Please help us work out the best thing to do in this situation

[Youvebeenfed]

Grandparent passed away leaving a house to 5 grandchildren.

Theres an equity release plan on it (whole other thread - stupid decision) which is now currently standing at around £143k and rising by 1k a month 🙈

House up for sale for £290k. Not an ounce of interest in it after a month of listing.

Grandparent also has 75k cash in bank, also being left to grandchildren.

Is it worth trying to pay off the equity release using the cash in bank and all GCs chipping in? Should we all look at buying the house if we can? That would buy us breathing space to perhaps rent it out (but would probably need 20k spending on it to make it rentable).

Or just drop the price asap and get rid so the equity release is paid sooner rather than later.

Any ideas welcome as I can’t think straight over it all.

I think this thread should be moved to Property/DIY.

Tough one, £1k pm interest is a lot,we are talking 8% - is raising the balance achievable after the £75k and would all the grandchildren be in agreement?
If so I think I'd repay the equity release regardless. Even if you accepted an offer today it is going to take time to complete.

Then give yourself some breathing space, think realistically about the valuation and whether it needs to drop.

Rental of a 5-way owner house could be a problem, and leave 2nd property stamp duty issues if relevant for any of the grandchildren. This certainly wouldn't be a route I'd want to go down and spending £20k on it even more of a no-no for me.

Depends on how you all get along and if the finanicial situation of all parties is roughly similar.
I quite like the idea of renting it out if none of you would benefit from an cash injection sooner rather than later. Longterm it could be a great investment and a small monthly income for each of you amounting to a few thousand each year, so repaying your reno investment quickly to start with. On the death of any sibling there will be issues which you would have to plan for.
20K between 5 of you to do it up is potentially reasonable (though be aware building costs have risen hugely in the last few years and that getting good builders is a job in itself).
Definitely use the £75K to reduce the equity in the meantime whatever.
If it's not selling it's likely to be the price.

All get along fine. Not sure of financial position of 3 out of the 5 of us but all working in good jobs so 15k doesn’t feel too outrageous to ask.

Two could do it easily. The two that could do it easily are mulling over whether we could afford to buy the house ourselves (but age isn’t on our side).

So difficult to know what to do. Perhaps easier to drop the price and get shot of it asap

What about putting the house in an auction?

Putting the house into 5 names then selling or renting out would've more complicated than just the estate selling it asap and repaying the loan.
Possible cgt costs for everyone and tax on rental income.

Just get it sold asap and everyone just get their cash share.

Can you use some or all of the cash to pay down the equity release if possible, to reduce the interest cost?

What does the estate agent say about the potential sale price? It might be worth dropping the price by £10/20k for a quicker sale.

But it depends on what each GC wants to do and whether you can reach a consensus.

Are you talking about some or all of the GCs continuing to own the house jointly and renting it out? I don't know if that will be complicated re tax/stamp duty etc. Plus potential arguments about managing the property - who will find tenants, tradespeople etc?

Unless it's likely to be very profitable as a rental, and it's something you're looking to get into, I'd probably go for the quick sale option, so you all receive your share sooner rather than later with less hassle.

Drop the price ASAP. The market is slow but at the right price it will sell.