It would be an unequal blessing for most of us to inherit a house, especially one full of everlasting memories. But inheriting the family house and making a decision what to do with the inherited house can agitate all such emotions, including those unpleasant ones. Sometimes your decision, even if you think it is an appropriate one, may not be liked by your family members and such a decision can even damage family relationships. These types of family problems are quite common when inheriting a house, so what you want to do is to peacefully and reasonably think about your opinions. You need to think well before zeroing into any particular decision. Remember if there is more than one heir then it is advisable to have a good conversation with the other heir and take a decision. While discussing with others keep in mind that each one of your family members will probably have their on views on how to proceed with.
Your first liking can be to hang onto the inherited home as you and possibly your siblings are attached to the house. But sometime these thinking can go wrong. In most cases what happens is that the most of us think that our family members will share the emotional feelings we have with the home. But in reality, some will feel strongly about keeping this but most of others tend to sell the home and still others simply won’t care of doing like that.
When inheriting a home one of the main pictures which come in the mind is the finance. That is, if you have an old family lake in your home, the main reason you think of selling it will be that you are not going to use it anyway and that you are in need of some money to boost for your kids’ college studies. While the siblings who need to keep the house might be living closer and be able to visit the house frequently. So whatever you decided disputes can occur as your family members may be thinking from some other angle.
It is a better idea to think your inherited home as an investment property. First decide what you wish to do with the inherited home – that is would you like to sell it, keep it, renovate it, rent it or combine all these options. You should ask yourself how you would like to proceed with your inherited home. Even though emotions enter into your ultimate decision, you will have to recognize the role they are playing in your decision.
To decide what should be your final decision first you need to assess the overall situation. That is if you are about to sell the inherited house you need to settle any outstanding bills related with the home or property. Also, before selling the house you need to do some work in the house to gain a good value for the house such as repainting walls, trimming the shrubs, removing any clutters. This helps you to boost the value of your inherited house in the eyes of potential buyers. After this you need to consider the location of the house as if you decided to move into it or manage the house as a rental property the location of the house will be a question.
Usually, the inherited house or the property you receive as a gift or inheritance is not included in your income, when you pay your return. But keep in mind that if the property you receive in such a manner if produces some income later such as dividends, income or rent, then for that income you need to pay tax.