The real estate people say I should get $250,000 or a little more for my home. I now need to decide whether to buy or rent when we move. Will need 3 bedrooms because wife's daughter will move in with us to help take care of us. I'll be 78 next month, my wife is 80. We first talked about buying a house but after some deep thinking on the subject I'm leaning hard toward renting. I have a list of pros and cons in my head that support renting but before I mention my thoughts I would like to hear others thoughts about it.
I would think that it would make more sense to rent. I'd be concerned with estate planning and maintenance
I would rent a house. If the plan is to have someone living with you it would make sense to give them the option to relocate. Also the proceeds from selling your present home would be a plus.
Please check with an Elder Law Estate Planning attorney. Having a large sum of cash would make your wife ineligible for any form of aid until depleted, leaving you impoverished.
I definitely think that you should rent, and then if you later decide to buy a house, you still have that option. If you buy a house right now, and then wanted a different one for some reason, you would have to go through the whole process of selling again. If you rent, you have all the time you want to look at houses to buy, and if you decide you want one, then you can always still buy it. Also, you can rent a house, even if your home has not sold yet, because you do not have to have thousands of dollars for a down payment on the rental. If you do buy a house, you can do it in the daughter’s name, and then she wouldn’t have to worry about going through probate at some point in the future and have the property tied up in that. Rentals usually have to be maintained by the owner or service man, so you would not have to deal with all of the things that you do with ownership, and you can probably even find one that has amenities like a pool or at least a nice walking area. Ones designed for seniors would be wheelchair accessible, and no steps, which is going to be important, and you want somewhere fairly close to a hospital in case of emergency. No mater what you do, it will be a drastic change from living out in the country like you are used to doing all of these years. Before you move, take lots of photos and videos so that you and your wife can look at those when you get homesick.
Even though we loved our old house, but, being that it was a 2-story, on a 1/4 acre lot, two extra bedrooms we never used, a formal dining area we never used and a backyard that basically we never used...…...it was sort of a pain to upkeep. Renting can be a pain, with rent increases, but rent increases just come with renting (sometimes). But, when it comes to maintenance inside and out, can't beat renting and letting the Maintenance crew take care of everything.
I'd say start out in a rental. If you decide that's not for you, you'd still have the option to buy. Good luck, Sheldon.
Considering your ages I would suggest using the interest earnings on the proceeds of your home sale to rent a nice Assisted Living Facility with TWO Bedrooms. Rent a one bedroom apartment for your daughter near your Assisted Living. I don't think having your wife's daughter move in to take care of both of you is a good idea. I think you would like this facility Sheldon. It's very much like where I Live. https://www.foxridgeliving.net/
I'm surprised at how many people are so fervently in favor of renting versus owning. While I can understand the attraction of not having to do maintenance, I live in a house that is more than a hundred years old and, while there are expenses from time to time, the house is paid for and the maintenance expenses don't even come close to what I'd be flushing down the rental toilet. Plus, having rented for a large part of my life, I never want to go back into the uncertainty of renting, as well as the prohibitions that generally come with renting. I'd use the money to buy a very modest house, but one that still meets your needs, and have money left over for maintenance or whatever.
Generally speaking, my preference is to own my own home, too. But moving to a new area it might be wise to rent for a while and get the feel of the area before buying.
I always think this is the best idea!! Before I moved to where I lived now, I decided to rent. I'm SO glad I did. Just within the last year, there has been a change in the neighborhood regarding a change in renters. They don't keep the yards as nice as the previous renters did. They are louder and I just dislike 'yard parkers'. It looks trashy. I feel sorry for anyone who has invested in this side of town. It's going downhill fast. Good wisdom to rent for a year BEFORE sinking in all your money. Plus, it gives a person a chance to look around and have patience till a good deal comes along.
We live in apartment by choice...for us it works. Expensive for sure but we did not want to worry about yard work and maintenance on a house. Now that I am in my 70's and he will soon be 65 , we made right decision for us. We have been lucky and had very few issues with apartment living. We don't have to clean outside windows, mow, edge, fertilzie- and etc. Trash pick up at our door, bug maintance done every few months. Many pluses for us- however like all things there are a down side- we just have not reached that point yet