Real Estate Gifts and Non-Profit Retirement Communities

October 11, 2010

I have recently had occasion to work with several non-profit retirement communities, helping them attract and structure real estate gifts.  My experience with such communities is that their residents may have disposed of their primary home (though some still own them), but many of them continue to own a summer home on the lake or on the shore, or a farm, or an investment property.  Many times these property owners, as they age, are especially receptive to ideas about how they might dispose of their real estate in a way that benefits charities in their life (including the retirement community)  while addressing their tax planning and/or retirement income needs.

In other instances, I have seen non-profit retirement communities work with prospective new residents to see if a donation of their home could meet the entrance fee (or purchase price) requirements of moving into the community.

I have often wondered why more non-profit retirement communities don’t explore ways that they could provide a valuable service to their residents – helping dispose of increasingly burdensome real estate — while at the same time opening up the possibility of substantial charitable gifts, to their organization and others as well.