Virginia Beach Estate Planning Attorney Discusses Advantages of Retirees Considering Selling Their Home

Hook Law Center (formerly Oast & Hook)

Virginia Beach, VA (Law Firm Newswire) February 25, 2016 – Many retirees are considering putting their home on the market and moving to a less expensive area.

Two married couples did exactly that when they left their homes in Maryland and moved to Florida. Barbara and Mike West made the decision to sell their home in a suburb of Maryland that they had owned for 26 years. Encouraged by a desire to escape the Mid-Atlantic winters, they thought about relocating to Hawaii, where they had resided during Mike West’s time in the Navy. However, they concluded that it was too far away, and focused on relocating to Florida.

Barbara West, 63, stated that selling their mortgage-free home would provide them with an opportunity to dream and to explore, and the availability of funds from the sale would give them more flexibility.

“Retirees who own a home that is free of a mortgage may find that they have more possibilities for their financial future,” said Andrew H. Hook, a prominent Virginia estate planning attorney with Hook Law Center with offices in Virginia Beach and northern Suffolk. “Upon selling the home and moving to a less-expensive area, they can greatly improve their quality of life while ensuring their economic security.”

Another retired couple, Joseph and Phyllis Applebaum, who are 71 and 67-years-old, respectively, also sold their home in Maryland and purchased a home in Boca Raton, Florida. In contrast to the Wests, they still had a mortgage on their home, where they had resided for 27 years. Upon realizing a profit from the sale of the house, they could use cash to purchase a home in Boca Raton and be free of a mortgage. In so doing, they have created for themselves a less costly lifestyle.

The financial future seems appealing to those aged 65 and older who have paid off their mortgage. About 70 percent of homeowners within that age bracket have a mortgage-free home. Several of them would like to sell their homes in order to allow funds to be available so they can have more flexibility in their retirement years. Those who have a mortgage can sell their home and move to a less costly area, thereby establishing a lifestyle that does not include a mortgage.

Retirees who decide to sell their homes and relocate to a less expensive area find that they have more funds that they can use toward travel. Such was the case for JanSuzanne Krasner and her husband, who sold their mortgage-free home in Westchester County, New York, and traveled to Israel. For 10 months, they lived in a rental apartment in Tel Aviv. Afterwards, they traveled throughout southern Africa and Europe for one month, and then lived in a rental apartment in Manhattan for two months. They subsequently made an all-cash purchase of a furnished home in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/

Hook Law Center
295 Bendix Road, Suite 170
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23452-1294
Phone: 757-399-7506
Fax: 757-397-1267

SUFFOLK
5806 Harbour View Blvd.
Suite 203
Suffolk VA 23435
Phone: 757-399-7506
Fax: 757-397-1267
http://www.hooklawcenter.com/

• Early retirees may need alternative withdrawal strategies
  When withdrawing funds from individual retirement accounts, Roth IRAs and other such accounts, retirees may encounter inconveniences, taxes and penalties. However, proper planning may reduce or even eliminate such costs. There are techniques that retirees should use to withdraw funds from their tax-sheltered retirement accounts prior to reaching the age of 59 ½. You can […]
• How to deal with an early retirement that was not planned
  Although most people plan to work until they reach their full retirement age of 66, or 67 if you were born after 1942, some workers find themselves without work at an age when it is challenging to find another job, and at a time when they anticipated earning their maximum salary. Others are compelled to […]
• Understanding the stages of Alzheimer’s
  Reportedly, over five million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Association has created a checklist of the usual symptoms to help you identify the warning signs. Among these are changes in memory that interfere with daily life, difficulty planning and resolving problems, becoming disoriented regarding time and place and having issues with words when […]
• Transportation is an often overlooked but crucial aspect of retirement planning
  When people engage in retirement planning, they often fail to think about transportation. They do not consider that a time may come when they will no longer be able to drive themselves, and will have to rely on others to go to doctors’ appointments and run errands. Including transportation in your retirement plan is essential. […]
• How caregivers can deal with behavioral changes of loved ones with dementia
  There is ample research to suggest that family caregivers are more distressed by behavioral problems and changes in the personality of their loved ones than by their physical disabilities. For instance, while it may prove challenging for family members to physically pick up the body of a loved one who has suffered a stroke and […]