How to Sell Your Parents' House in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Who can sign to sell a parent's house?

The owner. If the deed is in your mother's or father's name and they understand the sale, they sign the agreement and the deed, and you can handle everything else beside them. When a parent can no longer manage their affairs, someone needs legal authority: an agent under a power of attorney, or a guardian appointed by a court.

A power of attorney ends when your parent dies. After that, see our inherited house guides for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

With a power of attorney

Find the document (often called a POA) and check two things: that it still works now that your parent can't decide, and that it reaches real estate.

In Pennsylvania, the agent must sign an acknowledgment of duties before acting, keep your parent's money separate from the agent's own, and keep records of every payment. Gifts are allowed only if the document expressly says so. In either state, ask the title company to review the document early.

If there's no power of attorney: guardianship

Pennsylvania. Anyone interested in your parent's welfare can petition the Orphans' Court Division of the county Court of Common Pleas to appoint a guardian. Your parent gets notice and a hearing, the court needs clear and convincing evidence, and it must prefer less restrictive options, such as a power of attorney. A guardian needs a court order to sell real estate; Philadelphia's Orphans' Court manual says so plainly.

New Jersey. Adult guardianship cases are filed with the Surrogate in the county where your parent lives and heard in the Superior Court. A doctor and a second doctor or psychologist must each certify your parent's condition after examining them within 30 days of filing, and the court appoints a lawyer for your parent. Real estate is usually a "restricted asset" the guardian can't sell without court approval.

If your parent can still understand and sign, a power of attorney made now can spare the family court filings, a hearing and reports to the court later.

Can your parent stay home instead?

Sometimes the right move is no move. If the trouble is stairs, repairs or the tax bill, look at these first, and confirm each program's current rules before you count on it.

• Philadelphia Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Freeze. Locks the Real Estate Tax bill so it doesn't climb. For owner-occupants 65 or older (or living with a spouse that age, or over 50 and widowed from someone who was) with income of $33,500 or less, or $41,500 or less if married. Due September 30.
• Homestead Exemption. Takes $100,000 off the home's taxable value, saving up to $1,399 a year. One application; apply by December 1, 2026 for the 2027 bill.
• LOOP. For Philadelphia owners there 10 years or more whose assessment jumped at least 50% in a year or 75% over five years, within income limits; it limits how much the assessment can rise. You can't combine it with Homestead.
• Repairs and access. SHARP, run by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, makes minor repairs and modifications for homeowners 60 and older who meet income rules (215-765-9040). The City's Adaptive Modifications Program provides free accessibility modifications for people with permanent physical disabilities who meet its income rules (215-488-2160).
• Pennsylvania Property Tax/Rent Rebate. Up to $1,000 for people 65 or older, widows and widowers 50 or older, and people with disabilities 18 or older, with household income of $48,110 or less. Apply every year; the current deadline is December 31, 2026.
• New Jersey. Senior Freeze, ANCHOR and Stay NJ offer property tax relief; Stay NJ is for homeowners 65 and older.
• A reverse mortgage. A Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is only for homeowners 62 and older who live in the home. Your parent still pays taxes and insurance and keeps up repairs, the balance grows, and the loan is repaid once they no longer live there, usually by selling the house.

How do Medicaid and long-term care affect the house?

One hard fact from Medicare.gov: Medicare doesn't pay for long-term care. Medicaid (Medical Assistance in Pennsylvania, NJ FamilyCare in New Jersey) can, for people who meet its rules. Here is what the official program pages say, not advice. The house matters in three ways:

• The five-year look-back. Pennsylvania reviews any asset "transferred, sold, or given away within the past 60 months"; New Jersey reviews five years. Giving the house to a child, or selling it for less than it's worth, is a transfer for less than fair market value (New Jersey's own example), which can mean a penalty period when Medicaid won't pay for long-term care.
• The house itself. In Pennsylvania, the home isn't counted while your parent lives there or intends to return (up to $752,000 in value when we checked), or while a spouse or dependent lives there. New Jersey says the house you live in doesn't count toward its $2,000 resource limit. A sale turns the house into money, and the caseworker looks at money.
• Estate recovery. After death, Pennsylvania can recover long-term care Medical Assistance paid from age 55 on, with hardship waivers available (DHS Estate Recovery, 800-528-3708). New Jersey can file a claim and lien against the estate for services from age 55, but only if there's no surviving spouse, no child under 21, and no child who is blind or permanently and totally disabled.

Keep every paper from the sale; New Jersey's application asks for the closing statement and proof of where the money went. Before you sign anything, call the county office that takes Medicaid applications (the County Assistance Office in Pennsylvania, the County Social Service Agency in New Jersey) and your parent's Area Agency on Aging, which Pennsylvania calls "the front door for aging services." For your parent's own plan, see an elder law attorney.

What taxes come up when you sell a parent's house?

Under IRS Publication 523, a seller who owned the home and lived in it at least 24 months of the 5 years before the sale (and hasn't used the exclusion on another home in the past 2 years) can exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly. If your parent became physically or mentally unable to care for themselves and lived there at least 12 of those months, time in a licensed care facility, such as a nursing home, counts toward the two years.

Who sells matters. If your parent deeds the house to you as a gift first, you generally take over their "basis" (roughly what they paid plus improvements), and since the exclusion depends on the seller's own ownership and residence, a child who doesn't live there usually can't claim it. Inherited property is different: its basis is generally its value at death. Example: Dad paid $45,000 decades ago and sells for $230,000; if he qualifies, his $185,000 gain (before improvements and selling costs) fits under his $250,000 exclusion. Between that and Medicaid's look-back, don't rush a deed to a child without advice.

When family buys, transfer taxes usually don't apply. Pennsylvania excludes parent-to-child transfers from realty transfer tax (a resale within one year is taxed), and Philadelphia exempts family transfers with documentation. New Jersey charges no realty transfer fee on a deed between parent and child, and a seller 62 or older can claim a partial exemption on a one- or two-family home they own and live in at the time of sale.

How do you sort a lifetime of belongings?

Slowly, and with your parent choosing first.

1. Paperwork first. Set aside the deed, the power of attorney, the will, insurance policies, tax bills and bank statements before anything gets boxed. Medicaid's look-back can ask for five years of records.
2. Start with the new place. Measure the new room and let your parent pick what fits and what matters most. Then family chooses, and someone writes down who took what.
3. Sell, donate, then discard. Philadelphia's six Sanitation Convenience Centers take bulk items (two a day) and old electronics from residents with proof they live in the city, Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
4. Get help if you need it. Senior move managers are professionals who help older adults sort, pack and move. Ask for references and a written price.

Don't let the cleanout set the timeline. An as-is buyer doesn't need the house empty, so the move can follow your parent's schedule.

What are your options for the house?

A straight answer on price: an as-is cash offer, ours included, is usually below what the house would bring fully fixed up, because the buyer pays for the repairs, takes the risk and carries the house during the work. The family saves the repair bill, the cleanout, the commission and months of taxes, utilities and insurance. If listing will clearly leave your parent with more, we'll say so. See how we calculate our offer, what selling costs in Philadelphia and selling as-is.

What should you do first?

1. Talk together, with your parent at the center. Ask what they want and what worries them, and set the closing date around the move, not the other way around.
2. Find the papers. The deed, any power of attorney, the will, the mortgage or reverse mortgage statement and the latest tax bill.
3. Check the power of attorney. Is it durable, does it cover real estate, was it signed correctly? If there isn't one and your parent can still sign, see a lawyer now.
4. Call the Area Agency on Aging. If Medicaid could come up in the next five years, ask before you transfer anything.
5. Get real numbers. An agent's opinion of value, at least one written cash offer, and a list of what's owed against the house. Living far away? See selling from out of state.

How can Vivid help?

We're a local, family-owned real estate investment company at 2614 Amber St in Philadelphia, buying houses for cash, as-is, across Philadelphia, its Pennsylvania suburbs and South Jersey.

• A fair written cash offer, usually within 24 hours, that your parent and the family can read over together.
• No repairs and no cleaning. Take what matters, and settle in writing what stays.
• We pay all the closing costs, with no agent commissions or fees from us. What still comes out of the price is only what your parent already owes against the house, such as a mortgage or reverse mortgage payoff, liens or unpaid taxes.
• The family picks the closing day, so it lines up with the move.
• A real local person answers. No pressure, and if listing would leave your parent with more, we'll tell you.

Get my cash offer Text or call (267) 551-5554

Questions families ask

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. For your situation, talk to a Pennsylvania or New Jersey attorney or tax professional.