# Inheireted house advice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635 "2010-04-28T15:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/21 "2010-04-29T12:52:11Z")
Unless you are already familiar with renting (as a landlord) I’d advise just sell it and be done. Being an absentee landlord will only open you up for despair, (something I know about). Some renters will be great, some will be destructive, some will be picky. In my experience, only about 10% fall into the great category. The other two will end up costing you a LOT of money. In your opinion, it may be in “Good Shape”… Wait till a picky renter moves in…Let the contractor parade begin. Mortgage + $100/mo will not handle that. It also won’t handle the repair and cleanup after a destructive tenant. And Og forbid you should ever try to evict someone… ETA- Experience. I used to rent out the place I currently live in, I tried that for 4 years, and never broke even. Even considering the tax write-offs from all of the fixing, I was sinking cash into the place. After the final tenant was removed, I just let it sit for a number of years until I decided to make it my permanent residence. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/22 "2010-04-29T13:31:32Z")
Girlfriend keeps the house. It is hers, not yours even though it could pay off your student loans. I would never sell off property unless I had to. I would rent it out if I could not afford it. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/23 "2010-04-29T13:57:51Z")
We have some landlords and ex-landlords on the board (like Khendrask!) They would be happy to share their bad (…and good?) experiences as a landlord. Some have even been absentee landlords. If your girlfriend wants “proof” you could start a thread asking for opinions on being a landlord and print it out for her. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/24 "2010-04-29T15:48:35Z")
Does the GF know anyone in the house’s area who would make a decent tenant? If that’s her family’s area, maybe she knows some family friends, old schoolmates, or someone else along those lines. But finding a random tenant can be a helluva gamble. From my angle, selling the home - assuming you can get a good offer - and using it to pay down your debt seems like the smartest choice, because it’s safer. Renting out the house _could_ bring in a profit but it also carries a higher likelihood of hassles, headaches, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/25 "2010-04-29T16:03:45Z")
> [@furt](#): > > For practical purposes, there is no other family; my GF is the only child of a single mother. And yeah, I think much of it is emotional; selling the house is going to be a major step in letting go of her mom. Deep down, I think she knows it makes fiscal sense, but she wants/needs me to prove it to her. But I’m not informed enough to do it, hence my looking for help identifying some things about homeownership we haven’t considered. Even if you come out somewhat ahead on renting the house, ISTM that the sheer hassle-and-worry factor of owning a rental property so far away from you won’t be worth the money. It won’t take care of itself, and even if you never get a bad or overly picky tenant, you’ll both feel a rush of anxiety anytime there’s a minor problem with the house, or the tenant, that you think might be a sign of a bigger problem. Needlessly taking on worries like that is no way to live. Sell. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/26 "2010-04-30T17:51:15Z")
> [@furt](#): > > But the girlfriend is interested by the possibility of renting it out at a profit. Looking at the rental listings in area, it seems likely we could rent it out for about $100 a month over the mortgage. But we’d have to hire a local management company, and of course we’re on the hook for property taxes and repairs. Girlfreind counters that we’d get a tax deduction for the mortgage, and the house is likely to appreciate. Speaking as an absentee landlord, I vote with those who say “sell.” The margin of $100 a month over the mortgage is too little to justify taking on the risk and hassle. The smallest setback will wipe out your entire profit for the year. And in the landlording business, you tend to get nickeled and dimed to death. Here’s the problem with a management company: they’ll take care of the trivial problems, but you’ll end up paying full price for them. So, for example, say a light switch breaks. If it were you managing the house, you’d simply make the fix yourself, at the price of $2.00 and an hour’s labor. But the management company will usually hire a handyman, or worse, an electrician, and it’ll cost you between $50 and $200. It won’t take much of this for you to be in the hole, and before long, you’ll experience nothing but dread when thinking of the house. The smaller the margin, the more the dread. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/27 "2010-05-01T00:36:27Z")
I had your problem - inherited a half share in a house with my sister. I was keen to borrow to buy her out and sit on the house as an investment property at first blush, but when I crunched the numbers, the income I could get would not cover the outgoings on even borrowing half the value. In ten years, the house will have appreciated enormously. The problem is the endless sucking up of time and energy and unexpected expenses that comes with houses as an investment. Sure, it can work for many people, but not for me. And it involves putting a lot of eggs in one basket. If there is a fire, or a bad tenant, or an extended period with no tenant, that can suddenly make things tough. I took advice, and sold up. Even though the housing market isn’t great at the moment, so we did not get as much as we’d hoped, we figured putting the money in shares had a similar prospect of capital gain without the “eggs in one basket” thing. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/28 "2010-05-01T03:23:07Z")
> [@KittenKat](#): > > It sounds as though you may be assuming that you can just assume the mother’s mortgage, but I think that it is unusual for a bank to allow such an action. Most likely your girlfriend (or you and your girlfriend) would have to take out a mortgage of her/your own and repay what her mother owed to her bank. I suggest that you look into this aspect of the situation; you may need to assess your ability to qualify for a mortgage as a part of your analysis as to whether or not to sell. Also, the rate currently available on a mortgage may be different than your girlfriend’s mother had; the different rate and potentially different term of the new loan would change the monthly payment, thereby changing the amount of rent necessary to make a profit. With standard legal disclaimers (I’m not your lawyer, you’re not my client, this isn’t advice, etc), depending on the terms of the deceased’s promissory note and mortgage, upon the death the mortgage holder may have the technical right to call the note and foreclose on the house immediately. In real life, as long as the mortgage holder gets its money each month it isn’t going to put up a fuss, but it may have the right to do so. Talk to a lawyer. Sell the house. ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/29 "2010-05-01T06:23:38Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > GF keeps the house. > > That way, if she marries the boyfriend and they divorce later then he doesn’t get a cent from the property because it is an asset she inherited before marriage. > > 😃 I know this was said in a lighthearted manner, but I think there’s an important point lurking underneath. I don’t think it’s fair of you to assume this inheritance is yours, as in both of yours. She’s an only child of one parent. I’m guessing this is the only inheritance she is likely to receive. Is it really fair for you to accept her paying your student loans with her inheritance? She may be willing, but is that really in her best interests? If you split up, you walk away debt free and she’s spent her inheritance and has nothing left to show for it. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/30 "2010-05-01T12:22:45Z")
> [@furt](#): > > **We** presently have $66K equity in it. Mortgage is about $540 a month. 3 Bed, 2 bath, detached house in a quiet neighborhood. > > To me, it’s a no-brainer – **we** sell the house for the first fair offer, and put it towards the student loans. IMO, if **we** don’t, **we** are effectively borrowing money at 4% to invest in real estate 10 hours away. You keep saying “we”. You should be saying “she”. She inherited the house. The equity is hers, not yours. What she does with it is her decision. If she does decide to sell the house and use the money to pay off your loans, she is giving you a gift. I don’t know that I would accept such a gift from a girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/31 "2010-05-01T14:18:33Z")
If this was her Mother’s home you should accept that she is likely to have some unreasonable attachment issues with this property. Be prepared that she may have to own it, with all the downsides that entails, for a couple of years before she can see it’s time to let it go. If you love her, you’ll find it in your heart to support her, through what could be, a very trying journey, for her. Good Luck. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/32 "2010-05-01T18:29:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s not just a financial decision. Is there a sentimental attachment to the house? Is your girlfriend or members of her family going to be upset if the house is sold to somebody outside of the family? keep in mind also how hard it might be for GF to have strangers renting and living in a house that she is emotionally attached to. Might be the easier solution would be to sell and let it go to a new family. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/33 "2010-05-01T21:15:22Z")
When did the mother die? This might matter a lot from a tax standpoint. I don’t want to go into the messy details because I’d probably screw it up. But the rules on base value for capital gains purposes changed at the first of the year. If she died last year, the old rules are in effect, and if she died this year, the new rules kick in. Talk to a tax accountant for the details. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/34 "2010-05-02T13:29:56Z")
If I were her, I would sell it. ESPECIALLY since she’s actually got people interested in buying it! A lot of homeowners are desperate for ANY offer and it sounds like she might be in the (currently) unusual position of being able to unload a house easily in a buyer’s market. I concur with everyone else here, too – this is her inheritance, and especially considering you aren’t married, I think your role in this should be to play the supportive boyfriend and that’s it. You may be the bestest guy in the world and the two of you may be destined for a storybook, 50-year marriage. That said - she’d be crazy to use her inheritance to pay off your loans. I’m not for one minute saying you have any bad intentions, of course. I’m just thinking ahead to a worst-case scenario thing, much like **kathmandu’s** post. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/35 "2010-05-02T14:48:41Z")
I say keep the house and rent it. We are absentee landlords, and have been for about 8 years. The mortgage is all but paid off now. I know that if you crunch the numbers it probably comes back better to pay down the student loan. But I think you should also take into account human nature, I think a little bit of hardship is ok now to get this - in ten years you will be sitting on a property you own free and clear, which is going to provide fantastic security from which to launch many many other things, not to mention that if life turns to custard, you will always have the option to go and live there - for far less than what you can get anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/36 "2010-05-02T17:09:15Z")
If she decides to sell HER house, she should use it to pay down HER debts, not yours! Once you are married then it would be a joint decision what debts to pay first. Now it’s hers what to do with $$$ from the house. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/37 "2010-05-03T20:49:31Z")
Thanks to everyone for the input; sorry I was gone all weekend. > [@Perciful](#): > > Girlfriend keeps the house. It is hers, not yours even though it could pay off your student loans. > [@kathmandu](#): > > I don’t think it’s fair of you to assume this inheritance is yours, as in both of yours. > [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > If she does decide to sell the house and use the money to pay off your loans, she is giving you a gift. I don’t know that I would accept such a gift from a girlfriend. > [@PandaBear77](#): > > I concur with everyone else here, too – this is her inheritance, and especially considering you aren’t married, I think your role in this should be to play the supportive boyfriend and that’s it. > > You may be the bestest guy in the world and the two of you may be destined for a storybook, 50-year marriage. That said - she’d be crazy to use her inheritance to pay off your loans. > [@luv2draw](#): > > If she decides to sell HER house, she should use it to pay down HER debts, not yours! 1. Where is everyone getting the idea that the student loans are mine? They aren’t. I do have credit card debt, but it is about 1/5 the size of her student loans. And no, I wouldn’t consider applying any of the money to my CCs unless we were married. 2. As stated in the OP, she _asked_ me do the research, because she wasn’t up to it. This thread _is_ being the supportive boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/38 "2010-05-03T23:21:12Z")
> [@furt](#): > > 1. Where is everyone getting the idea that the student loans are mine? Well, I’m guessing it was this (from your OP): > [@](#): > > We have about $100K in outstanding debt, mostly student loans, at an average interest of about 4%. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/39 "2010-05-04T00:39:36Z")
> [@kathmandu](#): > > Well, I’m guessing it was this (from your OP): Really, who gives a crap? The OP asked for real estate advice, not for suggestions on how he and his girlfriend should approach their relationship together. All these people jumping in with “her” and “SHE” written in bold letters would do well to keep that in mind. ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635/40 "2010-05-04T01:15:31Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Really, who gives a crap? The OP asked for real estate advice, not for suggestions on how he and his girlfriend should approach their relationship together. All these people jumping in with “her” and “SHE” written in bold letters would do well to keep that in mind. Sometimes threads go off on tangents, and sometimes the OP gets some advice he didn’t specifically ask for. In this case, where the OP essentially says “My girlfriend inherited a house that she wants to keep and rent out, but I want to sell it and pay off my debt, what do y’all think?”, it shouldn’t be unexpected that people might comment on the propriety of that. I’m not saying that’s the situation with **furt** , as he has clarified his situation somewhat in a subsequent post, but that’s how it looked at first glance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inheireted-house-advice/537635.md?page=3)