He’s taking how much equity from Grandma? $150,000? Why would she let them do that?
This was a conversation I recently had with the daughter who was trying to help Mom get her house sold and move into an assisted living facility.
And unfortunately I have this conversation too often.
One of the most common ways to fund a move into assisted living is to sell the family home.
And while many people take good care of their homes, more often than not, these homes easily become dated and in disrepair because of a lack of that extra income to maintain the home.
Mom was too embarrassed to put the house on the market…
In this case, the home warranted a full rehab. Nothing structural, just the whole aesthetic needed to be updated. No significant work had been done on the home in decades since before she retired.
The daughter was chatting with me about possibly helping Mom get the home sold but she was meeting a ton of resistance from Mom.
Mom was too embarrassed to put the house on the market and let neighbors and strangers see how she’s been living. And she believed that in order to sell, she would have to do a bunch of work on the house. So she was stalling every chance she got. So she was hoping to get a simple as-is cash sale.
Sneaky sneaky wolf
So one day she asked for prayers at her bible study group because she was going to be selling the house and moving to assisted living soon and hoped everything would go well.
Well, one of the gentlemen caught her after bible study and told her without seeing the house or knowing anything about it (first red flag) that he would like to buy her house.
He told her a sweet story about how he’s 79 years old and he’s looking for something for him and his son to live in.
She was excited at the prospect of an easy sale So she invited him to come take a look.
He showed up without his son, did a quick walkthrough and excitedly told her he’d buy the house from her right now for $700,000 cash.
Well that sounded darn good to her. After all, when she originally bought the home for $265,000 a few decades ago she could never imagine the home being worth that much. So $700k was mind blowing.
But there’s a few things she didn’t know.
- The house was worth every penny of $850,000 even it’s current condition.
- This sweet 79 year old gentleman had a very long career as a real estate investor. In fact, he owned almost 40 homes just within a 25 mile radius. So when he was making an offer to buy her house for only $700,000 he knew exactly what he was doing.
- Finally his intention to purchase the home was not to actually live in it as evidenced by the way he wrote the offer. It was very specifically to add to his and his son’s portfolio of rental homes he already had.
So this is proof that the wolf can be anyone, even a sweet 79 year old man. And I don’t begrudge him the business model he chose but I’m not going to let him steal $150,000 in equity from Mom and deprive her the options that an additional $150,000 can get her.
By the hair of her chinny chin chin
She was moments away from signing on the dotted line and because her daughter was communicating with me, she pleaded with her Mom one more time to just meet with me so she could make a truly educated decision.
Mom finally but reluctantly agreed. After all, she believed all real estate agents are just sleezy sales people trying to make a buck off of her back.
Well we met. I just provided her with the facts and figures. No pressure, no slimy sales tactics. I just helped her (like so many others) understand how much she was about to lose.
Suddenly her eyes were wide open to the possibilities that the additional $150,000 would get her and her daughter and her grand kids.
She was still very concerned about having to do repairs and paint etc. but we showed her she didn’t have to do any of that.
Seniors don’t realize how much value they have in their homes even though it is outdated and needs repairs. This often causes them to make poor decisions when they ultimately sell.
In the end we acquired an ALL CASH offer for her house in just 3 days for $860,000. That’s $160,000 more than she would have received.
Better Quality Of Life?
I like to ask my placement specialist friends, how much more quality of life would that additional $160,000 get her.
The answer is usually along the lines of “Enough to make a difference” or “she can definitely level up her options.”
If you know of a family that is trying to get Mom or Dad moved and need to maximize every single penny from that home without making it inconvenient for our seniors, please have them call to see what their real options are.
Anthony Nitz
714-900-2710
