Adding Structure to the Process of Selling Real Estate While Grieving
July 13, 2021
Pre-planning a funeral, cremation, and any services is an obvious measure we can take to ease our loved ones’ burdens upon our death, but there are other necessary related tasks to consider, such as selling real and personal property. One of the largest and most difficult duties is selling a loved one’s home, particularly if it is the source of many memories for those tasked with selling it. The reality is that survivors need to navigate through the practical weight of responsibility that compounds the emotional weight of grief. Encore at Avalon Park presents the following tips and resources that can make selling a home just a little bit easier.
Take your time with necessary but small steps
Unless there is an underlying legal or financial reason, you don’t have to launch into immediate preparations for selling your loved one’s home, but you do need to take some initial action as part of your preparation. First, determine who needs to have access to the home, then change the locks, passcodes, and other security measures and provide those entry resources only to those who need them. You have no idea if a neighbor or pet sitter from three years ago still has a key; the easiest way to deal with not knowing who has had past access is to restrict it now.
The estate should allow for continued payment of necessary bills, such as the mortgage and utilities, so make sure you can locate those statements. If you or someone else can’t stop by the house every day, or at least several times a week, forward the mail to your residence to avoid an overflowing mailbox, and stop any delivery services that can broadcast a vacant house. To that end, be sure to continue regular maintenance such as lawn and pest care; you’ll want to have the grounds and home immaculate to keep it looking “lived in” for security purposes.
Record retrieval and reminiscing
You’ll want to locate all financial and legal documents of the deceased and in particular, the ones pertinent to the real estate sale to ease the transaction. This includes your loved one’s mortgage documents, sales agreement, property tax records, title report and insurance, and any documentation of recorded liens.
Hopefully, these are all in an accessible and secure location; however, it may be necessary to do some searching and sorting. Depending on how many years the deceased lived there and the level of organization they’ve maintained, this could be a time-consuming task. To avoid getting bogged down in documents and memorabilia, have four or five crates or file boxes labeled with general categories: personal, medical, legal, and financial, and perhaps a separate one for photographs. This allows you to go through the house and remove these documents and belongings with some semblance of organization so you can perform more detailed sorting later.
The emptying of the estate
Depending on what last wishes are detailed and dictated in the estate, it’s likely you’ll need to sell or dispose of belongings in the home. An experienced estate sale company can handle everything from proper appraised values to the sales process and the post-sales cleanup. Not only is this an efficient sales method, but it removes some of the inevitable emotions that can cloud judgment on the actual versus the perceived value of items that may have sentimental meaning.
Your final gesture of goodbye
The practical responsibilities following a loved one’s passing can interrupt the grieving process. In some cases, it can be a welcome respite from your grief, but eventually, you’ll move on and continue the healing process in your own way. Taking care of important details such as selling the home of your loved one is one final act of love and respect, and you can take comfort in knowing you performed it responsibly and with great care.
