need to sell bungalow before winter any advice appreciated

margaretclare

markymark10 wrote: »

Many thanks for all the advice, I will look closely at all the options.

Although I know that the council will expect Mum to pay for her care from her half of the house sale proceeds until she reaches £21000 & then a smaller contribution i'm also aware that time is running out for her in life & I know that the rest of this money would help pay for help to take her out on trips & other aids for her condition & I can also get her moved to a home closer to me. This probably wouldnt be the case if we rented as the council would just take mums half of the rent towards her care home cost so it looks like auction may be the best option.

Has anyone out there experienced these auctions or has an idea of how much the cost of selling in this way would be. I'll be doing some research of my own after the weekend but any feedback is always appreciated.

In answer to your question, no, I have never experienced selling a house by auction. Auctions come up periodically, it's not a continuous process like selling through an estate agent - but an estate agent could tell you how to go about it and who to contact. Or you may see them advertised in the local paper.

What I really wanted to say was I think you're on the right lines, giving Mum some choice, some extra comfort, the convenience of being nearer to you. A decade or more ago I used to do shifts in some of these homes. At that time there were still a few belonging to and run by the council, and these were far and away better. In the private sector, the BUPA ones are at the better end of the scale, AFAIK, and they tend to be 'not in poor areas', which tells you something about them. Some of them, I would not put a dog into, in fact, if I did, the RSPCA would have been on my case. One that's still going, not far from here, when I did shifts there the residents were mainly people from East London, who'd lived their lives among streets, buses, markets, cinemas etc. Looking out over miles of farmland, but 40 miles from where they'd lived, did nothing for them at all. Farmland was a foreign country. The reason they were there was that it was cheaper for the London boroughs to send them there than to put them into a home in London.

I applaud you for realising that 'time is running out for her in life'. I am a great believer in living life to the full and enjoying whatever time I have left and you are obviously thinking along the same lines in respect of your Mum. Good for you. We see far too many posts on this site about 'how can I protect my inheritance and not spend it on care fees', with no thought given to who ultimately pays and what they actually get for their money. It's a sad truth that in this life you get what you pay for, and it's one of the reasons why I'm still saving now! I want that level of choice and comfort if the time ever comes when I and/or DH should need it. More power to your elbow.