My elderly mother is starting to really decline in health. She had been living in the family home but recently moved in with my husband and I for extra care. My siblings and I are just starting to realise that the process of preparing and selling our large family home will likely take a lot of work. I heard from a friend that it took years to sell her parents’ home and the siblings fought like cats and dogs over it.
While we are in no rush, we certainly want to avoid the scenario our friends faced – dealing with the loss of a family member as well as a very stressful and prolonged property sale.
What advice would you give families in our situation for preparing a home so that it can be more ready to sell when the time comes? We really want to make sure it is as peaceful as possible.
As you do not plan to sell the property until after your mother’s death, this will fall into the category of a probate sale. Probate is the legal process after someone dies. It confirms the validity of the will and gives the executor(s) the authority to deal with the estate after the person has died. I presume your mother has made a will with a solicitor and, while her intentions should be confidential, at this point, you need to know there is a proper will in place and its location.
The process of granting probate can be exceedingly slow, with delays commonplace, so having as much information as possible now is the best way to avoid delays. Please be assured that once you plan ahead, the process should be reasonably straightforward – delays in sales are usually administrative.
You should check as to the location of the deeds of her home. I’ll presume she has no mortgage and that the deeds were returned to her when the loan was cleared. Some people keep them at home while others lodge them with a solicitor for safe keeping.
The other main items to be aware of include bank/credit union/post office accounts, insurance policies, prize bonds, insurance policies and so on. The values of all of these assets need to be obtained as of the date of death.
Once the time comes, the executor makes the decision to sell the property. While a property can be offered for sale before the grant of probate has issued, we do not recommend it.
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My professional organisation, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) together with the Law Society recently published an excellent guide entitled “Speed up your property sale – a guide to avoiding the most common delays”. It is aimed at anyone considering the sale of their home and highlights the key issues which cause hold ups in property sales. I was with sellers recently and I could see them flagging issues as I went through the to-do list, which is extensive.
One of the key areas to watch out for are extensions and alterations. If work has been carried out on the property, they must have compliance certificates for planning and building regulations. The main culprits we encounter are attic conversions, front porches and boundary/mapping issues. You’re essentially thinking: What was done to the house since my parents lived here? You should probably engage a building surveyor now to prepare the certificates.
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Then, you need to consider the practical aspect – presentation and the like. Does it need cleaning, redecoration, some modernisation, and so on? You also need to be aware, however, that upgrades can be costly. I tend to start with the basics: decluttering, cleaning and “kerbside appeal”. I gather from your question the property will require quite a bit of preparation so it will be important that your family members agree on what’s to be thrown out or otherwise distributed among you, and that the workload is spread evenly.
When that initial work is done, you can stand back and consider the next steps. You should also engage an estate agent at this point. Check the SCSI website for agents in your area and select an agent you can work with.
There’s no reason in the current market why a sale should be particularly prolonged or difficult. Demand is very strong and, once the house is properly marketed and priced, there should be good interest. We sometimes see beneficiaries attempting to exert undue influence and this can interfere with the duties of the executors and lead to delays and conflict.
Some other things need mentioning too. While your mother probably has capacity now, and you are very fortunate that you can look after her, you’ve no idea if or when her physical and mental health will decline. She may need additional or even nursing-home care and that will need to be paid for through the Fair Deal Scheme, her own cash resources or otherwise.
You also need to consider the whole area of assisted decision making/enduring power of attorney (EPA) for your mother – how her affairs are handled if she can’t handle them herself. There are significant problems with this entire area – for example, who should take charge – and there can be significant delays in creation of EPAs as well as confusion around assisted decision making.
I know the information I’ve imparted here goes way beyond your original question but I’m increasingly finding families in very difficult situations where a member’s health has declined significantly or unexpectedly and while there may well be the resources for care, they have lost access to the very resources which were set aside. That is why preparation is so important.
Ed Carey is an estate agent and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland
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