In today’s article, we help you understand what your typical ownership costs would be if you’ve recently inherited a house and perhaps offer you some solutions to selling that house in Tewksbury Massachusetts profitably.
Summit Buys Houses and we have been in the business for years now. We are not real estate agents, but we know how they work. As experienced Tewksbury home buyers, we will share with you our insights about managing your newly acquired house.
Many times, inheriting a house in Tewksbury will bring with it a lot of emotion and stress. The truth is, in addition to inheriting a house, you’ve also inherited all the expenses that go along with owning that house.
You have well-intentioned love ones who have left their property to you in their will. However, they could have never known that by the time the house was passed on to you, you might be struggling to meet your own monthly bills. Or perhaps your daily schedule is simply too filled up with your own families affairs to devote time to managing another house. And if the house has not been well-maintained in a very long time, you will need cash upfront to keep the house secure and ready for All types of weather.
In another scenario, maybe you are doing quite well right now and are living in a house you’re very, very happy with. But the newly inherited Tewksbury house may have a sentimental attachment that makes you reluctant to let it go. Unfortunately, the reality is that your sentimental attachment simply can’t pay the costs of keeping this property. As a result, after some soul searching you may decide to sell your house.
At Summit Buys Houses we’ve managed and purchased many inherited properties over the years and so we feel we can give you a unique insight into the best ways to manage your property and help you understand what to expect moving forward.
Cost #1—Taxes
The first expense is one that can never be eliminated no matter how you manage your newly inherited property. Property taxes you must pay to the town of Tewksbury are typically paid quarterly and are based on the assessed value of your house. If there is no mortgage on the house you will need to pay these taxes directly to the town’s tax collector.
Conversely, if there still is a mortgage on the house, it may very well be that these taxes are rolled into the cost that you will start paying monthly to your lender. The unfortunate thing about holding onto an inherited property in Tewksbury is that as property values rise, the amount at which the property is assessed will also rise. And of course, this inevitably leads to a higher cost in property taxes.
Cost #2—Mortgage payments
If you’ve inherited a house that still has a mortgage on it, you may be able to assume that mortgage. Of course, assuming the mortgage means you’ll be assuming the debt and the monthly commitment to make mortgage payments regularly on the property. Keep in mind, depending on the status of the previous owners, this added debt could affect your credit score.
Over the past few years, reverse mortgages have become increasingly popular particularly with senior citizens. (Have you seen the Tom Selleck advertisement 100 times by now?) If there is a reverse mortgage on your property, then you really have very little option but to pay off that loan in full if you intend to keep the property.
Cost #3—Insurance
Much like taxes, there is very little way to get around the cost of homeowners insurance on your Tewksbury inherited property. Similar to property taxes, the cost for insurance is based on the value of the property and of course any belongings that remain inside the property. Our experience has shown that a fairly typical cost for homeowners insurance on a single-family home in Tewksbury would be somewhere between $150 and $250 per month or $3000 per year.
Cost #4—Utility Bills
If you intend to keep the Tewksbury property in good condition, you will have utility costs. Now they may be lower than an active household where people live there all the time, but they are still a necessary part of your ownership.
Of curse here in New England during the winter you need to keep the home heated in order for pipes and other damage to be avoided. Likewise if you intend to visit the property on a regular basis you would have to keep the electricity, water and sewer bills all up-to-date as well.
Cost #5—Property maintenance
Holding on to your Tewksbury house means you definitely have to account for maintenance costs. It is be advisable to hire a professional inspector to have a thorough property inspection completed. This way, as you begin homeownership on the Tewksbury inherited property you will have a very clear idea of what types of maintenance and repairs you are committing yourself to.
Depending on the length of time the property has been vacant, there may be significant repairs needed. Holding onto the inherited property in Tewksbury could in fact become very expensive because of maintenance and repair costs. One area we have found a problem with an inherited home is the heating system. Typically older owners had a system installed 30 or even 40 years ago and did regular upkeep but nothing more.
Today new EPA standards and efficiency of heating systems mean these outdated HVAC systems have to go. Many times new owners have “sticker shock” when they learn that disposing of an old system and installing a new one can easily cost $25,000-$30,000! (Oil-based systems can be even more costly to replace since the disposal of oil tanks is a specialized task that has to meet all environmental standards.) If it happens to be an older property in some of the older areas of Tewksbury like Wamesit or Silver Lake, you could definitely be in for monthly costs that are equal to or even more than the mortgage payments you have.
Cost #6—The Yard and Exterior of Your House
We’ve all seen it. You’re driving down the street in your neighborhood during the summer and amidst all the lawns that are cut neatly—there’s one house that has grass up to your waist. Am I right? This creates a new set of problems for you if this is your inherited house! Unfortunately, burglars and other unsavory people see this as an easy target to break in and vandalize or steal from the property.
In order to avoid this, you will definitely need to use your own spare time or hire somebody to make sure the exterior of the property remains clean and looks lived in.
Conclusion
The bottom line is this; you’ve inherited the Tewksbury property which perhaps was owned by a family member or another loved one. It has great sentimental value to you and you’re reluctant to sell it. However as you’ve seen in this post, there are a whole host of costs you must pay out-of-pocket to keep the property up-to-date, well-maintained, and free from vandals and burglars.
If this just seems like too much for you, we encourage you to call us at Summit Buys Houses. We have years of experience buying inherited property from folks just like you. We’re in your neighborhood and will treat you like one of our neighbors. Our team is dedicated to helping homeowners in the Tewksbury MA area who are looking for the best way to sell their homes. At Summit Buys Houses, we buy houses in Tewksbury and we’ve helped homeowners just like you who have decided it’s time to sell a property. With years of experience as Tewksbury home buyers, we can walk you through a process that’s less stressful and really fast and easy!
When you sell this inherited property to us you never have to do any repairs or any cleaning. You can simply take the things you want from the property and leave the rest for us to clean and maintain. We give you a written guaranteed offer with no obligation to say “Yes”.
Our offer is 100% free and we never use any kind of high-pressure sales—but honestly give you our best advice. If you are better served by listing the home with an agent we’ll tell you that right away! (We even know the best agents and can recommend them if you like.)
We look forward to meeting you and talking with you more about the best way to sell the house in Tewksbury that you’ve inherited.
“Summit Buys Houses” is an experienced LLC incorporated as Summit RE Group LLC. We buy property all over Massachusetts in towns such as like Tewksbury, Ayer, Fitchburg, Malden, and Westford to name just a few. Contact us for a quick and confidential, no-obligation cash offer and the best, no-pressure advice if you’re interested in selling your home anywhere in the Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester counties of Massachusetts. Thank you-we hope to meet you soon!