I’m preparing for a worst case scenario (parents refuse to downsize, refuse to move to LTC, keep kicking the can down the road because everything is fine…). If they disregard my advice to downsize now that they’re cognizant all I can do is let them fail and use an emergency like a fall or an accident to talk to the ER doctor, convince him they’re not safe at home and move them to LTC or AL, somewhere they’re supervised at.
At least 2 fully furnished houses would have to go, these are large, old, but renovated houses: one is 2,700 square feet and the other 1,600, both measurements without counting the front garden and backyard. Completely furnished with stuff from several generations, most of it regular stuff not worth much.
I have zero experience dealing with estate sales and to me it looks daunting: How do I make sure potential buyers don’t low-ball me? Should I ask several local realtors first? How do I choose one to trust? Do I need a realtor? I live on another state and would want to expedite this but I just don’t know if waiting for a better offer would make sense.
How much time did you need to close the sale?
Dont have any Will clauses that permit preferential selling to a family member before liquidation. Hard deadlines, or just don’t.
Not about the house but about the parents.
Mine also stayed independent far longer than we thought prudent. We kids lived far away. But it seemed like they had it together when we talked on the phone. We ensured they had meal boxes delivered and a person to come help clean up & check on them 1-2x/week.
Only after they both rapidly deteriorated and were moved to care facility did I get to really check things out. OMFG. The paper towels in the freezer. The stacks of unpaid bills. Mom’s wedding ring which we accidentally found in an old shoe. And so on.
Same with my grandparents, droplets of bloody noses (or something) filthy bathrooms, decluttered but not clean, tons of expired food. Closer examination showed it was worse than we thought.
The biggest piece of advice is do everything possible ahead of time. Make sure any Will or Trust is rock solid. Make sure deeds and things are located and filed safely away. Anything possible.
It toook my wife’s family an extra year to sell her grandpa’s house because a wealthy greedy aunt wanted more money and was pissed she was being excluded from getting anything from the house. Getting things down in a proper will would have cut a lot of that off ahead of time instead of proving that grandpa intentionally excluded the greedy daughter. They also then found out they were missing a few documents (I don’t remember everything, wanna say a marriage certificate they needed to prove some stuff to county with) so just make sure you have all of that possible now. If you can get your name on things I’d imagine it would make it even easier but not sure.
Agreed! Get financials in order, get a decent lawyer that will walk you through the necessary steps together as a family prior to death.
It takes about 45 days from offer acceptance to closing.
Have an estate sale, sell what you can, donate what didn’t sell or just fill a roll-off bin and be done with it.
Don’t put much money into the house, just clean it out, paint it, and put it on the market. In almost every case, you won’t get your money back on renovations, you’re lucky to break even, and it just ends up a waste of time and money. If it needs big repairs, do just what’s needed to bring it up to code, or put it on the market as is. For most areas, the value is in the land, not the structure, remember that. You don’t determine the price, the market does.
You need a Realtor. It’s very unlikely a Realtor will screw you over, as long as you understand up front what they charge. It’s heavily regulated. If the price is right when it’s listed, it will sell in a few days or weeks, depending on the market. If you insist on pricing it higher than market value, it will sit until you give up and lower the price.
