As we continue through this Series and in an effort to help your loved ones make the transition I offer Objection # 2: Where is my next home?
Certainly not any easier than the elimination of a lifetime of “treasures” discovering where the next home will be can be very challenging. Are they going to buy, rent, go to a care facility? All of this will depend on the state of their finances and the state of their health.
I am actually getting ready to move my Mother to a new home. She is 83 years old and has been living in a split entry home that has a lot of stairs. She has fallen several times lately and seems to be having a hard time with balance. I am scared about her falling down or up the stairs and really hurting herself. Recently, I was able to purchase a small ranch home for her and here is how I worked it out since her finances are limited but she can afford to pay me rent. We will be doing some updating to her current home to get it ready to sell. She will continue to make the mortgage payment on her current home until we can sell it and then the equity from this home will be applied to the new home which will help offset my outlay of cash. If your Senior has a home that is paid for, this can be even more attractive. One great aspect of it is for her to no longer own a home. First, I will never have to worry about medicaid taking the home as payment for medical services if that were to happen. Secondly, it is affordable for her and practically maintenance free since I will be doing exterior and interior maintaining of the home as a rental. Third, it gives me an opportunity to own an investment property which should grow over time and hopefully do better than the stock market. I can sell it or continue to rent it once Mom is no longer here.
So that is one way to help with a move, but if your Senior needs some type of assisted living, there are wonderful facilities available all over Lee’s Summit and Kansas City. We can make some suggestions on some of the local retirement communities.
It is the best idea to be exploring these options before you sell the loved ones current home so you know they can feel at ease that they will not be homeless and begin getting use to the fact they will be moving from the old homestead to a happy new home. Change is hard for most of the older generation and having a well thought out plan with time frames will set expectations and help them transition easier to the new place.