Not sure if this is a better question for /r/RealEstate or here but I'm trying here first.
My grandmother lives in Pennsylvania. She is going to be 92 in January. She's still spry and keep her house in great condition but she has made it clear she would prefer to go into one of those retirement communities and stop spending so much maintaining the house and the grounds.
Unfortunately it isn't as simple as just selling the house for her. In 1993 she had her house and a bunch of assets put into a Trust which she is the sole owner of. I guess legally she sold the house to the Trust for $1. She doesn't really know what this means for selling the house now (I don't think she ever expected to live this long). Her main reason for not selling so far is she is afraid of "wasting" money on Capital Gains tax. I've looked up that the exemption for CG tax for her would be $250k, but I don't really understand how the Trust and stuff would impact potential capital gains tax.
My grandparents bought this house in 1965 for $25k. Zillow and Redfin estimate the house is now worth about $500k. I don't know how accurate this is because her house is sort of unique. It is a large property in a very old neighborhood. By far the largest in the area and extremely well maintained but it also lacks some modern amenities like large closets and it only has one full bathroom.
So anyway I don't really know where to start. I feel bad for my grandmother because she feels torn. She loves the house and doesn't want to pay a big captial gains tax bill but she is tired of spending so much maintaining the house and grounds (my grandfather has been dead for 34 years).
Any help or guidance would be appreciated, including any resources people might have on the Trust situation.
Submitted November 03, 2018 at 11:12AM by CreativeVerge https://ift.tt/2CZdW8s
