Options for selling your parents home

Selling your parents’ house is rarely just a real estate decision. It usually comes at an emotional time, often while you’re also juggling a care facility move, family conversations, and a house full of decades of memories.

After more than 24 years of helping families through this, I can tell you the most common situation I see looks like this: one parent has passed, the other is moving into a care facility, and the adult kids are suddenly responsible for selling the family home. Sometimes the house is in a trust. Sometimes other family arrangements are involved. Every situation is a little different, but the families who have the least stress are the ones who have a plan before they start.

If both of your parents have passed and you’re handling the estate, start with my guide on selling a parent’s house after death in Minnesota. If a parent is moving into assisted living or a care facility, this post walks you through your options, step by step.

Step 1: Sit Down and Make a Plan Before You Do Anything Else

The biggest mistake I see is families diving in without a roadmap. They start clearing out rooms, calling contractors, or listening to a neighbor’s advice, and then realize later that the paperwork wasn’t lined up or they spent money they didn’t need to.

A single conversation up front can answer most of the questions that cause stress later, including:

Who has the authority to sign and sell the home
What needs to happen with the belongings
Whether any repairs or updates actually make sense
What the home is realistically worth in today’s market
What a reasonable timeline looks like for your family

Step 2: Understand Who Can Sign

This is where families most often get surprised. Depending on the situation, the person with authority to sign may be your parent, someone acting under a power of attorney, a trustee, or the executor (called the personal representative in Minnesota).

It isn’t always simple. I’ve seen situations where:

Two or three siblings share the role, so all of them need to sign
The property has already passed to the children, which can mean every sibling, and in some cases their spouses, needs to sign
The home is in a trust, which usually keeps things simpler, since the trustee handles the sale

Finding this out early prevents delays at the closing table. I always recommend families talk with an estate attorney and work with a title company early so everyone knows exactly whose signatures will be needed.

Step 3: Break Down the Belongings in Stages

A house that’s been lived in for 30, 40, or 50 years can feel overwhelming to clear out. The key is to stop thinking of it as one giant job and break it into sections. Here’s the order I walk families through:

Reach out to every relative first. Find out if anyone wants furniture, keepsakes, or family pieces that your parent isn’t taking with them to their new home.
Create a garage sale or estate sale pile. Items with value can go to a sale, or an estate sale company can handle it for you.
Donate what’s still useful. Many charities will pick up furniture and household goods.
Bring in a junk removal company for the rest. Once the meaningful items are handled, hauling the remainder is quick.

Going room by room, one category at a time, turns an overwhelming project into a series of manageable steps.

Step 4: When Siblings Don’t Agree

Disagreements over price, timing, or belongings are common, especially when emotions are running high or siblings live in different states.

My first step is always to get everyone in the same room (or on the same call) and talk it through together. Most families find common ground once everyone has the same information.

When one sibling still disagrees, families usually handle it one of two ways:

A family vote, where the majority decides
The person with legal authority makes the final call, since that’s the role they were given

Step 5: Decide Whether to Fix It Up or Sell As-Is

There’s no universal answer here. It’s truly a case-by-case decision, and it’s one of the main things I help families work through.

In my experience, most homes don’t need a remodel. More often than not, the best return comes from:

Clearing out and decluttering the entire home
Painting some interior walls
Handling minor repairs that are likely to come up during a buyer’s inspection

Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom before selling rarely makes sense for a family home sale. Buyers of older homes often expect to put their own touches on it.

If you’re not sure what’s worth doing, this video walks through how to decide: How do you know what to update before you sell?

Step 6: Know Your Selling Options

Listing the Home on the Open Market

For most families, listing with an experienced local agent is how you get the most money for your parents’ home. Proper pricing, strong marketing, and good negotiation bring the most buyers to the table, and more buyers means a stronger result. That matters even more when the sale is helping pay for a parent’s care.

Cash Buyers and iBuyers

You’ve probably seen ads promising a fast cash offer. Investors and “instant offer” companies buy homes as-is, which can sound appealing when a house needs work. The trade-off is that their offers typically come in below what the home would sell for on the open market, and some add service fees on top.

Honestly, I don’t see many cash offers on the family homes I sell, and when I do, I treat a cash offer like any other offer. It still goes through the full process. The main advantage is that there’s no appraisal, but a cash offer isn’t automatically better than a strong financed offer. If someone presents you with one, it’s worth comparing it to what the home could realistically sell for before you decide.

Selling It Yourself

Some families consider selling on their own to save on commission. Just know that selling a parent’s home adds layers that a typical sale doesn’t have: authority to sign, disclosures, multiple decision-makers, and pricing an older home correctly. Mistakes in any of those areas can cost far more than they save.

Curious what costs are involved in selling? Here’s a quick breakdown: What costs are involved in selling a home?

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can sign to sell a parent’s house when they move to a care facility?
It depends on how the home is owned and what documents are in place. It may be your parent, someone acting under a power of attorney, or a trustee if the home is in a trust. An estate attorney and title company can confirm exactly who is required.

Should I fix up my parents’ house before selling it?
Usually not in a big way. Clearing it out, decluttering, some interior paint, and minor repairs that would come up in an inspection typically make more sense than remodeling.

Is a cash offer better when selling a parent’s house?
Not necessarily. A cash offer skips the appraisal, but it’s often lower than what the home would bring on the open market. It’s worth comparing any cash offer against a realistic market value first.

What should I do with my parents’ belongings?
Start by asking relatives what they’d like to keep, then set aside items for an estate or garage sale, donate what’s still useful, and have a junk removal company take the rest.

Let’s Talk Before You Start

The best thing you can do is have a conversation before you begin. I’ll help you understand who needs to sign, what the home is worth, what’s worth fixing, and what order to tackle everything in, so you can spend less time stressed and more time focused on your family.

Book a Time to Talk With Tom

Selling a Parent’s House After Death: Where to Start in Minnesota
How to Know It’s Time to Downsize Your Home
How Do I Prepare My House for Sale in the Twin Cities MN
What Repairs Should I Make Before Selling My Home?

Helping families sell homes throughout the South Metro, including:

Lakeville
Apple Valley
Eagan
Farmington
Rosemount