Should we rent out the inherited house instead of selling it?
Answered by Chris Deutsch, Founder & Editor
Licensed Minnesota Realtor #20382264 ·
The short answer
A rental co-owned by grieving siblings rarely survives contact with reality. It can work — but go in with math, not sentiment.
On stage The 60-second answer
Captions on · Transcript below
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Chris's video answer is on its way. Until then, the short answer above says the same thing.
The transcript posts with the video.
The longer answer
The math has two halves. The rental half: real rent minus taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancies, and management — on a house maintained for Mom's life, not a tenant's. The tax half is the quiet one: inherited property arrives with a stepped-up basis, so selling soon is often nearly tax-free, while renting for years builds new gain and depreciation recapture for later. And the structural truth: three owners means three opinions on every furnace repair, forever. The version that most often works is one sibling buying the others out and running it alone, as a business. A CPA should check your specifics — I'm not one, and this isn't tax advice.
I'll run both sets of numbers for your actual house — rent it, sell it, side by side — so the family decides with eyes open.
The next department over
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From the editor's desk
“As Founder and Editor, I review, correct, and stand behind every answer.”
Is your situation more specific than the market? That's the one worth talking through.