What to do with Your House When Entering a Nursing Home

Brad Smith • September 24, 2020

When you are making decisions about your future and medical decisions that best suit your needs, the option of a nursing home or assisted living facility inevitably comes up.


They are licensed and equipped to take care of your medical needs. However, leaving the home that you own and going to a nursing home can be a challenge that leaves you with many questions like what happens to the home? Does it get sold? Do my children get it? If it does get sold, who gets the proceeds from the sale? How does this affect taxes and insurance? Will this affect my Medicaid? These are all valid questions can be answered by an attorney.

Selling Your Home

Many seniors who are living in some sort of assisted living facility or nursing home still own their homes and consider selling it too, especially if they do not have family in the area. But many do not consider the challenges they may face in a possible sale. In order to sell a home, you have to make it look presentable or possibly updated. If that elderly individual has not lived there in many months, the house may not be at its best.

Another challenge is the real estate market. Making others aware that the house is for sale is important to get the house sold. If you cannot sell by owner fast enough, seeking the aid of a real estate agent is helpful. The amount of money you will receive from the sale will dip into the percentage of sales. This fee may not be able to afford that. 

Sorting through your possessions can be especially challenging. Getting around the home because of developed mobility issues. You also may not have big of a space at your new senior living home for all of your things or if you do not have a big family or your family lives far away, you may need to sell some possessions or invest in a storage unit.

Emotional Attachment to Your House

There also is the emotional aspect that you need to work through. This may have been the house that you raised your children in and spent holidays and birthdays in. Given the amount of memories you may have in the place, it may be difficult for you to consider selling it.


However, the financial turmoil over the ability to pay for long-term housing and care may outweigh the emotional attachment you may have for your house. As much as you may love that house, you would not want to put yourself or your family in any difficult financial situations by holding onto a property that you are not living in. Facing all of these issues will require time and patience, as well as a partner you can trust to help guide you through the challenges that you face.

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