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Mom's in nursing home with dementia. I have POA and need to sell her house. Kids name on deed only as POD. What needs to be done to get the house sold?And when getting repairers done on the house toward selling how do I accomplish this in her name? My name's on the checking account so I have excess to her money but thinking I need to sign her name or something when signing the work contract?
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We sold Mom's house As Is 4 years ago with a few repairs. I cleaned everything out, scrubbed the kitchen appliances and floor, cleaned out and scrubbed the cabinets. We spent maybe $500 repairing a few holes in the ceilings and had the basement walls painted. We also removed the living room carpet, which was old and worn, the house has hardwood floors. I had to hire a company to clean out the very neglected garage. 3 truckloads of trash to the dump! My brother and I removed some partition walls Dad had put up to divide the basement.

I was upfront with the realtor, someone I know, about any problems I was aware of. We put the house on the market on a Thursday, had 9 offers by noon Friday, and we’re in contract on Saturday for $30,000 over the asking price. Luckily the house is in a desirable market.

I think showing an empty house worked because nothing was hidden or disguised from prospective buyers.

One note, check with your insurance company about coverage for an "unoccupied structure." I had to purchase a specific policy when the regular company found out Mom had moved out and no one was living there.
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Nobody has brought up Medicaid in the answers so far.
BUT if your mom or your late dad were on any Medicaid program - LTC like in a NH or MC but also community based Medicaid- there will be a possibility of a lien or a claim against the property that will have to be dealt with eventually.
AND if it looks like mom will run out of $ even with $ from house sale and so mom will eventually herself need to apply for LTC Medicaid for NH stay, you need to try pay all repairs costs from moms checking account directly.
If you are paying the house repair / house sale related bills and then you reimburse yourself from moms acct later, those checks from mom to you look like “gifting”. Gifting is not allowed by Medicaid and those checks from her to you will be red flags for her Medicaid application as Medicaid requires basically 5 yrs of banking info, You need to keep serious and detailed records on all this to clearly establish that no gifting happened.
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I want to thank everyone for the great advice.It is such a relief to see that so far I am not too far off the track of what needs to be done.Its so all consuming getting everything out of the house and finding repair services to fix problems.I keep thinking I need to over fix the house to sell. I have 3 brothers that don't really care what goes on and are of no help so am the only one trying to figure it out. Thank God for my ex-husband though, he has been there helping me tremendously with organizing and the moving the stuff out of the house.
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Island9445 Aug 2021
As a Realtor, we sell homes all the time in "As Is" condition (I'm licensed in MD). We have a specific addendum that states the buyer(s) of the property have the right to any inspections they choose but the seller(s) will not pay for any repairs, etc. Hope you find this helpful information. Good luck!
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You need to get in contact with an elder care attorney asap. He can help sort things out. I would say get your name off her account because since you are POA, you can still pay her bills with her checking but sign your name with POA behind it. Make sure the bank has a copy of that POA. I know.......cause I am POA for my mother, no name on her accounts, i pay all bills and just sign my name with POA behind. it. I have been in contact with elder care attorney when my dad first had issues back in 2014 and have now continued on with mom. again, contact an ELDER CARE ATTORNEY..........wishing you luck.
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Lamb232 Aug 2021
Thank you. This will be a question that will soon come up for me. I'm a new POA and just beginning to sort things out.
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As POA, you sign HER name and then:
BY: Jane Doe, Agent/POA
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I agree -- sell it "as is" with no warranties implied. It is not your house, therefore you are not able to do disclosures as to its condition.

I had a Realtor through my mom's house a year ago just to get an idea of what we needed to do. It's an old Spanish-style house, was built in 1931 and the kitchen was last updated in 1969. Frankly, it's a tear-down. Someone will come in, gut it, and rearrange the entire inside to work better for today's living.

The Realtor suggested we get a new garage door because the old one was also circa 1969 and dangerous, and call it good. She also suggested we have the house inspected and present that inspection report to anyone interested in making an offer, because that's the best I can do in terms of disclosures. I haven't lived in that house since 1985, so I can't disclose anything.

If possible, get a Realtor who specializes in estates.
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MJ1929 Aug 2021
Also, as POA, you don't ever sign her name to anything. You sign your name and "POA" after that.
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I agree with the other posters, sell it as is,

If you can watch some old episodes of a show called

"Zombie House Flipping"
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I was conservator and my probate lawyer told me to “sell as is,” despite realtors trying to “flip it,” for higher profit. Don’t go there.
I had to wait for her to “pass” first.
Look for a realtor now, and start packing up if she’s been there a lifetime.
it took me a month to clean out the entire 2 floors, plus an in-law suite, a finished basement and garage filled with tools.
Write didn’t the hours you work, into a journal with dates and times.
I was told to pay myself, and the fee was HER attorneys price of $50.00/hr. I would have done it for $25.00 but they knew how difficult she was.
Records are to “CYA,” in the future.
It took me a year to sell it, and thst was in 2013, when it went up for sale.
Do it in spurts if the house is big.
I had (2) helpers whom I paid $20.00/hr for the “heavy lifting.”
GoodWill got a ton of dishes and clothing.
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I sold my mom's condo for her when she was in and out of rehab and hospital. Have an extensive POA. I had it repainted and recarpeted, that was it. I worked at the time for a title company so I was able to run my POA by one of our attorneys. Apparently, not all POAs allow you to do a real estate transaction. You may want to call the attorney who did the POA for you. I did the closing myself, she did not have to be involved at all. Find a great real estate agent you know/trust mine actually dealt with getting the painters and carpet guys there for me and I paid them directly with my mom's funds. Good luck!
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igloo572 Aug 2021
what You posted is way, waaaay important, the POA has to absolutely allow for real estate transactions. The wording has to be just right for your states laws.
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Selling "As Is" can take a huge burden off your shoulders.
And since it is your mothers house you can honestly state that you are unaware of problems. (obviously if you are aware they need to be disclosed)
This is a Sellers Market now and I would be surprised if it sat on the market long.
You do need to get a fair appraisal and it should sell for Fair Market Value (or above) But I am sure even selling it As Is you will get that.
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