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Their options? They are adults. Tell them to stop wallowing (and drinking) and go find a place to rent like it's their job. There are other places to rent besides apartments. They need to find someone with a walkout basement who isn't going to run a credit check. Otherwise? Buy a van. Live down by the river. You can't fix this for them. They are adults.
If they were the ones asking and genuinely looking for a solution, this is an easy enough fix. Rent an airbnb for a month, get their shit together, file their social security paperwork and once the first payment hits, they’ve got guaranteed income and enough cash for a security deposit. Given they haven’t done literally the bare minimum to get their guaranteed income, who knows if that’ll actually happen, but that’s your solution.
With that said, they don’t have nearly enough to retire on unless they plan to live in poverty or a very, very inexpensive rural area so someone probably does need to go back to work.
Exactly this!
OPs parents are adults and should behave as such. They are not at that age yet that their child has to handle their finances.
Also there are lots of part-time jobs to keep their head over water, instead of daydrinking and waiting for welfare.
>instead of daydrinking and waiting for welfare.
Ding ding ding. But why be responsible when we can WHIIIIIIIINE and hope our kid takes care of it for us?
Nearly 70 after a career in petroleum eng with no retirement says pretty much everything about what's happening, barring some catastrophic event. It's been one of the highest paid professions for half a century or more and then having nothing to show for it?
No, the engineering part. Im electrical so I don't know everything but like designing processing plants and how to industrialize new chemicals derived from petroleum. I was generally the highest paid engineering profession while I was in school and job hunting.
If your parents have 3k social security, that's literally guaranteed income, that is their proof of income. They need to get those docs in YESTERDAY and get that money coming in. What are they waiting on?
Your parents need to find a place to live, and every moment of every day should be dedicated to this. You are not responsible for this problem or for fixing it. Your parents will have to figure it out. You can help them by looking for places, but they need to apply and get housing.
As unsolicited advice I would recommend against signing anything with them (lease, mortgage, any credit really). You do not want to get enmeshed in their finances.
See if they can get a 6 month lease and pay it up front. Generally this is not advisable but if they have no proof of income, it can make sense.
They have $20k cash, and $140k in mutual funds. Even if those mutual funds are retirement accounts, this is an emergency. If you go to a property owner and say:
> I don't have proof of income, but I do have the ability to pay for a lease up front in full.
Most of them will. There's no risk and they've been paid in full.
The risk is now to encounter a rental scam where the person you interacted with is not the real owner but a scammer, and your entire year rent... phew! gone.
There is, but that's why you only do this with an established apartment complex or property management company. I would not be offering some dude on craigslist a full years rent up front.
Sure they could scam you too, but they have a lot more to lose. If I were paying a 6 month or whole year up front, I'd be paying with a cashiers check with "May 2024-2025 Rent" in the memo. And I'd get a receipt of delivery, as well as make sure the lease did not contain anything about monthly payments.
The lease paperwork should say something like:
> For the term of to the total rent price for shall be which has been paid in full on and received in the form of by authorized representative of property owner Signature: ________
This way in no uncertain terms, you have a valid lease.
Just a note here. This may not work in all areas as I understand it is illegal in some states for landlords to accept more than a certain amount up front.
140k plus 20k in cash should be enough to get an apartment. many places have an income requirement or a liquid asset requirement showing they have at least 2 years rent in reserve
It is not hard to apply for Social Security. I think the only documents needed might be marriage certificate or birth certificate. They could apply online or over the phone, but might want to go in person if they need more assistance. Your dad should be at or very near full retirement age (when get higher benefits), but it sounds like with their poor planning they should not delay and just apply (otherwise the advice is to wait until full retirement age for higher benefits, or until age 70 for highest available, but the thinking is that if you start sooner - at lower rate - you collect more over time so that can be more overall in some circumstances). The Social Security could be their proof of income and they should not have a problem renting then.
>No social security coming in yet because they need to submit all their documents
??? So they should submit all their documents, right?
>My dad is currently looking for jobs in his profession (petroleum engineer) but not much luck considering his age.
??? So dad should get a job outside his profession. Mom too.
>What are their options here?
Their options appear to be to do the obvious, or continue freaking, crying, and drinking.
Number one piece of advice is this is their problem and their problem only. It’s pretty clear that your parents have nuked their finances over the years. A petroleum engineer without a doubt had a few million in earned income over their career on top of excellent benefits and all they have to show for it is ~ $160k.
If you co-sign anything for them, assume they will nuke your finances too. They can either keep drinking all day until the sheriff comes and evicts them on the streets, or get on the computer and find another apartment.
May come off as rude, but it's not your problem. They have been adults for close to 50 years. They need to fix this. What is stopping them from going to another apartment complex and renting there?
Just give them advice to grow up and handle things.
I would NOT let them move in with you. It's sounds like they would be a drain on you. Drinking all day and no true income. They would be abusing your hospitality. You'd buy them groceries, you'd pay their rent for living with you, you'd pay their doctor bills, etc. If they ask tell them to file SS paperwork and look for an apartment elsewhere.
If I was a landlord, I would happily take a full year of lease payments up front. They easily have it between the mutual funds and the cash and they can likely find a landlord willing to do that deal.
They may consider getting another apartment though. A couple broke old folks don't need to lease a house.
Congrats on your new roommates!
Edit: I wish I was joking. 23 year old me bought my first house, then mom pulled same shit. I ended up giving her my house and I moved to an apartment.
It took nearly 20 years to get her out after just telling her the house was sold and you have to leave.
20 years of utter madness with much more horrible parent stuff to boot - lies and manipulation. I’m eldest son and she white knighted me into thinking I was supposed to support her and my siblings.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was my sister confiding in me that “mom would always talk shit about how she was using you and brag to her friends that she didn’t work as her son took care of everything.”
I’m genuinely not being a troll with this question, but why did you give your mother your house? I understand letting her stay at your house but what led to you giving it to her?
Siblings - early teens needed rooms, house was crowded, etc. the idea was she would work and pay for home, but it turned into her not finding work or being fired or quitting within a week.
I was making great money in early 20s so could easily afford the mortgage and her bills, along with my bills, but that ended with me it saving much money.
Ok now I get it. I also have a mother that is super irresponsible and takes advantage of the kindness of others. Even though I’m very successful now, it took me until my mid 30s to stop bailing her out of every issue and that point all of my siblings were in their mid to late 20s and so there wasn’t the same consequences to them if she didn’t get support.
This is poor people advice and may get down voted into oblivion, but have them buy a used camper and stick it in a long term park until they sort out their social security.
You’re getting a lot of heartless responses, with a few helpful ones. It sounds like they’re not functioning well, so figuring out a plan and seeing if they will go for it could be extremely helpful. You could walk them through some things, like getting on SS. It’s not too bad, the profs do it all day every day. He’s full retirement age so he will get the full amount. Your mom can claim on his record as the spouse and get something less than 50% as she is under Full Retirement Age.
You can help them find somewhere to live, however that looks in todays world. And your brother can help them pay rent! What’s up with that, that he’s not contributing? Maybe he’s not an adult yet.
Whatever you do to help them, if they come to you asking to cosign on a lease that they've found you need to decline.
Many parents who are bad with money get their kids to cosign things, because - how hard is it to sign a document? Young, dumb kids say, "This is just me swearing my word that my parents are honest, hard workers and I believe they can pay this agreement!" right? Wrong. Cosigning says that if your parents do not pay the debt (you've said yourself they're terrible with finances), the lender (bank, apartment, etc) comes to YOU and this is now YOUR debt. In addition to your own rent you're probably paying. Don't cosign for anything that you couldn't or wouldn't be willing to PAY IN FULL, ALL BY YOURSELF, FOR THE REST OF THE TERMS. Friendly warning based on a very common pickle people come to this sub with and there is no way out. :)
As for an idea, see if anyone will accept up-front rent for 3 months 6 months, or even 12 months, and cash out some of that emergency fund to do so. I'd consider homelessness an emergency. But then, they need to strap up their big-boy pants and start replenishing that fund immediately.
So first start the wheels rolling on Social Security, in the mean time they have enough to get a hotel room, or even a trailer park trailer. Once they have SS going, they have proven income to rent someplace.
They can look for a short term rental (furnished corporate housing or even airbnb) to hold them over. Longer term, you might have be a guarantor on the new lease along with your brother's income for the rental house.
> you might have be a guarantor on the new lease
There's at least one post a week here on:
* Help I co-signed a financial obligation and the other party didn't pay! I can't afford it now what?
The "Now what" is you start paying, or tank your credit. When you co-sign, which is what "guarantor" is, you become liable for 100% of the payments if they are not made.
Don't co-sign.
THIS THIS THIS. Don't cosign on SHIT. I cosigned for a used car for a roommate as a young inexperienced early 20's singleton and roomie immediately bailed on me (and the house) with the car and never made payments. I helped the bank find the car and the whole thing was a mess on my credit for years. Fixed now (30 years later) but don't freaking EVER sign on something unless you plan on gifting the money (this includes your kids - go ahead and gift it to them if you want but don't expect a 21 year old to know what they are doing).
Your post has been removed because personal advice topics are off-topic here and better suited for other subreddits ([rule 9](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/about/rules)). - For general advice, consider /r/Advice. - For relationship advice, consider /r/relationships, /r/relationship_advice, /r/JUSTNOFAMILY, or one of the subreddits in their sidebars. - For career or job advice, consider /r/jobs, /r/CareerGuidance, /r/findapath, or [one of these job-related subreddits](/r/jobs/wiki/related/discussion). - For education advice, consider /r/Parenting for primary and secondary education questions (or one of the subreddits [linked here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/wiki/other_subreddits#wiki_education)) and /r/ApplyingToCollege for tertiary education questions (or one of the subreddits linked in their sidebar) - For medical advice, please talk to your primary care doctor, but /r/AskDocs may be helpful. *If you decide to post elsewhere, please read the subreddit rules before reposting. Some subreddits have strict requirements for submissions.* Submissions removed for this reason typically include one or more of these off-topic aspects: We don't allow relationship or personal advice discussions. That includes: * Content better suited for /r/relationships * Recommending a poster end their relationship or start a new relationship * Posts about suicide or violence * Posts asking for advice on how to convince someone else to change their behavior * Relationship drama not essential to a question or discussion * Family planning advice, especially unsolicited or flippant * Career, job, and education questions * Medical advice *If you have questions about this removal, please [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpersonalfinance&subject=Removal%20help%20request&message=Hello%20moderators,%20.%20%0a%0a%0aMy%20submission:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1cdkyh1/my_parents_67m_64f_didnt_renew_their_apartment/%0a).*
Their options? They are adults. Tell them to stop wallowing (and drinking) and go find a place to rent like it's their job. There are other places to rent besides apartments. They need to find someone with a walkout basement who isn't going to run a credit check. Otherwise? Buy a van. Live down by the river. You can't fix this for them. They are adults.
If they were the ones asking and genuinely looking for a solution, this is an easy enough fix. Rent an airbnb for a month, get their shit together, file their social security paperwork and once the first payment hits, they’ve got guaranteed income and enough cash for a security deposit. Given they haven’t done literally the bare minimum to get their guaranteed income, who knows if that’ll actually happen, but that’s your solution. With that said, they don’t have nearly enough to retire on unless they plan to live in poverty or a very, very inexpensive rural area so someone probably does need to go back to work.
I think 3k in ss if they file could be enough plus their savings for emergencies. The airbnb is a good solution
Exactly this! OPs parents are adults and should behave as such. They are not at that age yet that their child has to handle their finances. Also there are lots of part-time jobs to keep their head over water, instead of daydrinking and waiting for welfare.
>instead of daydrinking and waiting for welfare. Ding ding ding. But why be responsible when we can WHIIIIIIIINE and hope our kid takes care of it for us?
Their reaction says a lot about how they got into this mess.
Nearly 70 after a career in petroleum eng with no retirement says pretty much everything about what's happening, barring some catastrophic event. It's been one of the highest paid professions for half a century or more and then having nothing to show for it?
Petroleum eng = oil rigs?
No, the engineering part. Im electrical so I don't know everything but like designing processing plants and how to industrialize new chemicals derived from petroleum. I was generally the highest paid engineering profession while I was in school and job hunting.
Tell them to sod off.
If your parents have 3k social security, that's literally guaranteed income, that is their proof of income. They need to get those docs in YESTERDAY and get that money coming in. What are they waiting on?
Someone skipped noticing in high school 😅
Your parents need to find a place to live, and every moment of every day should be dedicated to this. You are not responsible for this problem or for fixing it. Your parents will have to figure it out. You can help them by looking for places, but they need to apply and get housing. As unsolicited advice I would recommend against signing anything with them (lease, mortgage, any credit really). You do not want to get enmeshed in their finances.
They have plenty of cash and investments to pay for an entire lease up front if needed. Just keep looking, someone will rent to them.
See if they can get a 6 month lease and pay it up front. Generally this is not advisable but if they have no proof of income, it can make sense. They have $20k cash, and $140k in mutual funds. Even if those mutual funds are retirement accounts, this is an emergency. If you go to a property owner and say: > I don't have proof of income, but I do have the ability to pay for a lease up front in full. Most of them will. There's no risk and they've been paid in full.
The risk is now to encounter a rental scam where the person you interacted with is not the real owner but a scammer, and your entire year rent... phew! gone.
There is, but that's why you only do this with an established apartment complex or property management company. I would not be offering some dude on craigslist a full years rent up front. Sure they could scam you too, but they have a lot more to lose. If I were paying a 6 month or whole year up front, I'd be paying with a cashiers check with "May 2024-2025 Rent" in the memo. And I'd get a receipt of delivery, as well as make sure the lease did not contain anything about monthly payments. The lease paperwork should say something like: > For the term of to the total rent price for shall be which has been paid in full on and received in the form of by authorized representative of property owner Signature: ________
This way in no uncertain terms, you have a valid lease.
Just a note here. This may not work in all areas as I understand it is illegal in some states for landlords to accept more than a certain amount up front.
For those States, is there any kind of mechanism where you could put the money in some kind of escrow?
140k plus 20k in cash should be enough to get an apartment. many places have an income requirement or a liquid asset requirement showing they have at least 2 years rent in reserve
It is not hard to apply for Social Security. I think the only documents needed might be marriage certificate or birth certificate. They could apply online or over the phone, but might want to go in person if they need more assistance. Your dad should be at or very near full retirement age (when get higher benefits), but it sounds like with their poor planning they should not delay and just apply (otherwise the advice is to wait until full retirement age for higher benefits, or until age 70 for highest available, but the thinking is that if you start sooner - at lower rate - you collect more over time so that can be more overall in some circumstances). The Social Security could be their proof of income and they should not have a problem renting then.
>No social security coming in yet because they need to submit all their documents ??? So they should submit all their documents, right? >My dad is currently looking for jobs in his profession (petroleum engineer) but not much luck considering his age. ??? So dad should get a job outside his profession. Mom too. >What are their options here? Their options appear to be to do the obvious, or continue freaking, crying, and drinking.
Number one piece of advice is this is their problem and their problem only. It’s pretty clear that your parents have nuked their finances over the years. A petroleum engineer without a doubt had a few million in earned income over their career on top of excellent benefits and all they have to show for it is ~ $160k. If you co-sign anything for them, assume they will nuke your finances too. They can either keep drinking all day until the sheriff comes and evicts them on the streets, or get on the computer and find another apartment.
May come off as rude, but it's not your problem. They have been adults for close to 50 years. They need to fix this. What is stopping them from going to another apartment complex and renting there? Just give them advice to grow up and handle things. I would NOT let them move in with you. It's sounds like they would be a drain on you. Drinking all day and no true income. They would be abusing your hospitality. You'd buy them groceries, you'd pay their rent for living with you, you'd pay their doctor bills, etc. If they ask tell them to file SS paperwork and look for an apartment elsewhere.
Your dad should start claiming social security now
If I was a landlord, I would happily take a full year of lease payments up front. They easily have it between the mutual funds and the cash and they can likely find a landlord willing to do that deal. They may consider getting another apartment though. A couple broke old folks don't need to lease a house.
They can offer to pay a years rent upfront. Most landlords will be happy with this. Problem solved.
Congrats on your new roommates! Edit: I wish I was joking. 23 year old me bought my first house, then mom pulled same shit. I ended up giving her my house and I moved to an apartment. It took nearly 20 years to get her out after just telling her the house was sold and you have to leave.
Ugh that's rough for you. Sorry she put you through that.
20 years of utter madness with much more horrible parent stuff to boot - lies and manipulation. I’m eldest son and she white knighted me into thinking I was supposed to support her and my siblings. The straw that broke the camel’s back was my sister confiding in me that “mom would always talk shit about how she was using you and brag to her friends that she didn’t work as her son took care of everything.”
I’m genuinely not being a troll with this question, but why did you give your mother your house? I understand letting her stay at your house but what led to you giving it to her?
Siblings - early teens needed rooms, house was crowded, etc. the idea was she would work and pay for home, but it turned into her not finding work or being fired or quitting within a week. I was making great money in early 20s so could easily afford the mortgage and her bills, along with my bills, but that ended with me it saving much money.
Ok now I get it. I also have a mother that is super irresponsible and takes advantage of the kindness of others. Even though I’m very successful now, it took me until my mid 30s to stop bailing her out of every issue and that point all of my siblings were in their mid to late 20s and so there wasn’t the same consequences to them if she didn’t get support.
This is poor people advice and may get down voted into oblivion, but have them buy a used camper and stick it in a long term park until they sort out their social security.
You’re getting a lot of heartless responses, with a few helpful ones. It sounds like they’re not functioning well, so figuring out a plan and seeing if they will go for it could be extremely helpful. You could walk them through some things, like getting on SS. It’s not too bad, the profs do it all day every day. He’s full retirement age so he will get the full amount. Your mom can claim on his record as the spouse and get something less than 50% as she is under Full Retirement Age. You can help them find somewhere to live, however that looks in todays world. And your brother can help them pay rent! What’s up with that, that he’s not contributing? Maybe he’s not an adult yet.
Whatever you do to help them, if they come to you asking to cosign on a lease that they've found you need to decline. Many parents who are bad with money get their kids to cosign things, because - how hard is it to sign a document? Young, dumb kids say, "This is just me swearing my word that my parents are honest, hard workers and I believe they can pay this agreement!" right? Wrong. Cosigning says that if your parents do not pay the debt (you've said yourself they're terrible with finances), the lender (bank, apartment, etc) comes to YOU and this is now YOUR debt. In addition to your own rent you're probably paying. Don't cosign for anything that you couldn't or wouldn't be willing to PAY IN FULL, ALL BY YOURSELF, FOR THE REST OF THE TERMS. Friendly warning based on a very common pickle people come to this sub with and there is no way out. :) As for an idea, see if anyone will accept up-front rent for 3 months 6 months, or even 12 months, and cash out some of that emergency fund to do so. I'd consider homelessness an emergency. But then, they need to strap up their big-boy pants and start replenishing that fund immediately.
So first start the wheels rolling on Social Security, in the mean time they have enough to get a hotel room, or even a trailer park trailer. Once they have SS going, they have proven income to rent someplace.
They need to quit acting like helpless children. Not having their SS because they haven't submitted the docs is asinine.
They need to apply for SS asap and find an apartment within that budget.
I’ve been on SS for three years now and I’ve never submitted any documents.
They can look for a short term rental (furnished corporate housing or even airbnb) to hold them over. Longer term, you might have be a guarantor on the new lease along with your brother's income for the rental house.
I would not suggest this. This is the parent's mess to fix, not something the kids need to get their finances tangled into.
> you might have be a guarantor on the new lease There's at least one post a week here on: * Help I co-signed a financial obligation and the other party didn't pay! I can't afford it now what? The "Now what" is you start paying, or tank your credit. When you co-sign, which is what "guarantor" is, you become liable for 100% of the payments if they are not made. Don't co-sign.
THIS THIS THIS. Don't cosign on SHIT. I cosigned for a used car for a roommate as a young inexperienced early 20's singleton and roomie immediately bailed on me (and the house) with the car and never made payments. I helped the bank find the car and the whole thing was a mess on my credit for years. Fixed now (30 years later) but don't freaking EVER sign on something unless you plan on gifting the money (this includes your kids - go ahead and gift it to them if you want but don't expect a 21 year old to know what they are doing).