Did you and your family members inherit a house that you don’t want to do anything with? Or perhaps you’ve moved outside of your Georgia hometown for good and are too busy to take care of the home that your parents left you. For some people, inheriting a house may not always be good news. Beyond benefitting from its equity, you have to think about transfer taxes, estate tax returns, utilities, maintenance, etc.
If you don’t have the time to transform your inherited house into a rental property or continue to manage an inherited rental property, expenses might drown you. The great news is, you can still sell your inherited house fast regardless of its condition. You don’t have to transfer utilities to your name, don’t have to pay thousands for repairs, and don’t have to spend so much time going back and forth if you are not living anymore in that county!
If you want to sell your inherited house as quickly as you want, here are some great tips to start:
Double-Check the Will and Identify Roles
If your parents didn’t own many assets and you have other siblings, chances are, there will be two or more names on every asset. If you find yourself in this situation with the house, and all co-beneficiaries agree to sell the house, here are other things that you need to agree on:
- What will you do with the things inside the house?
- How will you split the appraisal costs?
- If the property still has unpaid balances (e.g., utilities, taxes, etc.), who will take care of it?
- Would you want to list your house on the market? Or sell to a professional home buyer instead? Remember that each comes with its own sets of pros and cons
- How much do you intend to sell your house?
Once you’ve laid out all the details, all co-beneficiaries will have to sign all documents related to the sale of the house. In case one of the co-beneficiaries wouldn’t be able to do so, he/she can assign another person to sign on behalf, but with a Special Power of Attorney.
STEPS IN A PROBATE PROCESS
But all of this is considering that your parents left a will. What happens when your parents didn’t identify specific beneficiaries for the property? You and your siblings will have to decide on who will be appointed as an “Administrator of the Estate” since, according to Georgia law, all children will inherit the estate considering that there is no other spouse. Once you’ve decided, you’ll have to apply for this at the state court where your parents died, and the approved administrator will have to choose between solemn form probate or common form probate.
De-Personalize the House
If the house has been in your family for years, your parents or family members might have possessed a considerable amount of stuff. If you are going to sell your Georgia house, you should at least take out all the very personal paraphernalia. This can include family photos, all paperworks/documents, journals, used candles, toiletries, and clothes — everything that a new owner cannot make use of.
Although professional home buyers will most likely buy the house even with all the stuff, you may find something that you’d want to keep as well for your own memorabilia. Another helpful way is that you can consider selling all the stuff in a garage sale or on craigslist. It will help you get rid of the things, and at the same time, get you a little extra money in case you need to spend for closing costs once you sell the house.
Do Small Improvements at Least
If you intend to sell your house on the market, you have to make it presentable. And presentable doesn’t have to mean remodeling your house entirely. If you can spare money for a few minute-but-smart home improvements, that can definitely increase your chances of being considered by retail buyers. The key here is to at least make your house livable enough.
According to Zillow, things that can most likely kill a deal are foundational damages, molds, and leaks. So when we say livable, this means that there are no damages that can risk the occupant’s safety and health, there are no brewing cracks in the structure that can make your buyers spend more in the future, there are no exposed electrical wires, the wastewater connections are well sealed, and so on. If your house has been around for more than 50 years, we suggest that you conduct a comprehensive structural and system check.
Sell to a Professional Home Buyer
Selling your house on the market will require you to allocate more time, money, and patience. Time and patience because you’ll never know when exactly a buyer will give a definitive yes. And money because you’ll have to pay for listing fees, home improvements, and closing costs.
If you really want to take the house out of your hands as quickly as possible, your best bet would be to sell to a professional home buyer like us. You won’t have to clean your house, get rid of the stuff, pay for home improvements, and wait for months because we can buy your house in as fast as seven days! If you want to see how much you can get if you sell your house to us, give us a call at (678) 318-1801 or fill up the form below, and we’ll get in touch with you shortly!