3 valuable tips for keeping family peace
If there is a contribution I can make to society with my work, it is certainly helping families to achieve harmony through the sale or purchase of a house.
When a family inherits a house and decides to sell it, there are usually two scenarios.
In the first case, there are few relatives and no one need to go and live there.
The family members all agree in a few days on what to do with the inherited property: “We sell everything and divide the proceeds!”
In accordance with the last wishes of the deceased and the laws on succession, the agency is entrusted with the task and all the bureaucratic part is delegated until they meet only for the signatures of the deed.
This is the optimal situation.
However …
Often the heirs struggle to agree on the management of a house received as an inheritance.
This is the second case, and it happens frequently: relatives have different ideas, sometimes even opposing needs, even internal feuds that drive away the achievement of a common agreement.
Maybe a brother of the deceased would like to keep the house to make us “family gatherings” every now and then … But a nephew would like to go and live there to get out of his parents’ nest, only he doesn’t have the money to buy everyone’s shares …
The cousin hopes to be able to keep and rent it, in order to generate a recurring income to be divided among all the heirs …
In the meantime, the emigrant uncle thinks that selling it would give him that nest egg so comfortable in this moment of crisis … And in any case he only comes back to visit his family once every 10 years.
Then comes one of the children who not only wants to keep it, but even to renovate it to make us a B&B to be managed by his wife … therefore with an increase in costs for all the heirs, at least in the first place.
As you can see, it is easy to go from one extreme to the other. From the forecast of a gain “rained down from the sky” to the hypothesis of an unexpected cost that someone absolutely does not want to take on.
Now, net of various examples and quarrels (situations that I have really seen anyway), do you know what inevitably happens in these cases?
The building remains stationary with the four arrows for months, not to say years, to depreciate and lose value…
Too many times I have seen it happen and, if you also find yourself in this situation, with this article I would like to make you live it in the best way.
Here are 3 tips that will help you and your family to quickly find an agreement on how to best manage the house received as an inheritance, avoiding ending up in an angry fight, until you don’t even say goodbye for the holidays.
First tip: To sell an inherited home, make sure they ALL agree 100% to sell it.
And I mean everyone, from the first to the last heir, even asking the “relatives” for information.
Because problems arise when you “vote” and it turns out that one part of the heirs wants to sell while the other wants to keep it.
In addition to the fact that article 1108 of the Curacao Civil Code establishes, for “communion” assets such as inherited houses, that all co-owners must agree to the sale of the property … If someone does not want to sell but keep the property, they will be forced to buy the “share” of the other heirs who have to sell.
It means that he will have to deal with the bank account or even ask for a bank loan, complete with interest and bank costs.
Of course, he could also ask a judge for the “dissolution of communion” and start the forced sale through the court, but in who knows how many years and who knows how many costs between lawyer and court costs …
The only certainty in these cases is this: family harmony goes to take a nice hot bath in Etna.
Let’s take an example from reality:
The vote turns out that the majority wants to keep the apartment, so it is not a unanimous choice. The “minority” that does not agree will be very upset and – I have often seen it – could get in the way.
What do i mean?
Continuing in the real example, let’s say that to keep the property you need to invest in renovations (but it could also be to close a mortgage) and you have to put your wallet to work for other expenses of various kinds, including mandatory bureaucratic ones. Let’s also say that “Zio Peppino” would have liked to sell it to make a profit, but he is the only one of five heirs to see it that way. The other four plan to keep it and maybe rent it.
The alternative is that he renounces his part of the inheritance, but this entails an increase in the aforementioned expenses by the other heirs who will also have to meet his share.
But there is a stratagem that could turn the situation around and easily lead to a unanimous consent of the heirs.
It will be easier for you to agree with each family member, including talking to their respective wives / husbands and children, if you have an accurate home appraisal in hand .
I’m talking about the professional evaluation of the real value of the property , such as those that we at Diamante Casa carry out for our customers in order to guarantee the maximum possible profit from the sale of the property.
It is much easier to make sensible arguments when a Diamante Casa agent has put concrete figures in your hand, the result of experience and in-depth knowledge of Catania and each of its neighborhoods.
The prospect of receiving a substantial chunk of the proceeds from the sale makes everyone more malleable.
You don’t have to believe me, just recite these two sentences aloud to immediately understand which one has the most effect:
“We could sell the house, we start looking for someone to buy it and we share the sale.” OR
“We will sell the house within three months, at most four, and each of us will pocket 35,000 Euros clean, after all expenses have been removed.”
See how different it sounds when you can include realistic times and figures?
Especially when they come to one of our agents, because remember that Diamante Casa specializes in selling your home within 120 days, or you don’t pay us the commission.
But that’s not all.
Before making your final decision, take a look at the next tip as well.
Second tip: to sell an inherited house, forget about the do-it-yourself.
I know what the founder of a real estate agency says sounds like biased advice, but I invite you to reflect on one thing.
Selling a house is already VERY complex even when there is only one seller …
The property is likely to remain on sale for very long months or YEARS due to inexperience on how to find the right buyer, failure to comply with a bureaucratic step or because an out-of-market price is required.
In any case, you end up wasting a lot of time and money, as I also explained to you in this article about the crisis in the real estate market …
That said, imagine the complexity of a sale soaring when the seller is not just one, but an entire family clan!
A thousand documents to collect and endorse…
Having to ask everyone’s consent for anything including the most stupid practices…
Not to mention when among the heirs there are minors or vice versa elderly people with disabilities, categories for which additional dedicated regulations take over … End up re-explaining the same things ten times to people who do not understand neither the mechanisms of the real estate world nor – let alone – legal terminology.
Organize meetings between heirs and potential buyers – as long as you can find some buyers …
Read also: Are you looking for selling your home in Curacao
Not to mention the fact that the family member who – poor fellow – ends up with the hot potato of the sale will also be the object of criticism and complaints if something goes wrong …
(Frequent hypothesis, since you CANNOT be a real estate professional if it is not your daily bread) .
The peak of difficulty becomes even dizzying if you have to explain all this to older and more hard-hitting relatives.
Are you sure you want to sink into this brow-deep quagmire?
When in Diamante Casa we have the case of an apartment received as an inheritance to be sold on behalf of the heirs, my agents follow a very specific protocol that aims to arrive quickly at the result.
The first step is to involve all the heirs or their representatives in the agency, in order to align everyone’s expectations and inform the whole family in one fell swoop about what steps to take, and in what times.
Then my agents think of everything, including from the first to the last bureaucratic quibble, in order to obtain two results:
None of the relatives make mistakes that would lead to delays or costly penalties in the sale of the house;
We arrive at the collection of the amount quickly and without stress for the family, also thanks to the dense network of professionals with whom we collaborate.
From the surveyor to the notary, from the expert to the bank, in many years of activity in Catania we have selected the best partners to work with to sell properties in the city and in the province.
This network of professionals is a valuable resource to overcome any hitch in the sale of the house received as an inheritance. And it immediately brings us to the last tip.
Third tip: to sell an inherited house, pay EXTREME attention to all documents and bureaucratic steps.
Errors in the preparation of documents can become delays, missed collections and even sanctions by the state or loss of deposits against individuals who wanted to buy.
This is why it is essential to be sure that each card is in its place within the time required by law.
Now I bring you a list of the documents that you will need to have BEFORE starting any sales procedure.
And I am referring only to the additional ones that are needed when there is a property to be sold as an inheritance, because I have already explained all the “standard” bureaucratic steps and related documents in this other article .
When it comes to the decision to sell an inherited home you will need to make sure that you have:
Death certificate of the old owner : this document is essential, without it the deed by the notary cannot be concluded.
Declaration of succession : serves to notify the transfer of the property to the heirs, it can also be called “Act of succession”. It must be submitted within one year of the death of the relative and is for tax purposes: in fact it is used to calculate the total taxes on the inheritance that the heirs will have to pay before being able to sell the property.
Payment of inheritance tax : depending on the degree of kinship between the deceased and the heir, it can vary from 4% to 8% and there may or may not be a deductible threshold.
Cadastral transfer : following the opening of the succession, the name and title of the owner of the property are changed.
Mortgage tax and cadastral tax : they are calculated on the cadastral value of the property, exactly as is the case in any other sale. If the heirs have the requisites established by law, they can take advantage of the first home benefits .
Acceptance of the inheritance : in addition to the Declaration of succession, with this deed the heirs explicitly declare that they accept the assets that are the object of the inheritance.
Transcription of the acceptance of the inheritance: a Public Official transcribes the Acceptance in black and white in order to certify that the ownership of the property officially passes from the deceased owner to the heirs who will sell it.
As you can see, and without even going into details such as the costs of stamps and practices (I don’t want to give you a migraine) …
The complexity of selling an inherited property can fry the brains of anyone who doesn’t do it for a living.
Having a reliable partner by your side will make all the difference in maintaining family harmony even after the inevitable pain caused by the loss of a loved one.
Among other things, take a look at the article in which I explain how to recognize a makeshift real estate agent, just to be sure to contact professionals.
Before concluding, let me add an extra tip from experience in the field to help you sell the home you inherited.
BONUS Tip: To sell an inherited home faster, make it presentable.
I happened to have in my hand buildings with wallpaper yellowed by smoke, tables submerged with documents of the old owners, old and ramshackle furniture …
Sometimes it seemed that the apartment had just been visited by thieves…
It did not happen in an earthquake or on the other side of the world, but right here in Catania.
To increase the appeal of the property and entice new buyers, you have to roll up your sleeves and redo the “look” of the house to sell.
You will find many useful tips in this article on how to seduce potential buyers of your home , but if you really had to choose one important thing to do it would undoubtedly be this:
Empty EVERYTHING.
Take away every piece of furniture, every piece of furniture, every object that you can physically get out of the house before creating your ad.
Potential buyers will be more likely to “imagine” what their life will be like in there if they don’t have to make the mental effort to “pretend” there is no old furniture.
And if you want to get to a quick sale, you can ask us for the Home Staging service , that is the scenic presentation of the apartment to generate photos and videos with a high emotional impact.
With this service – which we offer to all our customers – the sales times of the properties are reduced by up to 50% and the seller is able to monetize the house received as an inheritance very quickly.
Now you have a more complete picture of the pitfalls that could occur in managing an inherited property.
In addition to the suffering of mourning and the walking on hot coals of the Curacao bureaucracy, there is the problem of getting all the heirs to agree on what to do with the house inherited from the deceased.
Get help to keep the family together and avoid quarrels or disagreements that could drag on for years: ask for an appointment to a Diamante Casa agent.
Related Post: 7 Tips for Productive Real Estate Investments
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