House sale after probate

[SickofCovid]

AIBU?
My parents have passed and probate has been sorted. The family home has been divided between myself and 2 siblings. I am married and have our own home and does my 2 siblings, however 1 sister is divorced and is struggling with the mortgage payments, she has been paying the interest only and will have to pay off the principal within the next couple of years. My other sister is married and wants to buy our parents home, this is where I'm wondering am I being unreasonable. So, the home has been valued at 600k but if it goes up for sale it should go for near 700k maybe more.
She wants to give me and my sister 200k each, however I feel we should put it on the market and see what's offered on it and then have our sister that wants to buy it, give us what we would get if it was sold on the open market. My sister that is divorced really needs every penny to keep her own home. It would all be going against her mortgage.
I'm not being selfish, I just feel like this is fair.
My sister that would be buying it is married, her husband has a well paid job, they already own their own property and would be selling it to buy the family home.
Aibu with my opinion? I haven't said anything yet, I've just spoken with my husband. He sees the logic of my thinking and agrees with me.

Get 3 independent valuations and average them. Perhaps take off any estate agent fees you wouldn’t need to pay for sister to buy it?

why is one value coming in at 600k but you say it would go on the market at 700 or more? That’s a fairly large difference.

also consider how much interest your divorced sister can earn / save by getting 200k now rather than 230k in possibly 6 months or more.

or maybe give her 10k of your part?

You need to obtain three up to date valuations and average them out.

if a better price can be obtained on the open market the executors are under a duty to obtain that better price.

Who has valued it at £600k, and what makes you think you could sell it for £700k?

As others have said, get at least three independent valuations and then if your sister wants to buy the property she can do so at the average price.

You say it has already been valued at £600k however, so it doesn't sound like your sister is trying to undercut you. What is your basis for the assumption that it would sell for £700k?

You should be wary as it is a slow market at the moment and I would say a valuation of £600k is no guarantee that you would actually get that in the end. Lots of people are having to drop prices, in some cases quite severely. You, however, have a ready buyer in your sister who seems to be prepared to pay the valued price with no questions asked. I would question how much more you and your other sister would gain by trying to sell it on the open market. Be realistic about the prospects, agents fees, and time it would take to sell.

I agree with this. Also, I am not a lawyer or a tax accountant, but I believe there's a slight possibility of capital gains tax being due if the property rises in value a lot between the valuation for probate and what it raises when actually sold. You'd need an expert opinion on whether that would appy here if you sold it for a lot more than the probate value.

I had a friend who was left a 50% share in a house, which she wanted to buy. She/other beneficiary selected 3 estate agents and averaged the suggested price and agreed price for fixtures/fittings/furniture.

It sounds as if at least 2 out of 3 of you would like a quick sale so should get that factored into the “price”.

I'm selling my dad's house. The market is slow and the whole thing is a pain the arse. I'd glady have sold to a sibling at the estimated value.

I can't say you're being unreasonable, but what you want to do could be ill-advised. You could end up worse off.

We had it valued by an estate agent. All homes in the area are going for 100k/120k higher than asking price. Its a bidding war for all homes in the area. Wrong, I know but it's happening.

Then you need to take part in that

You should each get a valuation of your own preferred estate agency and take the average of the 3 valuations you get.

All homes are going for £100k more than asking price? Has the estate agent factored that in already though? Surely they would know this and therefore asking prices would naturally increase?

It depends how much family strife you are prepared to generate, plus you are going to piss genuine buyers off by making them think they have a chance to buy a house when it is never actually going to happen.

This.

Thisnis exactly what my son and DiL did when buying a probate property that had belonged to an older relative. Fairest way all round.

A probate value is a fair value.
An estate agents valuation is always inflated.

If you put it on the market, you will be liable for their costs and commission. You cannot reasonably expect to share those costs with your sister.

If you do put it on the market, and it sells for less than expected, or fails to sell at that price, what do you intend to do? Will you accept the loss, or expect the original £200k.

How about you offer to buy it from your other sisters under the same deal?

I think you just want people to agree with you. I had a similar issue with my father's estate - damn near wrecked the relationship between us all. So tread carefully.

Factor in the cost of legal fees , etc. Also check at what amount you have to pay Capital Gains Tax . I think you should take the offer .

Is the £600,000 being mentioned so that it falls under the IHT threshold for both your parents combined. I think the figure has to be agreed between the 3 of you, that you are all happy with, also taking into account no estate agent fees and lower Solicitor fees for selling the house.

Absolutely agree that you need three valuations - and you need to ask the estate agent clearly what you would market it for and what they would hope to achieve. Ask for sale prices they have achieved on similar properties. (Is this a Scottish system "offers over" thing, I wonder?)

If the difference between what you might realistically achieve and what your sister is offering is anything below 30k, I'd consider taking it. I know your sister needs every penny but you absolutely can put a price on a definitely sale, not paying estate agents fees, not getting stuck with a chain collapsing and having to get the conveyancing done again etc.

And that's fine OP but if you sell on the open market you'd have to consider the following:

• capital gains tax on any gain over the probate value (which I presume was £600k) at 24%
• estate agents commission
• bills and maintenance on the house while you wait for it to sell, which could be months

Even if it does sell for £700k, by the time you've taken the costs off and divided that extra £100k by three, there is a fair chance you won't walk away with very much more than you would if you sold to your sister now for £600k.

By all means do your research, but a quick sale for a fair price is not something to be sniffed at.

It's a difficult one.

You probably want what it is worth. Your sister probably wants to get it for as little as possible.

The problem is establishing what the value actually is which is always difficult with houses as they are worth more to some people than to others.

You could market it at the value your sister is willing to pay and see whether you get interest to pay more and sell it for that.

You could auction it and your sister could choose to bid in the auction.

There is probably a load of other suggestions that a solicitor can come up with.

But whatever you do, there is probably going to be some sort of row.

Who is the executor of the will, because they have the responsibility to make sure that all parties get what is properly due to them ?

You get two years grace in capital gains tax after the grant of probate is given to you. Then you would all be liable. You would need to pay the estate agent fees for sale. You would need to pay empty homes double council tax after the probate exemption runs out. You will pay high fee empty homes insurance. You will have the strain of keeping up with property maintenance. The property market is diabolically slow (property developer here), and after I recently did probate for my late mother I decided to keep property for a while until the market picks up. Realistically it may not for years and years due to stamp duty changes, cost of living and landlords ditching BTL properties in advance of the rent reform act. Personally I would accept your sisters offer because if you all put your share in high interest bonds, you would recover any (uncertain) profits on the open market. Your sister could use her share to sort out her financial issues. Look on zoopla and rightmove to see what properties local to this one actually sold for in recent times. Your sister who wants to buy the house should be aware that if she sold her current family home to live in this one, she can claim the stamp duty excess back from HMRC as it won't be a second home purchase anymore.

@SandStormNorm

You get two years grace in capital gains tax after the grant of probate is given to you.

But then you have to upgrade the probate values and may have increased IHT to pay.

You need to get multiple agents and get them to tell you what you would expect to sell it for, not what you should put it on the market for.

I'm the executor. My sister has yet to put her own home up for sale so isn't planning on buying until they sell. In the meantime the home is empty.
I don't want my sister losing out while the other gains. I don't need money right now. I will be happy with whatever.
I dont see why we shouldn't all benefit equally.
I'm in Irelan, so it's Euro. Plus law may differ in regards to tax etc.