poor real estate market & probate

[confusedxyz]

What is the name of your state? MD
My mom passed away in May this year. Her estate has been in probate for about 4 months and I have had her house on the market for 2 months. Heirs will need to be paid from the sale of the house and there has been no bites in this poor market. What happens if the house does not sell? I am the administrator - will I be responsible for paying the heirs in a certian time period if the house does not sell? What if I rent the house to try and get income to pay the mortgage? Would I need to put my name on the title and pay heirs out of pocket? In my moms will she asked that her grandchildren and my uncle receive $5000 each - totalling 30000. I am the sole heir other then that. Is it best to let the house sit on the market for as long as it takes - it is prices well and in good shape. There is a small mortgage on the house, but it is costing me about $500 per month plus utilities and it is getting difficult to carry. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[peppylady]

as personal representative you can rent the house out. All rent that you receive will have to be added to the estate. The mortgage and all other bills can be paid thru rents received.

 

[lwpat]

One solution is to simply auction off the house and take what you can get. If you want to keep the house, consider refinancing with enough to pay off the other heirs. Better to get the probate over with than have to deal with it over an extended period of time.

 

[nextwife]

Discuss it with the recipient heirs. They may prefer to receive the real estate and control the pricing and tenant selection. Review the will to see if distributing the real estate, rather than the proceeds would be in accordance with the will. You should NOT deed it to yourself! Maybe one would want to buy out the others? Renting it is just a really bad idea. It's very hard to sell once rented out.

If they are in agreement to receiving the house jointly, they can keep the house as long as they wish once they receive it. I really do NOT recommend renting it out unless one has an active management person available to oversee the property. There are prospects for tenant damage, someone will need to be responsible for maintenance, repairs, rent collection, even eviction, if need be. I have seen way too many homes trashed by tenants.

If it has not sold, the listing price may be the problem, or how it "shows". Removing clutter, cleaning or replacing carpet (or, removing, if hardwood floors below carpet) OR BOTH can be a factor.