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Mom is 91, and mentally intact, but at her age, anything can happen. She's a very pleasant lady and we get along well. I've had POA for 5 years. I've been living with her for 3.5 years since she can no longer be alone, and I have been renting out my condo. I work from home.

I now want to downsize her out of her house and have her move in with me to the condo. That way we could put the house proceeds in a healthcare trust and use her monthly income to assist with hiring in some home healthcare, so I am not so housebound. Currently her income largely goes to keeping her house going.

Is this a wise plan? She is agreeable with the idea. She has no other assets.

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MomcareFL, since your Mom can live with you at your condo, and she is agreeable to move [that is half the battle] I would highly recommend that you sell your Mom's house as long as there is enough equity to pay back the whole reverse-mortgage loan.

Check with the mortgage company to see what happens if your Mom leaves that house... see how much time she has to sell the house... and get a good Realtor and a Settlement Company who both understand how reverse mortgages work. The Reverse Mortgage won't affect the Buyer.

Here's hoping for a really smooth sell and move :)
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Momcare - thanks, so our mom is totally tied to whatever the RM agreement is.
So do you have a very clear figures from the RM as to what the costs would be for changing the terms of the RM & canceling the RM (which are usually based on the homeowners death)? If not, I'd suggest you get in writing from the RM holder what the payoff amount due to the RM would be. Then secondly I'd speak with a couple of Realtors to get comps for your mom's property to see what it would possible sell for & the days on market (the DOM) and what her proceeds could realistically be.

The DOM is important as there will be costs to sell mom's place. If you all find that the utilities need to be on 24/7; yard much more maintained; insurance rider place; having the house prettied up, painted or stage or whatever to make it market ready, etc, well all that adds up. If it runs say an add'l $ 600 a month, then the DOM is going to be mucho importante. Then take all the figures to see where you stand as to just how much $$ mom may realistically have.

And I'd do this BEFORE paying 10K to the CC company cause once that 10K is paid, it is gone.

If they live long enough, unless they are generationally wealthy, they are going to run out of money eventually & the family member caregiver is going to run out of steam (& humor). It's good you are thinking about all this now. Health care costs are just staggering.
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If prices are up in her housing market, I would say do it. BUT prices usually fall in winter and peak in mid-summer here in NY. Not sure how FL works.
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That's what I was thinking--that doing it now would be better. She was recently in rehab for a UTI and they assessed her at that time. She scored 28/30. Her short-term memory has declined in the past year, but for her age they tell me she is still very much on the ball. She has never shown signs of depression and is generally a positive person.

I agree to approach slowly. We've been talking about making this move for many months now. The UTI crisis made me realize what an albatross her home could become. Yes, I guess she could stay in it indefinitely (until the equity line is used up), but if she suddenly needs an NH or ALF, the house would have to be sold urgently and I don't want to have to go through that if I don't have to. I'll be under enough stress. And I can't afford to pay off her reverse mortgage to allow her to keep the home.
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Thanks, freqflyer. That's helpful advice. She owes about $110K, and houses like hers are now selling for double that. As I recall, if she moves out permanently, she has to sell within 3 months but can take up to a year. But, I will check as you suggest. Many thanks!
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Momcare, you are such a smart cookie to deal with this in a non crisis situation. Kudos!
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MomcareFL, once the equity line is used up, and your Mom still wants to stay in here home, the whole loan becomes due and payable... then your Mom would need to refinance to pay off the Reverse Mortgage, or sell the house.
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Thanks, Freqflyer. I do think it's best to get out now, but I do hope Mom will be able to adjust. That's my biggest worry. I don't want the move to be an event that sets a bigger decline in motion. We'll just transition slowly, maybe spend weekends here and weekdays there a bit, just so she can say farewells to the house.
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Maybe living in your condo will be a blessing. My folks had a very steep stairway in thier house. We have 2 short series of steps here and even they can be a challenge! So do it now, while mom is agreeable! We were looking to downsize before my folks moved in.. glad we didn;t but I still find myself looking at smaller ranchers. My daughter just bought a handicapped accessable condo ,and my folks love it. Too bad they cant live alone anymore! I love her condo too.. I may buy it when she moves out someday! She is is not handicapped, but the bathrooms and hallways are bigger and it was ground floor so she knew it would be easier for all of us to visit
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MomcareFL, what some people are doing now is giving away things to relatives/friends while they are still alive... that way they get to see the smile and enjoy hearing about the items.

Example, I plan to give my sig other's grand-daughters [ages 8 and 10] my old coin collection and my old stamp book collection, as I was their age when I first got interested. Hopefully they will have fun collecting.
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