My brother passed away while at war just a month ago. We were left as trustees for his estate. He has 2 homes (2 notes on the primary home where we're staying and 1 note on the other home, which is a rental).
The primary home has 2 loans which total $460K (the home is only worth maybe 240-260K). The rental home has a note of $330K which is only worth about $240. The figures are based on homes in the neighborhood that a realtor checked through the MLS and say what they were going for and/or sold within the past few months.
We had more than 2 people (realtors) tell us to foreclose on the homes and just get a larger home for a lesser price. They said we're not responsible for the mortgage and money wise, it makes no sense to pay $460K on a home that's worth $200K less.
Our names are not on the title nor on the mortgage at all. The only other assets he would have is a car that's paid off, which he gave over to us in his will (worth 7000). There is a lot of money coming in from life insurance, but im not sure if that would be considered an "asset" per-sei.
There's a few thousand in the bank, which I know would be an asset (about 50K) but still nothing compared to what these house notes are left to pay on. I haven't talked to the estate lawyer regarding this question about foreclosing on the homes, something good to bring up in our next conversation after the holiday.
Are there any disadvantages of doing this? Would the bank be able to ask for the difference from the trustees at all? Of course they wouldn't know how much money there is available in the bank. Just trying to get other opinions on this matter.
The primary home has 2 loans which total $460K (the home is only worth maybe 240-260K). The rental home has a note of $330K which is only worth about $240. The figures are based on homes in the neighborhood that a realtor checked through the MLS and say what they were going for and/or sold within the past few months.
We had more than 2 people (realtors) tell us to foreclose on the homes and just get a larger home for a lesser price. They said we're not responsible for the mortgage and money wise, it makes no sense to pay $460K on a home that's worth $200K less.
Our names are not on the title nor on the mortgage at all. The only other assets he would have is a car that's paid off, which he gave over to us in his will (worth 7000). There is a lot of money coming in from life insurance, but im not sure if that would be considered an "asset" per-sei.
There's a few thousand in the bank, which I know would be an asset (about 50K) but still nothing compared to what these house notes are left to pay on. I haven't talked to the estate lawyer regarding this question about foreclosing on the homes, something good to bring up in our next conversation after the holiday.
Are there any disadvantages of doing this? Would the bank be able to ask for the difference from the trustees at all? Of course they wouldn't know how much money there is available in the bank. Just trying to get other opinions on this matter.
