Sell, Rent or Keep: What It Means for Mom's Care
Free calculator for a family whose parent is moving to assisted living. Enter the home value, the mortgage, the community's monthly fee and Mom's income and savings, and see how many months of care selling, renting or keeping the house pays for. Estimates, not advice. No email required.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Should we sell Mom's house to pay for assisted living?
It depends on the math, not a rule. Take the community's monthly fee, subtract Mom's monthly income, and that is the gap her savings and the house have to cover. If selling is the only way the money lasts, selling usually wins. If her income and savings already cover years of care, you have more room to rent or keep it. Before selling, ask an elder law attorney how the sale affects Medicaid, because the home is often an exempt asset and the cash from a sale is not.
Is it better to rent Mom's house or sell it?
Renting keeps the house and brings in a monthly check, but that check is smaller than most families expect after management, vacancy, repairs, taxes and insurance, and someone has to manage it. Selling turns the equity into cash that can pay for care now. Run both in the calculator. If rent covers the care gap and someone is willing to be the landlord, renting can work. If not, the sale usually pays for more months of care.
What happens to the capital gains exclusion if we rent the house?
The home sale exclusion (up to $250,000 of gain for a single person, $500,000 for a married couple) needs the owner to have lived in the home at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale. Renting it out after Mom moves starts that clock. Rent it for more than about 3 years and the exclusion can be lost. IRS rules also let time in a licensed care facility count in some cases. Ask a CPA before you sign a lease.
What does it cost to keep an empty house?
Property tax, insurance, utilities, lawn care and upkeep keep coming, plus any mortgage payment, with nothing coming in. Many standard homeowners policies limit or deny claims after the house has been vacant for about 60 days, so tell the insurer and ask about a vacant-home policy. The calculator shows how much faster Mom's savings run out while the house sits.
Topic cluster · Selling a parent's home
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Need help interpreting your results?
Numbers on a page don't decide anything. A 20-minute call will. Walk through what you just saw with Ryan Riggins, Senior Transition Advisor for the family home. No sales pressure. Ryan is a licensed NC broker (#361546, eXp Realty) but does not work as a traditional listing agent.
Not comfortable with a call? Just want to shoot me an email? Reach me at ryan@rigginsstrategicsolutions.com