Being remembered in a loved one’s Last Will and Testament is a touching and emotional thing, but it can also come with a lot of responsibility. If a loved one has left you their home, you simply may not have the need for an additional property, it may be too expensive to maintain or fix up, or it’s simply not in an area where you are able to move to. In these circumstances, the best choice is often to sell the additional property.
How to Sell Your House – An Emotional Journey
Selling a home is always an emotional experience, and when that home belonged to a loved one who has passed away, it’s understandably difficult. If you can, give yourself time and space to properly grieve your loved one before starting the selling process so you can make a sound decision. This is a time for reliving happy memories and making sure that you’re emotionally prepared to say goodbye.
Once you’re ready to sell, it’s a good idea to have something in mind that you can do with a portion of the sales proceeds to honor and your loved one and their generous gift to you and your family.
Taxation on Inherited Property
One of the primary concerns for people who are thinking of selling inherited properties is capital gains tax. While you would have already paid inheritance tax of around 6% on the estate, you are still subject to CGT over and above the value of the property. Essentially, this means that you are subject to taxation on the profit from selling the property – profit that you may be relying on from, for example, repairing and upgrading the home.
Fortunately, there are certain deductions for CGT, including the fees you had to pay to inherit the property (legal fees, property survey fees and valuation fees), so it’s important to hold on to any receipts you have for these and other expenses relating to the property. Other deductions include and repairs or upgrades to the home that are considered improvements, but maintenance costs are excluded.
CGT is also affected by the fact that heirs qualify for a stepped-up tax basis, which is slightly different for inherited properties than other properties. Simply put, the tax basis for inherited homes uses the value of the home when the owner passed away, not the value when the previous owner purchased it. This is usually a higher figure than the original purchase price, so you can end up paying less CGT on the property when you sell it. If you sell it for less than it’s stepped up basis, you can actually have a capital loss deduction of around $3,000 (this can be carried forward to future years).
The final deduction is that you may qualify for the home sales tax exclusion, which says that up to $250,000 of your profit from the sale of the home is tax-free. This is doubled in the event of married homeowners who own the home jointly. However, this only applies to primary residences, so you have to live in the home for 2 years in order to qualify for this exclusion.
Selling as is? Speak to Real Estate Specialists in the Dallas and Fort Worth Area and Sell Your House
Our team can make you a cash offer on your home today, making selling as is easy, simple and quick! If you’re selling as is, we’re happy to buy it – and we offer a fair, market-based price too. Here’s how our process works:
- You enter your information on our website
- We’ll contact you directly to discuss an offer for your property (you can also get a free property evaluation from our website)
- You can accept or reject the offer
- You can also call us directly on 469-858-0088
Our team is compassionate and highly-motivated to offer you the best possible market-related price for your fixer upper in Dallas, inherited property or home you want to sell fast. With our process, you can sell your house in less than 24 hours.
At Shiny Key Properties, our trained consultants have years of experience in helping motivated sellers, as well as helping buyers find a fixer upper in Dallas to fall in love with. To find out more about our cash for houses Dallas service or to look at homes for sale, please contact us today and speak to one of our friendly team members.