How to Use Your Home Equity to Fund Long-Term Care
Long-term care Chicago area families often assume means a distant, someday concern. Then a parent has a fall, or a spouse gets a diagnosis, and the someday arrives all at once. At that point, the home a family has lived in for decades often becomes the single largest...
7 Home Financing Tips Every Homeowner Over 50 Should Know
Home financing South Suburbs homeowners understand from decades of paying a mortgage, often looks different once retirement changes the picture. The paycheck that once anchored a loan application gets replaced by Social Security, a pension, or retirement account...
6 Things Homeowners Over 50 Wish Their Real Estate Agent Understood
A Realtor in the South Suburbs works with homeowners at every age and stage. Homeowners over 50 often carry a specific set of hopes into that first conversation. Some of what they wish their agent understood rarely gets said out loud. Here are six of the most common...
Overcoming the “Last Home” Mental Block
Overcoming a last home Chicago homeowner’s mental block usually starts with naming the block itself. This is not grief over leaving the house behind. It is fear of the house being moved into. If this is truly the last home, the thinking goes, there is no room...
Quiz: Are You House-Rich and Cash-Constrained
Are you house-rich, South Suburbs style? Your home might be worth a small fortune while your checking account tells a different story. This quiz will help you find out where you actually stand. Grab a pen, answer honestly, and tally your points at the end. For many...
Why Your Home Is Sitting on the Market and What to Do About It
A stale listing Chicago sellers dread usually did not start out that way. It launched with fresh photos, an open house, and a hopeful number pinned to the sign. Then the weeks passed. Showings slowed. The listing quietly became the one neighbors whisper about on their...
The Daughter Who Flew In Every Weekend Until the House Sold
Picture this scenario. Every Friday afternoon, a suitcase goes by the door. Then every Sunday night, a flight leaves Midway going the other way. For adult children helping an aging parent get a South Suburbs family home ready to sell, this becomes a familiar rhythm....
Medicaid Estate Recovery: What Adult Children Should Know Before a Parent Sells
Estate recovery Illinois rules confuse a lot of families, and that confusion causes real problems. Adult children helping a parent through a home sale sometimes assume that selling the house itself triggers Medicaid recovery. It does not work that way. Understanding...