House Not Selling - Required for Care

[LostInTheSystem101]

Hello!

We are trying to sell my Grandmother's house. It has been on the market for 8 months, currently with the second agent.

Opening price was £375k, as suggested by the EA. Now offers over £285k.

We are aware it needs modernising, of course, but it is liveable, and soundly built. Garage, driveway, front and back gardens, 15 minute walk from the beach.

Viewings not even in double figures I don't think since it went on, no offers.

My Grandmother has been in a dementia care home since March 2023, has run out of cash, and needs the house sale to pay for her continuing care (she currently owes over £40k). We have contacted the local authority to assist with deferred payments. However, we still need the house to sell!

Any advice?

House for Sale

To me the last outside photo, before the photo of the garage, looks like could do with a tidy up. Something brighter in terms of plants for photos and looks a bit cluttered. Just to give more visual appeal. Remove the wooden stakes and the plastic bags, tubs, chairs etc. The angle of the photo does seem to feature all that stuff!

When we sold my parents house we were told that 50% of agents would tell you to leave the furniture & 50% to remove it. We sold once we'd removed the dates furniture & net curtains etc. it all looked bigger & brighter. It was a dated 1960s house.

I think it’s the price.
I think the initial amount was too high, (but nothing you can do about that now).
The current price is still punchy given people would want to update it a fair bit.

So I think you need to review the price. Good luck though.

Is a pp really saying they would be put off a property if the word "modernize" was used?!

The utter pettiness.

I live in Deal :) about the same distance from the beach and not too far from that house.

I bought a period 3 bed last year for £275K and I think I overpaid massively.

Old boiler needed to be changed as was broken when I moved in, needed rewiring, some new gutters, had a broken kitchen gully, a leak in the loo's cistern...

Frankly although I do love my house now I realise I overpaid by at least 10K.

It seems like you have artex ceiling as well which is a pain to deal with if it has asbestos.

Deal has a lot going for it as you know (I love it here): lovely, quiet, friendly and safe town with a cute high street with independent shops and fast trains to London so I am sure you will find a buyer but you might need to be flexible on the price.

I would try Jenkinson if I were you. They are much friendlier than M&B.

I would change agents and drop the price to 250k if you want to sell quickly.

It's the market and price.

It actually looks very nice to me. The only negatives would be the small garden, and the lack of a proper bath.

It doesn't even really NEED modernising, it's perfectly livable. I wonder if people are seeing that and moving on without looking?

*Is a pp really saying they would be put off a property if the word "modernize" was used?!

The utter pettiness.*

Hardly petty, surely: they're thinking of how much extra they would need to spend on it.

Given the average stay in a care home, and she's been there 12 months already, I would remove all the furniture and lower the price.

Thank you all.

I have booked a week off work and am going to go down and tidy it up a bit, get the white goods in to the garage until they can be collected, freshen up what I can, and take my mum to another agent (thank you for the pointer re Jenkinson, we will try them!).

The current agent haven't done any active marketing, so we will talk with my aunt, too, about dropping the price and trying to shift it on.

Nan is 90 in July. She said she will live to 93 and we are inclined to believe her!

In 2018 she was diagnosed with stage IV bowel cancer, myeloma, and had lesions on her pancreas. She is now cancer free - she is a bit of a medical enigma and I don't envisage her going anywhere just yet!!

I think the problem in Deal is wider than just your property. I searched for 3 bed properties between £250k and £300k and there are 37 on Rightmove, the majority in a similar style / condition and many of them empty of furniture. You have a lot of competition!

Have you set up a proper deferral agreement with the LA? There shouldn't be any pressure on to sell until after your grandmother dies. Providing of course outstanding fees don't outstrip the value of the property. It looks a nice home, shame it is causing stress.

Not yet, no.

She is privately funded in a private home ,and they agreed to take any and all outstanding fees from the sale of her home, this was all agreed in writing before she moved in. They have now said they want to add 15% interest (we have contested this), and have contacted the LA for a referral in order to apply for deferred payments, so it should all be ok. They will only lend up to 80% of the value of the house, though where they get that value from we don't know!

Yes, lots of empty houses sat on the market, it seems - the older population were the one able to buy in town, since the increase in second-home visitors, the prices have soared and most of the town's younger people can't afford to buy or rent to stay there. It's a shame, but it's what happens, I guess..

Fingers crossed for a sale this side of Christmas!

Yes you are right that the average stay is 2 years or less. Think that is why the government decided on the policy of £86k care home fees paid then the government take over the costs, although this policy appears to not gone forward.

The LA asked for estate agents' valuations for my mum's house and accepted the middle one. This then was the amount they would agree to cover. We got a statement every month for outstanding fees plus interest. They said that the outstanding amount would be due a year after mum died but as long as we were actively marketing the property at that point there would be no problem repaying the outstanding amount although obviously interest would continue to be charged. I imagine the 80% is to cover a drop in the market and the interest charged. The LA also said that the average amount that was usually outstanding at the end was under 100k as residents with dementia very rarely lived longer than 3 years.

it looks to me like a ready to move in house for the buy to let brigade or a holiday let you say it needs updating but those of people seem to leave things if clean and working. i would seriously think of auction be more the audience you want

It's sold, subject to contract.

@LostInTheSystem101

as this post has unexpectedly been posted on, and we find it is ' sold '

how is Nan ? did she have her 90th birthday ?

Hi!

Yes, we accepted an offer of £250k, had a date for exchange, were told the buyers were no chain, and it then fell through, as their buyers disappeared (yes, there was a chain!).

We've accepted another £250k offer, and keeping our fingers crossed that goes through. she currently owes almost £72 in care home fees, they are being very patient, and have not added the 15% to her bill. If this sale falls through we are going to get interim support from the LA to pay what is owed/until the house sells.

Nan did have a lovely 90th, or rather we did. Sadly she is no longer very aware of anything, or anyone. but she absolutely loved the small Strawberry Gin she had! Bless her!

Aw strawberry gin ! that's lovely. I am so pleased Nan achieved the milestone of 90.
Thank you for the update, I so hope this sale continues to completion.

Just to update - contracts were exchanged today! Completion in 13 days and counting!

Can't come soon enough, Nan currently owes just under £79k!

Ah that is good news OP. I'm pleased it all got sorted in the end for you and your nan.

Dr. Nothing to do with the house but most people needing dementia care shouldn't be funding it. Continuing healthcare should cover as its a medical condition not old age. Look on age UK and dementia website

Thank you - we did look in to this and she was assessed. She didn't meet the criteria at the time of the assessment, so her house sale is now funding her care.

As a family it has been such an awful 3 years, that we don't want to look into anything else or put her through any further assessments. She has deteriorated a lot in the last couple of months, and now faces moving to a different home due to becoming aggressive (she drew blood on one of the carers), so we are just going to let things play out now - thank you so much, though!

Completion happened yesterday, funds received and care home debts cleared..

Phew!

6 months and one week after the thread began, and it was already for sale for 8 months before that ?

Phew indeed !

how is she, as you mentioned deterioration and potentially the need to move homes ?