Selling an inherited retirement home – steps to take

Please note: we are not currently purchasing retirement properties, but are happy to provide suggestions on other methods of sale that can prove to be effective.

What is an inherited retirement home?

An inherited retirement home generally refers to houses or flats that are located on retirement estates that cater to the elderly and provide certain support services.

Because these can often be the last place that the homeowner lives in, if they own the property then they might pass the ownership on to a relative or loved one through their will. That’s why it’s important that homeowners have made clear instructions in their will or other legal documents about who should inherit their retirement home.

Preparing your inherited retirement home for sale

It’s slightly more complicated to sell an inherited retirement home than a stand-alone freehold house, and that’s because the property will be located on a larger retirement estate.

But you will probably want to sell the flat or house if you are still fairly young. The only situation where you might not want to sell the property is if you are nearing the relevant age for living in the house, in which case you could simply move in there without selling it.

Yet for the vast majority of people who inherit such homes, selling is their next step. And it’s something that you should get started sooner rather than later.

One reason for moving quickly to sell is that you could be liable for paying inheritance tax in just six months after you take possession of the property if its value is more than the tax exemption thresholds.The UK government’s website has further helpful information on this tax.

Another reason to sell quickly is that once you inherit the home you’ll be liable to pay the property’s weekly service charge, and these fees can add up quite quickly.

To sell the house or flat, you should first visit it and sort through all the belongings. Decide what you want to keep and what you want to sell, but leave the furniture and a few decorations in place while trying to seek a buyer. People will often prefer to seem furnished rooms when they come on viewings rather than rooms that do not have any furniture in them.

Next you will want to talk to the manager of the retirement estate, who will typically have good advice on estate agents you could use or other ways to sell your property.

It’s important to get a good idea of how much the home might be worth, so be sure to spend some time working to figure out the value of your property. You can do this by looking up the prices at which similar homes in the retirement estate have sold, or get an professional estimation.

Options for how to sell your inherited retirement home

There are two main ways that you can sell an inherited retirement home – through a specialist estate agent or by selling to a company that makes quick home purchases for cash.

Selling through a specialist estate agent

These will be estate agents whose expertise is in selling and buying houses and flats in retirement estates. The benefit of using one of these estate agents is that they will know how to best promote the home that you are looking to sell, and will have the knowledge necessary to answer any buyers’ potential questions. The downside of choosing this option is that estate agents will charge you fees for doing all this work, so you’ll have to subtract their fees from whatever total sale price you are able to achieve. And some homes sold through estate agents can sit on the market for a very long time, so it’s also not an ideal choice if you are looking to sell the property quickly.

Selling to a quick property buying company

These are companies that will make cash offers to buy your inherited retirement house or flat quickly and usually without charging you any fees. They can help you achieve a much faster sale than through an estate agent because you’ll be only be dealing with the company. And the fact you won’t have to pay fees means you get to keep all the profit from the sale. Be sure to do your homework and ask your quick house buying company important questions. It’s a much better option if your primary goals with selling the house are doing so quickly with limited troubles.