Wwyd - inherited money/property

[Hamsternautss]

No idea what the best way forward is in our situation so just looking for thoughts. I've never had "spare money" so wondering how to make the best of what I've sadly inherited from my lovely dad.

Our current situation;

We own 25% of a shared ownership 3 bed house outright with no mortgage on our share (105k equity of 420k) and live in Surrey. We pay £700 a month for rent/service charge. Moved in this January. Need to live in this location due to partners job. No debts.

dH earns around £40kpa. I have been out of work for 7yrs with 3 children, aged 7 to 2 years
old. I will start looking for part time work when my youngest starts reception in 2024 or maybe when they start nursery next year if I can get something to suit school runs/holidays etc. Our budget is very tight until I go back to work.

My dad who lives about 120 miles away suddenly passed away this April. I'm his only child and have inherited around 100k in cash and have just had probate approved. I now have to decide what to do with his house.

His house is worth probably around £150k if it was in good condition. It needs central heating installing and requires a full refurbish including new bathroom and kitchen. In current condition a "we buy any house" type firm reckon they'd pay around 120k in its current state. It would rent out for approx £700 per month if we kept it and did it up ourselves, I'm aware being a land lord doesn't always makes money at this scale and can often end up costing if the tenant doesn't pay etc.

I'm just not sure what the smartest thing financially to do would be regarding my dad's property.

I've heard just having money in your account now is essentially just a waste and will decrease in terms of value as everything is increasing still.

We don't really want to buy the full ownership in our shared ownership house and would prefer to eventually move.

If we sold my dad's house now we could eventually do this and move again in two or three years. But until then the money would just be sat in my bank account not doing much.

The thought of spending his money doing his house up to rent makes me nervous especially if it doesn't wash its own face. We aren't doing the amazingly financially (no debts but can't save much till I work) so would be a lot of money to lose. However if it washed its own face in terms of council tax etc it would be a comfort to me to still have his house rather than every last thing of him being completely gone.

Is there something else I should be considering or that im missing? I know we need to get out of shared ownership asap to save the money spent in rent (it was our only option), I've never been very good with money other than saving it. If you were in this situation what would you be thinking of doing?

i sold my late parents house
I did a house clearance cost 1k
clearing the garden £600
put it on the market for 395 and sold it for 415

as it’s an old house you could start doing something like the walls and suddenly they need replastering

clear it and sell it

My dads was also a dooer upper
very solid Victorian end terrace property
opposite a beautiful park catchment for 2 offstead outstanding schools - well they weren’t outstanding when I went there - more like Grange Hill 😂

it’ sold within 2 days and it needed about 50k worth of work doing to it

I wouldn't spend any money on your dad's house other than perhaps to fix anything that comes up on a buyers survey that a potential buyer takes issue with. IMHO it's a plus to be able to buy a property that hasn't been done up the way the buyer would like - leave it to the imagination and dreams of the next buyer - really - I think you'd be wasting your money. I've been in this situation recently - the buyers of my relatives house have started doing things to the house I would never have dreamed of - e.g. dug up and paved a beautiful, established front garden that gave them a lot of privacy so they can pull their car off the road - they haven't started on the kitchen at all which would have been the first thing I thought a buyer would do - instead they are expanding the bathroom to bring the separate toilet into the bathroom - it doesn't make sense to me but there you go - we are all different.

Frankly I'm not to concerned about having money sat in an account earning less than the maximum I could get - it amounts to almost nothing in terms of interest anyway - I can save more many other ways and I think we live in very uncertain times ATM. I put £20k into premium bonds - a lot of people (I read) have all had the same idea lately - the max is £50k.

I replaced my old win7 laptop for a new one (£1700) and apart from that (and the premium bonds) I've done nothing - I'm just not much of a spender - I never really want things - my precious guitar is 20 years old and well worn - I could spend several £k on any guitar but I'm just not like that - I buy what I need - oh I also bought a cheap electric cordless lawn mower because by old £30 electric broke - my advice is take it easy and don't worry about it - the extra money is unlikely to make your life significantly happier or better. Actually I got a lot more out of thinking about the person that died and left money to me - really I've been on a journey reflecting on who they were, got to know and understand them and their life more and got to know their close friends - this has been an unexpectedly positive thing - I've made new friends in the process and thought a lot about what matters in life so... that's what's made more difference to me I think - having some money in an account is just nice to know ATM. I feel very lucky - it was totally unexpected and I think about this person often. It's been a life lesson - losing them - but a largely positive one.

Do your homework and find a good estate agent - you can't trust on line reviews or fb groups but it's still worth looking at them - more importantly I found was to ask around - I found a couple of people through friends of friends who bought, renovated and re-sold properties - they both pointed me towards one small independent estate agent and they were very good. The buyers on the other hand had all kinds of problems - all real, all plausible - they were good honest genuine people - they just had a complicated situation - new couple getting together after one acrimonious divorce - ask a lot of questions about your buyers and keep asking - don't just leave it to the EA - keep on top of what is going on.

Good luck. Count your blessings.

I have recently inherited a fixer upper too, and this is what I would do in your circumstances. Sell the house in probate to prevent having to pay additional capital gain on your profit (which is due if the house is transferred to your name). Avoid we buy any house companies like the plague. Their entire market ploy is to tell you that you get a fixed sum, and then slowly knock it down as it progresses to completion. A local estate agent will know dozens of property developers who will buy it quickly for renovation, or first time buyers who are handy at renovation and willing to compromise. Insure as an empty home (A1 insurance do this for executors and estate administrators), and ask the local authority about council tax reduction or waiver due to your father dying and you doing probate. Landlords are soon going to be compelled to have a house within the A-C band of an EPC which is achieved through insulation, central heating and similar measures. There is a Bill going through Parliament at present. Personally, and experiencing similar circumstances to yourself, I would sell up and dump your inheritance into any property you own. Savings interest is very low, so clear debts of any kind.

Why don’t you want to buy a larger share of your existing shared ownership property?

Tidy up the house and give it a lick of paint to make it more presentable if it needs it. Dont sell it to one of these we buy any house places. You will get rock bottom price.

Fwiw think carefully before buying your shared ownership outright. If it's nicely situated amongst other outright owned properties, probably fine.
If its on an estate of mainly shared ownership, prob not worth doing as its hard to sell a 100% owned in those circs