Category: Blog

An “estate house” is one listed for sale by the estate of a deceased person. For the purposes of this blog post – and for your information, if you are watching real estate listings – don’t confuse the term “estate for sale”, meaning landed property (like the Biltmore Estate), with an “estate house”, which can be any type of house being sold by the estate of a deceased person.

 

If you are not familiar with the estate process here is a very short overview. When someone passes away with or without a will, all the person’s assets and debts are put into the legal possession of the “estate”. The estate is a temporary legal trust that executes the terms of the will, disposes of assets, and settles debts, before transferring the remaining assets to the heirs. Real estate property may be sold by the estate to meet the terms of the will, or to settle debts, or it may eventually be transferred to the heir(s).

 

Last month I discussed many of the issues surrounding inherited houses and why it is essential to deal with them promptly – please read my blog posts on “inherited houses”. Many of the issues also apply to estate houses. This month I will discuss more of the specifics of converting estate houses (and inherited houses) into cash.

 

The cash needed to prepare an estate house for sale is normally whatever assets are in the estate – that is, whatever the deceased person left behind. You may be the executor handling the estate, or you may be working with an attorney or other executor.

 

• Get a thorough inspection of the house to know the true condition and what is necessary to prepare it for a traditional home-buyer sale. Especially if it was the long-time residence of the deceased person, expect a lengthy list of issues, many of them costly.

 

• Have a real estate professional help you understand the local market for this house. What are recent sales prices for similar houses in various conditions, good and bad?

 

• How much cash does the estate have to prepare the house for sale? Are any of the heirs willing to chip in more?

 

• Is it worth it to put the cash of the estate and/or the heir(s) into the house to sell, or is it smarter to sell as-is, quickly and for cash, to a fix-and-flip company such as PDX Renovations?
  • Fixing the house may be a long process requiring knowledgeable management of sub-contractors and many choices of what and how much to fix.
  • Do you know what the building code requires, and what most benefits the house in this particular market? It is common for first-timers to put too much money into things that don’t improve marketability and overlook even small items that make an impression on home shoppers.
  • Expect hidden defects to emerge during the fixing process – even large show-stoppers. There is no control over what it may ultimately cost to get the house into the condition you are targeting.

 

Selling quickly for cash is frequently the best option, by far, to solve the financial and other problems of an estate house. In next week’s post, “How To Sell Your House (Very) Quickly”, I will tell you more about how to find a reputable cash buyer who will take the house as-is, and allow you to move forward with the final details of the estate.

 

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Question or Prompt for Response – open-ended, relevant

Can you afford your best guess as to what it will cost to prepare a house you expect to inherit for sale?

 

Call to Action

Do you have a piece of property (house, lot, or land) you’d like to sell fast?  Fill out our Sell Fast Form and get a cash offer within one hour of us viewing the property. https://patient-liger-dev.10web.site/sell-house-quick/we-buy-homes-bring-us-a-deal/

It may have been grandma’s house while she was alive, fragrant with the smell of baking cookies and enriched with the love she had for all her visiting children and grandchildren. But it’s been a month since she passed away and nothing has been done for the property while everyone was focused on the funeral service and getting the estate process underway. –  inherited house

Only a month, and already it looks as if “The Addams Family” is in residence! The un-mowed yard and dying landscaping, storm damage to the picket fence and window shutters, and the formation of a new lake where drainage is blocked with debris have all begun the deterioration.  And that’s just the outside.

In spite of sentimental attachments, inherited houses tend to fast become a heavy burden for an heir(s) who have no interest in taking residence.  It is astonishing how quickly even a previously well-maintained property will take on a look (and reality) of decrepitude once no one is living in it and maintaining it.

Be assured that regardless of unpreparedness you are to be saddled with this responsibility, the longer it sits vacant, the more the positives erode and the negatives increase as it evolves into a “neglected property”.   It is frequently best to let it go on to a new owner who will care for and treasure it as did your loved one, as quickly as you can arrange a sale.

Here are 4 reasons why you should sell your home fast –

• Cash is needed to pay the property taxes, perhaps an existing mortgage, HOA fee, and other obligations, as well as insurance. Unless you pay what is owed, after only 2-3 months liens and foreclosures will have the same consequences as for any other property.

• Unless maintained the house and yard will deteriorate even faster than an unpaid mortgage loan. The downhill slide detracts from the marketability of the house. The out-of-pocket cost to the heir(s) can go well beyond paying the neighbor kid to mow every once in a while.

• No matter how beloved the previous resident, count on the neighbors to become quickly aggravated at the decaying vacant house on their block and to report it to the city, bringing you a city nuisance action. If the deterioration goes far enough – and that can happen faster than you think – at some point, you could even be facing condemnation.

• Thinking of installing a tenant while you sort out the long-term decisions? Before you can rent it, defects must be addressed almost as if you were selling to meet marketability, ordnance, and building code standards. Prospective tenants must be screened, and once they are in you’ll be dealing with whatever issues they bring, as well as ongoing repairs and maintenance.

Time will not stand still while you ponder if you should sell your house. As property conditions fester, options for either sale or rental become more difficult, even impossible. Act in your own long-term best interests, keep the memories and photos and let the property go forward to a new owner before the problems have a chance to grow.

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While many types of inheritances are primarily beneficial – cash accounts; jewelry; other fully-paid-for assets –  a house may come with extra challenges to disposition, from tax liens to mortgages to general disrepair.

Sell Your Inherited House now – Read Our in-depth Post.

Want to sell? Be aware of these 5 challenges of selling an inherited house.

• General disrepair is a common hazard of inherited houses. Before you can sell or rent your home, deficiencies must be addressed – or be prepared to adjust the sale price to sell it as-is. Even if you decide to move in yourself you’ll want to fix these issues, as may be required to bring it up to code.
  • Structural issues; leaks; fragile railings; sagging decks and porches; electrical hazards; peeling drywall are just the beginning of endless potential problems that are costly to address. That’s before we look at the condition of the yard and the property generally – and has anyone taken a peak in the attic?
  • Appliances, the electrical system, heating & air – all may be older and in various states of repair. A home-buyer can be counted on to have them at the top of his/her list of demands for price concessions or replacement before agreeing to a contract.

• Most inherited houses need significant updating for marketability.
  • Flooring, cabinets, paint, and wallpaper are likely to be out-of-date and/or worn and therefore make your inherited house less desirable to home shoppers.  The same goes for kitchen counters, decks and porches, landscaping, and more.
  • The exterior may need sprucing up as well, from paint and repair to fresh landscaping.

• Property taxes could cause a problem for a sale if they have fallen behind – or if you can’t afford to keep them current.

• Mortgage payments can be a similar issue in a sale if the late owner had financial problems toward the end. Regardless of the payment status when the owner passed away, if someone doesn’t continue making the payments, the lender will foreclose on the house as it would on any other property.

• A shortage of sufficient cash to keep up with maintenance, taxes, mortgage and the other natural expenses of any house may lead you to decide you must sell as soon as possible – and unfortunately may also be the biggest problem to closing a traditional home-buyer sale.  You may need significant cash to prepare the property and possibly to release claims from past-due taxes or mortgage payments.

At first glance, it may seem that a quick sale of your home is the way out of problems that came with an inherited house. But these 5 challenges (among others) can mean you need to explore your options thoroughly. Keep an open mind as to what creative solutions are in your long-term best interests.

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