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Inherited Home Essay

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When a loved one passes away, you may inherit their home either to do as you please with, or share proceeds or income with co-heirs. Dealing with a home that was inherited can be emotional and also complicating when it comes to finances. Even if the home was paid off you need to be sure that there wasn't a reverse mortgage.

So it should come as no surprise that a lot of folks want to educate themselves on the sale of an inherited home. So how do you sell your inherited house? We’ll break it down. Here’s our 5-step guide to selling your newly inherited home:
Identify
First, you need to identify the heir of the property if you plan to sell an inherited house. This can be beyond tricky and believe us we have seen and heard it all. If Mom …show more content…

We pay cash and typically close on your home in 10 to 30 days depending on your situation.
Prepare
If all goes well a family member or presumed heir will take over maintenance of the property after the person passes. Maintenance may include obtaining a vacant home insurance policy to protect the estate from liabilities, keeping up with utilities, paying property taxes, maintaining lawn care and disposing of the contents of the house. Keeping up with the sale of an inherited home after someone dies can become an overwhelming task, but it’s critical to ensure a minimum of care is in place to protect the vacant home.
Get a fair price
Sometimes the open market is the best answer but often times its best to sell to an investor.
Here are our top 5 reasons why it may be best for you to sell to an investor:
1. Cash
2. Speed of sale
3. Sureness of sale close
4. Sell as is
5. Convenience
Taxes
The bad news: Unfortunately, home sale tax exclusions do NOT apply to inherited houses. Normally, if you own a house for two out of five previous years, you benefit from this tax exclusion. However, if you plan to live in the inherited house for two years, and then sell it, you can still benefit from this exclusion – but many people choose to sell their inherited house right away.
The good news: Those who inherit a house and sell it DO benefit from the stepped-up tax basis. Normally, proceeds are calculated using the house’s purchase price + home

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