How to sell your parent's home when you have siblings

| Selling

If your parents are downsizing as part of their retirement plan, they might enlist you and your siblings to help. Although the term “the more the merrier” might apply to family gatherings, when it comes to downsizing, selling as a family can make the process shall we say, complicated.

Because downsizing is very emotional, having too many people involved can lead to mistakes, delays, and a less than satisfactory outcome. Here we explain how to sell your parents’ home as a family, conflict-free and profitably.

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Assigning Power of Attorney

A power of attorney, or POA is a legal document entitling a family member to make decisions on your parents’ behalf. The paperwork must be drawn up while your parents are mentally competent to ensure they’re capable of choosing someone they trust to take on the role without undue influence. A POA also designates the types of decisions included in the POA whether it’s specific to finances, selling the home, or medical care.

Your parents should speak with a lawyer to understand their options and then have them draw up the papers based on their wishes. Having one person delegated to make the final calls will reduce conflict during the selling process.

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Avoid Conflict with Parent Input

We can’t stress enough how important it is to discuss these types of major family decisions in advance. Family discussions avoid conflicts by having everything laid out clearly, while ensuring your parents’ wishes are carried out should they pass away suddenly.

When it comes to selling your parents’ home, there are two important things to address:

Dividing family items: This can be a real pain point when parents are downsizing. Making a list of the pieces that hold special meaning for each of you can help avoid fights. With any luck, you each have different wishes. However, in instances where more than one person wants something, fairness should prevail. For example, if a sibling has their heart set on one item, and the rest have a list, then the sibling wanting the single item would maybe be the one that should get it. This way everyone gets something they want. You should also have a process where siblings get first right of refusal, and then spouses can choose anything that’s left.

Parents plans/wishes: Your parents’ wishes should take priority, but your feelings and thoughts are also important. Often parents announce they’ll be selling the family home suddenly, creating emotional turmoil. Understanding early on that this is part of your parents’ retirement plans can make it easier to accept it over time. Also, you want to understand the timing, and where they envision living once the home is sold so you’re more empathetic about their plan. If you’re interested in owning the home, this also gives you time to consider your finances and come up with a plan that allows you to do so.

Selling your home can be an emotional thing to do! Don’t make these emotional mistakes when selling your parent’s home. 

Preparing the Home for Sale

If your parents enjoy good health, and have painstakingly maintained their home and property, selling the home is a lot easier. On the other hand, if they either didn’t fuss too much over home maintenance or lacked the ability to manage home upkeep financially or physically, then you have more decisions to make. Either way you basically have three options:

1. Sell As Is

Selling as is, is just that. No changes are made at all. This isn’t much of an issue for homes in impeccable condition where your parents won’t take a ding on the price. However, if the house is so far gone it will take tons of time and money to get it ready to sell, they’ll take a big hit on the sale price and could see the house sitting on the market a lot longer than you’d like. This can hold up your parents’ plans, which is especially difficult if they’re downsizing due to health or financial issues. On the bright side, there’s a lot of home buyers out there just waiting for the chance to buy a fixer upper. A good real estate team can network to find the ideal buyer, allowing you to sell the property more quickly. Another scenario when selling as is makes sense is when your parents are mortgage free. Even though the sale price will be lower, sans the commission, all that money goes directly into your parents’ pockets. With today’s home prices they still stand to make a pretty penny.

Learn more about selling your home as-is right here.

2. Stage to Sell

If the home is in sound condition but feels a little outdated, staging to sell is the best strategy. Making cosmetic changes such as painting walls, removing outdated wallpaper, and bringing in modern furniture and home décor items will appeal to today’s buyer. This only requires a minimum delay, and is quite affordable, especially if you DIY most of the work. Staging can bring in as much as 10% to 20% more on the sale price. Leaving the staging up to a professional real estate team is the best way to avoid conflicts, get things taken care of quickly and fetch the highest offers.

Does staging really increase your final sale price? Read more on our blog right here.

3. Renovate and Sell

This is a good strategy if the home just won’t sell. You can leverage the equity in your parents’ home and invest a small amount in renovations to attract buyers. This might include a new kitchen, knocking out some walls, replacing flooring, updating bathrooms, installing new systems or things like a roof, and some exterior work to improve curb appeal. If the mortgage is paid, your parents can move to their new home while the renovations are made without experiencing an additional financial burden. When managed by an experienced agent, renos reduce conflicts, ensure the right investments are made, and generate a higher ROI.

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Keeping Peace

At the end of the day, working with your siblings to sell your parent’s home is an emotional process that can lead to stressful conflicts. The safest approach is to hire an experienced real estate team from day one to act as a third-party “Switzerland” who remains completely neutral. Unbiased advice based on facts will ensure you make smarter decisions as a family, to not only earn the most money, but also keep the peace.

The Christine Cowern Team is always happy to help with an effective downsizing strategy and act as a mediator to make the process go smoothly. Give us a call at 416.291.7372 or email us at hello@christinecowern.com. We’d love to work with you!