Can I buy Mother's house for less than appraised value?

Stillawoods, you are so right about the older generation wanting to hang onto their homes... my parents were the same way. They decided they could manage on their own in that house while being in their mid-to-late 90's. I was in constant worry and here I lived in the same subdivision.

Once my Mom passed, Dad was ready to book from that house, he no longer had the energy to keep up the maintenance, and he was afraid of all the stairs being he was a fall risk.

I had to list their house "as is" as my parents didn't do much updating which is understandable as they were of the "if it ain't broke, why fix it" way of thinking [I do the same].... my Agent got several contracts on the house at a reasonable price as house flipping seems to be the thing now a days. The house was in MLS listed saying "as-is", "rehab potential" "needs work", etc. so the Agents could search for those terms. We also got some ridiculously low offers.

Thank you both for your input. I had the house appraised by a licensed appraiser. The appraiser, realtor, and a local attorney all warned me that sale would be difficult due to the local economy. The Medicaid officials have not been very helpful with my questions in the past but I will try again. (They just have a very hard time understanding that homes are not selling as we are in a different state than my mother's home. (I moved her in with me originally when her health began to fail - literally a thousand miles away. As with many folks of her generation, she did not want to sign her home over years ago because her independence was very important to her.)

Medicaid probably has a lien on the house, thus they would want the house sold at fair market value. As Churchmouse mentioned above, you would need to contact your State Medicaid office to discuss this situation.

As for appraised value, was the house appraised by a licensed appraiser? Or is the appraised value what is on the tax records? Example, houses in my area sell far above the county tax appraised value.

I sympathise - appraised values are one thing; but a house or any other asset in the end is worth the money you can actually get for it.

Can you...

Sell by auction and bid for it?
Try another realtor? (that worked for us)


Meanwhile keep meticulous records of your outlay so that you can reclaim it in full in due course. And surely Medicaid will be able to advise on how far you can go to expedite the sale without being deemed to have deliberately undersold?