Q:We are plannng on selling a house to fund an elderly parent in a care home. It is a 30s property in OK condition, has been underpinned once and patched up once by the insurance company. It is not modernised, no central heating, no modern kitchen or bathroom but it is clean. It is ideal for rennovation. Lots of original features. Is it better to sell at auction? We do not need to sell this immediately. Is it better to wait until we absolutely have to sell so that the price of the house goes up (or maybe the foundations move even more!) How much have property prices gone up in Shirley surrey in the last year. Do prices of houses in this condition go up as much as others?

---

A:I would ask estate agents to come and value the property for you. If they think that a mortgage could be raised against the property, then I would be inclined to go with a regular estate agent, set a very attractive 'offers over' price, allow the EA to hold block viewings to promote competition and simply sit and watch the offers come in. I think you will get more offers from Joe Public that way, so possibly higher offers that way.

If it is unlikely that someone will be able to raise a mortgage then auction may be the best place for it. The main benefit of auction is that contracts are exchanged straight away, so the buyer will probably not have time to discover defects.

If you leave the house, it's condition will deteriorate far faster than it would with someone living in it. So that would obviously affect value negatively compared to other properties.

---

Related posts

• Problems with the purchase of retirement just for an elderly parent . [surprise surprise] [elderly parent] (0)
• Elderly Parent / Home Owner / Residential Care [elderly parent] [elderly mother] (0)
• Buying House with Elderly Parent (0)