If the house deed is placed in the name of all 3 heirs then who's in charge of selling the house?

Answer 1

If three heirs have inherited the property then all three are equally responsible for any expenses associated with owning and selling the house. If you don't want to hire an outside party to manage the property and sell it then the following plan could be followed.

If one of the heirs is more capable of taking charge, wants to take charge or has more time to devote to managing and selling the property, then the other two should pay that person for all the services that will be rendered. The three of you should meet together, decide who will be appointed the agent for the group and draft a detailed agreement. That agent will perform all the necessary tasks needed to manage and sell the property. You should discuss and list all the tasks that will need to be performed so no one has unrealistic expectations as to the amount of time that will be needed to take care of everything. Next you must agree on a fair hourly rate. Finally you should make three copies of the agreement and sign all three. Each heir should keep a copy.

The agent should keep a meticulous record of any time spent on tasks associated with the property that includes the date, time of day and amount of time used for each task. A separate sheet should be kept for any repairs or supplies that were purchased. Again, the date should be included as well as the receipt attached to the sheet. Another sheet should be kept for any insurance, utility costs or taxes that were paid. These records should be made readily available for the other owners to review.

After the sale of the property all the costs, expenses and hourly charges for the agent should be added together and paid to the agent from the net proceeds. Then the remaining net proceeds from the sale should be shared equally by the three heirs.

An alternative plan would be to establish a checking account funded by the estate or by all three heirs equally and then have the agent pay for all bills and repairs from that account and not have to use their own money. In that case, all that would be owed to the agent when the property is sold would be the hourly charge agreed upon for their services in managing and selling the property.