Tag: Senior Citizens

Selling Your Home and Renting Might Be the Answer for You, As It Was for Us

This past weekend I had an interesting conversation with fellow “seniors” who are contemplating their next step in life.

They own a single-family detached home with lots of yard work to keep it looking beautiful. They love their home but feel the need to simplify their life as they age. (They’re in their 70s.)

Their options vary from downsizing to a patio home, moving to a 55+ rental (which Rita and I did last year), or moving out-of-state or out of the country.  Our nation’s political turmoil is what’s behind the last option, and Portugal and Mexico have caught their attention.

This couple is also feeling an urgency to choose, because they know this is the time of year when the landscaping looks its best, and they don’t want to miss that window of opportunity.

Putting my “consultant” hat on, I had some insights of my own to share with them.

My first insight was that you don’t want to wait until you have to sell, such as from illness or death of a spouse. This couple is in excellent health, and that’s what you want when you undertake such a serious (and exerting) life change.

My second insight was that renting is actually a great way to procrastinate, taking the pressure off choosing those other options. As a renter, you get to decide a year from now when your one-year lease expires. At that time you can buy that patio home, move locally, out-of-state or to Portugal — or you can renew your lease and put off the decision for another year. 

As a renter, especially in an apartment building or 55+ community, you are free to travel and check out all those options. And, since you will have sold your house already, you could be a non-contingent buyer if buying is what you decide to do.

Selling your current house and buying a replacement home at the same time can be really strenuous and stressful in terms of moving. If you rent, you can take your time to move out of your current home, and you can take your time again when you decide to buy next year or the year after.

A third insight is financial. This couple owns their house “free and clear.” When they sell, they’ll have nearly a million dollars that they can invest (as we did), adding another income stream. That equity isn’t earning them anything sitting in their home, and the income they earn from investing their proceeds will likely exceed the cost of renting.

Lastly, they’ll be able to enjoy worry-free vacations. As a renter, they’ll be in a “lock-and-leave” environment like Rita and I are — able to go on cruises or other trips without any concern about break-ins, snow-shoveling, lawn care or frozen pipes. 

As a Realtor and homeowner, I never thought that I’d be a renter again, but I could tell that we were at the top of the market and that by “cashing out” on our single-family home in Golden, we’d have the freedom to make another decision at any time later on and not have to worry about anything. And because we had to downsize to sell our 4,000-sq.-ft. home and move into an 1,100-sq.-ft. apartment, that hard work was behind us. It was a great feeling when that downsizing was complete. Another benefit is that our heirs will have less to sort through and dispose of when we die, because we already did most of that work.

I’d like to hear your thoughts or questions about this topic. Email me at Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com.

How to Alert Residents About Approaching Wildfires  

Clearly many lives were saved in the Marshall Fire because it started in the morning and residents were awake and alert to the danger. Imagine if the fire had begun at 2 a.m.  How many more people might have died in their homes?

A reader suggested that community-based sirens could help to save lives, and that does sound like a good idea.

NextDoor is a great resource for alerting residents about all kinds of dangers, but it would not wake anyone up. Something like the Amber alert which makes a deafening alarm on cell phones could be effective. (I leave my cell phone on at night but it is purposely out of earshot for phone calls and text messages. I would, however, hear the loud alarm used for Amber alerts.)

The Amber alert should not itself be utilized for such a warning, because it can be silenced.  If there were a separate alert for fire danger, it’s unlikely that people would silence that alert or turn off their cell phones at night.

There are, I’ve found, many seniors who have held off buying cell phones, but the existence of such an alert might inspire them to purchase one. In addition to the low-cost providers, there is a program called Lifeline that provides free cell phones to households that are on various programs such as SNAP, SSI, Medicaid, etc. Learn more at www.AssuranceWireless.com. If you are currently paying for a landline telephone, you could get rid of it and port your phone number to the free cell phone that you get with this program. The cellphone can also provide you with free internet service via a “hotspot,” allowing you to save money on broadband, too.

Investors Target Seniors & Others, Buying Homes Below Their True Value

As a long-time Realtor serving the Denver metro area, I am committed to protecting homeowners and especially seniors from being cheated out of their home’s true worth by investors who offer to buy homes for cash without putting them on the market.

Unsolicited offers in the mail or by phone should be a red flag for you. These people know what they are doing and depend on you not knowing the true value of your home.

I want to uncover people who seek to cheat you. If you get such a solicitation, call me at 303-525-1851, and I’ll tell you what you’re home is really worth. Keep in mind that investors will only make an offer that leaves room to make a big profit — at your expense.

It’s easy for any investor to go online and identify homeowners who purchased their home 30 or 40 years ago for a fraction of what it’s worth now.  It’s a sure bet that such an owner is a senior and would be impressed by a cash offer of, say, $300,000. But how will you feel a month later when that investor sells your home for $100,000 more without making any significant improvements to it? You’d feel “ripped off” — and rightly so.  Don’t let this happen to you!

You may not even want to sell your home, but the offer of a quick $300,000 could lure you into a sale which you would only regret later.

Seniors in particular can’t afford to be cheated out of their home’s equity. The money they receive needs to last through their remaining lifetime. As a senior myself, I make those same calculations about how much money I need to support Rita and me for as long as we both live.

Don’t feel that you’re imposing on me to ask for my advice, which I give free over the phone. Using my computer, I can tell you within a few minutes whether an unsolicited offer you receive is close to what your home is really worth. My computer is always on, and unless I’m away from it when you call, I can enter your address in two different programs and tell you during the same phone call what those programs say your home is worth.  If you actually do want to sell, I can refine those valuations by looking at your home’s condition and location and studying the sales of comparable homes in your immediate neighborhood. With my years of experience, this is easy for me, so please feel free to ask!

I promise that I won’t ask you to list your home with me. You’d have to raise that subject. I just want to save you from being cheated or scammed. 

In my 18 years of practicing real estate in the metro area, I have come across many scams perpetrated against homeowners of all ages, but especially against seniors.

For example, I remember how one caregiver in Lakewood convinced her elderly client with dementia to add her name to his checking account and to the title of his car and even made her a co-owner of his home. When he passed, this man’s relatives couldn’t do anything about it because all those acts were ruled legal despite the man’s dementia. That “caregiver” drained his checking account, sold the house after his death, and his relatives didn’t get a dime.

If you’re a senior, beware of people who befriend and pretend to love you. They may have ulterior motives. If you are not a senior but have a relative who is elderly and lives alone, keep in touch with him or her and ask questions. Don’t let your relative be scammed — or feel ignored by you. That only plays into the scammer’s hand.

Now, if it is time for you to give up owning a home and move into a senior community where you have no maintenance worries and enjoy the company of others your age, I have a colleague who specializes in helping seniors find the right facility. She will listen to your needs and wants and even take you to visit facilities which best meet your needs. She knows their services and their histories, both good and bad. She’ll keep you from choosing a facility that you’ll regret later. She’s motivated to find you a facility that you like, because the facility only pays her a commission if you stay there for at least 90 days.  She’s a sweet, caring person, and you pay nothing for her services.

Or perhaps you’d just like to downsize into a smaller home or one with the master bedroom, kitchen, living room  and laundry all on the main floor. That’s where I can be of service personally.  I can send you listings like that and show you ones that sound appealing.

Call my cell phone anytime at 303-525-1851.  I answer it day or evening.

Life’s Transitions Are at the Heart of Most Real Estate Needs

In my 17 years as a Realtor, I have learned that most people’s real estate needs arise from life’s many and varied transitions.  These can include relationship changes such as marriage and divorce, a birth or death in the family, health changes, and other reasons for upsizing or downsizing, as well as job relocation, job loss, and changes in income. People also relocate to be closer to grandchildren or other family members.

Clients have come to us because of most or all of these “transitions,” but perhaps the most common is, sadly, divorce. When couples divorce, one option is for one spouse to buy out the other, and al-though the court (in a non-amicable divorce) might require a valuation by a licensed appraiser, often we’ll be called upon to give a “Broker Price Opinion” of the home’s value. I don’t charge for this service, nor do I think most agents would. If a sale of the home is necessary, of course we’re available to assist in that, and the proceeds can be disbursed as the couple or the court dictates.

Medical changes or uncertainty, which can affect people of all ages, often necessitate a home sale. We can help the seller of a multi-level home find a wheelchair accessible home or simply one with fewer stairs, and discount the commission on the sale of their current home when we earn a commission on their purchase. If the seller is moving to a rental such as in a senior community, we can refer them to a specialist in that field.

Marriage or simply the combining of two households is a happier transition, and, again, look for your agent to discount the fee, as we do, for selling your current homes in return for earning a commission on your new home together.

Empty nesters (and others) come to us on occasion wanting to downsize. They may want to use their new-found freedom to travel, and ask us to find them a “lock-and-leave” home such as a condo or patio home, where you have no maintenance responsibilities and it’s not obvious when you’re away.

Relocation is a big area of need, too. This is a good time to “sell high and buy low,” by moving from Denver to, say, Goodland, Kansas, where a recent client of mine was able to buy a bigger house using only the equity from the sale of their Arvada home.  Now they have no mortgage!

Have You Owned Your Home a Long Time? Here Are Some Tips for Avoiding Capital Gains Tax

If you bought your primary residence back in the 1960s or 1970s, there’s a good chance that you’ll be pushing the limits of the capital gains tax exemption when it comes time to sell.

There is an exemption of capital gains tax of $250,000 (single) or $500,000 (married) for a home that was your principal residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale. If you bought your house for, say, $30,000, in the 1960s, it’s quite possible that it’s worth 10 or 20 times that amount now, resulting in the possibility of capital gains taxation.

If one of a married couple moves out, the $500,000 exemption is preserved by the other spouse as long as the absent spouse is still alive, providing the couple sells the house within 3 years of both moving out.

Do not add your heirs to the title of your home as a “joint tenant” with right of survivorship.  That’s because your heirs inherit your original purchase price as their cost basis, whereas if they inherit the property through your will, the basis for them is stepped up to the fair market value of the home at the time of the inheritance, which will help them avoid capital gains tax when they sell it.

I am not a tax advisor, and am only recounting what I have been told by tax and estate-planning professionals. Consult your own tax professional before acting on anything I have written here.

Seniors: Learn What You Need to Know About Real Estate

Last month’s column was about the risk seniors face of being scammed or conned out of their homes.

Let’s face it — seniors need to be careful and knowledgeable about real estate as they age. There are issues of downsizing as well as inheritance. And you need to know how real estate works, how to choose the best Realtor and know that he or she is working in your best interest.

At Golden Real Estate we have two agents who have earned the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) designation as a result of special training on a multitude of issues facing seniors. One of them is David Dlugasch, shown at right during his PowerPoint presentation to a group of seniors. The other is Kristi Brunel.  If you belong to a senior group that welcomes outside speakers, please consider calling David at 303-908-4835 or Kristi at 303-525-2520 and arranging for a live presentation.  You may learn something that could help you in the future.