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Sat, May 3, 2025, 1:05 PM 6 min read
Inheriting a home can be a great thing — but it can also come with problems if you don't have the money to pay for it.
Let's say you have a $36,000 per year job, and the home has a $1,100 mortgage — but property taxes and insurance also must be paid, and keep going up every year. Between those bills, you end up with another $1,000 in housing expenses and have just $1,000 left over to cover the rest of your costs.
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Selling the home may seem like the obvious choice since experts say you typically shouldn't spend more than 30% of your monthly income on housing at most. But, what if you feel like this inherited property is the only chance to ever own a house of your own?
What should you do in this situation?
When you inherit a house, the first thing to do is find out how to take legal ownership. If you were already on the mortgage and a co-owner of the home, or if the homeowner set up the property to transfer on death, there may not be much you have to do.
However, if you weren't on the deed but inherited the property in a will, you may need to go through the probate process to formally transfer ownership. This can take time, and in the meantime, the estate remains the legal owner. Either you can pay the mortgage, or it can be paid out of estate assets in this situation.
If you're the legal owner, or once you become the legal owner, you have the right to take over the existing mortgage. You could also get a new mortgage in just your name, but with mortgage rates being pretty high right now, that's likely not your best bet.
You may want to talk to an attorney about all this to make sure the home will definitely become yours -- and to get advice on things like whether you'll owe taxes on an inherited home, as those taxes could make keeping the property impossible if you're already struggling.
On the other hand, if you were also left money as part of your inheritance, these funds could be used to pay off the mortgage and set up a fund that makes staying in the home affordable.
Read more: Here are 5 ‘must have’ items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you?
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