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About 3 yrs ago my husband bought house (3/2/2) for his older sister-she is almost 88 now--she had been living in mobile home she bought about 10 yrs before and it was starting to need repairs and she had issues with the park owner--she didn't want to deal with either problem so he had cash and bought her house-
She has 3 adult children and none of them offered to help w/purchase or offered her space with them...
Now she is having some health issues and (I think) is feeling pretty isolated so her oldest son who lives in Austin area has offered to have her move in with him and his wife...
No idea when this might happen---
She didn't call my husband initially with the news but had her youngest son do it--he and my husband have more of a personal relationship than he has w/older son...
At the time we bought, there was still "hot" market in this area--oil companies had been buying homes to rent out to their workers because of lack of rental properties---there was lot of competition with people buying for investment as well as owner-occupied...We saw this house and made offer the initial day it was on the market--were first people to view as matter of fact with someone else coming in door right behind us...
now while the economy still seems pretty strong, I am not sure the RE market is as competitive...
Having to pay realtor fees out of our price point might make this a losing proposition
My husband anticipated she would be there longer since none of her kids offered her any help w/her problems at the time...and she was absolutely adamant about not moving into an apartment...
My suggestion was to offer to help pay her rent for couple of years and see what would happen since her age and her isolation might have forced a change sooner than anticipated....which it has...but in her thinking that would have been too much like taking a gift--which is exactly what getting a house for 1K under market rent is as well...my husband felt like she was being "abandoned" by her adult children and stepped in as "savior"...
Since she will be moving in with family, there is no set timeframe for moving out and she won't need to (or even can) take all of her furniture with her since she is moving in home of son vs having him build her a "casita" on his property....they are very handy doing stuff like that and he has enough money he could contract it out as well
My question is --- will it be better, hoping to sell quickly and get top dollar, to ask her to basically take only personal possessions (clothes and photos) initially and use her furniture to stage the house while listed and then move what else she might want...or will it matter that much w/home that is not that large whether there is furniture in rooms?
Personally lot of what she has in the rooms is mishmash of older furniture and not that appealing from style point
I almost think it would be better to make clean sweep, have house cleaned professionally, and sell based on location and pristine appearance...
Seems like there's a lot of other decisions to be made here... but for the thread question... If the furniture is not particularly attractive or matching, maybe empty is better. People can look past the 'half-moved-out' look, it's often not a deal breaker, but it can get in the way.
One exception might be to leave dining room table and chairs there, so that people will have a place to sit a minute and talk. Particularly if it's an area where other retirees will be looking. No where to sit can mean they don't stay long, and encouraging people to sit and rest there a minute is not a bad thing...
Ok
Since I am only a wife--
Not a blood relative--
My input likely won't matter as much as my husband's sister--but I think (am afraid) that she will dither--take part and leave most of stuff for others to dispose of
She vascillates making decisions in passive-aggressive way (IMO) and won't come out and just say what she wants...
So I am afraid we will be left to take care of disposing of most of this and she still has stuff she has not unpacked or thrown out from moving there several years ago...
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