The photo is not my mother's house.

Saturday, my mother dropped a bombshell - wants to sell the house RIGHT NOW and move to a condo. She knows we won't get what we should for the house, but thinks she'll pay that much less for a condo.

Wow, that’s a reasonable idea. Her house is enormous, much too big for one person. She doesn’t want the responsibility of yard maintenance. I agree with that! My biggest objection is that the lower the selling price of either, the less money she has for future care. On the other hand, a condo wouldn’t cost as much to maintain, so there could be big savings there.

I'm not sure what to do.

The basement is finished to make a good sized two bedroom apartment, minus kitchen. The garden room could easily be turned into a small kitchen - it’s already got a sink and cabinet. It even has it’s own entrance. A full time caregiver could move in and still have some privacy.

And besides all that, she's going downhill pretty fast. Selling her house and moving could cause even more decline because it's so stressful. That could be temporary, or not. On the plus side, a condo might allow her to socialize more easily.

The packing will be a nightmare, no matter when it's done. In some ways it would be easier to do it all after she's gone because she's not going to want to part with anything. On the other hand, I'm not sure I know what are family items, let alone what came from my step-father's family.

Decisions, decisions.