How to Sell Inherited Property With Siblings
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Those of us who have been through the process of disposing of an estate can bear testament to that fact, as well as to the fact that it isn’t always the easiest thing to do business with close relatives.
There are seemingly zillions of considerations in these situations. Still, ultimately you will have to find a way to turn at least part of the estate into a robust sale of inherited property. There are some pitfalls to bear in mind and avoid first, though.
These pitfalls are all orbiting around a central theme. Still, given that this set of traps often strikes people in this situation, it’s helpful to break them up into manageable chunks to make things easier to swallow for all the folks involved.
Selling a home with relatives is a challenge, and so is coordinating a sale with family siblings. Let’s take a look at what you need to know.
Iron Out Everything First
Before you embark on the sale of your inherited property, you might want to ensure that all the major elements of the broader-willed estate are dealt with. In all likelihood, the property sale will be the single largest transaction within the estate, so it makes sense.
There’s nothing more damaging to a real estate deal than extraneous squabbling over stuff. Treating the property sale as a separate element is the key, so take great care to ensure that all the other elements are agreed upon first.
Making sure that other things, or at least the main issues, are well understood by all the parties involved so that you can reach a consensus over the property deal is important. Every party must have a functional understanding of proceedings and consent to them.
When you have never sold a home before doing so can be a challenge.
You can imagine what a prospective buyer would think if there were quarreling over unrelated heirlooms or the like. It will likely dash the sale on the rocks, there and then. It’s all about aligning behind a common outcome and couldn’t be more crucial.
Usually, all parties should agree on a single representative for the sale to streamline proceedings. It can be very destructive to a property deal when multiple people keep interfering with the process.
In fact, it will be hard for the home closing process to conclude without an understanding from the beginning of how things should proceed.
Pick someone, and stick to that. That way, you will have your professional representatives working on the deal and a single familial representative operating on behalf of the family unit. It makes a great deal of sense and is the better option every time.
Hang Emotions on the Hat Stand
If there’s an inherited estate, things will tend to become emotional. The human capacity for memory means that we tend to bring out all our dirty laundry and air these in a very heartfelt way, particularly in such circumstances.
Conclusion: there’s a tendency to allow childhood feelings of bitterness and various other grudges to dominate the proceedings, which could be detrimental. Particularly if these bitter grudges culminate in litigation, in which case the whole enterprise is doomed.
Once legal proceedings are initiated, the lawyers will crowd out all other interested voices, and once all is said and done, you’ll find that much of the estate now belongs to a law firm. It’s the worst of all possible outcomes and can drag on for years.
It also can ruin sibling relations beyond repair, with legal wranglings going on ad infinitum in the background. There are times when legal recourse is unavoidable, but it should be treated like the plague wherever humanly possible.
Through thick and thin, behaving like a team could strengthen sibling bonds once all is said and done. Certainly, your deceased relatives would not have desired a fractious and bitter result when they willed their estate, so honor that rather than being divisive.
The Unsentimental Sale
If, once you have gone through the reckoning with your siblings, you find that selling the property is the best way forward, let it be nothing more than a sale. Treat the whole process with as little sentimentality as possible, and focus on the agreed aim.
This is easily said but quite hard in practice. Most of us struggle to compartmentalize in this way, but it is essential. If you make the combined decision to sell, treat it like you would any other ordinary transaction by using your head above your heart.
Seek all the professional guidance you can, and then abide by the objective outcomes of that guidance. To you, the property may seem priceless, but the market is unlikely to hold the same viewpoint. Allow the pros to do what they do and don’t get in the way.
The professionals in this area will have the right outlook and will know how to approach the sale with the same level head they’d employ for any other similar deal. Find someone you can trust, and then trust them to perform the task.
Remember that the sale means that some other family group will now use the property to generate all their family memories, just as your clan once did. In a genuine way, it’s the most appropriate outcome for everybody.
Final Word
It’s tough. Bereavements always are, but how we process losses of this kind says a great deal about us. Coming to commonsense solutions and abiding faithfully by set agreements makes things less painful than they might otherwise be.
Letting reason prevail will allow all concerned parties to come to some emotional closure about everything and maximize your financial rewards at the same time. It just makes sense to arrive at a consensus and stick to it like glue.
In the end, our sentimental take on this aspect of life can potentially do great damage, not only in financial terms but in terms of the ongoing family life as well. It makes no sense to allow the past to destroy the future, so it’s necessary to be strong sometimes.
It’s what your late relatives would have wanted to see and what they were hoping for when they willed the estate to you in the first place.
About the author: The above article on selling inherited property with siblings was written by Wendy Dessler. Wendy is a super-connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking.
She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.