25 May How to Manage an Acquired Property Following the Loss of a Loved One May 25, 2022 By sma Property Maintenance, Property Management business tips, real estate trends 0 HOW TO MANAGE AN ACQUIRED PROPERTY FOLLOWING THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE May 25, 2022 | Maintenance, Management | real estate trends, business tips Following the loss of a loved one, there are many affairs to attend to. After funeral arrangements have been made and the service has been held, you may find yourself in possession of your loved one’s items. In some cases, you may even find yourself as the owner of a new residential home. Most individuals in this position may already have an established residence, so coming into possession of an additional property may give way to questions about what to do with the acquired home. Here’s a collection of information to aid in resolving some of these questions during this challenging time. Leasing the Property One of the options you may want to consider is leasing the additional property. While leasing a property comes with its fair share of responsibilities, it can be worth your while at the end of the day. This option is common in these circumstances, as it allows for the opportunity to keep the property within the family. Leasing also creates additional streams of income, helping pay for any taxes the home may acquire and allowing you to set up a rainy-day fund for your family. If you don’t like the idea of being directly responsible for overseeing the property as a landlord, there are property management companies that can assist you in everything from collecting payment to making repairs. They’ll even complete initial background screening of potential occupants so you know that the home will be appropriately taken care of. If you would like more control of the property, but still don’t want to handle repairs, you can opt to purchase a home warranty service plan to take care of any repairs the home may need. While these alternatives come at an additional cost, there is still a good opportunity to create a solid nest egg from these ventures. Selling the Home If the idea of being a landlord is not one that appeals to you, perhaps selling the home is an option you should explore. Right now, the current state of the real estate market favors that of the seller. According to the National REALTOR® Association, for every home on the market today, there are 5-12 buyers looking for a home to purchase. This number fluctuates based on the size of the metropolitan area. In some cases, single-family homes are being purchased for 2-3 times more than what they were originally worth. Before you rush to sale, however, there are a few things to consider, one of them being how to prepare for the sale. Preparing for Sale Preparing for the sale of the home can take the most time–especially when there are still personal items that arrangements need to be made for. If your loved one’s home only had a few odds and ends left over after their passing, it may be a good option to donate these items to those in need. There are several national charities that will accept gently used goods and give you a receipt to use for tax filing purposes. If you have an abundance of items that you need to find a new home for, you may want to consider having an estate or garage sale. If there are numerous high-value items, an estate sale is the best route to take, as you will find buyers for these surplus items while still turning a high profit. Holding garage sales is another practical way to rid your newly acquired home of excess items. While this option may be more time-consuming, it can still yield a high profit for items that are in good condition, but not necessarily of great value. Now that we’ve discussed how to handle miscellaneous surplus items, it’s time to consider how to prepare the home itself for sale. In order to put the house on the market, it would be a good idea to get onboarded with a local licensed REALTOR®. Your real estate agent can assist you in putting your home up for sale and give you further guidance on how to get the best offer. Home Inspection At this point, you may want to consider having a home inspection performed by NPI. Working with a licensed home inspector will help you by providing an unbiased assessment of your property, identifying any major issues or needed maintenance. From here, you will be able to make the repairs necessary to put the home up for sale. Of course, some homes are selling as-is. However, if you would like to get the maximum amount from your potential buyers, you may want to consider making the updates and repairs mentioned to you by your NPI inspector. To find an NPI inspector in your area, please visit www.npiweb.com. Comments are closed.