<p>The discount on a cluttered house depends on the market. If it is in a hot market, no matter what is in the house there is going to a buyer. If the market is not that strong, de-clutter is a must. As suggested, if there are valuables in the house, then you have to go through it carefully, otherwise, hire some one else to do the cleaning, its not very expensive. The labor part is minimal, most of the cost will be dumping and transportation.</p>
<p>In CA, for example, it is very difficult and costs extra to dump painted furniture. The guy I hired to remove stuff in my recent purchase had to drive around all afternoon to find a dump to take half truck load of painted furniture. Better off to give those away.</p>
<p>Go through the house with a finetooth comb before sending a cleanup crew to house. A lot of oldtimers hide cash all through the houses in places like up in attic in shoe boxes, under mattresses, scotch taped to back of dressers, etc.</p>
<p>I agree that they should put it on the market now. But their real estate agent is telling them that they will lose buyers who aren’t willing to wait until maybe October or November. I told them worst case scenario is the buyer has to drive their kids to school for a few weeks or they temporarily move somewhere else. Better than waiting another year. It’s a five bedroom house. Nobody without kids is buying it.</p>
<p>fordiscussion, It’s almost July, an Oct. or Nov. closing is only about a 3-4 month window to market house and close…that’s pretty tight. Too bad for buyers who can’t wait until Oct. or Nov. Find a buyer now and work out closing date that works for both buyer and seller. Everyone has to be a little flexible on a closing date.</p>
<p>D. Stark: D and her husband really love living in Boston. They went to college in the area and both have worked there as well. It’s not too close to family and not too far away. (We’re 45 miles from the city; son-in-law’s mother is in Rhode Island and Dad in NY.) I’m sure they would want to move back to the city. However, after son-in-law gets his PHd, it’s not likely there will be a college teaching job in his field available in the Boston area. If he couldn’t teach, I’m pretty sure he’d end up in DC working for a think-tank/research institute. (He worked at a place like this when he was getting a Master’s Degree and they’d love to hire him.) Given the reality of son-in-law’s job, returning to Boston may not be in the cards.</p>
<p>They own the town house–don’t have a mortgage. They borrowed money from D’s trust and the trustee has set up a payment plan for them with a balloon payment at some point. I don’t know the details. Anyway, they definitely need to discuss any sale with the trustee. </p>
<p>Right now, the agent who says they should rent, believes that they could get $4K a month for rent. This would be more than enough to cover their payment to the trust. The agent who did the market analysis says that they should list the townhouse at $150K more than they paid for it. He’s certain they’ll get their price and maybe a few bids that are more than the asking price. If that happens, capital gains would be an issue. </p>
<p>Their timeline is tight. They have to make a decision next week. MA–does have a cap on property tax increases by municipalities–the result of Prop 2 1/2 enacted in the early 80s.</p>
<p>I guess your daughter and her h can look at equity of the townhome and divide that into the net income by renting and decide if that is a good enough return to take a chance on coming back compared to making 150,000 minus the cost of selling the place.</p>
<p>OTOH, to make things more complicated, even if the house is rented over 3 years, when it is sold you still can defer cap gain tax by using the 1031 exchange, since it is now an investment property.</p>
<p>I’d advice them to rent, especially as you live within an hour, in case something goes wrong. I sold my Brookline condo for @ $250k, and I could never afford it again. Of course a realtor would rather sell; that becomes his profit. </p>
<p>What is it with realtors? fordiscussion, I was always told to get a house on market spring, early summer, so families would be settled by start of school year.</p>
<p>Classof2015, I apologize for being blunt, but since you asked: how confident are you in your FIL’s decision-making? The house, as part of his estate, is sitting there and he apparently doesn’t want to clean out or sell. But if you sell the house, the cash is his to spend or give away as he wishes. Are you comfortable with the decisions he might make regarding spending that cash or giving it away? How comfortable are you with his girlfriend? If your FIL has to go to a nursing home, are you prepared for the GF to suddenly say “cash? what cash”? I don’t mean to see problems that aren’t there - she may be the most loving supporting person in the world. I’m just thinking of other scenarios I’ve seen play out with others.</p>
<p>hayden – thanks – I have no confidence in FIL’s ability to make a good decision here. I think he is overwhelmed by emotion, nostalgia, and fear. You’re right – if the house is sold while he’s still living, the cash is his to use (or waste) as FIL wants.</p>
<p>I should add that H has power of attorney for FIL’s financial matters and has been handling his accounts and paying his bills for him for the past few years.</p>
<p>What I hope is, since H is executor and is more detached from the process (but not wholly since it was his childhood home) he will be able to make a sound financial decision and protect the value of the house for FIL’s future care. If that means fixing it up and selling it now and putting the proceeds away in an account to be used for FIL health and living expenses, that’s what we would prefer to do instead of leaving it as is for another 4-5 years and having to do all this later. H is going to find out if that’s within his rights as executor. </p>
<p>lizard – good point about money under the mattress. FIL is exactly the type who would do that. We need to clear out valuables (real valuables) first before getting a crew in.</p>
This does not apply to individual properties, though, only the municipality as a whole. If that area keeps going up more than the rest of Boston, the taxes could go up considerably.</p>
<p>I think they should sell. It doesn’t sound like the chance of them returning to Boston is all that high, and being an absentee landlord can/will be a PITA, especially if you are a reluctant landlord.</p>
<p>They’d most likely be moving out to the 'burbs in a few years anyway, when kids come along.</p>
<p>We sold my dad’s house about a year and a half ago (right at the bottom of the market-- we practically gave it away ) We hired a local person to clean up the place and donate/sell/throw away stuff. While I think a LOT of stuff that was potentially valuable disappeared, its only valuable to someone who will buy it, and we were out of state 1000 mi away and were limited in what we could do. We were advised against doing an “estate” or “tag” sale, but rather to let them sell things to private purchasers. I heard a horror story or two about someone coming in, pretending to hurt themselves on the property and then suing the estate and tying up the sale. Not worth the risk to us, no matter how small.</p>
<p>The people we hired did a phenomenal job of getting rid of junk (dont know what happened to the supply of 1960-70s Playboys that we found in the basement or my brother’s stamp collection, but lets not go there). Anyway, they did an incredible job of cleaning the place up, getting rid of junk and getting it ready to show, as well as coordinating, along with the realtor, some of the small repairs that had to be done (we were not going to agree to any major stuff, but did have to address a small roof leak, clean heating radiators, etc). Since I was managing things for years and this was also the house I grew up in, I had contacts with the plumber, etc, and the house was hit by a storm while on the market and I had to get the roofers and a contractor in long distance… that was fun). We were advised not to say “as is” in the listing, but it was pretty apparent there was updating that needed to be done.</p>
<p>In retrospect there we more items I wish I had kept, but it was difficult to get it all shipped, so I have to let that go. Its hard, though, so I understand your DH’s feelings. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you jym626 – it really helps a lot to hear from someone who has recently gone through just what we’re experiencing. Too bad about the vintage Playboys :)</p>
<p>A friend told me that once I find a realtor, they often know of local people who can de-clutter and clean up a house for sale (instead of relying on S and his buddies).</p>
<p>So much good advice jym – I won’t say “as is” but people can see what needs to be done. And that is a horror story (faking a fall on the property just to sue later). It sounds like you did the right thing. I bet you’re glad it’s behind you.</p>
<p>Yes, it was a long, difficult process. We did have to address legal/safety issues, and made the mistake of letting the purchaser (rather than us) do the tank test (there was an in-ground oil tank for the heating oil) and they did a pressure test rather than soil test, and it popped a seam on the tank. We then had to have the tank removed, soil tested, removed, new tank put in the basement, deal with the state putting a “spill#” on the house which had to be removed before the house sale could close, etc. Fortunately we had tank insurance so it wasnt a huge financial burden, but it was a hassle, and in the winter when the soil was hard, etc. The saga is chronicled upthread. Gives me a stomach ache just to think about it all over again.</p>
<p>Artlovers-
???Not sure I understand what you are saying. Venting what “real” story?? I chronicled the whole, painful process ad nauseum here!! There is no other “real” story. Can you explain what you mean?</p>
<p>Well, our house officially went on the market on Friday. Seven showings on Saturday, open house with 15 showings yesterday and our first offer this morning only $5000 below asking price. I’d say the market is pretty good. Our realtor wants us to wait until tonight to respond as she thinks we may have multiple offers.</p>
) We hired a local person to clean up the place and donate/sell/throw away stuff. While I think a LOT of stuff that was potentially valuable disappeared, its only valuable to someone who will buy it, and we were out of state 1000 mi away and were limited in what we could do. We were advised against doing an “estate” or “tag” sale, but rather to let them sell things to private purchasers. I heard a horror story or two about someone coming in, pretending to hurt themselves on the property and then suing the estate and tying up the sale. Not worth the risk to us, no matter how small.</p>