[removed]

why sell in the first place?

Fidelity appears to pay significantly more on uninvested cash balances than schwab does. I can also set my Fidelity brokerage sweep account to SPAXX.

I wasted $900 and opened a HELOC on our old home larger enough for the down payment in the new one.

The idea was it would be easier to sell our place if we were out of it (have a lot of kids, toys, etc.).

In the end, open door actually offered a price well above what i thought the house was worth (doubt they are still doing that—they took a bunch of losses around this time a little less than two years ago). So we got to set the date of sale to line up perfectly and rent back for 7 days to make the move easier.

Knowing more of your situation would help. For me moving twice would be a nightmare.

Other options to look into if you don’t have enough equity in your house for HELOC is a bridge loan. Bridge loans can be used if the sale date and purchase date don’t line up perfectly (this is similar to the HELOC idea above). Basically you buy house 2/1, but have agreement to sell your house 2/20. You need a bridge loan for the new house down payment. Once your house sells 20 days later or whatever you pay off the bridge loan.

For me figuring out a way to make the financing work where we had ownership or access to both houses for a time and paying a bit of extra interest for a few months was way WAY better than moving twice. For you it may be different.

I do like the idea of listing it on market to see what it may be worth! That's smart

Yep, fine point, those will certainly add to it as well.

It's a family home from the 1800s on land owned by my family since the early 1800s. Want to keep it in the family. Which add such a level of headache

I would choose vanguard personally but all three are good choices. Between only the two, I would choose Schwab as I don’t love Fidelity’s website.

Could also be OP isn't adding up everything they're paying out of escrow. Other potential costs are PMI and flood insurance

List the house and let the market decide.

If uncle doesn’t want to list it you tell him it’s $250k or we file a partition action and everyone loses. Though if it is worth $500k, you might do better than what he is offering in the end even with legal costs.

I would highly recommend getting an estate administration attorney to talk with, if for no other reason than to consult with him/her and know your rights here based on where you live. If you stand to inherit about $125k, a one time consult fee or even if you decide to retain, will usually cost less than $5-10k unless there is litigation involved which can exponentially increase the cost. By doing so, you will have someone negotiate on your behalf who knows what you are entitled to which in turn will allow you to focus more on your family and your grieving. If your uncle gives you shit over protecting your own interests, he is not looking out for your own interests.

> My brother in law got his house for almost $300,000 and our house payments are almost the same.

You can't use that as a comparison. What was the actual financed amount of his house? What is the rate on his mortgage? What are the property taxes like in his area? Does he have certain features in his home that would help lower the insurance premiums?

Your escrow amount will increase for 3 basic reasons:

You have an adjustable rate mortgage, and your rate went up (fairly rare these days).

Your property was reassessed, and your property taxes went up.

Your insurance premiums went up.

Or it could be a combination.

Very interesting. I like this a lot!! I will bring thus up to my brother.

How grateful I am for this comment. Thank you. I have a newborn and the last thing I want to deal with is an argument. I'm tired from my baby and my mom, best friend, just died.

Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

>This past year I finally contacted a wonderful tax relief company

I guess not so wonderful...

Start reading the wiki.

Find an enrolled agent (EA).

[removed]

[removed]

Total scam. Somebody phished you for a dual authentication and account security questions.

Report to Chase, change your account passwords, security questions, setup transaction monitoring and or credit monitoring depending on what else you gave them.

>My brother in law got his house for almost $300,000 and our house payments are almost the same.

Your payments are determined by the original amount financed, the length of your mortgage, and the interest of the mortgage. If you pay your local taxes with your mortgage payment then that's another potential source difference between you and your BIL.

When did your BIL buy his house? Mortgage rates haber increased significantly. Current average rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage in the US is 6.43%. As recently as 2020 the same mortgage could be had for less than 3%.

And, of course, the length of the mortgage will make a significant difference in payment as well. Starting with the same principle your payments will be higher on a 15 year mortgage than on a 30 year mortgage.

Financing $300K at 3% for 30 years will cost $1265 per month.

Financing $175K at 6.43% over 15 years the monthly payment is $1518.

You can also just add an amount to be withheld from each check. I think that's easier than messing around with entries on the W4.

Estate attorney here. Never sell for less than your share is worth. I deal with these types of cases where a family member tries to get the better of other family members. YOu are entitled to the full value of your share regardless of what he wants to offer. If he can't agree or afford that cost, you have the option to buy him out or force a sale to recoop the value through the market. The open market will almost always give you more value than a private sale. Houses are still selling for above market in most places near me.

​

oh and you can most likely get better value as-is without the repairs unless then are serious repairs that are needed.

[deleted]

Yes, just went thru this. Used the person who hit me's insurance to file the claim after talking with my insurance. My 'no claims' bonus would have gone away if I used my insurance and I also have a high deductible and no rental coverage. Their insurace covered a rental for over a month while my 'minor' rear bumper was fixed (that also turned into replacing the rear trunk lid that was cracked). I used my states insurance reporting/claims website to get them moving when their adjuster was slow taking the claim. Still waiting on the 'diminished value' aspect of my loss.

My word, this is complicated. You may wish to edit your post to make it clear that your family is currently living in the house in question. Where is your brother living? Were your grandparents living with you until they passed?

Given that you're talking about not only a large sum of money but also your home, I think you might want to enlist a lawyer to serve as a professional arbitrator.