My father passed away in 1999. My mother December of 2021. There are 10 siblings that want to sell the house as is with the exception of 2. We all have are names on the house that is paid for. We could use some help convincing them to move forward. It is not complicated, but frustrating.
I guess if one or both of the 2 'dissenters' wanted to pay FMV for the home and work it out between them, that could be done. The 8 remaining sibs should get their inheritance.
The 8 remaining sibs probably want the house sold and this all put to bed.
You don't NEED to have the 2 dissenters' 'yes' vote to sell, but in fairness to everyone, give them that option.
I would go through the house, removing all sentimental things and personal items. And then I would sell it as is--and be done with it.
My parent's house was built in 1980 and the only things updated was a new roof, new garage door, and new refrigerator, and that was years before I put the house on the market. This was four years ago when I listed the house, and it sold quickly to a flipper. Over and done.
With the popularity of do-it-yourself shows, there is a lot of buyers looks for fixer-upper houses. Even if your parent's home was remodeled, chances are the new owners would tear out and put in what they like.
I cleaned out all the belongings, pictures etc, cleaned out the fridge, (Some nice science fair projects in there) stripped the beds, ran the sweeper and let my kinfolk come by and take whatever furniture they wanted. I had a good realtor and we sold it to a small contractor who made it livable and rented it to one of his employees.
After several years of trying to keep them in that house, arguing about the slightest repairs with them (Dementia was involved) it was such a great relief to have that mess over and done with
But I didn’t have ten siblings. Sounds like you’ve got the vote to sell however.
Sometimes its just cosmetic. Some paint, a little landscaping. Good cleaning. Maybe some new flooring but I wouldn't go high end. Of course get it cleaned out. Maybe leave just enough furniture to stage the house. Helps buyers be able to determine how their furniture will fit. I would not replace kitchen cabinets. Everyones taste are different. And as said, it is 8 to 2 so majority rules.
And who's the executor?
Our Realtor's company has a program where you can get a $75,000 advance to fix up the property, then it's repaid from the proceeds of the sale. It isn't a program unique to this broker, so check with Realtors to see if they have that available.
It's smart to get the house inspected in advance of selling so you can fix some things that might get you more money. We had the house inspected and fixed several minor items. The sewer was inspected, and they suggested we replace the sewer line for no reason other than the fact that it had lasted 30 years beyond its expected lifespan. At $45,000 and invisible to a buyer? No thanks.
We did paint the house inside and out, restained the floors, and turned my parents' bonus room back from a junk room into a bonus room. We left the kitchen alone except for painting the cabinets and replacing the flooring, because we knew that whoever bought it would redo the kitchen the way they wanted it. The bathrooms had all been remodeled four years ago, so they were already updated.
We spent $85,000 on those fixes and got about $190,000 over the Realtor's suggested asking price. I decided to bump that asking price up $100,000, because we hit the market right after the second bump in interest rates and I doubted we'd get the multiple offer bidding war that had been the norm just a couple of weeks before. We ended up with three offers, and sold for $90,000 over asking price.
I recommend handing anyone who offers the inspection reports, so they know what they're getting in addition to knowing it's sold as-is. Our sale went through with no significant hiccups, and I'm sure the new owners will now tear out everything we did and redo it, but the improvements got them in the door in the first place.
Some people use Realtors to get a price, That's ok, but too many times a Realtor will say a house is worth much more than what the buyer's mortgage lender appraiser will quote, and that becomes a major problem for the Seller.
The real estate market goes through cycles. The cycles tend to be every ten years or so from normal selling to very high prices where buyers have to pay out of pocket the difference between a normal increase price house and the high asking price. The current cycle is slowing down and going back to normal increase prices.
I hope the house is empty. If not, right there would be a major slow down. It took me 3 months to empty everything out of the house, as I was doing it all myself. The buyer for Dad's house was a flipper and he said anything left in the house was ok with him.
I agree with getting it appraised and working from that number, or searching Zillow.com to see what similar homes are selling for in its surrounding area.
If something can be fixed without much cost either in time or money do so as a repair will pay for itself.
I would not do any "renovations" or "improvements" as a buyer may come in and rip out what you just put in.
I would suggest if there are hard wood floors under carpet and they are in good condition lift up a corner of the carpet so that people can see what is under the carpet. (If it is not in good condition leave carpet tacked down.)
Ask for an estimate "as is" and one if items are repaired.
Appraisals are expensive -- I paid $700 for one after my dad died. Better to interview three agents, get their take on the value and what they'd recommend fixing and what difference they think repairs might make to the price. I'd be mighty wary of getting too deep into repairs in this market, though.
Please tell me none of the ten have moved in and aren’t paying rent.
This could get ugly. No one can force you to continue to co own property. You can get a lawyer to file a partition action and force a sale. You can sell your rights cheap to someone else who will do it. You can sell or gift your share to another sibling.
Get the Nolo Press book on saving the family cottage from the library if you want figure out how to come up with the structure to deal with the liability issues and family disfunction of co-owned property. Maybe looking at a sample contract of responsibilities and expenses will help the two see what they are asking for.
https://store.nolo.com/products/saving-the-family-cottage-cott.html
I thought I saw a thread on the bogleheads forum on a similar situation recently, but I can’t find it now,