# The New Math on Inheriting Your Parents’ House

**URL:** <https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081>\
**Category:** Macro Economic Trends and Risks\
**Created:** [June 2, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081 "2023-06-02T02:04:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![intercst](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/intercst/32/1543_2.png) [@intercst](https://discussion.fool.com/u/intercst)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081/1 "2023-06-02T02:04:30Z")

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WSJ says 70% of heirs dump the family home, incurring the confiscatory transaction costs on the sale. (e.g., I can sell a $1 million block of stock for a 0% commission and perhaps a 2 cent bid/ask spread on a heavily traded stock like PFE (i.e, 25,000 shares @40/share x 2 cents/share = $500.) Where I live in WA State, it would likely cost at least 10% or $100,000 to sell a $1 million home if you’re paying a 6% commission, the 1.7% state franchise tax on real estate sales, plus the usual closing costs like title insurance, escrow fees, etc.)

> **[The New Math on Inheriting Your Parents’ House](https://www.wsj.com/articles/inheriting-house-finances-taxes-costs-9eec3765?page=1)**
>
> Rising costs are prompting more adult children to sell the homes they inherit from their parents.

My brother is a math genius. When my mother died 23 years ago he decided to continue to live in the family home despite it being in an increasingly dodgy area (he decamped to an island in Narragansett Bay about 4 years ago). I used to joke that he must be the only Fellow of the Society of Actuaries living in that zip code.

intercst

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**Author:** ![Leap1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/leap1/32/72176_2.png) [@Leap1](https://discussion.fool.com/u/Leap1)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081/2 "2023-06-02T02:31:28Z")

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We will be selling my parents’ home but my parents have always under bought real estate and over saved actual cash.

😁 😁 😁

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**Author:** ![intercst](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/intercst/32/1543_2.png) [@intercst](https://discussion.fool.com/u/intercst)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081/3 "2023-06-02T02:52:23Z")

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I hope you do well. I think Hartford real estate prices peaked in 1989 just ahead of the Colonial Realty bankruptcy and fraud trial. I always got a kick out of the testimony in the CFO’s trial, “He was an excellent accountant, you just couldn’t trust him to touch the money.”

intercst

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**Author:** ![Leap1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/leap1/32/72176_2.png) [@Leap1](https://discussion.fool.com/u/Leap1)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 3:26am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081/4 "2023-06-02T03:26:27Z")

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I knew the lawyer that won the class action suit against Colonial. He told me all he had to say about the bankers who ended up paying out, the bankers should have not made those risky loans. They knew better. The lawyer took home $9 million as his cut. I think the settlement or judgement was $47 million.

Hartford peaked in 2006 much higher. It is soaring now again.

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**Author:** ![PucksFool](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/pucksfool/32/47955_2.png) [@PucksFool](https://discussion.fool.com/u/PucksFool)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-new-math-on-inheriting-your-parents-house/93081/5 "2023-06-02T20:59:16Z")

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I hate articles like this.

Suck it up buttercup. Pay the taxes and move on. You are still going to get some money from Mom and Dad.

Here’s the article without the paywall.  
[http://archive.today/2023.06.01-010514/https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/inheriting-house-finances-taxes-costs-9eec3765](http://archive.today/2023.06.01-010514/https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/inheriting-house-finances-taxes-costs-9eec3765)