Inheritance Income Question

[disneysteve]

I have actually thought about the last two posts. This is a good idea.

With my mother's current mental health her attorney would not let her change her will at this time.

It also appears that the executor of my mother's estate is going to be able to sell the home I'm in now right under my feet, so I will be forced to move as soon as it sells.

If changing the will isn't an option, what about you buying the house?

Have you spoken to the executor? It seems to me that it shouldn't be that difficult to work something out that allows you to stay in the house until you are ready to move since when the house sells, you get the money anyway.

[disneysteve]

Some have asked me where I came up with the $450,000.00 for a home. I have researched realtor.com in the area's I'm interested in living and the $450,000.00 was appearing to be an average price for a home in those areas.

That may be true, but that isn't how you decide how much to spend on a home. That decision is based entirely on your own finances. The numbers you've provided don't support you buying a home for 450K.

And of course, if the average is 450K, that means there are homes above and below that number too.

[scfr]

I'm also still wondering if you could just buy the house you currently live in from the estate and stay there for a few years.

As far as where you will eventually relocate, all of your criteria are of course valid, and ones that I can mostly relate to. Have you thought about expanding your search area to include not rural areas but smaller towns? Since your choice is not dependent on where you find work, your options are really wide-open.

I know Seattle (WA) and Portland (OR), having lived both places. What about smaller college towns in those states? Although the cultural activities might be less "big-city" and more campus-based, the cost of housing would be a lot less! And the "big city" wouldn't be too far away ... you could easily drive or take the train a couple times year to soak up some big city culture. I'm talking about cities like Olympia, Eugene, or Salem to name a few.

No matter what location you choose, you are going to have to make trade-offs.

[FrugalFish]

Coming in a little late, hope you might still be following this.

We are in the midst of settling my father's estate and I can tell you that nothing happens quickly. Or at least very little does. It can take quite a bit of time to even get a death certificate so various balls can get rolling. This doesn't even begin to account for issues that will arise along the way.

I'm like you in that I don't like stress and I don't like to have things unsettled, but working through an estate is very much a "go with the flow" situation. Especially worse if the executor is not the easiest person to work with or communicate with- then so much of it is out of your hands. .

JMO, but I think you need to have a plan of attack that doesn't involve the inheritance immediately. I know you asked about getting a loan with the annuity payments, but it doesn't sound like that is a very available option. You don't want to get a to point where the executor puts you out of the house to sell it and you have nowhere to go (I have been in the situation of being kicked out of a house that went up for sale- being homeless stinks). Being proactive is the best policy. Plan for a move, thin down what you will want to get rid of when the time for a move comes, consolidate other items--- basically prepare for a move long before it happens and from the standpoint of what you alone can swing for the time being. You may need to worry about finding a place to live before buying a home becomes a reality, BUT remember that when the time comes, you will be able to start saving up some of that money and eventually buy a home.