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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2016)
12M // Real Estate & Home Builders Guide // August 2016 Aging father no longer maintains cleanliness inside his home By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin Tribune Content Agency Q : My retired, intellectual, in-good-health, father lives alone in Florida. His home is in a nice neighborhood. From the outside everything looks ine but my father owes more on his home than it’s worth. My real concern is what is going on inside of the home. At one time, the home was lovely. But my dad no longer cleans, and a person can barely walk through much of the house. You can’t enter the dining room because of piles of bags. He has a dishwasher but does not wash dishes. He disposes of garbage but leaves containers that still have food remaining in them in the kitchen. What would be the conse- quences to me if something happens to my dad? It would take a big crew and money to clean and prepare the home for sale, and it is unlikely he will leave any money for the task. Could the city in which he lives force me to pay real estate taxes on the home and prepare it for sale? Should the home be sold at auction? : You say your father is in good health and otherwise seems ine, but his behavior seems unusual, even for those who are aging and living alone. It seems that there is more going on with your dad than what you’ve written. And, we suggest you look into it because while your question (which we’ll answer in a moment) has to do with what happens after your dad passes away, what’s going on isn’t healthy. If the house is no longer clean and sanitary, it could be a sign of mental illness or other problems. We’d like you to sit down with your father and discuss his situation. If his mind is in good shape, try to ind out what’s going on in his life. If he’s ine but going through a tough period emotion- ally or suffers from depression, A you might want to hire someone to values have stayed lat (at a lower help him out on a part time basis. level) after the Great Recession Even a house cleaning service and have not recovered. This is could help a bit to keep the house true for neighborhoods around clean. And, you and your siblings Las Vegas, and pockets of areas could spend a weekend throwing in parts of California, Arizona, stuff out or giving stuff away. Michigan, Florida, and other cities Your father may or states. But in CONDITIONS IN live in such an area many parts of the but he still needs a THE HOME COULD country, home place to live. What you prices have risen BE RECIPE FOR describe could be a tremendously and DISASTER recipe for disaster and we’re in a strong could be detrimental sellers’ market in to his health. From our viewpoint, low to moderate price ranges in we’d prefer to see you and your most metro areas. family be proactive to help your Now, if you decide to do father’s living situation than wait nothing, after your dad dies, title until he dies to take care of the real to his home will pass on to his kids estate issue. The more important or heirs accordingly to his will or issue is his health and having a according to the laws of the State clean, safe place to call home. of Florida. But the heirs can elect Now, let’s move onto your not to accept to inherit the home. question. While you say that your Your father’s estate, however, dad owes more on the home than would still be liable for expenses the home is worth, we’d like to and the payment of the existing have you do a bit more research to mortgage on the home. At that make sure that’s still the case. point, if the mortgage payments In some places, real estate don’t get made to the lender, the lender would have the right to foreclose on the home and sell it to satisfy all or a portion of the debt still owed on the home. There could also be issues if he doesn’t pay his property taxes. The home could be sold for the back taxes, although this is less likely if there is no equity in the property. Likewise, the municipality has an action for code violations against the owner of the home and if you don’t inherit the home, you would not become liable for citations against the home. In any of these cases, we’d prefer to see both you and the family help your dad out and improve his living conditions. He still needs a place to live, and if he can handle living alone and is happy living alone, you should do what you can to help him out now. 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