The Pros and Cons of Caring for a Loved One at Home

Deciding to care for an ailing family member is not always easy.

However, there are some good things that can come from taking care of an ailing parent or grandparent at home.

Let’s take a look at the inconveniences of providing care as well as the positive aspects that exist.

What Are the Inconveniences of Providing Care at Home?

If you are going to allow a loved one to live in your home, you may need to do some remodeling work to help that person out. This may mean that contractors or other third-parties may have access to your home during the day. When they are gone, you may need to deal with the mess and lack of access to certain parts of your home as the remodeling projects progress.

Your children or spouse may not appreciate having someone else living with them and taking up space. Additionally, some of the responsibility of caring for an ailing relative may fall on them. This can be both inconvenient and considered an invasion of privacy. If your children are older, they may have to juggle work, school and a social life in addition to possibly having to stay home to provide care.

Having another person in a house to care for is stressful no matter how calm or patient you may be. Knowing that you could be woken up in the middle of the night to adjust the temperature in a room or have to leave work to take someone to the hospital is never easy.

What Are Some of the Perks of Caring for a Loved One?

Remodeling a portion of your home to provide space for a family member could turn out to be a good thing in the long run. If you have been meaning to upgrade the flooring in the basement, dealing with a mold issue in the attic or always wanted to add space to your home, this may be the time to do it.

In addition to taking care of mold or mildew problems, you may be able to justify adding a new heating or cooling system. This may reduce your utility costs each month and provide a little extra money to provide care while keeping your family as comfortable as possible. While upgrading the heating and cooling system, it may be possible to upgrade the plumbing or duct work needed to address the issue. Therefore, you may be able to address two problems at once.

What Are Some Spin-Offs From Caring for a Loved One?

Adding new space such as a mother in law suite, to your home may make it possible to sell your home for an increased price. If you do have an eye on increasing your home’s value, you should look at the homes in your neighborhood to see what types of features that they have. Whenever possible, you can then choose features that will help your loved one while he or she is alive and make the house more attractive after he or she passes on.

One more long-term benefit is that you may be able to address issues with permits or other code problems that may prevent you from selling your home. Instead of potentially killing a deal at closing due to improper permits, everything will be ready to go. This may enable you to move on from a house where you may have lost a loved one and allow the entire family to get a fresh start.

If you are thinking about bringing a loved one home to care for him or her, it may be a stressful experience. However, it is worth it to show that you are there for family in their time of need. You also get to benefit long-term as you have an asset that you can sell for more in the future than it may be worth today.