Passing a house from family to family
Today, I celebrate the home purchase of L and J. This purchase is cause for celebration. Sometimes, the transfer of a house from one person to another is just a business deal. Sometimes, it becomes a joyful transfer of the best parts of a life from one family to another.
The house in question was in the same family for 66 years. The family that was selling had owned it since the (now deceased) father was a teenager. He later bought it from his parents and raised his family in it. His adult daughter was selling it. The house had 66 year’s worth of stuff in it. Making it even harder was that the (now deceased) mother was a hoarder.
One of the hardest seller situations is when someone is selling their parent’s house. Handling a parent’s things and making decisions about throwing things away, selling things, and keeping things, is very difficult. For agents, it requires tact. Working in a compassionate way goes a long way to making things work out for everyone involved.
The sellers were under the gun to get the house cleared out for sale. It was a Sisyphean task. They couldn’t market the house, generally, until it was cleared out. My clients saw the house while it was still cluttered, but could see through the clutter and knew the house would work for them. They were able to see beyond the clutter and had faith in the seller’s ability to get the house cleared out for closing. A deal was struck.
The buyers were a young couple with four children. They did not have a large income because they have a stay-at-home, full-time, parent (the children’s father, J.) They looked at several houses that were just too small, or needed too much work. It was going to take the right balance of size and condition to fit their needs.
Over the time between when the Purchase and Sales Agreement was signed and when the closing took place, spontaneous generosity broke out. I see it about twice a decade. By the end of the transaction, the sellers were giving things away and the buyers were buying them gifts. A real friendship developed.
This type of transaction was dubbed a “love fest” by my former colleague, Hilda Silverman. As an agent, I had a lot of details to watch. There were problems with the lender and snags in the clearing out process. I intervened in the lending process and encouraged in the clean-out. But mostly, I stepped out of the middle between the buyer and the seller.
In the end, both buyer and seller got what they needed. What they needed went beyond the sale price. The terms in this transaction included mutual respect a commitment to do the right thing for the house and for both families.
Did you have a love fest when you bought or sold? Do you know someone who had a personal good experience in addition to an economic one?
