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You can sell a house left to you in a will in one of the same ways you would sell your residence. But the process is more complicated for an inherited home.
Selling inherited property is not just about the building. The deceased person may have borrowed money against the house to pay for unexpected expenses. Multiple heirs may disagree over how the home should be sold. In addition to the condition of the house, these other factors can pose difficulties and make the transaction longer.
Unless you were their financial representative, the deceased person’s financial condition might not be what you expected. In addition to a mortgage, the house could be encumbered by other indebtedness. To pay for medical expenses or nursing care, the decedent could have taken out a second mortgage. The house could have a lien against it for unpaid property taxes.
You must find out what financial obligations the estate has against the inherited house before you try to sell it. Any of those financial obligations which are attached to the home must be paid before it can be sold.
The sale of a mother’s house or a family home can be delayed when there are multiple heirs involved. Siblings and even children don’t always agree on how (or even if) the family home should be sold.
After the death of a parent, the family home probably won’t look as good when empty as it did when it was full of furniture and decorations. There might be a large crack in the plaster that is no longer hidden by a pile of boxes. And a trip to the crawl space could reveal a foundation wall that has severely settled.
Inherited property frequently has both cosmetic and structural problems. You may be able to talk the typical buyer into accepting cosmetic issues. But most buyers won’t take a house with structural problems. In such serious cases you are faced with the dilemma of whether to fix up an old house or sell it AS IS.
Don’t let the complications of selling an inherited property overwhelm you. An experienced real estate investor can make the entire process easy and convenient. Whether the house is tied up in probate or the title has been transferred to you through another, simpler procedure, a real estate investor can buy the house and quickly relieve you from all the stress.
In Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding areas, one investor stands out above the rest. Columbus Cash Home Buyers is the go-to buyer of inherited property. We have the years of experience necessary to provide you with the best services possible.
The moment you accept our fair cash offer, you are relieved of most of the hassle that comes with selling an inherited property:
If you need to sell fast, you will be pleasantly surprised at how important the time of the sale is to us. Typically, you will have your money in 3-30 days after you accept our fair cash offer.
Those costly repairs you discovered when you looked closely at the condition of the house—don’t worry about how you’re going to pay for them. We buy your property in any condition. Even if the house is in such bad shape that you wonder if it should be torn down, we will buy it.
We inspect the house and factor its condition into our fair cash offer. When you accept our offer, we accept the condition of the house. You have no more responsibility for the home’s past or present problems.
You don’t have to worry about any buyer’s loan approval because we pay you cash for your house. When you accept our fair cash offer, you can expect all of that cash at closing. You will not be surprised by any hidden fees.
One of the complications of selling an inherited house is how you become the legal owner. Find out if the house was left to you in a will, without a will at all or maybe in a trust. Determine whether the house must go through probate. The estate’s executor or administrator can sell a probate house. Or the house can be sold after you become the legal owner.
Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of someone who has died. Unless the property is jointly owned with a spouse as a community property or in another form that means the right of survivorship, or held in a trust, all property must go through probate.
If you can’t avoid probate, you need to get a probate granted by the court. After the house is under probate, the estate’s executor can sell it through a real estate auction or through an executor’s sale.
You can sell a house without going through probate if:
The title to property jointly held with your spouse is directly transferred to you upon their death.
Property held in a living trust can be sold by the trustee before the trust is settled, and the funds transferred to you. Otherwise, you can sell the house after you become the legal owner.
There is much to consider when selling an inherited home. Reach out to our experienced professionals here at Columbus Cash Home Buyers. We have a long history of helping people who have inherited property overcome the same challenges you face today.