This is obviously a very difficult time and the question of how to sell an inherited house is something not everyone thinks of until they are faced with the situation. Owning an inherited house can be problematic but there are a few options open to you.
Can You Keep The Property?
Yes. But the debts still have to be paid. If there is a mortgage on the inherited house, you will probably be responsible for the debt. Most lenders will demand that the mortgage debt is paid off completely. If you are in the process of deciding how to sell an inherited house or want to know if you can continue making the payments, the lender will assess your ability to make those payments and then offer you a new mortgage.
Most times, the existing mortgage will be paid by the insurance but if not, do you have enough cash to pay it? Are there any other assets in the estate that you can sell to pay off the mortgage? If not, you may have to sell the property. If there is no mortgage and you want to get the money from the sale, all owners of the house must agree to the sale.
How To Sell An Inherited House
If you’ve inherited a house, you have to decide what to do with it.
Should you rent it?
Should you sell it?
How should you sell it?
And who decides?
A lot of times, arguments arise over how to sell an inherited house. If there are a number of siblings who all have different opinions, selling the house is often the only solution everyone can agree on. It’s an unfortunate fact that many family relationships are damaged, by disagreements on what to do with an inherited house.
One might want to move in, and another wants to sell it because they need money, another might want to rent it out for the monthly income and tension and resentment builds up. Coming up with a solution that pleases everyone is going to be hard if you don’t all agree on what to do.
We often get calls from people looking to sell their inherited house to stop the arguments… so below are some tips to help you navigate the process.
Just to let you know… We’re property investors based in London, and we look to buy houses around the country… In London…Manchester… Leeds… Birmingham…Sheffield… Nottingham and the surrounding areas of these cities.
Do you want to put the house with an estate agent or sell your house to an investor? We can buy your inherited house… Or rent the property and give you a guaranteed rental income without the stress of looking after the maintenance and management. We do it all for you so you get the income, without the hassle.
I Inherited A House, What To Do Next?
Here’s a few important considerations to help you make the right decision:
1) Make sure the mortgage is paid.
As mentioned above… if the person who left you a property also had a mortgage then you have to pay it (assuming you want to keep the property).
2) Manage the property yourself or pay an agent.
A lot of people who inherit a property decide to keep it and rent it out for extra income. That’s a good idea, as long as you do it right. You just need to be prepared to manage the property and be prepared to deal with the issues that go along with managing tenants, blocked toilets, broken windows and lost keys etc…
If dealing with tenants, agents, doing maintenance, collecting rent and managing properties isn’t your thing, make sure you use a good management company. Getting this wrong can cause more pain than you save.
3) Property ownership costs money.
Not all properties are perfectly maintained. It’s common with an inherited house for it to need a lot improvements as they haven’t been updated for years, sometimes decades. If you’re going to keep it or rent it… consider hiring a property surveyor to give you a detailed rundown on what you’ll need to do within the next five years, along with estimated costs. If you’re going to rent it out, you will need to bring it up to date and meet safety standards.
4) Selling a house for the best price also costs money.
If this is all too much hassle and you don’t want to deal with repairs, updating kitchens and bathrooms, the overall clean up and improving the ‘kerb appeal’, don’t worry. We buy inherited houses. You don’t have to redecorate or fix anything. We’ll take it as it is and do the fixup ourselves.
5) Don’t forget taxes.
Don’t forget to discuss your inheritance with tax and legal professionals before you take action. There are regulations that can impact the cost of owning a rental property and inheritance tax if you sell it. There are also taxes on rental properties that many people forget about.
7) Best of both worlds.
In certain situations we may be able to help you structure an arrangement that allows you to rent and sell the house at the same time (Rent to Buy) capturing the best of both worlds, rental income for a period of time and then a sale at the end of it. These kinds of arrangements can be complicated if you do it yourself, but we can help you with it if this is something that would benefit you.
8) Compare a few scenarios.
If you want to discuss your options, get in touch with us. We’ll help you determine prices for your property – if you want to sell it today without doing any work, what other options are open to you and the option of keeping it as a rental. We can help if you need it…