Inheriting a House With a Mortgage

What happens when you inherit a house that has a mortgage attached to it?

First, determine who is responsible for those mortgage payments. If the family member you’ve inherited the house from cosigned the loan with another person, then that cosigner is responsible for the payments on that mortgage.

If there is no cosigner in place but you’re the person who is named in the will as being responsible for the property, then you’re also responsible for the mortgage payments. In this case, you need to gather up all the mortgage documents you can find. It might also be a good idea to call the mortgage company and let them know that you’re now responsible for the payments.

The most important thing you can do is keep making those payments until you can get the house sold, assuming you’ve decided to do so. Keep them up to date, otherwise, you open up the door to foreclosure and potentially losing the house and any equity that’s carried with it.

“

Keep making those payments until
you can get the house sold.

”

If there is no family member left or someone specified to take over the property when someone passes away, the bank has no recourse but to enter the foreclosure process to get their money back.

My advice to you would be to speak with a closing attorney or an estate attorney to make sure you have all of your documents in order to go through the probate process. Make sure that’s addressed up front before you put a property on the market.

We’ve got a good list of tips on selling a home through an estate. If you’re interested, just send me an email and I’d be glad to send that list to you. Hopefully, you’re not having this experience, but if and when you do, you’ll have some information on how to deal with it.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I look forward to helping you in any way I can.