting itself, a crew alone is enough.
| Task | Move manager | LIOO Moving crew |
|---|---|---|
| Plan the move and the new floor plan | Usually leads it | Works to the plan, and checks what fits when quoting |
| Decide what to keep | Guides the decisions | Does the physical sorting; the decisions stay with the family |
| Sell, donate or clear what’s left | Usually arranges it | Doesn’t haul away donations or junk |
| Pack and unpack | Often arranges it | Packing and unpacking crews, billed by the hour |
| Load, drive and place the furniture | Hires a mover for it | Does it, with beds put back together the same day |
| Community COI and elevator | Coordinates with the community | Supplies the COI; the elevator depends on the building |
Downsizing from a house to an apartment or community
Most of these moves start in a house the family has lived in for decades and end in a one- or two-bedroom apartment, so the furniture and boxes have to shrink before anything is loaded. Sorting is where these moves stall. We do the physical part: emptying closets, the garage and the basement, opening boxes nobody has opened in years, and setting up keep, family, donate and discard areas in each room so your parent can decide sitting down instead of standing for hours. The decisions stay with your parent and the family. The crew does the carrying.
Start with the new floor plan. If the king bed and the china cabinet won’t both fit, that decision has to happen before anything is packed. Begin in the low-emotion rooms (linens, the garage, the basement) and leave the bedroom and kitchen for last, because they hold what your parent uses every day. A photo of a piece that isn’t making the move often makes letting go easier.
We don’t haul away donations or junk. Book a charity pickup or a hauler for the day after the move, so those items leave the house while the decisions are fresh, and tell us about them when you book so the crew can set them aside.
Packing and unpacking are booked by the hour, like the move itself. Our packing and unpacking crews wrap the china, glass and framed photos and label each box for the room it goes to in the new place, not the room it left. If some furniture needs somewhere to wait while the house sells or the family decides, ask about moving and storage.
From families we’ve moved
Three customers on what the day was like: a father moving into assisted living, a grandmother whose family couldn’t be there, and a customer moving on his own. Quoted from their public reviews.
“We hired LIOO Moving to move my dad to an assisted living community. They did an excellent job! They were very careful with his items and were very patient. They didn’t leave until everything was exactly how we wanted it.”
Tyler Rubens · Google · November 2023
“This move was important as I wasn’t going to be there and needed to ensure everything would get moved for my grandmother with ease. My grandmother raves about how kind the men were. She was very thankful for how they treated her items and got the job done promptly.”
JADE J. · Thumbtack · March 2022
“…They were very accommodating about the fact that I can't really do a lot of things that I used to be able to do. Sam, Thomas, and Conner were very polite and patient with me which I really appreciated.”
Ryan O. · Thumbtack · November 2021
Working to the floor plan and placing furniture
Ask the community or the building for the new unit’s floor plan, then measure the doorways, the hallway turns and the elevator. When we quote the move, we use that plan to settle which pieces fit, so the bed, the recliner and the dining set are chosen for the new rooms, not the old ones.
On move day, furniture goes where the plan puts it. The bed and nightstands are placed so the path to the bathroom is short and clear, a recliner gets room to stand up from, and if your parent uses a walker or a wheelchair we keep two clear routes through the main room before side tables and plants go in. Beds, dressers and dining tables taken apart at the old home are put back together the same day, with the hardware bagged and labeled for each piece.
Rugs are the one thing we leave for the family. Loose rugs are easy to trip on in a new layout, so we leave them rolled until you decide where, or whether, they go down.
Retirement community move-in rules: COI, elevator and set hours
Retirement and assisted living communities around Atlanta run move-ins on a schedule, and the crew has to fit inside it. Expect three things: a certificate of insurance (COI) naming the community before the truck is allowed at the dock, a reserved service or freight elevator, and set move-in hours, often weekday daytime only. Some also ask for floor protection in the hallways.
We supply the community’s COI. Send us its requirements when you book. Who reserves the elevator depends on the building: where the community lets the mover book it, we do, and where only the resident or the family can, we tell you when you book. Either way, we schedule the crew, the truck and the load order around the confirmed window, loading the rooms your parent needs first so they come off the truck first.
A common version of this move goes from a family house in Sandy Springs or Buckhead to a smaller place a few miles away. If the new home is a high-rise condo in Buckhead or a community in Sandy Springs, its move-in packet will list the rules. Send it to us with the booking.
Family coordination and the move day
These moves usually involve several people: your parent, an adult child or two, sometimes a care manager, and the community’s move-in coordinator. We ask for one decision-maker who takes our calls on the day, and that person can be out of state. Everyone else can focus on your parent.
Crews are briefed before they arrive: who lives in the home, what they want kept close, any hearing or vision needs, and what they like to be called. We talk to your parent, not around them. If they change their mind about an item halfway through, we pull it back out.
If you can, keep your parent away from the house during the heaviest loading hours, with lunch out or a visit with family. Bring them to the new place after the bed is up and the lamps are plugged in, so the first look is a home rather than a stack of boxes.
From the first call to move day
When you call.
Give us both addresses, the move-in date the community has set and the name of the family’s decision-maker. Book 2 to 3 weeks ahead for a month-end date and about a week ahead for mid-month. Same-day moves are booked by phone. The written estimate shows the rate, the crew size and the minimum.
A month out.
Start downsizing in the garage, the basement and the linen closets. Tell the community which mover you’re using, and ask for its COI requirements and the floor plan.
Two weeks out.
Sort the kitchen, the china cabinet and the bookcases. Set up mail forwarding and the pharmacy’s new delivery address, and confirm the elevator reservation with the building.
The last week.
Pack what isn’t used every day and set aside a first-night bag that rides with your parent: medications, glasses, hearing aids, chargers, two changes of clothes and toiletries. Keep important papers in one folder that travels with the family, not on the truck.
Move day.
You choose an arrival window when you book, and dispatch confirms the arrival time the day before. The crew protects floors and doorways, loads, drives, unloads, places the furniture to plan and puts the bed back together, then walks the new home with the family’s decision-maker.
Senior moving rates in Atlanta
These moves are billed by the hour at the same rates as any local move. Crew size depends on the house, the stairs and how much is going, and it’s set in your written estimate. Full service includes our truck; with labor only, you supply the truck or container. The hourly rate has no separate fuel or stair charges.
| Crew | Full service | Labor only |
|---|---|---|
| 2 movers | $160/hr | $140/hr |
| 3 movers | $200/hr | $180/hr |
| 4 movers | $240/hr | $220/hr |
| 5 movers | $280/hr | $260/hr |
| 6 movers | $320/hr | $300/hr |
Minimum: 2.5 hours, or 3 hours on weekends, for same-day moves and for moves 25 or more miles from downtown Atlanta. Deposit: a 25% reservation deposit holds the date and is credited to the final bill.
Valuation: released valuation at $0.60 per pound per item is included, up to $2,000 per move ($1,000 for labor-only).Packing and unpacking labor is billed at the labor-only rates; boxes and materials are separate.
Pianos, gun safes and anything over 300 pounds carry a $100 specialty-item fee, quoted before you book. Get a written estimate.
Senior moving questions
How far ahead should we book a move into a retirement community?
Book once the community gives you a move-in date. For a month-end date, 2 to 3 weeks ahead is safe; mid-month, about a week is usually enough. Same-day moves are booked by phone when a crew is free. The community’s elevator window and set hours matter more than our calendar, so get those confirmed first.
Will the crew help my parent decide what to keep?
The crew does the physical work of sorting: emptying closets, opening old boxes and moving things into keep, family, donate and discard areas so your parent can decide sitting down. The decisions themselves stay with your parent and the family. Sorting time is billed at the same hourly rate as the move.
Do you take away donations and things nobody wants?
No. We move what’s going to the new home. Book a charity pickup or a hauler for the day after the move, so donations and discards leave while the decisions are fresh, and mention them when you book so the crew can set them aside. We also don’t carry hazardous materials (fuel, propane, paint, chemicals), firearms or ammunition, live plants, animals or perishable food; medications ride with your parent in the first-night bag.
Can you send the certificate of insurance the community asks for?
Yes. Send us the community’s COI requirements and the name of its move-in coordinator when you book, and we supply the certificate naming the community. Ask the coordinator at the same time about set move-in hours, the elevator and any floor-protection rules, so the crew is scheduled around them.
Who reserves the service elevator?
It depends on the building. Where the community or condo lets the mover book it, we do. Where only the resident or the family can, we tell you when you book so you can reserve it. Either way, the crew, the truck and the load order are scheduled around the confirmed window.
Will you set up the bed and furniture before you leave?
Yes. Furniture taken apart at the old home is put back together at the new one the same day, and each piece goes where the floor plan puts it, with clear paths between the bed, the bathroom and the chair. Unpacking boxes can be booked as well, at the labor-only hourly rates.
Can you move a parent from independent living to assisted living in the same community?
Yes. A move inside one community, to another floor or another building on the same campus, is usually a shorter job, with one elevator reservation and little or no driving. The community will normally still want a COI and a scheduled window, and the hourly minimum applies: 2.5 hours on weekdays, 3 hours on weekends.
What does a senior move cost in Atlanta?
It’s billed hourly at the same rates as any local move: $160 an hour for two movers and a truck, up to $320 an hour for six. The minimum is 2.5 hours, or 3 hours on weekends, for same-day moves and for moves 25 or more miles from downtown. A 25% deposit holds the date and is credited to the final bill. For a house-to-apartment move, only what fits the new floor plan goes, so it usually prices like the smaller home: a two-bedroom-sized load typically runs $700–$1,300 with three movers, and a three-bedroom-sized load $1,000–$1,800.
Do you offer a senior discount, and does Medicare pay for the move?
No. Our hourly rates are published and the same for every customer, every day, so there’s no separate senior or age-based discount, and Medicare doesn’t pay for a moving company. What keeps the bill down is booking a weekday, which carries the 2.5-hour minimum instead of 3 hours, and settling what’s going before move day, so the crew’s hours go to packing and carrying.
How do we protect a parent from moving scams?
Watch for a mover who wants cash only, won’t put the hourly rate, the minimum and the deposit in writing before the date, isn’t a certificated Georgia household-goods carrier, raises the price once things are on the truck, or presses your parent to sign or pay without the family’s decision-maker. LIOO Moving puts the rate, crew size, minimum and 25% deposit in a written estimate, holds its Georgia Department of Public Safety certificate, never holds belongings for more money, and takes the decision-maker’s calls on the day.
Can you move a parent to another state?
Out of Georgia, our long-distance line runs nine published routes: Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, Washington, DC and Orlando. A state that isn’t on those routes isn’t on our schedule, and we’ll say so when you call. The family’s decision-maker can coordinate from anywhere.
Ready to plan the move?
Send us both addresses, the community’s move-in date and who is coordinating for the family. The written estimate shows the rate, the crew size and the minimum.