My Mom just went into a nursing home. Can some of her available funds be used to repair/update her house to ready it for sale?

^^^ oops, when I wrote the "carpet allowance" or "appliance allowance" I forgot that it might be considered a gift as per Medicaid.... that's why it is good to talk to an Elder Law Attorney.

I would sell the house now without any updating and sell it "as is" because having workmen going in and out of the house doing updating and trying to meet a schedule can be exhausting, plus you removing all of the furniture and personal items, if you are also dealing with caregiving your Mom.

Minor repairs and a good cleaning would be ok, but no updating. The new owner would only come in, rip out the updating, and update to their own liking. You could offer a "carpet allowance" or "appliance allowance" in the selling of the house.

If the house has some type of mortgage, one has to pay said mortgage, real estate property taxes, homeowner insurance, all the utilities, etc. It would be nice to get out from under all that, and have the equity sitting quietly in an account or some type of money market fund.

Talk to an Elder Law Attorney to see what would be the best route for the house.

Pam - does the look-back period for Medicaid appy in a case like this, where they would go back a certain number of years and see that she divested an asset - the house? Wouldn't that be an issue?

Talk to a real estate agent and do only the improvements the agent feels would add sale value to the house. Bear in mind once she goes on Medicaid, there will be zero money for the house, all her income goes to the nursing home. If it were me, I would want to sell it NOW.

She is currently self paying however those funds will likely last about 12-18 months and then she would need to go on Medicaid. At that point her only asset will be the house, so the thought was to use some discretionary funds to improve the house so it's value would be greater down the road for sale.

Depends on if Mom is on Medicaid or is self-paying for the nursing home. If she is self-pay at this point, her discretionary income is hers to do as she pleases. If she is on Medicaid or will need to be in the future, the sale of the home may become an issue - divesting an asset can disqualify someone from Medicaid for a period of time.