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Comments
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Completely off piste, OP, but have you organised unoccupied property insurance? It's a specialist area, and the current insurer is likely to only cover an empty property for 30-60 days.
Back on piste, I've been in a vaguely similar situation, and decided to sell my elderly relative's house as I had no desire to be an accidental landlord plus, in common with many properties in these circumstances, a fair amount of expensive work needed doing before it was suitable for the rental market.
Nearly six years later, I'm convinced I did the right thing.0 -
Re valuations... Agents should do valuations with no obligation. Search houses for sale in your area on Rightmove and see which agents do the best listings - best photos, best write-ups. Get three round to value and quote for sale fees.
Be warned that some agents give unrealistically high valuations to win your business. Do your own research - Rightmove lists recent sale prices so get a sense of what it will be worth before they come round. And ask them what they'd market it for, and what price they'd expect to achieve - if they give one valuation it'll be what they'd put it on the market for, not what sort of offer they expect to attract.
Fees they quote you are negotiable, so if you like an agent but they're more expensive, ask if they'll reduce their fees.0 -
Update:
I have been really busy. The house is nearly empty so it will probably go on the market within a few weeks. I have had two Estate Agents to value it, both are giving a figure of 180-185K, realistically I think 170K would be a good reflection of value, but we'll stick it up for the higher and drop if necessary. Fees are 1.25% and 1%. for obvious reasons I would probably opt for the one with the lower percentage. Both have said property will need modernising but should sell for good price due to location.
My father also had an assessment this week for NHS nursing care allowance and also NHS CHC. The care home will receive the allowance and father's needs for CHC are deemed not necessary but he gets assessed annually from now on or sooner if is condition changes.
I have applied for full Attendance Allowance, waiting to hear whether our claim is accepted (This will be a big help for funding fathers care if we get it).
On talking to the nurse, she said, the nursing care allowance should not affect our AA claim, but should CHC be funded we would lose AA. Seems fair.
I hear a lot about Purple Bricks estate agents....are they worth bothering with???0 -
Hi Opp, we were in a similar position with my MIL two years ago. All the siblings got together and decided the best thing was to sell the house. Hard as it was full of bits from their childhood. As others have said three agents and a local solicitor were approached. The house sold in reasonable time and family took what they wanted in the way of furniture. We have several boxes of pics, letters etc. that no-one wanted to distribute at that time.
It was about 18 months later she died having had a good last few years in the care home.
Next month the family are getting together to go through all the pics and other bits. I have a scanner to make copies for everyone.
Hope that helps, as others have said best to sell even with todays low interest rates.0 -
You don't have to use an estate agent.
Our father died just before he had to start paying care home fees, so the bungalow was sold after his death (That would really have pleased him as he and our mum went years without so they could buy their rented terraced house then private bungalow).
We got quotes from EAs, reduced slightly to account for their inflation and put a printed sign in the window. It was viewed next day, then the people across the way offered the asking price without even viewing (they were living with family who had a house by the same builder).
We even did our own conveyancing , with help from the buyers' solicitor, but just doing without the EA saved a lot.0 -
To put that into perspective, 0.25% of £180k is £450.The house is nearly empty so it will probably go on the market within a few weeks. I have had two Estate Agents to value it, both are giving a figure of 180-185K, realistically I think 170K would be a good reflection of value, but we'll stick it up for the higher and drop if necessary. Fees are 1.25% and 1%. for obvious reasons I would probably opt for the one with the lower percentage.
Go with the agent that you think is more likely to sell the house quickly for a good price.0 -
Hi everyone
My father has recently moved into nursing care so we are going to have to either rent or sell his house. I have to say I dread the whole process. It's been a very difficult the last few years with trying to keep him in his own house with carers visiting everyday.
Hopefully the worry we had with him living alone is now gone.
I had a pretty good handle on finances so his savings were not being drained too quickly, but now the care bill is frightening. I reckon' there is enough money to last about 6 months and then house will have to be sold.
So with that amount of time, i'm hoping to get a plan together so we aren't forced into selling it quickly and can hold out for a good selling price.
I have already closed all the general house service bills, Council tax has already had full reduction. The house is more or less empty with decades worth of furniture and junk already disposed of. There are few outstanding bills that will need to be settled and in a short while i'll know where we stand financially.
I was thinking about getting a local estate agent around for a valuation or maybe some idea of the rental income if we decide to go that route. Hopefully it will be a non committal valuation.
Is this a good idea? anyone care to offer some recommendations?
I would like to hear from someone who has already been in this situation who might like to offer some advice.
Thanks in advance
I had the same issue, but decided to sell, as there was no way I wanted the hassles of being an amateur landlord. My fathers care fees were priced at £1600 per week (London prices and complex needs), so it was easier to get cash in the bank.
It was a large old Victorian house, and older houses tend to need more maintenance.
But, after all that, I battled with the NHS and they are currently funding him under continuing care, for now - it's well worth going for that. The money is sitting in a bank in case they withdraw funding.
Good luck - it's all stress, but as you say, so is the worry of them being at home and relying on visiting carers!
Lin
You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands..........for instance, if they are placed around your throat, she's probably slightly upset.
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CHC is akin to beng in hospital i.e. everything is paid for including food, heating, accomodation and personal care.but should CHC be funded we would lose AA. Seems fair.
AA is for people to attend to personal needs.
As CHC would also cover personal care then AA would not apply.
However state pension would still be received.
So someone getting CHC & state pension could be considered well-off financially as they have no expenses long term and receiving state pension.
If however the person qualifies for funded nursing care (£155.05 per week) then they still qualify for AA as they are mutually exclusive (one for medical care costs, one for personal care costs).
It may seem irrelevant to the individual if the person is LA funded but the LA are keen for NHS/DWP to contribute.
My MIL is LA funded and I believe NHS fund nursing care, DWP fund AA and LA fund the rest (minus pension credit/pension - £25). Personally I think that's more complicated than it should be.0 -
It may seem irrelevant to the individual if the person is LA funded but the LA are keen for NHS/DWP to contribute.
My MIL is LA funded and I believe NHS fund nursing care, DWP fund AA and LA fund the rest (minus pension credit/pension - £25). Personally I think that's more complicated than it should be.
If the LA can claim more from the NHS and DWP,the burden is spread over more than just the local council tax payers.0 -
Yes I appreciate it's a somewhat simplistic viewpoint.
Should the burden be on local tax payers?
Some retirement places will have a heavy burden if not compensated by central government.
It's off-topic, but I've had to deal with pension credit, AA, carers allowance, warm front grant, council tax benefit, LA care at home assesment, funded nursing care, nursing home fees etc. (times 2 as MIL and FIL are now financially seperate) and family members have commented that it's unsuprising if many people either don't get what they are entitled or over-claim accidentally. Many elderly people would have no change navigating this minefield themselves.0
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