Heirs who live outside the area will have to rely heavily on the help of real estate agents for regular supervision of ongoing activities in their absence. It can get complicated when there are two or more siblings who inherit a home, because each will likely have a diff erent opinion on what the property is worth and how it should be priced. Further, multiple heirs will have diff ering opinions on the inspection of the house and the type of attorney needed, because each sibling will have diff erent values — both fin ancial and emotional — in mind. It’s the executor who makes the fin al determination. Where the executor is also a sibling, those determinations can lead to arguments and a breakdown in family relations, so be cautious! For tax considerations, the tax basis of the inheritance is the value of the home on the day the owner of the willed property died. Th e diff erence between the home’s value and the amount received a ft er the sale of the property is the gain on which taxes are owed. Where more than one sibling inherits the home, the gain is divided equally, and each heir will claim their share of both money and taxes. If the property sells for less than its assessed value, then there will be no gain to be reported. SELLING A HOUSE IN AN ESTATE DIFFERS A house is sold in probate court when someone dies intestate (without a will) or without bequeathing their property. When that happens, the state administers the property’s sale, according to state law. A probate sale is the process in which the executor for the estate of a deceased person sells property from the estate (typically real estate) to divide the property’s value among the bene fi ciaries of the deceased. A personal representative of the estate will determine if the real estate is going to be sold at all, however, and isn’t required to use the services of a real estate broker. A probate referee might 119
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