Often, homeowners leave their house to beloved family or friends with the best intentions. Other times, the house gets left to whoever the court says gets it. While it may seem like a windfall. When you find out that someone has inherited property, the realities are not always so wonderful.
There Are Downfalls to Inheriting a House
It can be beneficial to understand the problems that could arise for those who get the house. So, read on as we explore the five downfalls of inheriting a property.
Inheriting from Long Distance
If you live across the country, distance can cause issues when you’re inheriting a house in Kansas City.
Many executors of estates who live out of the areamust take several weeks off from work to come to KC. Some fly into Kansas City multiple times to deal with the house.
There was guy who took 3 weeks out of his life to come to town from Alaska, along with his sister from Arizona and his brother who was local to clean out and sell their parents’ home. They went through every box, drawer, closet, coat and bag. Held a garage sale and then had charity come take the rest. That’s a lot of work. Sometimes its a must as it was in Marks’s case as they found money and all sorts of statements to unknown accounts everywhere.
Cleaning it out takes time, getting it ready to sell takes time, and dealing with other families takes time. Often time that is filled with sadness at loved ones passing. Other times anger and fighting with other heirs when they can’t agree.
We have helped many families through this situation. In most cases, they got together and went through the house because they just didn’t know what mom and dad had hidden away in drawers and closets, one family found all kinds of financial statements to accounts they knew nothing about. We have helped other sellers who didn’t care one bit about anything in the house, leaving everything, except the vintage motorcycle with the house.
There was the nice lady from California who it seemed was estranged from her father. She didn’t fly back. She didn’t go through the house. She had a family friend let us in. The family friend took a few items. Then they sold us the house with every piece of furniture, every piece of clothing, all the stuff one accumulates in life. We even got the food in the kitchen and the toothpaste in the bathroom. We didn’t get the Indian Motorcycle in the garage.
When you inherit a house in the KC metro and live out of the area, working with a highly reliable local representative, like the Tuckers is a must. We can provide you with the assistance you need to take care of business, no matter where in the world you are located. We have services that can help you clean out the house and make repairs, or just skip it and leave all the hard parts to us.
Can Those Who Inherit Make Unified Decisions
Several people are often listed together on the will, and inheriting a house can become highly complicated if you cannot agree on the steps to take with the property.
There was the family who had 3 heirs. And while they agreed to selling the house, they didn’t quite trust each other. So we had to mediate and find a way to guarantee that one heir would get paid before she would agree to anything.
What we do know is that when there are several people involved in making decisions, everyone has to agree. To do that you need the facts laid out clearly and concisely so you can compare a hands-off, all-cash, fast closing offer to the costs of doing a little work and then listing the home as-is, or doing a lot of work and listing the home as repaired.
We can help you explore your options, compare timelines and costs, and help you get the best outcome for you and your family.
It Can Be Emotionally Draining to Clean Out an Inherited House
It can be highly emotional after losing your loved one and finding yourself going through belongings and cleaning out the property when you are inheriting a house. Many people find the experience extremely overwhelming.
One benefit of making a direct sale to someone like us is that our full-service team will clean up the property inside and out. So you can just take what you want and leave the rest to us!
There was the Waldo house where the Mom had passed away . . . leaving all her stuff to Dad. Dad left the stuff. A few years later Dad passed leaving all his and Mom’s stuff to the son. Then the son passed and the family is faced with cleaning out a house that has accumulated all the stuff from 3 different people, all wrapped with memories, from the past 60 plus years.
Inheriting a House Can Be Expensive
Inheriting a house means inheriting the monthly bills and responsibility for repairs and maintenance, along with any debt legally attached to the property. And all of these things need to be paid either out of the estate or out of the heirs pockets during the probate and the sale process. And if the property might be rental property, the problems grow.
Unfortunately, few properties come to their beneficiaries in perfect condition. Often the home has fallen into severe disrepair, and overgrowth is now threatening the structure.
There was the family that had about 25 rental properties to deal with. Properties that were not managed by a property manager, but by the deceased. They left it to the attorney to handled. And over the time frame of about a year going through probate, the tenants who were not being managed well left. Then the properties were vandalized. By the time probate was complete and the attorney finally got the estate sold, it had lost more than 75% of its value.
Should you find yourself in a situation where you have inherited a home and you want to sell, but not do all the work, give us call. We are legitimate cash buyers with a very transparent process. Just submit your property here on our website to see what we might offer. Costs you nothing and can save you countless hours of work.
Time Is a Huge Factor with Many Inherited Properties.
In many cases, financial obligations that accompany the property may dictate a fast sale. Cash buyers often try to use this to their advantage, making insultingly low offers. However, you won’t be taken advantage of when working with us. Our offer comes with a guaranteed closing date without any pressure. Plus we have the flexibility to set the closing date around your schedule to make the sale as convenient as possible for you.
Are you inheriting a house and unsure about the next step? Reach out and will answer any questions or concerns to help you reach a consensus on an educated decision, with no obligation. Get started today, and submit your property with our form.
