by Meranda Watling

Angie's List member Julia Parrish of Fairfax, Va., says the first time she moved her mother out of the family home into an assisted living facility, it took an emotional and physical toll on both of them.

When the time came to move her 87-year-old mother to a new facility in August, Parrish hired A First-Class Move, a highly rated senior move management company in Falls Church, Va., to do the work for $3,700.

On the day of the move, Parrish and her mother enjoyed dinner together before returning to her unpacked apartment where flowers awaited their arrival.

"This is a great service for those seniors who have no children or children who work and do not have the time to handle all the details of a move," Parrish says. "When I moved my mom the first time, it was overwhelming."

To serve this growing niche, senior move management services have exploded in the past decade. The National Association of Senior Move Managers, founded in 2002 with 16 companies, now boasts more than 600 members, including 17 companies - four of which are highly rated on the List - serving the Washington, D.C., area.

NASMM member Transitional Assistance & Design, a highly rated company in Gaithersburg, Md., helped Angie's List member Neal Sheldon downsize from his condominium of 32 years into a smaller space at a retirement community.

"I don't know how I could have done it without them," the 71-year-old Falls Church resident says. "They do a number of things that arise in conjunction with a move that movers don't do."

He paid the company about $5,000 to plan the new layout, pack and unpack, set up his complicated video equipment and hang up his clothes. NASMM requires its members to carry liability insurance, obtain a business license and follow a code of conduct and ethics. No license is required to oversee moves, but move managers hire licensed companies to do the moves.

Mary Ann Brewer and Nancy Loyd, co-owners of highly rated Busy Buddies in Springfield, Va., retired from government and teaching jobs before starting their senior move management business. "We realized there was so much stress going on before the move," says Brewer. "We thought we would be unpacking, but we found out we're also social workers and everything now. We hold their hands throughout the process."

Their services range from helping sort what to keep to unpacking at the new home. Fees start at $300 and go up, depending on the services needed and the time it takes. According to a 2009 NASMM membership survey, the average total cost to move a senior into a two-bedroom unit ranged from $1,500 to $4,000.

Many times families live far way or have no experience with downsizing, so local experts make an emotion-packed time less stressful, Brewer says.

That's what A First-Class Move, a NASMM member, did for Parrish. "They helped take away a lot of the stress of the move by taking care of the details," she says.