Around 10 million people in the United States benefit from government-funded disability benefits. This provides people with disabilities and their families additional sources of income, especially if their disability prevents them from earning their own livable income. However, both the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) require their beneficiaries to meet certain criteria.
If you’re a person currently living in Spartanburg with disability benefits, you might be wondering: will selling my house affect my disability benefits? The short answer: if you are under the SSDI, selling your house will have no effect on your disability benefits; if you are receiving SSI benefits, on the other hand, you may become ineligible to receive disability benefits. Here’s what you should know.
Qualifying For Disability Benefits
Although both SSDI and SSI benefits have the same medical requirements, they have different non-medical requirements beneficiaries also have to meet.
From its name, qualifying for SSDI is similar to insurance premiums. Those who have recently worked for a minimum number of years and have paid Social Security taxes from their earnings are qualified for SSDI. So, if you meet this criterion, have a medical condition that Social Security considers a disability, and cannot work for at least one year, you are qualified to receive benefits.
Qualifying for SSI, on the other hand, has more non-medical requirements because it is reserved for those with disabilities that limit their income sources. You need to prove that you have limited income sources, including factors like your marital status and how much your spouse makes or the members of your household that provide income.
When You Stop Qualifying For Benefits: Does That Include Selling Your Home?
You continue to receive SSDI benefits until you are able to work again. Social Security offers work incentives that can encourage beneficiaries to transition back to work. Once you start working, you stop receiving disability benefits. Another possibility is if you continue to receive disability benefits until you reach retirement age. Once you reach that age, your disability benefits become retirement benefits, though the amount you receive stays the same.
This means that selling your home does not affect your SSDI. After selling your home, you are free to live off both your disability benefits and the proceeds you receive from the sale.
SSI benefits, on the other hand, stop when you do not meet the criteria of having limited income and resources. That means if you marry someone whose income can support you or if your household income can support you, you may no longer qualify.
This means if you sell your home, you could potentially become ineligible to receive SSI benefits. One of the criteria of SSI beneficiaries are those with less than $2,000 in assets, excluding the home they own and live in. By selling your home, you now have cash assets, which is now a resource you can use to provide for yourself.
What This Means For Selling Your Home
If you’re on the SSDI program, there should be no problem with your disability benefits when you sell. But if you’re on the SSI program, you may need to consider the trade-off of selling your home or keeping your disability benefits. It’s ultimately your choice to weigh your options and how that can affect you and your household in the long run.
The average home in Spartanburg, South Carolina sells for $210,000, according to Realtor.com. So, if you choose to sell your home and become ineligible for benefits, your best option may be to make the most out of your sale and maximize your potential earnings from the sale. You can then use the proceeds to provide for yourself or your household while also finding other ways to create steady income sources.
Get In Touch With Us Today!
Selling your Spartanburg house will not affect your disability benefits if you are receiving SSDI payments, but it can make you ineligible to receive SSI payments. If you plan to sell your home under the latter situation, your best option is to maximize what you get from the sale and then using the proceeds to provide for yourself while creating steady income streams.
At Sell My House Fast – Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickles, we buy houses in Spartanburg, SC for fair prices. Our fast, cost-effective process cuts the hidden expenses and added costs of selling a home that can eat up your earnings. We offer fair cash prices for homes in Spartanburg and purchase properties as-is.
Contact us today to schedule a property viewing and get a fair cash offer.
