If you’ve inherited a property and you’re planning to sell the inherited property, make sure you read this blog post for 3 tips about how to price your inherited home in Los Angeles for sale…
- If your inherited home in Los Angeles feels more like a burden, you might consider selling it to convert the gift of a home into cash in your pocket
- To sell your inherited home in Los Angeles, consider how how much time you feel like spending on the sale itself
- If an easy and stress-free sale is your primary goal, follow our tips to avoid the sale dragging and costing your time and money
Did you inherit a property that you’re now thinking about selling? While an inherited property can be a wonderful gift from a loved one who has passed on, it can also (quite frankly) be a costly burden. So selling it makes sense and allows you to use the gifted equity for some other purpose. Selling it turns the gift of equity into cash, then you can decide how you use that cash to for life own life. But selling an inherited property may not come easy to you, especially if you haven’t sold a property in a while. So here’s how to price your inherited home in Los Angeles for sale…
Tip #1: Price Quick To Sell
Some people price their inherited property at an amount they think the market might pay for the house. However, there are many factors that go into this price and one of the biggest considerations is: how fast do you want to sell? Selling through an agent “on the market” can take months, and you’ll have to pay for the house and maintain the property the entire time. That can be costly and can eat into the higher price.
Even if your house is in great condition, in a slow real estate market with high interest rates that we’re experiencing now in 2024, it could take months to receive an offer at the market price that you desire. Your offer might come with stipulations for repairs and credits. In addition to that, you hope the buyer qualifies financially and if it all works out, you might be done in 1-2 months. If not, you restart the process.
Many property owners quickly learn that they’re almost better off to price slightly lower for a faster sale… they might get less for the house but they also pay less on repairs, carrying costs, effort, and time, so it’s ultimately a trade-off that might turn out to be a total wash.
If the home is priced too high and the sale takes longer than expected, here are the associated costs:
- Repairs: Buyer requested repairs after they complete an inspection
- Sales Commissions: 4% to 6% of the sales price
- Closing Costs: 2% of the sales price
If the home is priced too high and the sale takes longer than expected, here are the associated costs:
- Maintenance: Painting, landscaping
- Repairs: Things break unexpectedly (can be minor or major)
- Carrying Costs: Property taxes, monthly utilities, and mortgage payments (if applicable)
Tip #2: Avoid Pricing Based On Fond Memories Or Emotion
One of the biggest challenges that property owners of inherited property face when trying to price their property for sale is separating the happy memories from the true value of the house. The house might be worth a certain amount on the market, but you may have such fond memories of growing up in the house or of happy times in the house that you accidentally use that emotion to increase the price. (This is VERY common.)
To move forward toward your goal of selling, you’ll need to set those fond memories aside. Then, proceed to price your inherited house by looking for the right information to guide your decision-making: market comparable reports of houses (of similar size and condition) that have recently sold, an inspection report that indicates what major items need to be repaired to be taken seriously by a buyer, or an independent property appraiser.
The value of the house is based on nearby comparables sales of homes in the past three to six months. Comparable homes would be based on living square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, lot size; and most importantly, condition and/or recent upgrades to the house.
To avoid paying nearly $1,000 for an independent appraisal, simply request an offer from a direct buyer of real estate. With the right company, you’ll get answer a few questions and get a price range on the phone. Also, you book at appointment, they’ll meet you at the property to take a look at it’s condition and provide you a more specific price range for the property.
A better approach would be to work with a real estate company and find out what they can offer you, and recognize that the price might be lower than you were expecting… not because the house isn’t worth as much but because your wonderful memories have accidentally inflated the price!
Tip #3: Build In Discounts For Repairs
If you inherited the property from a loved one who had lived in the property for many years then you might find out that the property needs some repairs. You could choose to do this work yourself (in a couple of ways below) and then ask for a higher price.
- Do the work yourself. Remember that your time in picking up a drill, hammer or paint brush, is still worth money. That said, you might not do as a good as a job as a professional.
- Hire contractors and handymen. You will need to manage their schedule and check for quality to ensure that you get what you pay for.
But why do that when you could save yourself the time and effort (and what you’d have to pay for equipment, supplies, or a contractor) and instead just ask for less and give a “repair discount”. By giving a repair discount, you are saving yourself weeks and months of work and expenses that you are incurring.
That way you avoid the hassle of the work and the risk that it does not pay off, and you still come out the same financially.
Summary
An old inherited house in Los Angeles can be a lot of work, so if you’re thinking of selling it, you’re certainly not alone. But how do you price an inherited house? These tips will guide you on how to price your inherited home in Los Angeles for sale.
Why not bypass all the work and cost of selling through an agent and instead get in touch with us today about selling your inherited property to us here at Fair Sale Homes? Just call us at (626) 863-7006 or click here and enter your information in the form.