A few weeks ago, my eight-year-old son and I were on the way to visit my mom.

My mom has Alzheimer's and she lives on the 20th floor of a massive apartment building.

So my son had recently had a fire drill at school and he learned that you can't use the elevators

when there's a fire.

And he knows that my mom can't get out of her building without an elevator.

As we went up the 20 floors to see her in the aging elevator, my son asked, if there's

a fire, do we just let Yaya burn?

It was one of those questions that you just don't know how to answer as a parent.

I said no.

But then he did press and he said, but she can't walk.

Which, yeah, I ended up saying that a firefighter would carry her down all 20 flights of stairs.

Maybe that would happen?

But it brings up a big question that comes up for most people taking care of their sick and aging parents.

When is it time to move them out?

I'm Vanessa Rodriguezigoriades and this is My Parents Are Old.

Today we're going to talk about the biggest financial asset most parents have, their houses.

Their houses are repositories of memories.

Maybe you learn to ride a bike there or watch TV while pretending to do your homework.

And so the question of when to move on can be really fraught on so many levels.

Tina Fallon is a real estate agent and also the founder of the 24-hour plays.

And actually, she was my realtor and she got me my house.

So I'm eternally grateful to her.

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