Inheritee buying inherited house from the other inheritee

[gates1928]

What is the name of your state? Florida

My sister and I inherited my father's house in April 2021 and from the beginning I offered to buy out her interest in the house because I don't want to sell the house. I made her an offer based on what a real estate agent said would be a probable sale price, but she didn't like it and now she wants to base the deal on a combination of appraised value calculated via licensed appraiser along with some kind of speculated value based on how much the property would be worth fixed up. I am thinking that the house should be valued at the current condition the house is in today. She is thinking the house value should reflect a fixed up price because if she sells me the house then she is losing money because she could have come down here from Texas with her husband and fix the house up and make a bigger profit. The problem with that from my perspective is that I will be paying for a fixed up house but the house WON'T be fixed up at all. Also, I kind of doubt her ability to come down to Florida to a market she doesn't understand with zero contacts and have a successful flipping expedition anyway. I live in the same area as house so I have been the one maintaining it for the last year doing ALL the clean up and maintenance so I am familiar with all the things that are wrong with the house so I guess I'm not as easy of a sell as a possible unsuspecting buyer...

Is there any kind of validity in claiming some kind of "opportunity loss" when settling on an inherited house? If there is some validity how would somebody come up with such a speculative number?

 

[adjusterjack]

Is there any kind of validity in claiming some kind of "opportunity loss" when settling on an inherited house? If there is some validity how would somebody come up with such a speculative number?

Of course not. It's pure speculation. It's also opportunism. Your sister knows damned well that when you pay her based on an inflated imaginary price, she'll walk away happy and you will have overpaid for her signature.

This is why parents should NEVER leave property jointly to their children. We see this kind of story here every day.

The best advice I can give you is to tell your sister "OK, you pay for your appraiser then come to Florida, spend your money to fix the place up, then we'll sell it." Don't lift a finger to help.

Then sit back and see what happens.

The alternative is a very costly partition lawsuit (google it).

 

[gates1928]

Thanks for the advice adjuster jack. I was also thinking about just asking her if she will instead buy the property from me for the higher price she gives me (whenever that happens). I mean if it's a fair price then she should accept and proceed with her flipping expedition right?

 

[adjusterjack]

I was also thinking about just asking her if she will instead buy the property from me for the higher price she gives me (whenever that happens).

That's an idea.

I mean if it's a fair price then she should accept and proceed with her flipping expedition right?

Fair is in the eye of the beholder.

Worth a shot, though.

Bet she'll say no when it comes to paying you half the inflated value.

 

[quincy]

You could send to your sister information on Florida’s partition process (division of property), and let her know that - should an agreement not be reached - she could find herself receiving far far less from the house than she would from a reasonable purchase offer based on the current market value and/or an appraisal of the property.

Here is a link to partition in Florida:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0064/0064.html

 

[gates1928]

That's an idea.



Fair is in the eye of the beholder.

Worth a shot, though.

Bet she'll say no when it comes to paying you half the inflated value.

Once again thanks for your advice/point of view adjusterjack. I feel a little less crazy now!

 

[gates1928]

You could send to your sister information on Florida’s partition process (division of property), and let her know that - should an agreement not be reached - she could find herself receiving far far less from the house than she would from a reasonable purchase offer based on the current market value and/or an appraisal of the property.

Here is a link to partition in Florida:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0064/0064.html

Oh wow that is kind of scary. Is that a process that happens during probate? We did a simple probate through a lawyer that gave us the property jointly through a order to determine homestead and now be both own.

 

[quincy]

Oh wow that is kind of scary. Is that a process that happens during probate? We did a simple probate through a lawyer that gave us the property jointly through a order to determine homestead and now be both own.

No. A partition action is what can happen, though, if parties cannot agree on what to do with a jointly-owned property. One of the owners of the property can force the sale of the property, taking their percentage of whatever is realized from the sale, minus all costs. Sheriff’s auctions rarely bring anything close to what the property could get if sold by the owners on their own or through a real estate agency.

 

[zddoodah]

My sister and I inherited my father's house in April 2021

Just to be clear, what exactly happened in April? Is that when your father died? Is that when title to the home was transferred from the executor of your father's estate to you and your sister? Something else?

Is there any kind of validity in claiming some kind of "opportunity loss" when settling on an inherited house? If there is some validity how would somebody come up with such a speculative number?

These questions don't really raise any legal issue. You're negotiating. Everything is "valid."

 

[quincy]

gates1928, what do you intend to do with the property? Are you planning to rent it out, eventually sell it as-is, live in it, fix it up and then sell it?

Although compared to other states the property taxes in Florida are relatively low, both you and your sister will be responsible for paying these taxes, and any other costs like water and utilities and insurance, that are due on the property for as long as you own it. These expenses should come out of an account funded by both of you equally.

You generally can get real estate agents from several different companies out to the house to give you free market analyses, based on similar houses sold and currently for sale in the area. These analyses will give you an idea of the fair market value of the house. Although an appraisal is good to have for insurance purposes, an appraiser will cost money and an appraisal may not accurately reflect the market value of the house (e.g., what the house can reasonably be expected to sell for).

You might benefit from sitting down with a real estate attorney to discuss the various options available to you and your sister, and how best to negotiate a satisfactory and hopefully amicable solution on what to do with the jointly owned house.

I am sorry, by the way, for the loss of your dad. The death of a parent is always difficult.

Good luck.

 

[gates1928]

Just to be clear, what exactly happened in April? Is that when your father died? Is that when title to the home was transferred from the executor of your father's estate to you and your sister? Something else?

These questions don't really raise any legal issue. You're negotiating. Everything is "valid."

Father died in Nov 2020. The order determining homestead was issued April 2021. I made actually made an offer to her over the phone in Feb 2021 and she accepted but when I sent her the deed to sign over and she changed her mind and said I misunderstood her and she didn't accept the deal. Of course I should have done the deal in writing which is my mistake.

Yeah I understand there is no legal issue. I wanted to just make an offer and she gives me counter offer and we go from there. My sister doesn't want to give a counter offer but said she wants to keep everything fair based on hard numbers so I was just wondering how people would typically base the value of home in these situations. I thought basing value on some speculative number didn't seem fair. But she said it wouldn't be fair if I went off and sold the home for a bunch of money down the road. But I understand fully what you are saying that nothing is "fair" in a negotiation. So in the end I guess I was asking more for negotiation advice than legal advice.

 

[gates1928]

gates1928, what do you intend to do with the property? Are you planning to rent it out, eventually sell it as-is, live in it, fix it up and then sell it?

My intention has always been to fix it up and live in it. My dad spent 20+ years developing a beautiful tropical oasis in the backyard. But the actual house is currently in a bad state. When he wasn't responding calls/text/message etc. I went to his house and fortunately I couldn't get inside. The police had to break in and found him. Once my father was removed there was a lot of biological aftermath that I had to deal with.

Although compared to other states the property taxes in Florida are relatively low, both you and your sister will be responsible for paying these taxes, and any other costs like water and utilities and insurance, that are due on the property for as long as you own it. These expenses should come out of an account funded by both of you equally.

You generally can get real estate agents from several different companies out to the house to give you free market analyses, based on similar houses sold and currently for sale in the area. These analyses will give you an idea of the fair market value of the house. Although an appraisal is good to have for insurance purposes, an appraiser will cost money and an appraisal may not accurately reflect the market value of the house (e.g., what the house can reasonably be expected to sell for).

You might benefit from sitting down with a real estate attorney to discuss the various options available to you and your sister, and how best to negotiate a satisfactory and hopefully amicable solution on what to do with the jointly owned house.

I am sorry, by the way, for the loss of your dad. The death of a parent is always difficult.

Good luck.

Note: I couldn't figure out how to answer the question "in text"

My intention has always been to fix it up and live in it. My dad spent 20+ years developing a beautiful tropical oasis in the backyard. But the actual house is currently in a bad state. When he wasn't responding calls/text/message etc. I went to his house and fortunately I couldn't get inside. The police had to break in and found him. Once my father was removed there was a lot of biological aftermath that I had to deal with.

Thanks for your condolences. I did get a real estate agent to come over and tell me what the house would sell for in the current condition. She said she also wanted to know how much the property was worth "fixed" up. I was confused why that number would really matter. I mean that number could be anything depending on how much money and time you put into combined with what the market is doing when you get done fixing it up.

 

[gates1928]

All: I am sorry my my lack of knowledge of how to "reply" to a post by entering a question from post I am replying to followed by the answer to question. I keep just hitting reply on post but then it copies the entire original post.

 

[quincy]

Unless the zoning of the area has changed or is changing from residential to commercial, you should get a good idea of what the property is worth from getting several market analyses. The real estate agents should be able to tell you the estimated current value, in the condition it is in (as-is).

I don’t know why the agent you had out to the house said what she said. Perhaps she wanted to know if you intended to fix it up? No clue.

At any rate, the only true way to find out the value of a house is to market it and the market will tell you if the sales price is too high or too low. Property is worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

All: I am sorry my my lack of knowledge of how to "reply" to a post by entering a question from post I am replying to followed by the answer to question. I keep just hitting reply on post but then it copies the entire original post.

Don’t worry. You are doing fine. We can see your responses, even when they are hidden within a quoted post. This is done with some frequency on this forum, by the way, by both new posters and old forum members.

 

[gates1928]

I don’t know why the agent you had out to the house said what she said. Perhaps she wanted to know if you intended to fix it up? No clue.

No the agent just gave me the current value of the house. My Sister said she wanted the number for what the house is worth fixed up which is what made no sense to me.

Don’t worry. You are doing fine. We can see your responses, even when they are hidden within a quoted post. This is done with some frequency on this forum, by the way, by both new posters and old forum members.

P.S. I think I figured out how to add quotes. I just need to end the quote tag with the end quote tag.