Horrific, yes, but then again, I thought it would be worse. In other words, I thought the average length of stay would be longer, which to me means that I can care for my husband in our home until those last 2.4 years. And even then, it might be cheaper to hire a sitter to stay in the home (kids will probably be on their own by then, but in this economy, maybe not!) than to pay for nursing home.
I am currently going through this with my own mom. She owns her little house, and although it needs a lot of work structurally, we figure it is cheaper to make the repairs than for her to try to sell it "as is" and either (1) go buy something smaller with less yard or (2) go to a facility, even the independent living ones are cost prohibitive. Any condo or apt. we have looked at has a minimum $200/month maintenance fee, which is a whopping $2400/year. That almost pays her taxes on her little house! And down the road, should she need care, she has an extra bedroom where we could actually have someone come live and charge them a reduced rent in exchange for helping her out with errands, etc., and if need be, skilled care. I mention this because if anyone has a similar situation, you might want to consider this option. I would never have thought of it had a friend in real estate not told me the smartest thing to do would be to hold on to the house, since she has room for a sitter/nurse to live there if need be. Lots of pros and really no cons, except that the house is old (but she knows her way around it! No new floorplan to have to learn.) Now we just have to get the repairs made, on top of everything else, so that she CAN stay there. Wish my son were old enough to swing a hammer!
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