POA selling the house

[Brunelofbrio]

Hi. I am hoping someone here has experience of this as a POA. DM has had to move into residential care and as POA I’m selling her house on her behalf.

Its just gone on the market and we have (very surprisingly) had several offers since the weekend…

We had accepted an offer of asking price but nothing has been signed (due to Christmas) and won’t be until the new year…

Now we have been informed of a higher offer… but possibly from a less reliable and proceed able buyer.

Does anyone know if, as a POA ( and bound to do the best re DMs financial affairs), I am bound to consider the highest offer (from the gazumper ) and potentially open up a bidding war?

any advice welcome?

It’s more if you sell it to someone
you know for less than the market value. If it’s valued at £200k and you get an offer for that amount just take it. The care home will be the beneficiaries anyway.

You need to do what you believe is best, this doesn't necessarily mean highest if mitigating circumstances or as in this case it is already verbally agreed

Depends where one lives 200k would be a shed here.

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to go for a sensible, proceedable offer. Lots of people accept not necessarily the best offer but the one most likely to end up in a completed sale.

People who offer over the odds to secure often seem to come unstuck and end up pulling out of renegotiating further down the line.

I agree with others. When we sold my DF house we had a number of offers (priced to sell!) in a very nice part of London. It went to best and final because it needed moderisation and they didnt come up very often in this part of London.

We didnt take the highest because the buyer seemed flaky. They couldnt prove funds very quickly and I think although they really did want the house they were very much stretching themselves and might have withdrawn half way through the process.

The LPA requires you to act in your mum's best interests, and I would say that choosing what seems to be the most reliable and procedable buyer would be in her interests. It's what I'd do if I was selling my own home and I wouldn't see any reason to behave differently as POA.

What has that got to do with anything?

It wasn't me that mentioned 200k which is a very low figure

@Printedword no my point was what does the fact that £200k would supposedly only get you a shed have to do with anything?

Does anyone know if, as a POA ( and bound to do the best re DMs financial affairs), I am bound to consider the highest offer You are considering it and rejecting it for sound reasons.

Yes, so the point I'm making is that it's unlikely that 200k is what a property is worth in most places and way out almost anywhere in the south. Relative of DH lived in the midlands and even with the money taken out for the mess they got themselves in with equity release they still cleared something like that amount.

You should use due diligence but a reliable offer could be better than a higher unreliable one. Is your parent able to express a preference?

"Yes, so the point I'm making is that it's unlikely that 200k is what a property is worth in most places and way out almost anywhere in the south. Relative of DH lived in the midlands and even with the money taken out for the mess they got themselves in with equity release they still cleared something like that amount."

@Printedword no, £200k will get you a property in most parts of the UK. I will never understand why there is always a poster on threads like this who feels the need to chime in with how expensive the properties where they live are when it has absolutely nothing to do with the OP's post.

You may be right re some parts of the UK and 200k. However, the post is one hundred percent relevant to the op post and it wasn't me who mentioned the 200k in the first place, just giving geographical context.

The most important point here is also that if anyone in any part of the country has a property worth less than 200k it's not going to pay care home fees for all that long anywhere. Sad but true.

Thanks for the useful answers about the POA.
… It’s not on for 200k…

I work in Estate Agency and we would generally recommend going with the more proceedable buyer if the offer is in the right region. As others have said, just because someone offers higher doesn’t mean they’re a better buyer. They are possibly offering higher to make up for the fact they are in a chain or they may just renegotiate down to the asking price or lower after the survey anyway. If you have a chain free cash buyer they are the most likely to be able to proceed to exchange and completion without complications, although obviously could still pull out for their own reasons. Hopefully not of course.

I’ve just sold a house as attorney under a LPA. Agree with PP that you are under a duty to act in the best interests of your mum and that may well involve choosing a buyer who is able to proceed, isn’t in a long and precarious chain, etc.. You really don’t want a long drawn-out process which results in the house being left unoccupied for months and months if you can avoid it (and make sure you tell the insurers that it’s unoccupied too).

I need to put my DM’s house on the market next year. I have POA.

Can I be cheeky and ask about the paperwork/proof that you need to supply to the Estate Agent before the house goes on the market? My DM had a CHC assessment and it is on record that she lacks capacity - but will the EA require proof from her that she is willing for the house to be sold? Sorry to hijack, but I’m starting to think about things.

Two things.

1. i would treat offers as if you were selling your own home. Personally I would weight up the buyers position and of course the best price. Ask the agent to advise.
2. as above poster I am also considering selling mums house, do we just show poa papers? I hope it’s a smooth process

Yes, it’s been fairly straightforward- we’ve been led through it by the estate agent who has been experienced this situation lots of times ( helps we have someone whom we trust…) The solicitors have taken copies of our documents (POA and personal ID) and that’s been it. I think the care home have confirmed that DM is now resident there.

I recently sold DMs house as power of attorney. Just watch out with the solicitors, ours tried to tell me I needed a doctor's note or assessment to show she had no capability of making decisions!

Even though the LPA was done for whether she had mental capacity or not. Had quite the heated discussion with two people before they agreed to double check - never heard anything about it again!!

Oh and earlier where someone used £200k as an example, my DMs house sold for £230k and is a decent size in a nice village. My MILs house is worth about £180k. So it's not that ridiculous in some areas of the country!