How To Decide Whether To Sell Or Keep Your Inherited Property In Omaha
Are you trying to decide whether to keep or sell your inherited property in Omaha, Nebraska? It can be frustrating spending money on a house in order to sell it, especially one that wasn’t yours. Many inherited houses have not been taken care or and are run down. It can take thousands of dollars just to get an inherited house ready to sell on the multiple listing service. Ane we have not even begun to talk about real estate agent commission, closing costs, holding costs, etc. etc. In our latest post, we help you learn more about your selling options!
Whether or not you knew you were going to inherit a house in Omaha, Nebraska, you might be faced with some unexpected challenges once the property has been transferred to your name. Owning a house can be expensive. The utility bills, ongoing maintenance of mowing, snow removal, miscellaneous repairs, the real estate taxes, the maintenance, a possible existing mortgage that needs to be paid and the unexpected repairs can come as a shock. As any local real estate investor in Omaha, Nebraska will tell you, the longer you own the property, the more the house will end up costing you. The winter months can be extremely expensive with heat, snow removal, just the stress of worrying about pipes freezing and realtors leaving doors open, the thermostat moved to 80 degrees for a 10 minute showing and not turned back down. There are also upsides to inheriting a property. If the numbers work out an inherited property can make a great rental income. But beware rental properties are not for everyone. Before you make a decision about whether to sell or keep your inherited property in Omaha, Nebraska or the surrounding area, ask yourself a few questions. Take the time to learn about the property, market and neighborhood in question, to better help with your decision. There are many things to consider whether to keep or sell a house you inherited in Omaha, Nebraska. Below, we will offer some tips to help you determine if you should keep or sell your inherited property in Omaha. Will will also offer some insight into the best ways to sell your inherited property fast in Omaha, Nebraska.
Ask Yourself These Questions
Do you have a use for the property?
Holding onto a house you inherited in Council Bluffs, Iowa for sentimental reasons is fine if that’s what you want to do, but don’t feel as if you are obligated to keep the house. Usually, if you do keep a house you inherited for sentimental reasons it will end up costing you more money than you originally thought. Keeping an inherited house in Omaha for memories, old times or emotional reasons rarely works out in the long run. As mentioned it will cost you much more money than you originally thought and when you go to sell the property you inherited the odds are pretty good you will lose money for several different reasons. You may have not kept up with the maintenance on the property since you inherited it so now the cost will be much more to get the house ready to sell. You may have rented the house for several years and the renters left leaving a once rehabbed rental that you spent thousands on in shambles and worse off than when you inherited. Leaving you to start over and have thousands of dollars. Only keep the property if you have a sincere use for it. There is no sense in holding onto an inherited property in Omaha that will just end up sitting there.
Are there other owners?
If there are other owners of the property, you will all need to sit down and come to a consensus. Work together to decide if the home should be kept or sold. If there is an odd man out, consider buying them out as not to cause further disagreement. Remember, it is just a house, and the person who passed it down to you would never want to see their gift become an argument.
If you decide you want to sell, how much can you spend upfront?
If the home has not yet been cleared out, that should happen first and foremost. A traditional property listing with a real estate agent will come with hefty upfront costs that you or may not want to spend. You’ll likely need to make some repairs to the house, clean out the house and have it professionally cleaned. It’s tricky making repairs to a house you’ve never owned and don’t know much about. You may not know what you’re getting into. If your not careful you could find yourself going down a rabbit hole, spending thousands and thousands on a house you want to sell anyway. Depending on how you decide to sell, you could face not only repair costs but costs in commissions, closing costs, holding costs, possibly marketing to name a few.
Ways To Sell
List It
Listing your inherited property in Omaha, Nebraska will require you to get the property ready for the MLS (multiple listing service). Take a look at what other homes are selling for in your area and neighborhood, and how your property stacks up. You will need to take any sentimental thoughts, feels out of your thought process when determining a prie for your home. Look at similar homes, styles, finished square footage above ground, the number of bedrooms, numbers of bathrooms, is the garage attached, how many garage stalls in any. The more you can find like houses in your neighborhood or area that have preferably sold in the last 30 to 60 days the better. Be realistic with your prices, and don’t spend too much over-improving. You might not want to take a chance and have the house sit on the market for an extended period of time costing you money each day it is listed on the market. You may want to consider fixing the things that are broken or worn out. The last thing potential buyers want to do is move into a house and paint, install carpeting, maybe replace a faucet, landscaping, the list could go on and on. Even if the price is right most buyers want a move in ready, turn key home. If you are looking at selling the house in a timely manner you could look around the neighborhood and see what amenities other houses have and don’t have. For instance, installing a multi-head walk-in shower or solid surface countertops. It would be an upfront cost that would make you stand out from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Instead of incurring holding costs each month the house is on the market you could possibly sell faster and get rid of your headache.
When listing your house with a real estate agent there are also thousands of dollars of costs to consider. You will need to pay the real estate agent a 6 or 7 percent commission. For example, on a $180,000 house, the commission would be $12,600. The commission is just the start of the expenses when using a real estate agent. You will then need to pay closing costs (taxes, property insurance, document fees, misc. fees that each real estate broker and title company charge), then there are the expenses of getting the house ready to sell that we talked about earlier. You will also have holding costs with the house is listed on the market. These expenses would be utilities, insurance, property taxes, day to day maintenance costs like lawn care, snow removal, the daily maintenance of a house if something stops working as a furnace or water heater. As you can see these costs accumulate quickly and can eat into any profit you may be seeking from the sale of your inherited house you are trying to sell in Omaha, Nebraska. When you list an inherited home and want to sell your inherited home quickly in Omaha, Nebraska, you may feel frustrated to suddenly have to spend thousands of dollars selling a house that isn’t yours and you did not want in the first place.
Sell On Your Own
Selling the house using an FSBO (for sale by owner) listing will save you on the commission, but you will still need to pay for cleaning repairs, marketing, holding costs and other selling costs. In most cases, selling on your own to a regular buyer will take longer and ultimately put less in your pocket.
Sell To An Investor
When you sell your inherited Omaha, Nebraska property fast to Harter Investments, you will not need to spend a dime out of pocket. Nor will you have to pay expensive commissions, real estate agent fees, closing costs, administrative costs saving you thousands of dollars. By selling the property directly, you will be able to quickly receive your profits and move on from the house without spending months making repairs and waiting for the property to sell.
