House willed to me and my brother, I moved in shortly after mother’s death, price he wants and what I believe the house is are different.

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House willed to me and my brother, I moved in shortly after mother’s death, price he wants and what I believe the house is are different.

He’s known for ever when mom dies I want the house, he says he dont want to be a landlord, since he’s not. We both own the house.  I’ve given him 25k about 6 mth after her death.  The house has major problems, bathrooms are bad and the porch is rotten.  We have put another 10k into the house.  I say we owe him another 15k.  How do we set things up so we get his name off the deed , and put my husband on, and we owe him 15k, in payments of 3000 a year for 5 years?  I don’t know quite how to go about it?? He and his wife own 2 homes. They make big bucks and we are very blue collar (22k a year total).The housing market way down here in Florida.

Asked on June 6, 2009 under Real Estate Law, Florida

Answers:

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 14 years ago | Contributor

When 2 or more siblings inherit a home, and one wants to buy it and the other(s) want their share in cash or to sell it, there frequently are disagreements as to value. The death of the parent also tends to bring out long-standing family tensions and jealousies and resentments as the parent-mediator is no longer there to smooth things out or help put things in perspective.

The fact that your brother may be a success and own multiple homes is irrelevant to the value of the house. If he's entitled to half the value of the home you both inherited, then he's entitled to half.

The best way to determine the exact value of the house is to sell it. Of course, you'll likely pay all sorts of expenses to clean it up, and paint or otherwise pretty it up for sale, and until the sale you bear the costs of taxes, air conditioning, utilities, repairs, etc. and split those costs.  Then at closing you both share the costs of a real estate broker's commission plus all sorts of closing costs, including title expenses, possible lawyer's fees, etc. but eventually you'll get a cashier's check and deposit it and split the net proceeds.

Alternatively you can agree to have an appraisal by a real estate agent, or you each can pick one to give an appraisal and if they don't agree, they pick a 3rd to decide. That costs money as agents and appraisers don't work for nothing, but it is quicker.  Let's then say they price the appraiser(s) agree on the house should sell for is $250,000. BUT remember, that a buyer might pay $250,000 does not mean you'd realize $125,000 each.  There are those pesky real estate agent commissions (typically about 6%) plus closing costs, etc. So let's say that net of such costs the property would result in a $230,000 check the 2 of you would split.

You and he can agree to flip a coin and the the winner has the option to buy the other's half for $115,000, and if the winner does not do so then the loser can buy the winner's half of the house for the same price.

Then yo and your brother can agree that either one of you could buy


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