Mid twentieth century wiring - relays

The house up the street (next house) is valued at $3.3M, house down the street (next house) is up for sale for $4.5M. But the house directly across the street is unimproved and it's valued at 1.5M. The estate property has a nice lot, has great landscaping and has a lot more floor space in it than the unimproved house, maybe 2.5X more. The space is modern with a very nice kitchen, etc. Hardwood floors - not veneer, etc.

But the offers I'm getting are inline with the unimproved house. In that neighborhood, that price means teardown. How do I know this, well in the past 5-10 years that's what has been happening. On the street (today) there's a house going up (teardown) that is ridiculously large for the property. It's gotten so bad that the Town passed an ordinance limiting the size of homes being erected. These are roughly 3/4 acre lots and the homes were occupying 95% of the frontage, like the one next door. Honestly, they are monstrosities. About 65% of the properties in the area are new(ish), only 35% remain of the original development.

The house is livable right now. A couple things need some minor improvement. If I was given the property, I'd fix it, but I like old stuff - I live in a house built in 1851. It seems no one likes quality anymore, but instead loves big, unleveled floors made with inferior materials, like the big house next door.

The house is so much nicer than when I grew up in it. The space increased by 3x. But since it is so different, it doesn't feel like my home anymore - it's just a big house.

If the house goes for the teardown value, my family will be hurt financially. As the Trustee, I'm supposed to aim to achieve FMV. At the moment I'm not enjoying this role - not many things are going all that well.

So I have to weigh if taking a 300-400K loss is the right thing to do... That's a heck of a lot to give up.
 
WobblyHand said:
If the house goes for the teardown value, my family will be hurt financially. As the Trustee, I'm supposed to aim to achieve FMV. At the moment I'm not enjoying this role - not many things are going all that well.
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I doubt your obligation as Trustee extends to volunteering your time and energy to do actual improvement work. Hiring an electrician at the estate expense should be an option. These are tough decisions you have to make (I'm not trying to make them for you), but don't paint yourself in a corner thinking you don't have any legitimate choices. A good real estate agent can not only help you evaluate the cost effectiveness of various improvements/fixes, but also should have some contacts for people who can do some of the work. Despite being a die-hard do-it yourself type, I had to concede to hiring people, and in some cases taking some hits on value when I was trying to sell two houses, buy a third in another state, and deal with cancer. At some point dragging the process out has costs impacting you personally as well as the estate in terms of ongoing time, such as those taxes you mentioned.
 
rabler said:
I doubt your obligation as Trustee extends to volunteering your time and energy to do actual improvement work. Hiring an electrician at the estate expense should be an option. These are tough decisions you have to make (I'm not trying to make them for you), but don't paint yourself in a corner thinking you don't have any legitimate choices. A good real estate agent can not only help you evaluate the cost effectiveness of various improvements/fixes, but also should have some contacts for people who can do some of the work. Despite being a die-hard do-it yourself type, I had to concede to hiring people, and in some cases taking some hits on value when I was trying to sell two houses, buy a third in another state, and deal with cancer. At some point dragging the process out has costs impacting you personally as well as the estate in terms of ongoing time, such as those taxes you mentioned.
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You hit the nail on the head. You are right. Still, it's hard to let go - of a lot of things. The whole estate thing has really affected me personally - it's been tough on me. A lot of things are way harder than they ought to be.

I'm not so sure I have a "good" agent at this point. And I have 60 days left with this person/agency. I'll talk to the agent next week and try to sort through some of these issues.
 
matthewsx said:
If the value of a custom home in the area is high enough, and you have the stomach for it, working with a developer to build for the current market might be the best return. Those speculators probably aren't guessing that there's a profit to be made and if they can do it you could too.
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Thanks for the thought. It's a different point of view, which I appreciate. I will look into this. Of course there's money to be made - that's why two thirds of the homes in the area on the street are McMansions now.
 
I was trustee for my dad and it was not an easy task. In my case I wanted the property and was willing to negotiate with my sister to make that happen. It took over a year even though things were very simple.

Much depends on your financial status and the finances of the other beneficiaries. I'd recommend an open process with a realtor and/or appraiser that you all can trust. Fair market value is what the property will bring at the time it's offered for sale. A good realtor (yes there are a few) can tell you if fixing up the house is worthwhile or not. I suspect that with values like you stated it's worth doing whatever it takes to make your property comparable with the ones in the $3 to $4 million dollar range. Even at today's construction costs there's probably quite a bit of daylight between what you're being offered and how much it would take to bring your property up to the neighbors.

However, you and the other beneficiaries would need to agree on how to do this which might not be an easy task.

I spent the time needed to come to an agreement with my sister because I wanted to live in the house and keep peace with my sister.

Best of luck, you will get through this but as noted above using professional help is not only allowed but recommended.

John
 
Being a trustee can be a lot of work and a thankless job. Remember that a trustee can charge the estate a reasonable amount for their time to administer the estate. I commend you for be conscientious. Wish you well.
 
Consider buying or renting a thermal imaging camera.
I bought one from flir.
You can trace your wiring and relays that way without alot of effort.
 
Nutfarmer said:
Being a trustee can be a lot of work and a thankless job. Remember that a trustee can charge the estate a reasonable amount for their time to administer the estate. I commend you for be conscientious. Wish you well.
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I agree with the thankless part! I was told by my attorney that I can charge expenses without worry, but any wages paid to myself are taxable income. I've expensed various things including travel, but have yet to charge for my time. There's a ton of book keeping as is, so not eager to deal with that yet.

Despite the circumstances, I am trying to be good to my family. I don't want to drain what is there unnecessarily. I also want us to get the best price for the property as it represents the majority of the assets. It's a tough balance. On the one hand I want to run away from dealing with this, as it's just not pleasant, but I want to do good for the beneficiaries (family). So I soldier onwards.
 
sdelivery said:
Consider buying or renting a thermal imaging camera.
I bought one from flir.
You can trace your wiring and relays that way without alot of effort.
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So it can detect the slightly warm wiring and relays through the plaster? How does one specify what one needs? As I recall flirs are not cheap, but maybe they can save me a bunch of time.
 
matthewsx said:
It's tearing my wife up to see our Michigan home being torn apart by the new owners, 1882 brick Victorian that had original windows, but ultimately it's theirs now so they can do what they want.
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The trouble with selling stuff to folks with no soul.

Stu
 
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