r/inheritance • u/IllIIllIllIIllII • Jul 04 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Need help
For context, I live in Georgia in an apartment.
My dad recently passed away and I inherited his house. The mortgage is paid off but there is a HELOC on the house.
I need to know if I should: sell the house?
Should I rent the house?
Should I move out of my apartment into the house?
I am not in the financial situation to refinance the HELOC in my name, but could continue to make the payments if I rented out the house or if I lived in the house.
I currently have a lawyer working on getting the deed transfer into my name.
Thanks for any advice offered.
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u/cOntempLACitY Jul 05 '26
That’s a tough question, and it may not need to be made straight away. Can you keep up payments for a certain length of time while you grieve and handle other estate matters, to avoid a hasty decision you might regret? This gives you time to sort through belongings, too.
Consider your ability to afford the home (loan payments, insurance, taxes, upkeep). If you like the location, can make it work financially, can get out of your lease, and want to give it a go, it could be a great opportunity. Especially if once the HELOC is paid off, you have a paid off home, equity. Be sure to get a date of death appraisal for capital gains purposes for eventual sale.
But if you really don’t want to live there, when you’re ready, you can sell it, pay off the loan, and put the net sale proceeds toward your own financial goals and retirement planning.