My name is Jeremy, I am the owner of Frontier Homebuyers. If this article helps, and you are looking for some more information based on our experience, please don’t hesitate to call or text my team at 267-459-3025 and we’ll help however we can.
Whether or not you knew about the inheritance, you might be faced with some unexpected challenges once the property is in your name. Owning a house can be expensive. The bills, the taxes, the maintenance, and the unexpected repairs can come as a shock. As any investor will tell you, the longer you own it, the more it is costing you. Before you make a decision about whether to sell or keep the inherited property, ask yourself a few questions. Take the time to learn about the market and the property in question, to better help with your decision. Below, we will offer some tips to help you determine if you should keep or sell your inherited property. We will will also offer some insight into the best ways to sell based on our experience helping others in similar situations.
Questions to Ask
Do you have a use for the property?
Holding onto it for sentimental reasons is fine if that’s what you want to do, but don’t feel as if you are obligated to keep the house. Only keep the property if you have a sincere use for it. There is no sense in holding onto a property that will just end up sitting there. Many times the longer an inherited property is sitting vacant or with a use, the harder it ultimately is to sell and the more emotional toll it ultimately takes.
Are there other owners?
If there are other owners of the property, you will all need to sit down and come to a consensus. Work together to decide if the home should be kept or sold. If there is an odd man out, consider buying them out as not to cause further disagreement. Remember, it is just a house, and the person who passed it down to you would never want to see their gift become an argument. A very tricky situation that can cause a lot of family strife is when one of the family wants to live in the house, or another family member who is not an inheritor lives there. We strongly recommend bringing a neutral third party into a case like this, whether it’s a trusted advisor, family lawyer, etc. This can often preserve family relationships, and no house or property is worth losing that. Reach out to us and we can certainly point you in the direction of trusted advisors who may be able to help a tense situation.
If you decide you want to sell, how much can you spend upfront?
If the home has not yet been cleared out, that should happen first and foremost. A traditional property listing will come with some upfront costs. You’ll likely need to make some repairs to the house and have it professionally cleaned. It’s tricky making repairs to a house you’ve never owned. You may not know what you’re getting into. You don’t want to find yourself down a rabbit hole, spending thousands and thousands on a house you want to sell anyway. Depending on how you decide to sell, you could face not only repair costs but costs for marketing too.
Ways To Sell
List It
Listing your inherited property will require you to get the property ready for the MLS. Take a look at what other homes are selling for, and how your property stacks up. Be realistic with your prices, and don’t spend too much over-improving. Run the numbers on how much you and the other owners will net after paying commissions, closing costs, and any inspections items. When you list an inherited home, you may feel frustrated to suddenly have to spend money selling a house that isn’t yours.
Sell On Your Own
Selling the house using an FSBO listing will save you on the commission, but you will still need to pay for cleaning repairs, marketing, and other selling costs. One thing that many FSBO listers fail to consider is the tremendous time you will spend answering calls from agents and buyers, hosting open houses, negotiating, dealing with paperwork, and scheduling contractors or cleaners. In most cases, selling on your own to a regular buyer will take longer and ultimately put less in your pocket, on top of the hassle and headaches you will have to deal with.
Sell To An Investor
A third option is to sell the house for cash to an investor. When you sell your inherited property to a company like Frontier Homebuyers LLC, you will not need to spend a dime out of pocket. Nor will you have to pay expensive commissions, agent fees, or administrative costs. By selling the property directly, you will be able to quickly receive your profits and move on from the house without spending months making repairs and waiting for the property to sell.
Consider the options available to you whether you do decide to hold the property or sell, and don’t forget to include the emotional, family, and time components, not just dollars and cents.