Mad Brothers in Wisconsin

[mamasan]

2 Brothers, 1 House, Estate in Probate

Wisconsin - -
My son's grandma died intestate. There are 2 surviving brothers.
The eldest brother wants to buy the house. The younger brother says fine. The estate is in probate and both brothers are acting as personal representatives.
The property assessed at $101,000 last year and this year at $98,000.00. The land is worth almost as much as the house. Recently, the eldest brother applied for a loan and got the house appraised. It appraised at $79,000 so without consulting the younger brother, he went to an open book meeting at the assessor's office and requested that the property be assessed at the value of the appraisal.
Currently, property in that area assesses for 100% market value.
Shouldn't the eldest brother have consulted the younger brother before he tried to get property values lowered?
The brothers are trying to reach an agreement of what the house should sell for. It will be split 3 ways between the 2 brothers and their nephew...son of other deceased brother.
It seems to me that the eldest brother is trying to take advantage of the other two by living there rent free and working to get the value of the property lowered.
In the end, he'll make out like a bandit because this property is in a prime location...in the country...on about 1/2 acre just outside of a big city...close to schools ect.
What kind of appraisals to people get when they are trying to come to some sort of settlement regarding the price of the house? The eldest brother wants to go by the assessed value. The younger brother thinks a market value appraisal should be done. I told the younger brother that I thought since the house assessed at 100% market value this year that one would think that would be a reasonable selling price. But now with the assessed value possibly being lowered by $20,000 in another week because of the loan appraisal...I'm not sure.
Sorry so lengthy but I want my question to be clear.
Can one representative approach the Town Assessors Office to lower property assessed value w/o consulting the other personal representative?
And....what sort of appraisal would settle the dispute?
The eldest brother is acting like the younger brother doesn't have any rights...throws a big fit if younger brother even leaves a car parked by the shed....on the estate property where he just happens to be living!

[Edited by mamasan on 06-07-2001 at 05:00 PM]

 

[advisor10]

JUNE 9, 2001

DEAR MAMASAN:

The older brother is NOT trying to rip anybody off, and the fact he has lived there rent free is irrelevant. The older brother is only trying to negotiate a fair, reasonable price that is not unrealistic, since it is common knowledge that the assessor's office valuations are often inflated, just so they can collect maximum property taxes.

Wait until the assessed value is lowered and they use that figure as athe basis for the sale, and it wouldn't hurt to have another appraisal done (by a different appraiser than the one who did the first appraisal), just to get a second opinion.

Since it is the younger brother who stands to financially benefit the most from the home sale, he should try to be more flexible and agreeable to come down to a price at least near $90,000. His argument MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE that property values are skyrocketing "because everyone wants to live in the country", but if this is true, he needs to support his argument by having a real estate agent get him a list of 2-3 other home sales in that general neighborhood (within the past year or so) to verify exactly whether or not homes in that area have been able to sell at the increased value.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

 

[mamasan]

To Knort-Re: Mad Brothers in Wisconsin

Thanks for your reply.
I left out an important detail. There have been 2 appraisals done so far. The first one was for $92,000 and that took place 3 months before the $79,000 appraisal.
The town assessor lowered the assessed value to $79,000 based on the 2nd appraisal. I don't know that he has ever seen or even knows that there was done for $92,000.
It's good for the older brother for tax purposes that the assessed value was lowered.
The younger brother doesn't think that should be used as a selling price though. He wants another appraisal done and wants to do an average. The older brother is really upset and says no...he'll buy it for $78,000. The younger brother has already agreed to give him everything in the house including the new appliances, furniture, Norman Rockwell collection, Elvis collection and other various items which could have been appraised and sold through an auction. He also would agree to a selling price between $90,00 and $92,000.
Also, the older brother hasn't worked in 3 years so I can understand why he doesn't want to pay the least amount possible for the house. I know that is irrelevant but it helps me to clarify both view points here.
Quite frankly, I wish they would come to an agreement and start being brothers again. It's a real shame that there mother didn't leave a will.
I hope they can figure out what to do...they are both really sad and really confused.
I'm also wondering where the Guardian Ad Litem for their nephew comes in. Does a Guardian Ad Litem have anything to do with this part of the estate settlement?