My brother and I inherited two, free and clear houses in Missouri where he lives. I live in Georgia. The two are worth about $300-$350K. My mother filed a beneficiary deed with both my brother and I on it. Mom passed away almost eight years ago. One house is rented but the other vacant. I am 64 Y/O and want to use the cash from the sale to clear up some debt before I retire but I can't seem to motivate him to get either of them sold. He wants to keep the rental property. I don't know why because it is not making any money as far as I can tell. I have not seen a dime out of the rental because any monies from the rent because the rent goes to paying taxes, utilities and repair on bot homes.

What recourse have I to sell the vacant house? My brother and I have always been close but this is negatively effecting our relationship. I don't want to completely alienate him but I need to bring this to a close as soon as I can.

Ask your brother to buy you out. You could offer to buy him out and then sell one or both properties.

Thanks for the quick reply. I offered to sign a quit claim if he would get both properties appraised, get a note for 1/2 less whatever he has paid from his own pocket for repairs. I think this is a fair offer. He doesn't want to have a payment even though he would own both. He is not a businessman in any sense.

Thanks again.

You may have to take him to court to force him to sell or buy you out.

What of course should have happened, was though probate, the property would have been divided back then

Also for a home owned free and clear, worth 150,000 plus, there should be a lot of money after taxes if the rental is at a fair amount. I would require a accounting of the books, including reciepts.

I see this as a 2 sided issue.

One side of it is the business side. As you seem to be aware of and others have suggested. Do the math, offer a buyout one way or the other. Go to court if you can't reach an agreement.

The other side, that seems to be slowing this whole thing down, is that you need to get inside his head. WHY doesn't he want to sell? Are you talking "childhood home" here, or something with major sentimental value? Is he just havng trouble letting go of these properties because he doesn't want to "let go" of Mom? Is he just lazy? Surely you have some idea why he's doing this? Maybe he's been hit harder than you realize by your Mom's death and he needs some coddling to get through this. Both because you want to maintain your relationship with him, and because you want this business transaction to take place, you might need to hop in the ole 182 and spend a few days with brother.

This is quite common. I have several real estate investor-friends who purchase lots of estate properties. It's very common that one sibling just can't let it go as quickly as the rest. And usually the more antsy the rest get the more it slows down the hold-out.