Active Aging Resources with Aaron Murphy

Creating Aging-in-Place experts.  Designing inclusive housing solutions.  Offering freedom to “Stay where you love and thrive where you live.”

Aaron D. Murphy, Owner/Founder @ ForeverHome

Office:                 360-881-0282 

Mobile:               360-440-8475

Email:                   aaron@foreverhome-us.com

Address:             Forever Home

5819 NE Minder Rd Poulsbo, WA 98370

Website:             https://www.foreverhome-us.com/Default.aspx

Chapters

• 0:00 00:00 Introduction to Aging in Place Solutions
• 0:00 02:47 Key Elements of Aging in Place Homes
• 0:00 05:28 Flexibility and Adaptability in Housing
• 0:00 09:27 Challenges in Home Modifications
• 0:00 15:36 Personal Journey into Aging in Place
• 0:00 18:58 Vision for the Future of Housing
• 0:00 23:21 Designing Forever Homes
• 0:00 27:32 The Importance of Planning Ahead
• 0:00 29:26 Collaboration with Professionals
• 0:00 32:39 The Future of Aging in Place
• 0:00 38:58 Passion and Purpose in Aging Solutions
• 0:00 41:04 AAR Outro.mp4
• 0:00 41:31 Active-Aging-Silver.mp4

Transcript

Active Aging PodCast (00:27)

Hi, today I'm speaking with Aaron Murphy. He's the owner and founder of Forever Home in Washington State. He creates aging in place experts, designs inclusive housing solutions that offer freedom to stay where you love and thrive where you live. I love that byline. So good morning, Aaron.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (00:46)

Thank you.

Good morning. Thanks for having me.

Active Aging PodCast (00:50)

I'm glad to have you. So your mission focuses on creating aging in place business leaders through training, coaching. How do you do this? Can you elaborate on what this actually looks like in practice?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (01:04)

Yeah, for sure. So I'm a licensed architect in Washington and we've been doing aging in a place as a part of our firm for as long as I've been in business, which is over 15 years. What I realized is that at the pace that people are aging and there's coming up soon more 65 year olds than 18 year olds for the first time in the history of the world, that there needed to be more of me.

And what I've done at my firm is I've scaled the company and I wanted to teach other people how to do what I've done, which has become synonymous with the term aging in place in their own Tri-County area. And so that's what inspired me to start Forever Home and build out

the coursework of our best practices and it's 15 years of wins and losses that teach the lessons that got me here. And so I felt like, and I didn't have to do it, I needed to do it. Meaning I just, couldn't sleep at night if I did not go share what I've done because I want there to be a thousand of me in the United States.

Active Aging PodCast (02:21)

I love it.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (02:22)

So yeah, so that's what inspired the coursework. We have four areas of study, 12 modules, 36 courses. And then if you want the accountability, we also do one-on-one and group coaching. So just a function of what fits your budget and how quick you want to move the needle in your company related to becoming that go-to expert.

Active Aging PodCast (02:47)

Okay. What do you believe are the key elements that make a home really suitable for aging in place?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (02:55)

Yeah, the list is long and varied. I wish there was a one size fits all, but that's never true. Same, just like any architecture project, Spec houses work great on flat lots, but that's not the truth of any particular parcel, right? And the further we get into this and the more we try to create housing that is deathly behind the curve.

As far as supply and demand, which is why we're having a housing crisis price-wise for affordability Each lot's unique. Well, so is each aging person, right? Everybody over 50 plus I've you know, I've had toe surgery. I've had two shoulder surgeries My body's different than yours and I'm 50, right? So there's not gonna be one size fits all what I like to

Active Aging PodCast (03:35)

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (03:52)

explain to people is that you're the quarterback and concierge. Okay, because you're a project manager, right? You need to lead the team as the designer. But you're also catering to somebody with dreams and hopes and fears and so every product and we know hundreds of them, that's what we've been doing is building relationships nationwide for 15 years.

Active Aging PodCast (03:58)

Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (04:21)

So I think the real question comes to price point because I don't ever answer the question of What does this cost or how long will this take? Right as a project manager for me my world works in a triangle and it's scope time and money Until I know all three. I don't know what the job is Does that make sense?

Active Aging PodCast (04:50)

It does make sense. So really what you're saying is the key elements are different for everybody. Really.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (04:58)

Right, I could have just said the word grab bar. I could have just said the word zero threshold shower. But my point was that your property and your body are different than your neighbors. So there isn't a simple answer for that. And again, I wish there was, but it's not true.

Active Aging PodCast (05:01)

Exactly, which is the first thing that comes to people's minds.

Absolutely.

So is there a way of making housing solution flexible, adaptable for people who are older?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (05:28)

For sure. Yeah. Yeah.

So great story actually. So we just designed and built a spec house, myself and a contractor here in Washington to test this theory. You know, we spent $500,000 on a home building at construction, you know, at the contractor's pricing. And that house was designed with flexibility.

Active Aging PodCast (05:44)

Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (05:58)

So while you can, there's two masters or, know, primary suites, right? One's upstairs with a view of the water. And when you can't do that anymore, the downstairs one is also fully accessible and on-grade and blocked for grab bars and flip down seats in the shower. And so, yes, you can do flexible. And that house sold for 130,000 more than the comp.

and it sold in nine days instead of the average in the county, which was 73. And the buyer is somebody who has some form of early cancer. I can't speak to the buyer because we're still in closing, but I will. We're going to interview the buyer about this and record it because of proof of concept that we, yeah, it is.

Active Aging PodCast (06:51)

I was just going to say that it's proof.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (06:54)

It was a test and it worked. to answer your question, so the buyer has some form of cancer, their body is changing exactly what she wanted, right? The master upstairs, well, you can, primary, sorry, that's a hard word to break. And then downstairs when she can't and to have both, right? So anyway, yes, you can be flexible. The story I was actually thinking of...

I had a builder come to me in our small town of Poulsbo, Washington, and he's done 1,300 doors in Vegas before, so he is a very seasoned builder. He walked into this office three years ago and dropped four floor plans on my desk behind me and said, these are Southwest, make them Northwest. I have a 24 lot plat.

Active Aging PodCast (07:33)

I guess so.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (07:47)

and we're going to design three or four homes for the plot. And you know what spec houses look like, right? They mirror them and then one's a gable and then another one's a hip roof and they try to make them look different. Well, I, nice to meet you. Thank you very much. I gave him the book I wrote on aging in place and our literature and my business card. And he came back a week later. He said, throw my plans away. We're doing aging in place.

Active Aging PodCast (08:08)

which is right.

which is what should be, that should be happening all over.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (08:20)

Right, and that is my big hairy audacious goal is to actually disrupt the spec builder industry because spec build people are, they inherited dad's spreadsheet from 1990. The line at the bottom is black dot red. So they just go, la la la, can't hear you, we're fine. Nothing about that house works for anybody over 40. And by the way, it also includes that you should be.

Active Aging PodCast (08:39)

great.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (08:48)

Right-handed, perfect height, perfect weight, perfect vision, perfect hearing, and the ability to communicate verbally with another human being. That is not everyone you know. Even if you want to be in denial about your own issues, it's not Judy, and you'd like Judy to come play cards, and you'd like Steven to come to Christmas, visitable. If nothing else, visitable, right?

Active Aging PodCast (09:06)

Exactly. You are not hosted.

Absolutely.

So what are some of the biggest challenges that homeowners face when trying to modify their homes? And how do you overcome them? Do you think number one is finance?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (09:27)

Probably yes or the unknown of finance and so there's two things I do in that in that realm that have worked very well, so people come Unless you work for you know Google or Microsoft or Amazon or you know You don't come to me as an architect for a home anything typically until 40 because you bought the spec house and spec houses are They build two homes. They build the move in and the move up and that's it

Active Aging PodCast (09:29)

Thank you.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (09:57)

Right, but because somebody comes to me at 40 or older, when I say to you, is there any chance you might live here in 30 years? Well, I phrased the question in a way that the answer's always yes. Therefore, I can say, great, let's talk about you being 70 in this house. What are mom and dad's ailments? Can we consider that stuff behind the walls?

Active Aging PodCast (10:14)

great.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (10:26)

And in planning and in layout things you will not notice, but they're there when you need them.

Active Aging PodCast (10:34)

Absolutely.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (10:35)

Okay, so phrasing, words are powerful. And the way you phrase and the tone of voice and the calmness of delivery, right? When you're building trust and rapport with a client, and I've sat at the kitchen table with an 88 and an 87 year old and the three adult children in Seattle. you know, it was a referral friend from college, hey, my buddy at work, they need you. Well, he knows what I do because

of how we became a local expert, right? So I went to that kitchen table and I am holding hands with he and she and there's tears and then we're laughing at the adult kids, screw the kids, they're gonna inherit a house worth $1.2 million, let them fix it later. This is about your quality of life, right? But when you can make them laugh and cry, then we can have real conversations, right?

Active Aging PodCast (11:32)

Yes, you get to the

conversation.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (11:34)

You get to the right and it's like

peeling an onion. The truth is three levels deep and you have to stay long enough. So you have to care. This can't be about money. The money will come as a professional. when. Yeah, it has to be right. It's a caretaking mentality. That I just lay on top of that that I'm a licensed architect and CAP certified and I have 15 years beyond the three day course to tell you what works.

Active Aging PodCast (11:46)

Yeah, it's heart centered.

Yes.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (12:04)

But you asked me a question, what is the barrier? Money typically or the not knowing what the cost is, right? And so you can get analysis paralysis. know, the internet's full of white noise and you can go down any rabbit hole you want with two clicks and let the algorithms take over. So that's why I talk about hiring professionals because again, you might know about a grab bar and a flip down seat.

Active Aging PodCast (12:12)

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (12:33)

or you might know about, you just interviewed rapid, or not rapid recess, but SensTec right? Right, you might know the two things. Yeah, yeah, and I know Mark and that's fair. I know, that's my point, right? Our job in the internet age, one of the things you're required to do as a professional and an expert is to disseminate data, because there's too much of it.

Active Aging PodCast (12:38)

It's like, yes, a slick shower pan. Yeah. Not everybody knows about that.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (13:01)

So when I can bring you, yes, there's 3000 of them. Here are the three I usually use. Now we're just looking at something that's manageable and we can talk about either price point or lead time to delivery, right? Post COVID, we have to think about all that stuff for contractors. You know, so in our drawings, if I put or equal in the spec that what it means is, you know, you can choose Juan Julio's

Active Aging PodCast (13:21)

Absolutely.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (13:30)

grab bar or something of the equivalent so that you leave.

Active Aging PodCast (13:33)

Exactly. People don't

know that there are some beautiful grab bars that don't even look like grab bars. You know, they're thinking them.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (13:39)

Right, in Bizzia,

yeah, they make stuff that looks like a towel bar, looks like a toilet paper holder, looks like a soap dispenser or a soap tray, right? Yeah, we're not building hospitals in homes. But by the way, your home should be a part of your hospital plan because you know the stories about eight hours in the ER because of burnout and understaffing and retirements and that could be a whole different hour of discussion.

Active Aging PodCast (14:08)

Exactly.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (14:09)

Right. But you need

your home on your thriving in place dream team. Right. And that, but sorry, I keep getting off track. You asked, I'd say money. know it just makes my brain go. Sorry. I Lots of, just lots of anecdotal experience. can't help, but draw on it when it clicks. yeah, I'd say money or, or overwhelm in knowledge or lack thereof.

Active Aging PodCast (14:17)

That's okay. There's so much. This encompasses so much.

or not planning ahead and desperately needing a solution like now, right?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (14:44)

Right. And yeah, and I explain that to people. go, as an architect, I'm not the rent a ramp guy. I'm not the grab bar by tomorrow guy. Right. And there's great people out there. I'm actually in discussions with Sean at True Blue Ally about helping them with their franchisees to do some additional coaching beyond their onboarding.

Active Aging PodCast (15:06)

Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (15:10)

because they are very focused on the 50 plus marketplace with their home maintenance and repair program, right? We don't overlap, right? You come to me and I make you plan ahead when you weren't actually even thinking about it, but I entered the conversation in a way that you couldn't say no. So now we're talking because I led you there, right?

Active Aging PodCast (15:17)

which is awesome.

I love that.

You

Yeah. So let me ask you, what inspired you personally to get involved in this?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (15:40)

Yeah.

so I am the poster child now of the sandwich generation. have four teenagers and four parents between 75 and 83. do. Yep. 15 to 19. We just launched two to college in the fall this year. yeah. So our hands are full and I have rentals and I'm commercial buildings and I have two companies. And so, yeah, I mean, we know what it's like to juggle and

Active Aging PodCast (15:49)

more teenagers. Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (16:10)

including some of the out of town caretaking fears of the adult child, right? What got me into this originally was my grandmother when I went to college at the University of Washington, when I left, she was five foot nine, traveling the world, playing bridge, playing cards with her friends at a master's level and loving life.

Active Aging PodCast (16:16)

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (16:33)

When I got out of the University of Washington, she was five foot two trapped in a hospital bed in the living room of a split level home in Portland, Oregon and did not know Carl's name. So for her osteoporosis and Alzheimer's, know, at 22, I wasn't ready to learn about elder hygiene or medical or anything like that. But as somebody who just graduated architecture school, I immediately noticed that her home was broken for her needs.

Active Aging PodCast (17:02)

Absolutely.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (17:03)

Right?

Split levels are the worst, right? It's seven steps to the front door, then four, seven down, eight up. Yeah. Right. And the laundry's downstairs anyway, and there's no shower on the main floor anywhere. So, that was what I noticed. And that was a trigger for me. But the second part of that light bulb was 15 years later in my early thirties, right before I started ADM architecture, I bought a car off Craigslist.

Active Aging PodCast (17:08)

Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (17:29)

Two 63 year olds brought me a vehicle. It was mom. She took great care of this old Ford Taurus or whatever it could afford. But I asked them, was like, whose car is this? Mom's where she live, assisted living down the road in our county. And I said, I'm doing a little research. Do you mind if I ask what that cost you? They said 150 grand out of pocket and 10 grand.

Active Aging PodCast (17:53)

10 grand a month.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (17:55)

And this was 15 years ago.

And I said, who can afford that? Right. mean, that's the 1%. So yeah. And so those were my two light bulbs that as a spec house is broken for an old person, my grandma, and then who in the heck can afford the alternative. We have to fix housing. That was so since day one at ADM architecture.

Active Aging PodCast (18:06)

for how long we'll afford that.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (18:28)

I have chosen that our unique sales position to not compete for every waterfront home and not have to play politics in Seattle to get the best jobs. go, what's my unique sales position that no, no one else is in this lane. And I chose aging in place and I got CAPS certified in 2009 and then started making it a part of my daily discussions with our residential clients. So we do commercial too. I've done.

Active Aging PodCast (18:50)

Right.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (18:58)

2 million square feet of commercial buildings. So I know the ADA code and I know ANSI code, but there isn't anything like that for houses. It's not worth it. Well, there's an IRC There's a book just like this one for residential. The B is the building code. R is the residential code, but accessibility isn't a part of that. Now.

Active Aging PodCast (19:09)

No, there's no residential code.

Mm-hmm

All right, we'll link.

That's what I meant.

Yes.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (19:24)

You have two choices, right? As a government entity, federal, state, city, whatever, carrots or sticks. Okay. Well, Atlanta was incentivizing visitability, right? For some builders. And I do love that too, right? At least one door to your house has to be on grade. And there has to be an accessible-ish, you know, different parameters, but a bathroom on the main floor.

Active Aging PodCast (19:38)

I that.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (19:53)

so that at least Janet, who fell and broke her hip and now she's in recovery and we love Janet and she's coming to Thanksgiving, she can use the bathroom and she can get in your house. Why isn't that the baseline?

Active Aging PodCast (20:04)

use the bathroom.

I don't know. I don't know, but I think it soon will be. It's going to have to be.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (20:15)

I did too.

And that's my vision. That's my passion is to try to disrupt the spec builder industry. And like I said, we spent half a million dollars borrowed to prove the point that this house we built sold way quicker for more money. And it's exactly the client who was looking for exactly that solution twice.

Active Aging PodCast (20:39)

Did you have multiple

offers on that house?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (20:42)

Well, we took the first offer because it was full price. Two people in one week who visited that home said, we're not quite ready. Will you build it again?

Active Aging PodCast (20:46)

Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (20:56)

Right? mean, yeah, everybody's asking if you're paying attention.

Active Aging PodCast (20:57)

Yeah, you will.

Yeah. Do you build over 55 communities?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (21:06)

We don't. I've done apartments. I've done 150 unit apartment buildings. I've done hotels. But I have not done assisted living or like a Sun City to your point earlier, you asked, can it be flexible? The gentleman that came to me from Vegas, we got the job and he said, let's do Aging in Place, not My House Plans. So what I did that I would argue is maybe the first time

It's been well done in the country. I actually designed that house twice. So there's three homes and then you change the roof lines and you mirror them. Right. We designed three houses. One's 1500 square foot Rambler, but the other two are still two story because the spec builder has a problem that when I'll come back to that. Just remind me about, you know, when you clear a forest and create a plat and

why we end up with uneven parcels and small parcels. But let's finish the house part. Two of the three houses are two stories, because they sell heated square feet, right? So when you have a small lot, you have to build a two-story home to make money, theoretically, okay?

Active Aging PodCast (22:24)

You

want people to visit, your kids, your grandkids.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (22:27)

Right, right, and you need someone for

them to stay and they can climb the stairs. My point though is that these three houses I actually designed twice in the two stories anyway. About the time that you might need an elevator is about the time you would give up a second car anyway. So if actually we've already designed the house once to be built today, but we've already put a second panel for power.

And we've already framed the hole for the elevator to go upstairs in one of those spots in the garage. And I've redesigned the upstairs. So right now it's a four bedroom. With the elevator, it becomes a three bedroom with a reading nook, right? Or the washer and dryer moved downstairs and I took the utility room upstairs and made that the elevator shaft.

Okay, so these homes are actually designed for now and designed for later with a very minor remodel so that it can be your forever home.

Active Aging PodCast (23:33)

amazing.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (23:35)

because no one wants to move. The cost of moving can be up to 20 % of the cost of selling your home. And who can do that at 72 or wants to? Nobody.

Active Aging PodCast (23:50)

Well, they say, I mean, statistics show no one wants to move, right? Until they absolutely have to. Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (23:58)

Right. And the have

to comes from the panic and the crisis and the fall and the broken hip and the ER and the rehab. And I do get those phone calls. Mom's being discharged in four weeks after, you know, in-house OT, PT. I can't, I can't, right. Yeah, that's a true blue ally or that's a, right, that's somebody that can do something. But in my world, that's lipstick on a pig.

Active Aging PodCast (24:12)

need to redo the bathroom because she can't get in their wheelchair. Yeah.

Well, that makes sense. It is you're right.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (24:26)

It's a bandaid on a gaping womb.

But when you talk, let's say an elevator installed that's big enough for a bariatric wheelchair. Let's say it's $50,000. When I tell you, because no one has done the research to understand the price point of relativity, $50,000 investing in yourself or five months in assisted living.

Active Aging PodCast (24:57)

No brainer.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (24:57)

It's your call.

It's a no-brainer only if you thought about it before you fell and broke your hip.

Active Aging PodCast (25:04)

Yeah, it's so true.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (25:07)

Because what I do takes time, right? Design, permitting, finding a contractor, getting on a schedule. Right? If you came to me today to design a new house on a lot you bought, you get the keys in two years. Yes.

Active Aging PodCast (25:22)

two years.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (25:25)

because permitting and yeah, they have their own staffing problems and that, know, jurisdictions do too, just like hospitals do. We're all struggling to find good people.

Active Aging PodCast (25:37)

Do you find you're doing more remodels than new homes?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (25:45)

Right now, I would say yes, because of the cost of construction, which has not come down. Yeah, it has not come down much post COVID. I mean, people come to an architect to design a custom home, right? But again, when I chose to start an architecture firm in 2009, I also chose, like I said earlier, not

Active Aging PodCast (25:49)

That's a hit and I have to wait so long.

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (26:08)

chase waterfront, not chase millionaires, not chase the cover of Dwell and House Magazine, you know, magazine. That's not who I am. I choose to do more work for less money for clients I would have a beer with. That's my personal, that's how I sleep at night. That's what I've chosen. And in that belief system is that there are certain things that happen in life that are not about disposable income. Families grow.

people age, change happens, right? If you live in a town like I do, my kids can't afford to live here. I couldn't even buy the three houses I own today if I had to rebuy them again today, right? yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, ridiculous. So similar in Seattle. So my point is to yours that yes, remodeling and additions are probably two thirds of what we do.

Active Aging PodCast (26:53)

side of Boston, forget it.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (27:09)

And again, when you come to me, it might be because my son's moving home and now I work from home and we need another office and another bedroom or something, right? Well, in that process, I also talk about if you're going to invest this much money, can we talk about this house lasting until you're 85 instead of 70?

Active Aging PodCast (27:25)

See you again.

Yeah, it's so important to plan ahead. I mean, I see it. So it requires, AG in place requires working with occupational therapists, physical therapists, designers, a whole lot of people. So how do you collaborate with other professionals to come up with the design and what a person actually needs?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (27:59)

Sure, yeah, again, a function of scope, time and money, right? How many people can I bring to the table? Well, that's a function of both time and money. I do my best to include OT when it is physically specific to, because I'll sit down to any client and go, hey, talk to me once I've said, might you live here in 30 years? Then I can say, tell me, you know, what were mom's ailments, dad's ailments? What kind of, what is the?

Active Aging PodCast (28:03)

Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (28:27)

general history, if we're all going to have a stroke on the left side, if we're all going to have Parkinson's, if we're all right, then I can start to talk about, we have an OT? I'll take care of the building, they'll take care of the body, right? Without one, I still have to accept the project, but if they're not interested in that depth of detail, then I'm putting blocking on in behind the walls in the shower

Active Aging PodCast (28:55)

to prepare for those grab bars.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (28:56)

prepare for

that right now I don't know if you're gonna have a stroke on the left side or the right side right I do know that men are stronger up top women are stronger in the butt hips and legs you know but I the showerhead could end up on the wrong side because we didn't know right but we do the best we can to be prepared for as many options that could go to your point flexible right you know we I've

Active Aging PodCast (29:02)

Bye.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (29:26)

Trademark the term future flex Yeah, yeah for our specification books that go with the plans house plans that are on forever homes website Same idea. We'll do our best Right, but if somebody's coming home and if we have time and if they have the financial resources I absolutely want to note to you there. I'd love to talk to

Active Aging PodCast (29:29)

Future Flex, I like that.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (29:54)

I have a more brains, more better mentality and maybe that's why our tagline is architecture without the ego. I would love to talk to your certified financial planner. I would love to talk to your CPA. I would love to talk to your, your doctor, right? Or you're, and then definitely if you have an OT or a PT already, I want that conversation in the design room.

Active Aging PodCast (30:20)

So you get it right.

or as close to creation.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (30:23)

I can't know everything,

but I do have a golden Rolodex. One of the things we teach, right, is that you have to understand and have knowledge and connections in your parallel industries if you plan to get this right. Because a referral of something you can't do is through referrals coming back to you. What I mean, right, it's about, it's the gift of the go-giver, right? I'll admit when it's not in my lane, but I always know

Active Aging PodCast (30:28)

Okay, I like that.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (30:53)

Who to call?

Active Aging PodCast (30:55)

important.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (30:56)

I two phone calls away from your answer. I got a call, my own uncle who unfortunately just passed, but they were in a second floor condo in Fort Myers, Florida. I'm in Seattle. My cousin, who's a physical therapist in Chicago, his daughter called me because she knows what I do. She said, hey, dad just slipped and fell in the garage, broke his femur vertically.

Active Aging PodCast (31:15)

There she knows what you do. Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (31:24)

He's going to be discharged soon. They need the bed. We're not sure where he's going to go. Who do you know? I said, I'll be right back. Two phone calls, two emails, about two hours. I had somebody within an hour of him driving toward him.

to help solve that problem.

Active Aging PodCast (31:48)

Amazing. You are connected throughout the United States.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (31:50)

Okay.

Right, right, and I did that to prepare to teach. This is what you need to do. Now, maybe you don't wanna do it nationally like I'm doing, but you absolutely have to do it locally to become the go-to. A lot of times people call the contractor first, right, when they're thinking about remodeling. If you lived in a Tri County area around me.

Active Aging PodCast (32:15)

Yeah, they do.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (32:20)

And you called the contractor and you met them at mom's house and you said mom wants to age in place. Even if I had not met anyone in that room, the contractor would go time out, you said aging in place, call Eric.

Active Aging PodCast (32:34)

call Aaron. Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (32:36)

synonymous.

That's really good too.

Active Aging PodCast (32:40)

I want

to make sure everyone knows how to get in touch with you. Call Erin. Yeah, so important. Okay, so looking ahead, how do you see the Aging in Place movement evolving, say, over the next 10 years? What's gonna happen?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (32:43)

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so I got, I was actually hired to go do a TV show 10 years ago, in Tokyo about aging in place. Yeah. Someone from LA found me when I was doing this. and so, yeah, they flew me to Tokyo to the home international home health expo. And they did a TV show. got to go visit, Toto's R and D department and they

Active Aging PodCast (33:04)

I told you!

Okay.

Interesting.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (33:23)

Yeah,

and they put me in an age suit and had me test their bathroom equipment that they were working on. So the cool part about Japan is they're 15 years older than we are per capita. So when I went there 10 years ago, there were seven ways to get in and out of a minivan in a wheelchair.

Active Aging PodCast (33:26)

Okay.

Yes.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (33:47)

Honda and Toyota were competing for this space. They had to guinea pig all this first. They had to start because they're older than we are. So I got to see some amazing things that are just now landing here 10 plus years later. Age tech is blowing up, right? People trying to figure out how to use AI to be a caretaker. There's a robot that can carry your laundry basket. There's...

Active Aging PodCast (33:51)

Okay.

Right?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (34:15)

You know, we just did a webinar. It's actually evergreen up on our website at foreverhome-us.com. If you click on webinars called the Future of Aging in Place. And what I did was talk through kind of in the zero to thousand dollars and the, you know, five 20 and the 25 plus, it categorized kind of what's coming and what, what's really being researched, everything from robotic.

Cats that you can pet and they walk around like companionship, right? Isolation is a huge deal. So your question is, what do you think is coming? What tech is working their butts off to try to solve this right up into the point where it's not human. And we have to admit that there's a human need, right? Physical touch, hugs. I know, I know, but there's a place for tech.

Active Aging PodCast (34:45)

And you don't

It was a human need, you need that hug

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (35:10)

I think they're just trying to find their place. know, 10 years ago, Lively was a company where they go, we know dad doesn't want a camera in his house. So they just had key fobs that were magnetic or something, right? It was on the door to the garage. It was on the door to the fridge and it was on the pillbox. So all I could tell on my phone is that dad moved around like he normally does today. Or he didn't. Correct.

Active Aging PodCast (35:34)

Or he didn't. He didn't take his pills. Yeah,

he didn't open that fridge.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (35:37)

Right,

when I was in Japan, so we only know Okie over here for like commercial size paper printers. That's great. Like a $15,000 printer in a big office. over there, I was there and they had taken the concept of like Safeway's security camera. So there's a little globe, but it wasn't a camera, but it was a sensor on the ceiling. When I walked around the room, this little like crystal

Active Aging PodCast (35:44)

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (36:05)

Obolescent thing sitting on the side table by the chair in this room was when I walked around it was green When I stopped walking it turned blue When I held my breath it turned red and texted you

No camera.

Active Aging PodCast (36:24)

no camera, so it's less invasive, right?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (36:28)

Correct, right?

So how do I, right, so I have a good relationship with my parents. So I can go in and go, I promise you, I do not want to see you in the bathroom on a camera. I promise, right? But I would like the peace of mind. If you guys want to stay home, can I offer, start thinking, if you're 50, start thinking, or 40, start thinking about your Christmas presents, right? I just put our little cameras up. Me and the 19 year old boy put the cameras up, right?

Active Aging PodCast (36:38)

you

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (36:57)

So just for security and start thinking about how you can gift your own peace of mind into their lives. Right, because as the adult child, right, you want to play on the emotion of mom, I'm scared for you, or it's, this is about how I feel. It's not about who you are, right? That's soft skills.

Active Aging PodCast (37:06)

If your own people mind that is helpful to caretakers.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (37:23)

That's soft skills. are 3D skills. That's hugs and I love yous. And can, can you let me sleep better at night? There's all.

Active Aging PodCast (37:32)

That's it. And they want you to sleep

better at night. They don't want you worrying about them. I want you know this. They don't.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (37:36)

They don't want you worried. They don't want to be a burden. They are

fine. They will say they're fine. They're not fine. You and I know they're not. I can see dad's purple calves. I can see mom switching from the cane to the walker if her osteoarthritis is that. They're going to say they're fine. And what they mean is I don't want to burden you.

Active Aging PodCast (38:03)

don't want to burden you. Okay.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (38:05)

So

let's, you'd ask, right? So that's where, having sort of, call me of course, right? Right, I can consult. The cool part about that, right? I can go to your mom's house and I'm an expert, forget what I know. Just the fact that I'm a stranger and I got on a plane or a train or got in a car with a briefcase, I'm an expert. I could give you a script, you could go talk to my mom and she'd actually hear you. Because I'm just a child at 50.

Active Aging PodCast (38:30)

that's interesting.

You're the sun.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (38:34)

One, right? Right,

Active Aging PodCast (38:34)

Yeah.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (38:36)

you're never not the child and that's what complicates the communication. That's why you hire experts. I can get in there and have an emotional conversation, but it's not emotional about us. It's emotional about your needs, your dreams, your fears, and how can I solve your problem?

Active Aging PodCast (38:56)

Amazing.

Amazing. I am so glad that I had you on this podcast.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (39:03)

I'm sure we only got like three questions out of your 10, but.

Active Aging PodCast (39:06)

I don't know.

I think you offered so much information. Wow. And I really feel that what you're sharing is of the utmost importance right now because so many of us are aging. 10,000 a day are turning 65.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (39:22)

Yeah, it's going to be 12,000 a day soon. Yeah. Well, you know, we can't fix denial, but for those that are willing to listen, there's ideas and solutions and we, any of us, lots of the people we know. Obviously, if I can get a phone call that goes from Seattle to Chicago to somewhere in Orlando in two hours and get someone in a car, we just want to help.

Active Aging PodCast (39:25)

Amazing.

Right?

We just want to help.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (39:52)

Right. Yes,

we're yes, trying to make a living. Yes, it needs to be profitable, but it's a passion first. It's a paycheck second.

Active Aging PodCast (40:02)

Exactly, and that's exactly how I feel. I'm so glad I had you on and I hope I have you one again and hear more about what you're doing.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (40:10)

Yeah, no, I'd love

to come back. That'd be great.

Active Aging PodCast (40:13)

Great. Well, thank you so much. And how do people get in touch with you?

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (40:17)

Yeah, sure. So everything we talked about today, as far as national and all the aging in place stuff, you can go to foreverhome-us.com and get a hold of me through the website there or the office number. Again, outside of Seattle is 360-881-0282.

Active Aging PodCast (40:40)

and will have all that information below. And I appreciate your time. And if anyone has questions, please reach out.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (40:48)

Yeah, yeah, start a conversation. It won't happen overnight. Let's chat.

Active Aging PodCast (40:53)

Right. All right. Well, thank you. Bye-bye.

Aaron Murphy @ ForeverHome (40:55)

Thank you.