San Antonio Real Estate Blog: Five Tips to Selling an Inherited Property

Our Guest Author Today: Matthew Schwimmer

Selling a property you've inherited isn't the easiest thing to do. It's nowhere near anything easy. However, suppose one chooses to be on the rational side of things and enjoys some proper piece of advice. In that case, you could say that the process can be a lot more hassle-free than it would otherwise be if one was left with a guilty conscience without any valuable tips on how to handle the issue. Okay, so why are we talking about this? The thing is: we've gathered the so-called five tips on selling an inherited property! Wondering what they are? You'll find them in the following lines!

#1 Consider the will

First things first, let's consider the law! For instance, say you've inherited the property from a relative who passed away a while ago. You'll want to make sure that everything (the whole process of you inheriting the place) was handled through proper legal channels and that you're the sole heir to this or that. There's no point in investing that much time and effort (needed to sell a home) only to find out things aren't that perfect. In other words: you don't want to find out that the place's willed to someone else in the middle of the process of selling a home.

There might even be some claims against the will you're not aware of for all we know. That's why you'll want to make sure everything's alright (in legal terms) with you claiming the place as your own. You'll avoid some unnecessary stress that's often associated with the whole process of selling an inherited house!

Before you venture deeper into the process of selling an inherited property, make sure that everything's alright (in legal terms) with your claim to inherit the place.

#2 Handle liens or title considerations

There's a chance that the home you'll inherit has specific issues with past titles that were attached to it (such as small liens or other claims). Not so sure about whether or not the home you've inherited has a problem with any of these? If that's so, you'll want to check it out. Professional movers such as Evolution Moving have encountered more than one situation where problems such as this one occurred, putting a halt on the entire moving process. They're in the business long enough to know how messy stuff can get.

The thing is: selling inherited property is always much, much easier with a clear title and without any claims against it. Now, of course, you can pay off the liens we've mentioned at closing, but the most important thing is for you to know that they're present. In any other case, the price you'll have to pay for the liens will have to come from the money you'll receive as the seller.

#3 Set the price right (determine the value)

Here's something you'd call a common saying inside the real estate niche: know your home's real worth because it keeps you from ending up with a bad deal. There's a good chance some relatives might want to buy the place off of you. Needless to say, they'll try to get away with a discount. The best thing to do here is to ask for assistance from a top-quality local realtor. In other words: a professional will help you determine every little aspect of setting the right price for your home. For instance, the person can give an exact price before and after you've done some renovations, or they might give you a piece of advice on how you can increase your inherited home's curb appeal or something.

Two professionals looking at a laptop screen.

Asking for assistance from professionals (realtors) will help you determine the "real" price of your home and ways you can enhance it a bit!

#4 Downsize?

One can assume that inhering an old home from a relative might mean you'll also inherit a ton of furniture that neither you nor the future owners of the home you're about to sell won't need. Needless to say, that's something you'd call a standard scenario. So, what's there to be done about it? For instance, you can sell them to an antique dealer. Just be careful when transporting your antique and precious furniture pieces. If you need assistance to help you with the transfer of bulky pieces, you won't have any trouble finding quality San Antonio furniture movers. Also, you can organize an old-fashioned yard sale or put the pieces of furniture we're talking about on the web market. The thing is: your future buyers won't like the place looking like a hoarder's den. They need to see some space for their own projects and furniture arrangements!

Oh, and, if you're too sentimental about this or that piece of furniture, you could simply rent a storage room for all the I'll-never-sell-this type of items!

When selling an inherited house, it's best you remove most pieces of bulky furniture that you find inside the place!

#5 Handle the necessary repairs

Here's the last but not least addition to our list of five tips to selling an inherited property. Okay, so we've implied this one in one of the paragraphs above. Say you've inherited the place from a person that didn't quite keep it up-to-date. It's safe to say you'll have to handle some repairs to prepare your home for sale. Here's another thing: most old homes will need some renovation. It might be best that you conduct a pre-sale home inspection so that you don't end up losing more money when problems occur and buyers see the chance to lower your price. There are always issues that will escape your gaze. Also, think about some minor updates that will significantly boost your home's curb appeal. For instance, an updated front door might be an excellent place to start!

Final thoughts

Okay, so that's about it for the five tips to selling an inherited property! Even though selling inherited property isn't so easy because the process can get a bit emotional, we are sure you'll handle it properly! With the right advice, we've got no doubt that you're all set to sell the property you've inherited!