A hard goodbye: Seniors often need help to sell the family home
It’s familiar, comfortable — and (hopefully) paid off. But without the momentum of an impending move, it’s all too easy to put off planning for an eventual change.
When you’ve been in the same home for 40 or 50 years, stuff tends to pile up.
Over the years, mementoes and bric-a-brac gather in dusty corners of basements, attics, garages, spare rooms, cupboards and closets, everything from boxes of forgotten family photos to the long-disused bins of camping equipment and bags of the children’s old toys.
One day you’ll go through it all, you promise yourself. You’ll have a big garage sale. You’ll box the best of it up and give it to the kids. You’ll donate the rest to charity. One day.
Days have a way of running out. Wait too long, and when “one day” comes, you may be physically incapable of making it down the stairs to the basement or lifting heavy boxes of books. Financial difficulties, illness, injury or death may impose new deadlines, adding another layer of stress to an already overwhelming task.
Many seniors prefer to stay in the family home as long as possible. It’s familiar, comfortable — and (hopefully) paid off. But without the momentum of an impending move, it’s all too easy to put off planning for the inevitable day when circumstances force a change. (read more)
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