Moving Dad

A True Story About Helping a Parent Sell Their Home

by Sarah Marrinan

A year ago this past summer I got a call "Can you look at my dad's house? We might need to sell it."

We scheduled the time and I met the son at the family home for a brief walk-through. We had a discussion about how it was very early in the process but at some point the time comes for everybody to sell their family home. The son saw the signs that the time to move may be sooner than later for his dad so he took the reins and called me. After our meeting, he agreed to work with his dad on finances and starting the conversation about moving.

No matter what reason, whether it's to retire and move south, to move in with other family, move to lower maintenance home, a retirement home, it's always an emotional move. And so I welcome and encourage these planning calls.

Flash-forward to the next year, the son called "I think it's time to meet with my dad." In my experience with selling long-time family homes, talking about the next step after the home is sold is the most important step. The process of actually getting the home sold is just a piece of the bigger puzzle so we went through and determined the criteria for the next place dad would live.

The son was extraordinary at helping his father with finances and planning. We proceeded to go on a few home showings with dad and had some of the dad's family with us. Nothing was really standing out as the one for dad... but I learned a lot about what was important to dad. 

In the meantime, we started the paperwork and planning for the sale of the family home. We discussed all the positive selling points and all of our potential challenges. I got to work on all of my behind the scenes home listing preparation plans including working with a title company. I knew that a successful move was going to need to be a well-oiled machine.

Then one day, I saw the home that most closely resembled the things the dad told me he would miss the most about his current home. I quickly contacted dad and the son and arranged a showing.

Of course, in this hot real estate market there were multiple offers on the move-in-ready ready home. After many discussions both father and son decided we needed to do whatever it would take to get this home. With still having the family home to sell, I knew this would be tough but I had been planning.

We contacted the mortgage lender that the son had been working with for an approval letter and wrote up the most attractive offer terms we could accomodate. I was able to negotiate with the listing agent for the seller to take our offer! The son jumped in and started handling inspection scheduling for his dad. We then worked together on getting paperwork to the lender with to start the mortgage process on this particular home.

Now, we faced a potentially bigger challenge. Quickly finding just the right buyer for the family home. Not only did we need a buyer that proposed a good financial offer, but somebody that would love the home as much as dad did.

Luckily, we had everything ready to go to get dad's house on the market. We priced the home competitively and had showings in the double digits. Under a week later we had three solid offers to review.

When we sat down together, we first reviewed all the offers from a financial perspective. This was more of an elimination process than a choosing process. Then, out came the letters from the buyers. One particular buyer had written a letter that's spoke perfectly to Dad. The tears rolled down his face and everything started to fall into place.

But that's not the happy ending.

We still had to get through inspections and repair negotiations on the home dad was buying. Then, during the appraisal process of the new homefor dad, the loan officer the dad and son had been working with at the mortgage company left the company.

Dad still needed to plan his move and his family came to help with packing and downsizing. Going through personal effects can be one of the most emotional parts of selling a family home. It was a good time to be together as a famliy with dad.

While we chose a well qualified buyer for Dad's house, there were still appraisal challenges with condition of the home that had to be resolved.

There was a flurry of paperwork, discussions and more negotiations over the next couple weeks.

And then... just when we thought we could let out a sigh of relief because we were less than a week away from closing and we had overcome so many challenges... The lender didn't get one document back in time per regulations for the purchase contract closing deadline. Our closing would need to be delayed per federal guidelines. This meant that not only were we outside of our contract terms but we affecting the plans of the seller of the home he was purchasing and the plans for the buyer of his home. 

Emotions were running high all around.  I'll spare you the details of the next few days but we held everything together!

Dad spent the holidays in his new home. He will always miss the family home but his new home seems like it was meant to be. He gets along with the neighbors and enjoys the home and location.

Is there a loved one in your life that could benefit from a free planning session? Call or text Sarah at 651-401-8188.