Determining Acceptable Value of Inherited Real Estate?

[EddieWalker]

If you had a place to put your cars, would you be more willing to sell the house? How close are you to retiring? Do you still plan on moving to Washington when you retire?
If you where to get the house from your brothers, how long would you live there? Would you keep it forever, or is there a plan to sell it in the future?

In my opinion, nothing is going to get better in California. It's a never ending battle of adjusting to higher taxes and more crime.

Selling your moms house could be the first step in liquidating all of your real estate in CA, and retiring to your new home, with a new shop.

 

[2manyrocks]

The Trust states the home is distributed to me along with the provision the total value of distribution be equal 3 ways.


The sticking point is how much is the value of the real estate held in the trust without the benefit of being liquidated to establish value.

As a side note... ten years back the home was valued at 325k and offered to me to purchase but my thought is buying then would only cause friction... Ten years later it appraised for 975k

If you had to petition the court for instructions how to resolve this as trustee, my prediction is the court is going to say get an appraisal. The court is supposed to interpret and enforce the trust according to its terms and the intention of the person who created it. With the provision that the home is to be distributed to you, the court should not interpret it as you've got to sell it in order to value it. That's would be nonsense and contradicts the intent and purpose of the trust. And any decent trust attorney should be telling the heirs this, in my experience.

edit: OT stuff removed

 

[Rockbadchild]

It's always the sibling with the most money that cause troubles in every family, too bad you didn't clear that out while your parents where around... too late now ... good luck and hop your family doesn't get broken over a few dollars.

 

[ultrarunner]

If you had a place to put your cars, would you be more willing to sell the house? How close are you to retiring? Do you still plan on moving to Washington when you retire?
If you where to get the house from your brothers, how long would you live there? Would you keep it forever, or is there a plan to sell it in the future?

In my opinion, nothing is going to get better in California. It's a never ending battle of adjusting to higher taxes and more crime.

Selling your moms house could be the first step in liquidating all of your real estate in CA, and retiring to your new home, with a new shop.

If I had closed the deal on the home with the 4000 square feet shop and lots of room in the county I would be there and mom agreed to move with me.

As my grandfather would say it had oodles of room and would have made short work of clearing out the place.

Western WA I learned is not car friendly both in climate and tax.

I have one car there in a dry shop… but the humidity caused mold to grow on the leather… now I have boat dry but still.

Anything over 2 cars is treated as a purchase so with 50 vehicles I would end up paying sales tax on almost all of them to obtain WA title.

If title remains in California it’s one of the things California uses to prove you still have to file CA tax returns since not fully parting ways from CA

 

[MossRoad]

If I had closed the deal on the home with the 4000 square feet shop and lots of room in the county I would be there and mom agreed to move with me.

As my grandfather would say it had oodles of room and would have made short work of clearing out the place.

Western WA I learned is not car friendly both in climate and tax.

I have one car there in a dry shop… but the humidity caused mold to grow on the leather… now I have boat dry but still.

Anything over 2 cars is treated as a purchase so with 50 vehicles I would end up paying sales tax on almost all of them to obtain WA title.

If title remains in California it’s one of the things California uses to prove you still have to file CA tax returns since not fully parting ways from CA

Those darn cars!

 

[Sigarms]

Just some perspective on being an executor of an estate...

My father was born in 1932. His parents came over off a boat around 1910. My grandfather was born in 1880, and died in America in 1938.

My fathers family didn't have a pot to piss in as european immigrants who came to Amercia, and were poor coal miners.

Around 2010, the original family house my dad's father and mother owned, was put up for sale because the last of their offspring living there (my dads sister, my aunt), had to be moved into a nursing home.

Dad was listed as the executor (no clue as to why, I know he didn't want to do it).

House was a horror story. No will, and apparently taxes hadn't been paid on the home or property for at least 20 years. Lots of things needed to be fixed in the home before even trying to sell it.

My father was one of 10 or 11 siblings (lost track LOL).

I'm guessing by 2010, my dad was one of only 3 siblings left and he was given the authority of being the exececutor.

Grandparents house was in pretty bad shape over the years. House was appraised for 60K.

After all the bills had to be paid on taxes as well as upgrades to the house done to make it livable to sell, per my fathers lawyers advice, everything split per the remaining siblings and children of those siblings who has since passed (remember, no will left what so ever).

One aunt in nursing home, the other aunt still alive.

The aunt was was alive and not in a nursing home disowned my father because in her mind, since she was the oldest daughter still alive, she should of gotten the house. That aunt had 3 daughters, married and children of their own. The entire family tree from that one aunt disinherited my father because he did what the lawyer told him to do per being "legal" splitting the estate up.

My father didn't need the money at all. He was doing what he thought was right, and yet his sister was so pissed at him that she never talked to him again after that.

When my dad died, I found the paperwork in our basement that he kept for his own records over that whole fiasco. It was funny and sad. They had to deal over a picture that the aunt wanted to finally sign off on the paperwork to sell the house, and the same aunt was still pissed, but at least she got the picture she wanted. What was funny was her own lawyer in the written document basically was hoping this would finally "settle her down".

All of this over a 60K run down house around 2010.

Dealing with a overpriced 1 million dollar home in California, all bets off on how crazy family can get...

 

[EddieWalker]

... so with 50 vehicles ...

I thought you had a dozen. I had no idea that you had so many!!!!! One per decade is what I remember hearing somewhere.

Now I'm thinking about that show on TV called American Pickers, and seeing some of those buildings packed full of vehicles that the family is trying to figure out what to do with. A lifetime of collecting can lead to some interesting decisions in what you can and cannot do.

 

[ning]

Your siblings must inherit an equal amount to you, but since they never actually own the property, there's no prop 13 issue.
You need to get a valuation of the entire estate, and ensure that they each get their 1/3.
For example:

• House is worth 900,000
• cash accounts 50,000
• other assets 250,000
• Total estate = 1,200,000
• Each of 3 are entitled to 400,000
• You get the house, they get 400,000
• That 400,000 comes from liquidating anything other than the house, with you topping it off from your own accounts

It doesn't matter where the money comes from, as long as they get their 400k. Given that the will says you get the house (such that siblings get an equal value), they don't get the house.

They can't force a sale; there has to be a way to determine value - and that's called an appraiser. If they're real estate people and they don't believe in appraisers, they've apparently been involved in fraud multiple times for certain.

I can get a ring appraised by a certified gemologist; everyone knows that that doesn't give you the precise value on the market at the moment, but it's supposed to be a good estimate - that's why they're certified to appraise it. Same with property appraisers; it's good enough for banks, who are using that valuation to decide if it's good enough colateral; they know it's not the precise value (which can only be found by selling it, which apparently happens shortly after you get the loan fwiw) but that's good enough for business.

Time to stop listening to the siblings. Get a few appraisals, average them, disburse funds and tell them to talk to your lawyer if they have complaints; it's not going to get better by talking to them about it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I thought you had a dozen. I had no idea that you had so many!!!!! One per decade is what I remember hearing somewhere.

Now I'm thinking about that show on TV called American Pickers, and seeing some of those buildings packed full of vehicles that the family is trying to figure out what to do with. A lifetime of collecting can lead to some interesting decisions in what you can and cannot do.

By vehicles I use the broad definition including 4 tractors, mowers and motorcycles and my trailers…

26 would be the number on the auto policy…

 

[ultrarunner]

Your siblings must inherit an equal amount to you, but since they never actually own the property, there's no prop 13 issue.
You need to get a valuation of the entire estate, and ensure that they each get their 1/3.
For example:

• House is worth 900,000
• cash accounts 50,000
• other assets 250,000
• Total estate = 1,200,000
• Each of 3 are entitled to 400,000
• You get the house, they get 400,000
• That 400,000 comes from liquidating anything other than the house, with you topping it off from your own accounts

It doesn't matter where the money comes from, as long as they get their 400k. Given that the will says you get the house (such that siblings get an equal value), they don't get the house.

They can't force a sale; there has to be a way to determine value - and that's called an appraiser. If they're real estate people and they don't believe in appraisers, they've apparently been involved in fraud multiple times for certain.

I can get a ring appraised by a certified gemologist; everyone knows that that doesn't give you the precise value on the market at the moment, but it's supposed to be a good estimate - that's why they're certified to appraise it. Same with property appraisers; it's good enough for banks, who are using that valuation to decide if it's good enough colateral; they know it's not the precise value (which can only be found by selling it, which apparently happens shortly after you get the loan fwiw) but that's good enough for business.

Time to stop listening to the siblings. Get a few appraisals, average them, disburse funds and tell them to talk to your lawyer if they have complaints; it's not going to get better by talking to them about it.

The one that has decades of flipping says appraisers are formalities to to meet lending oversight…

Often appraisers reach out to him in areas where he has lots of recent sales… he always gets top dollar and even now generates multiple offers… inventory remains in short supply.