Selling The Family Home: Bringing Up The Topic
Let’s address the elephant in the room – your parents will likely not want to move, especially when selling the family home. We don’t blame them, it’s quite an emotional process!
Even if they know you have their best interests at heart and are just looking out for their safety, it’s still a challenge. In this article, we have outlined some tips to navigate a discussion with your folks.
Keep in mind that they’re meant only as suggestions, and not as solutions. At the very least, these can help you arrive at a compromise you and your parents find favorable.
Tip #1: List Incentives To Ease Worries
Convincing your parents can seem like talking to a brick wall. However, we could introduce some gaps by listing out incentives. This could lead mean more time for fun activities with family, friends, or anyone in their social network.
Additionally, no more property taxes. No more cleaning. No more cooking. No more. No more repairs, especially repairs. Owning a house for such a long time can only lead to hidden problems down the line.
Depending on how the relative has been caring for the home, they can pay upwards of $2,500 – $28,000 in annual maintenance costs year after year.
You also can’t fix most of these issues alone since common types include HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and insulation which need a capable contractor and a lot of money to repair.
However, these are to be expected since you have an elderly relative taking care of the home.
What we can do here is bring it up over conversations and duly remind them that these issues will reduce their quality of life. Maintenance will also cost more and more to keep the same things functioning.
Keeping Them Safe
Another incentive is peace of mind. If distance is a major concern, technology can be the crutch you need. If your relative has some mobility issues, you can order food and groceries online.
Elderly people are prone to unwanted accidents like slips and falls, and if your parents’ home lacks safety features such as handrails and well-lit stairs, it’s a good idea to express your concern about their safety and long-term care.
Sure, there’s an emergency device to handle that. However, extra eyes can never hurt. You can propose to keep an eye on them virtually to prevent said accidents from happening. Just make sure to ask for their consent first.
If you’re not available all the time, senior care services offer enhanced safety and some even come with smart features that track vital signs and other things.
Tip #2: Be Honest, but Gentle
You can lay out all possible options while outlining all the risks of staying at home, but it can be hard to convince them if they’re still unwilling to change.
As mentioned, older people, while needing extra care, are still functioning adults. The best way to help them here is to make change palatable to them as much as possible.
Concepts such as an assured assisted living facility are relatively new and alien to them and likely carry the stigma of being a “dirty old nursing home” to them. It’s best to demystify these thoughts as much as possible.
In the meantime, you have to honor their choice, however difficult.
Tip #3: Remove The Hassle
Most elderly homeowners view selling the family home – at least in the traditional method – as way too tedious and complex.
The hassling process of finding a real estate agent, screening them, and doing all the tasks advised by said agent can deter your parents from doing it in the first place when the alternative (doing nothing) offers a more comfortable situation.
Thankfully, if you can tell your parents that all the work will be done by someone else, it may likely make them less resistant to the notion of selling their home.
You could also notify them of the people coming in and out of the house to assist them.
We have to keep in mind that the elderly can come off as a bit “cold” to outsiders (third parties), and would prefer another kin (most likely, you) to assist them.
So it’s a good idea to fill them in on who you’re hiring and what that person is going to do in your stead.
The Next Steps
When planning for the next steps, a common option is to sell the house. It could be to downsize or relocate, but oftentimes families sell it to fund the cost of long-term care.
It’s important to note that if your parents have lived in the house for a long time, it’s highly likely that the property hasn’t received proper care for decades.
Should you or your parents decide to sell the house, you’ll find that there are plenty of problems to fix before showing it to potential buyers. You also need an exorbitant amount of funds to repair them all.
If only there exists a sure-fire way of selling the family home without the paperwork, dealing with realtors, legal documents, and hassle. Cue cash home buyers like us.
We simplify the house-buying process and reduce it to only 3 steps. No more worries, and you won’t have to wait for long since we cut out the middleman (i.e. banks, financing) on our cash offers.
We're your cash buyers if you’re interested in selling your home as-is for a fair market value. Contact us today to get started.
