Home Buyers Beware: A Cautionary Tale

All across the country, signs of spring will soon appear, and with them, thousands of “For Sale” signs. Many of these homes for sale will be occupied by older adults who have lived in them for decades. While some of these older home owners will be well and hearty, others will be frail and have limited mobility. They may have given up driving, be tethered to oxygen or have difficulty getting out of the house due to physical ailments. In short, many of these homeowners will be present when you, the prospective buyer, visit their home.

I was with a client recently when this exact thing happened. A real estate agent called to say she was bringing over a potential buyer. My client, who was in a wheelchair and legally blind, had no choice but to be present. We were speaking quietly in the living room when we heard the prospective buyer comment to the agent, “The kitchen is impossible…the rug in the den is disgusting…the bathrooms need to be gutted.” It was all true. The kitchen was old, poorly laid out and had not been updated. The shag rug was worn and dirty. The bathroom fixtures were outdated and stained.

I watched my client’s face as she listened to the prospective buyer’s comments. She had fed her family in that “impossible” kitchen for 50 years. The worn rug in the den had once cradled her children as they watched TV, wrestled and played games. The stained bathroom fixtures had served her family of four well for many decades. And now, it was all being judged…and was deemed lacking, ugly and wrong. The prospective buyer saw a house, but she failed to recognize that she was in someone else’s home.

So to all prospective home buyers, I give these words of caution. When you walk through a house and the owners are present, remember to keep your comments to yourself until you are safely out of earshot. Someday it may be your home.

Posted in Senior Moving Solutions