Who Can You Trust When Selling an Inherited Home?
Experiencing the loss of a loved one is an incredibly difficult life situation to face. Add that to the challenge of inheriting property and life can quickly become overwhelming. If you need to figure out how to manage your inherited property, it’s best to get advice from those who understand all your options. Let’s discuss the different situations you may face when inheriting a house, and how to make the best choices with your inheritance
After a loved one passes away and leaves you an inherited property, it’s often challenging to decide what to do. One option you have is to live in the home you’ve inherited. But that might not be right for you for a few different reasons.
Options You Have When You Inherit A Home
What if you already own a home? It may not make since to pack up your belongings and move, when you’re already a homeowner. Secondly, what if your property inheritance brings up bad memories? It might be too hard for you to live in your loved one’s space, while surrounded by their possessions. In either of these cases, you’re left with alternative choices about how to manage your inheritance.
If you want to keep the property, you could become a landlord and try to rent the property to someone else. But what happens if the property isn’t ready for renters, or you simply don’t enjoy being a landlord? These considerations are time-consuming and costly, so it’s important to think about them before putting your home for rent.
Finally, you have the option to sell the house. Yet, even this process can quickly become tiring. It requires that you find someone trustworthy to sell your home.Afterward, completing the sale of your inherited property can take months to complete and requires a lot of negotiation.Not to mention all the other problems you can face during the homebuying process. In fact, there are many horror stories about people who take advantage of those who are grieving, which makes selling property a scary process.
It’s important to consider all your options and find someone to work with who is experienced and trustworthy. Let’s look at all your options decide what’s right for you and your family.
There are three options you can take after you inherit a property. You can either live in the house, rent it out, or sell it. But which is the right fit for you?Here are some important factors to consider.
Should I Live In Or Rent Out My Inherited Property?
Property inheritance can go from a blessing to a financial burden quickly if the property you’ve inherited has a mortgage balance. So, how do you know whether a mortgage balance on your inherited property will affect you? Well, it all depends on your relationship with the person you’ve inherited property from.In the worst-case scenario, the mortgage loan may become due within a few months.
Here’s how to know whether your inherited property might become a financial burden. First, if you’ve inherited property from a non-relative and there’s a mortgage, there’s a good chance that your balance is due in full after the probate process finalizes.
Second, if you’ve inherited property from a relative that has undergone a reverse mortgage, you’ll need to pay the loan amount in full to keep the property. Both of these situations may force you to pay tens of thousands to keep the property you inherited.
Now, let’s say that neither of these cases are the situation you’re in. If you’re inheriting from a relative whose property is under a mortgage contract, in most cases you should be able to assume their loan. However, there’s always a chance that the home is underwater in value, or that it’s not ready to rent out or move into.
After figuring out whether you can financially assume the responsibility of the inherited property, it’s necessary to determine whether you want to live in the property at all. There’s added financial pressure of maintaining an additional home if you already own one. In addition, you may not want to live in the inherited property because of location, style, or even the memories that you have of the home. In any of cases, you may decide the best option is to sell your home fast. But even selling an inherited home is more work than most people expect.
Should I Sell An Inherited Home?
So, what are some of the things you must worry about while selling your home traditionally? First off, you should determine whether the inherited property needs work. If so, getting your property ready for sale requires both time and a considerable amount of money. Either of these might not be options in your current situation.
Next, you need to learn whether the property is ready for sale on the open market. Aside from getting a property market ready, there are additional processes you must follow to sell an inherited home. For instance, you need to complete the probate process and file taxes. In addition, it’s necessary to determine whether the sales cost will cover any mortgage loans, tax liens, and judgements too.
The traditional sales process already takes a long time. However, completing any of the above processes, or not being able to pay all the financial obligations after the sale makes the process more complicated and lengthy. Luckily, there are ways to deal with these downsides.
If You Want to Sell Your House Fast, You Need to Find Someone You Can Trust.
Sometimes selling an inherited home is the best option, yet it’s impossible to sell your property on the market. This could be for financial reasons or due to time limitations. If you find yourself in this bind, the best option is to sell your property to a home buying company.
Perhaps you’re already considering selling an inherited property through a home buying company, but it’s not always easy to know which company you can trust. This is especially the case if you’ve heard some of the popular horror stories about working with real estate investors.
It’s important to work with a company that’s not only reputable, but one that is long-standing within the community as well. Otherwise, you can potentially fall for a scam and put your inheritance at risk.
There are many homeowners out there that need to sell their property quickly. Some are even in a similar situation, where they’ve inherited property like you. Either they’re trying to avoid a sizable mortgage payment due soon, or they’re just eager to sell and move on with life.
Why Is Important To Work With Someone You Trust After You’ve Inherited Property?
Unfortunately, there are many horror stories about homeowners trusting their property to the wrong people. After all, high emotions, mixed with the need to sell a property quickly can attract predatory investors. These untrustworthy people are ruthless and will use any technique possible to trick you out of your home and your equity.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the old bait and switch and maybe you personally know someone it’s happened to. It begins when a couple investors come to your neighborhood looking for potential investment properties. Your home just happens to meet all their criteria, and you’re eager to sell.
These investors spend time with you at the home and begin building your trust. After a few days, they make an offer that’s almost too good to be true. A bit later, they present the written contract, to formalize the process. They inform you that the contract is exactly as was discussed previously. So, you quickly read over the contract, and you sign.
Not too long after, you’re told that the document requirements have changed, someone lost the paperwork, or you’re given another excuse. Each time this happens, you sign new documents, paying less attention to the terms each time.
Right before you’re supposed to close, you sign a final document, that’s different from the original verbal agreement. Next thing you know, you’re out of the house you’ve inherited and the equity your loved one has built up. All because you were duped out of a good contract by professional scammers.
How to Avoid Untrustworthy Home Buying Companies
These scam techniques are unfortunately all too common. But if you learn how to sell your house fast using a trusted company, you can avoid this and other house scams altogether. Here are some things you should know before working with a home buying company.
- Avoid companies that ask you to do anything that seems out of the ordinary.
The most unethical practices include asking you to transfer your deed, while you retain ownership of the mortgage. This is a huge warning sign that you’re not working with a reputable company. If this is the case, the individual you’re dealing with is trying to take ownership of your property, while leaving you the bill.
Another red flag is when an investor asks you to pay fees out of pocket before a sale or sales process can begin. Remember, you’re the one selling property to the buyer, not the other way around. You shouldn’t have to pay for any process up front, if it’s a legitimate transaction.
- Check whether you’re working with a legitimate company.
Does the company you’re working with have a business address that you can visit? Is it registered with the Secretary of State where you live? How long has the business been operating? If the company is legitimate, you’ll have answers to all three of these questions. If you can’t find the answers to these questions, there’s a good chance that you’re not working with a legitimate company that will have your best interests at heart.
- Determine whether the home buying company is trustworthy.
You can discover whether a home buying company is trustworthy starting with a simple web search. If the company is trustworthy, you’ll likely find plenty of web resources. Look specifically for a professionally designed website with plenty of resources and its own Better Business Bureau page. You should also notice whether the company has other profiles on social sites like Yelp, Google, and Facebook. By looking at the company’s different online profiles, you’ll understand whether it’s an established business that’s run professionally.
When It Comes To How To Sell A House – Trustworthiness Is The Biggest Factor
How can you decide between different home buying companies out there? It really comes down to trust. But how do you know what a company is trustworthy just by looking at their online profiles? The truth is, you must do some investigating of your own. Just a little research can save you time, money, and headache in the future.
In addition to checking for trustworthiness using the methods described above, you should also:
- Read testimonials from past clients. You should specifically look for plenty of happy customers and pay attention to those with criticisms about the company. It’s important to look for testimonials on other sites, as it’s possible that companies create fake reviews. After you read any reviews, ask the company for contact information from previous clients.
- Discover how long the company has been operating. You want to work with home buyers that have a proven track record. They should also have consistent results of buying houses from people who have inherited property. Talk to the home buying company and figure out how many homeowners they’ve purchased from within the past year. This will tell you whether they have the experience, and capital, to buy your home as well.
How To Sell Your House To a Reputable Home Buying Company You Can Trust
When you inherit property from a loved one, you have many different options. Some of you may want to live in or rent out your home. Or, for a variety of reasons you might prefer to sell your property.
For those looking to sell quickly, it’s important to find a reputable home buying company that will guide you through the complicated process during difficult times. The best way to do this is by looking at each home buying company to discover how long they’ve been in business, how they can help you, and what their reputation is in the community.
However, all home buying companies are not equal. Some don’t have the expertise to understand how to buy an inherited property. Therefore, it’s important not only to find a company that’s trustworthy, but one that knows how to sell your house.
If you want an experienced property inheritance team that can help you with your unique situation, go with a company like Express Homebuyers. We buy houses quickly and for a fair price. That way, you don’t need to wait months for the traditional home buying process to drag on. Plus, we’ve purchased over 2,500 homes since 2003 and can help you with selling an inherited home too. Get in touch with us and receive an all cash offer in as few as just a few minutes.