Here’s how to avoid losing thousands when selling your property as an older homeowner

For most Americans, a home represents their single largest asset, the foundation of retirement security, and potential inheritance for the next generation.

After decades of mortgage payments and upkeep, older homeowners naturally expect to cash in when they sell their home. In fact, their twilight years may depend on maximizing their home sale proceeds.  

But new research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College reveals a troubling pattern: Older home sellers receive increasingly worse returns as they age, with 80-year-olds losing roughly $20,000 on a typical sale compared with middle-aged sellers.

What’s driving this gap, and how can older homeowners protect themselves? The answers involve everything from property maintenance to predatory real estate practices.

Why older sellers get worse deals

According to the CRR’s analysis, based on data related to 10 million repeat sales, the numbers are hard to ignore: Starting at age 70, people begin getting bad deals when they sell their homes. And each year after that, the deals get worse. 

New research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College reveals a troubling pattern: Older home sellers receive increasingly worse returns as they age. sheilaf2002 – stock.adobe.com

Two main mechanisms are cited as likely drivers of such bad deals. One is that homes sold by older folks tend to need more upkeep and repairs.

The other is that older sellers are more likely to sell privately, where agents can steer them toward investors and collect fees from both sides of the transaction, rather than through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

Most often, publicly listing a home for sale results in competition for the home, and therefore higher offers.

But those two factors—poor maintenance and private sales—don’t fully explain what’s happening. Real estate professionals and attorneys who work with older clients see deeper, interrelated vulnerabilities that make these sellers targets.

How aging creates vulnerability

As homeowners age, both they and their homes deteriorate in ways that directly affect sale prices. For one thing, older homeowners often can’t see the problems with their homes—both literally and figuratively. 

“What some older people don’t realize, because they live in their home and they love their home, is that just a little painting inside, or doing a little planting, will increase the value of their home,” says Claudia Zucker, a real estate agent in upstate New York with over 40 years of experience. “They just don’t see it.”

There’s a physical component too: “I notice with many of my older clients, they don’t see well, because cataracts have started,” Zucker adds.

Small issues obvious to buyers—worn trim, stains—simply aren’t visible to aging homeowners.

External pressures, well-intentioned or otherwise, also play a huge role. 

“Many older home sellers are selling because they want to move to a retirement community, often a Continuing Care Retirement Community,” says Evan Farr, a certified elder law attorney and retirement planner in Virginia.

“And the CCRCs put tremendous pressure on people wanting to move in to sell their house ASAP in order to fund the ‘buy in’ amount. Some CCRCs even steer potential residents to their own internal list of recommended agents to sell as quickly as possible.”

As homeowners age, both they and their homes deteriorate in ways that directly affect sale prices. InsideCreativeHouse – stock.adobe.com

Relatedly, health issues can force a quick move to an assisted living facility or nursing home, forcing the family to sell quickly to pay for care. 

Contributing to all of this is that, throughout this process, homeowners want to have a say in what happens—even if they’re being misled. 

“Older people want to still be in control of their lives,” Zucker notes. “And sometimes they won’t ask for help.”

All of these factors—deferred maintenance, external pressure to sell quickly, and reluctance to lean on others—create the perfect conditions for the pattern the research identified: older sellers getting steered toward private sales that benefit agents more than their clients.

So if you’re an older homeowner, or your parents are, how can you get out ahead of this potential issue and maximize your sale when the time comes?

Make small, high-impact improvements

Before listing your home, focus on minor repairs and cosmetic updates that offer outsized returns. Simple fixes like painting trim, planting flowers, removing stained carpeting, or patching holes in walls can dramatically increase your sale price relative to their cost.

“While substantial renovations are typically too expensive for many older sellers to complete prior to selling their home, minor repairs or cosmetic enhancements can result in outsized returns compared to the costs,” says Farr.

“Investors, in particular, price-in renovation costs, plus a margin, which can significantly reduce the net proceeds to the seller.”

Choose your agent carefully

Don’t work with the first agent who contacts you or comes recommended by a retirement community. Interview at least three or four agents and get recommendations from friends who recently sold their homes successfully.

Pay attention to whether the agent seems focused on your best interests or just closing a quick deal.

Look for an agent who will protect you, not one who’s trying to steer you toward what’s best for them. As Zucker puts it: “My whole thing is, you protect your seller, you take care of your seller. And there are problems if you are just trying to make a commission.”

Bring a younger family member or friend to meetings

Having someone accompany you when interviewing agents and discussing sale options provides an extra layer of protection. A trusted companion can help assess who’s genuinely looking out for your interests, ask tough questions you might not think of, and spot potential red flags.

Your adult children, in particular, can and should serve as your advocates in this process. They have a vested interest in protecting your wealth—wealth that will likely become part of your estate, so don’t hesitate to involve them.

Bringing in family or friends doesn’t mean giving up control. It means having an advocate and ally who can help you make the most informed decision possible. 

List on the MLS for maximum exposure

Insist on listing your home on the MLS, where it will be visible to all potential buyers and agents. This public exposure creates competition among buyers, which drives up prices.

Private or “pocket” listings, where an agent shares your home only with their personal network, severely limit your pool of buyers and almost always result in lower sale prices.

“Without full MLS exposure, heavy marketing, and an open competitive environment, the pricing increase associated with competing bidders is lost to the seller,” says Farr.

Private listings make it easier for agents to push you toward investors who will pay below-market prices, with the agent collecting fees from both sides of the transaction.

Don’t rush—‘fast and easy’ will cost you

Retirement communities, health concerns, and well-meaning family members may push you to sell quickly.

When you’re stressed or overwhelmed, offers that promise convenience and speed can sound very appealing. Agents or investors may pitch “as-is” sales as doing you a favor by sparing you the hassle of repairs and showings. But this convenience typically comes with a significant price loss.

The pressure to sell immediately is often manufactured or exaggerated. Taking a few extra weeks to make minor improvements and properly market your home through the MLS will nearly always net you significantly more money.

Even in genuine health emergencies, a slightly slower but better-marketed sale will get you more proceeds—money you’ll need for medical care or retirement living expenses. The short-term convenience rarely justifies the long-term financial loss.

The uncomfortable truth is that some real estate agents prioritize their own commissions over their clients’ financial well-being—especially when those clients are older, stressed, and vulnerable.

But this problem isn’t inevitable: According to the CRR brief, when Illinois reformed its MLS rules to make private listings more transparent, the age-related pricing gap was cut in half.

By understanding how the system works, demanding transparency, and enlisting trusted advocates, older homeowners can level the playing field.