If you inherited a house, one of the first questions you may have is:

Should I fix it up before selling it?

• Repairs Can Lead to Permits and Even More Work
• Sometimes You Can Spend More Than the House Is Worth
• What Is Your Time Worth?
• Is It Better to Sell an Inherited House As-Is?
• What If You Don’t Want to Renovate the House?
• What Makes Sense for You?
  

Well, that’s kind of an “it depends” answer.

I’m Brad, the Probate House Guy. I’m an active real estate investor and a licensed real estate agent in Georgia. Over the last 10 years, I’ve helped more than 300 sellers get their properties sold, either through a cash deal or by listing the property the traditional way.

So if you’ve inherited a house and you’re trying to figure out what to do with it, let me walk you through some things you should think about before you start spending money on repairs and renovations.

And just to be clear, I’m not an attorney, and nothing I say here should be taken as legal advice. If you have questions about your specific probate or estate situation, I highly recommend talking with a probate attorney or real estate attorney.

Should You Fix Up an Inherited House Before Selling?

If you’re trying to get top dollar for an inherited house, then yes, you should probably fix it up.

That means updating the house, making it look nice and presentable, and taking care of the major, expensive repair items.

The reason is pretty simple: buyers today are often looking for a turnkey house. They’re more particular than they’ve been in many years, and a lot of buyers don’t want to take on a bunch of major repairs after they purchase a property.

So if your goal is to get the highest possible price on the market, fixing up the inherited property may make sense.

But there’s another side to this.

Sometimes fixing an inherited house can open up a can of worms.

Be Careful When Renovating an Inherited House

I talk about this with my team all the time.

There are some houses that I call “can of worms houses.”

You start fixing one thing, and suddenly that thing over there looks bad.

So you fix that.

Then you realize you need to fix something else.

You fix that, and now something else needs attention.

Before you know it, you’re fixing more and more and more things.

And at that point, you might as well renovate the whole house.

I actually went to a house like this recently. I walked in and immediately realized, “I can’t just do carpet and paint in this house.”

If I fix that, I have to fix this.

If I tear that open, I have to fix something else.

And before I know it, I’m completely renovating the house.

That’s something you need to be aware of when you’re selling an inherited house.

You can start with what seems like a simple repair and end up with a much bigger project than you originally planned.

Repairs Can Lead to Permits and Even More Work

Sometimes the problem isn’t even the repair itself.

You may get into a situation where the work you’re doing requires permits. And once you pull those permits and an inspector starts looking at the property, you may discover additional things that have to be addressed.

I experienced this firsthand on an estate property I bought in South Atlanta.

We were renovating the house, and someone broke into the property and stole the copper out of the walls.

We weren’t planning to replace all the plumbing. We were only going to replace some plumbing fixtures.

But after the copper was stolen, I had to repipe the entire house.

I called my plumber and told him to replace everything with PEX.

That cost me about $4,000.

Then the same person came back and stole part of the main electrical service cable coming into the house. They damaged the meter box and part of the electrical service.

Now I needed a new meter can, new service cable, and additional electrical work.

By the time everything was finished, I had an $8,000 electrical bill.

We also decided to replace the electrical panel because it was a mess. Once we did that and pulled a permit, we had to bring other things up to current code.

That meant arc-fault breakers, GFCI protection, additional smoke detectors, and other work.

Then there were another couple thousand dollars in electrical fixtures.

So what started as a relatively straightforward renovation turned into roughly a $10,000 electrical bill.

And it didn’t stop there.

The inspector noticed the plumbing work and told me I needed a plumbing permit.

Then he noticed a crack in the garage slab.

I already knew about the crack. It was a corner of the garage slab that had settled a few inches, and I planned to have a company come out and use mudjacking or foam to raise it back up and provide an engineer’s letter.

But now that became another item that had to be addressed before the inspection could be approved.

That’s what I mean when I say you can open a can of worms.

One repair leads to another repair, which leads to a permit, which leads to another issue you weren’t planning on dealing with.

Sometimes You Can Spend More Than the House Is Worth

There’s another situation you need to consider when deciding whether to renovate an inherited house.

Sometimes you’re simply going to spend more money fixing the house than the repairs are worth.

The house I looked at recently was a perfect example.

I told the owner I wasn’t interested in buying it.

Honestly, I thought the better option would be to bring in a dumpster and an excavator, tear down the double-wide, haul it away, and bring in a brand-new one.

We already had the plumbing and electrical there. Put the new house in, connect everything, add a deck, and you’ve got a brand-new house.

That made more sense to me than spending all the money and time renovating a house where I knew there could be even more problems hiding behind the walls.

That’s the risk with renovations.

You don’t always know what you’re going to find until you start opening things up.

Not Sure What To Do With Your Inherited House?

You don’t have to decide whether to renovate, sell as-is, or list the property on your own.

Tell us a little about the house, and we’ll help you look at your options.

What Is Your Time Worth?

When you’re deciding whether to fix up an inherited house, don’t just look at the repair bill.

Look at the time, cost, and hassle involved.

Do you have the time to manage contractors?

Maybe you don’t want to manage 10 different subcontractors.

Maybe you’ll hire one general contractor instead.

That’s certainly an option, and there’s absolutely a place for good general contractors. Most homeowners are probably better off hiring a licensed and insured professional rather than trying to manage every subcontractor themselves.

But you’re paying for that convenience.

A general contractor is managing the project and the subcontractors for you, and they’re going to charge a premium for doing that.

When I renovate a house, I have a whole phone full of subcontractors.

I’ve got a carpet guy.

A trim guy.

A granite guy.

A gutter guy.

A roofing guy.

A driveway guy.

A landscaping guy.

I’ve got all these different people who specialize in individual jobs, and I coordinate everything myself.

A general contractor is doing essentially the same thing. They have their own network of subcontractors, they coordinate the work, manage the timeline, and you write them one check.

That’s convenient.

But convenience costs money.

And if you’re managing subcontractors yourself, you also have to think about things like insurance and what happens if someone gets injured on your property.

There’s a lot more involved than simply saying, “I’ll fix the house and sell it for more money.”

Is It Better to Sell an Inherited House As-Is?

Sometimes, yes.

It really comes down to your situation.

Do you have the money to make the repairs?

Do you have the time?

Do you want to manage contractors?

Do you want to spend the next three, four, five, or even six months renovating the property?

One of the biggest things we see is that people simply don’t have the money they would need to fix up an inherited house.

Maybe the repairs are going to cost $40,000, $50,000, or $60,000.

You could spend all of that money and several months renovating the house, only to sell it for somewhat more than you might have gotten if you had simply sold it as-is.

So you have to ask yourself:

Is the extra money worth the extra time, money, risk, and hassle?

Sometimes it is.

And sometimes it isn’t.

What If You Don’t Want to Renovate the House?

If you’ve inherited a property and you’re not sure whether you should renovate it, sell it as-is, or list it with a real estate agent, you don’t necessarily have to figure everything out by yourself.

At Probate House Guy, we talk with people about their options.

If you’re considering selling your inherited house as-is, you can go to ProbateHouseGuy.com and fill out the form. A member of our team can contact you, learn more about the property, and talk through what your options might look like.

You don’t have to decide that renovating is the right answer before you have a conversation.

Selling an Inherited House: What Makes Sense for You?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to selling an inherited house.

If the property is in good enough condition and you have the money, time, and desire to renovate it, fixing it up may help you get more money.

But if the house has major problems, you could end up opening that can of worms and spending far more than you expected.

You also have to consider the cost of contractors, permits, unexpected repairs, project management, your time, and the possibility that you’re putting tens of thousands of dollars into a house just to get somewhat more money when you eventually sell it.

On the other hand, selling the property as-is can eliminate much of that work.

I’ve helped more than 300 people over the last 10 years sell their houses completely as-is. And if selling as-is isn’t the right option, I’m also a licensed real estate agent and can discuss the possibility of listing the property traditionally.

The important thing is to look at all of your options before you start tearing into the house.

If you’ve inherited a house in Georgia and you’re trying to decide what to do with it, simply fill out the form below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

A member of our team will contact you, and we can discuss the property, potentially come out and see the house, and talk about whether a cash offer, selling as-is, or listing the property might make sense for you.

You don’t have to renovate the house just because you inherited it.

Sometimes fixing it up is the right move.

And sometimes the smartest move is to sell it as-is and move on.