If you’ve inherited a property and you’re planning to sell it, make sure you read this blog post for 3 tips about how to price your inherited home in Fort Worth for sale…
Did you inherit a property that you’re now thinking about selling? While inheriting your family members’ estate including their ‘real property’ can be a wonderful gift, it can also (quite frankly) be a costly burden. So selling the house often makes sense and allows you to use the gifted equity for some other purpose. But selling an inherited property may not come easily to you, especially if you haven’t sold a property in a while. So here’s how to price your inherited home in Fort Worth for sale…
Tip #1: Price Quick To Sell
Some people price their inherited property at an amount they think the market might pay for the house. However, there are many factors that go into this price and one of the biggest considerations is: how fast do you want to sell? Selling through an agent “on the market” can take months, and you’ll have to pay for the house and maintain the property the entire time. That can be costly and can eat into the higher price.
Furthermore, many who inherit a house that nobody is living in do not realize that a VACANT HOUSE can be a LIABILITY. A property that is Vacant is at higher risk for FIRE, not to mention that it can lose insurance coverage if it sits vacant too long.
Many property owners quickly learn that they’re almost better off to price slightly lower for a faster sale… they might get less for the house but they also pay less on repairs, carrying costs, effort, and time, so it’s ultimately a trade-off that may not be worth the risks involved with having a property sit vacant and vulnerable!
Tip #2: Avoid Pricing Based On Fond Memories Or Improvements that are OUTDATED
One of the biggest challenges that owners of inherited estate or house face when trying to price their property for sale is separating the happy memories from the true value of the house. Many families can mistakenly overvalue their beloved family home. They remember all the times that dad put his personal touches into making the house suitable to the family’s needs. While those changes make sense for those living there at the time, many new owners won’t see them as valuable improvements, and may even feel the need to totally remove and change the things dad worked so hard to do. Family’s today have different priorities and needs which often makes many previously valued improvements obsolete. That “parquet tile” that dad lovingly installed himself will most likely be torn out by the new buyer I am sad to say.
A better approach would be to work with a real estate investor (aka a reputable ‘We Buy Houses’ company like ours), and find out what they can offer you, and recognize that the price might be lower than you were expecting… primarily because your wonderful memories and personal knowledge of the prior ‘improvements of yesterday’ dad lovingly installed may have inadvertently inflated your idea of what the market value should be!
Tip #3: Build In Discounts For Repairs
If you inherited the property from a loved one who had lived in the property for many years then you might find out that the property needs a good deal of updating to make it appealing to new potential buyers, or worse, that it needs extensive repairs either from deferred maintenance or damage from external forces (weather, vandalism etc.). Of course, you could choose to do this work yourself and then ask for a higher price but why take on additional stress or unnecessary financial burden? While you may get a better price for the property, by the time you put all the work and expense (i.e. what you’d have to pay for equipment, supplies, or a contractor, not to mention ‘holding costs’ of TAXES, INSURANCE, YARD MAINTENANCE, etc.) it is possible that you may still come out about the same financially. With everyone’s hectic life these days, who needs that?
Summary
An estate sale can be a lot of work so if you’re thinking of selling the house as well, you’re certainly not alone. But how do you price your inherited house? These tips will guide you on how to price your inherited home in Fort Worth or other Texas cities, for a quick sale.