[Fiveandjean]

Myself and another person inherited a condo in Palm Springs CA. I have lived in it for approx 13 years. We are thinking of selling. Price $143,000. Giving each of us approx +$70,000. I pay HOA, Land Lease and property taxes. I have for the past 2 or 3 yrs. My question is 1. What are my approx IRS taxes 2. Is there anyway the condo could be sold without the agreement of the other party 3. Can one owner sell their 50%.
Please help... m

[smoothy]

As far as Item #3, Any owner can force a partition sale... and that means the ENTIRE property gets sold, and proceeds split accordingly... not just their percentage.

Your option is buy them out of their portion first. Or get them to buy you out of yours.

[Fiveandjean]

So they can not sell to a third person? You can cores them to sell, how?

[Fiveandjean]

How can you force sell the other owner to sell? Is it true they can not sell their half to a third person

[AK lawyer]

1. What are my approx IRS taxes

Taxes are at the capital gains rate on the appreciation from the time you inherited the half interest in the condo.
"0% for the 10%~15% brackets; 15% for the 25%~35% brackets; and 20% for the 39.6% bracket." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capita..._United_States

In other words, the answer would depend on what tax bracket in which you find yourself.

2. Is there anyway the condo could be sold without the agreement of the other party

You would have to sue the other owner for "partition".

3. Can one owner sell their 50%.

Yes, if you can find someone foolish to pay for a 1/2 undivided interest (co-owned with a stranger to the buyer).

[smoothy]

Hopefully this can shed some light on part of your questions. I'd recommend retaining an attourney to deal with the details to assure everything is done according to the law.

Partition of Heirs Property Act Summary

THE UNIFORM PARTITION OF HEIRS PROPERTY ACT- A Summary -

The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act addresses a problem faced by many middle to low- income families who own real property: dispossession of their land through a forced sale. For many of these families, real estate is their single most valuable asset. Rural African-American families have been hit especially hard. Following the civil war, African-Americans acquired between sixteen and nineteen million acres of agricultural land by 1920. Today, African- Americans retain only about seven million acres of that land.
The Issue: State Laws Create a Tenancy-in-Common by Default
Most higher-income families engage in sophisticated estate planning, ensuring a smooth transfer of wealth to the next generation. In contrast, lower-income landowners are more likely to use a simple will to divide property among children, or to die intestate. Unless a landowner specifies a different form of ownership in an estate plan, the owner's descendants will inherit real estate as tenants-in-common under state property statutes. A tenant-in-common may sell his or her interest without the consent of the co-tenants, making it easy for non-family members to acquire an interest in the property. This condition has allowed many real estate speculators to acquire heirs property at a price below its fair market value, depleting a family's wealth in the process.
An Example of Heirs Property Loss
To illustrate the problem, imagine a widow with three children who owns a small farm, including a farmhouse where she lives. Unless the widow makes other provisions in her estate plan, when she dies the three children will inherit the property as tenants-in-common. That is, the children will each own a one-third share of the undivided piece of real estate. Imagine further that two of the children would like to maintain their ownership of the farm, but the third child wants to convert his share into cash. Because his siblings cannot afford to buy him out, he sells his one- third interest to an unrelated real estate investor.
In a tenancy-in-common, any co-tenant may file an action with a court to partition the property. In resolving a partition action, the court has two main remedies available: partition-in-kind or partition-by-sale. A partition-in-kind physically divides the property into shares of proportional value and gives each co-tenant full ownership of an individual share. However, if it is not possible to divide the property equitably, the court will often order a partition-by-sale, whereby the property is sold as a single parcel and the cash distributed to the co-tenants in proportion to their ownership.
Returning to our example, the unrelated investor-owner can petition a court for partition of the farm. If the property contains only one farmhouse, dividing it into shares of equal value may be difficult or impossible. Therefore, a court is likely to order a partition-by-sale, forcing the two siblings to sell the property against their will. Even worse, forced sales often bring meager returns. The investor might purchase the remaining shares at a price well below their fair market value, and the siblings would have little to show for their inheritance.
The Solution: A Statute that Balances the Interests of All the Owners
The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA) helps to solve the problem while preserving a co-tenant's right to sell his or her share of property. It is important to note that the act only applies to heirs' property – one or more co-tenants must have received his or her property interest from a relative – and only when there is no written agreement governing partition among the owners. If both of those conditions exist, the act requires certain protections when a co-tenant files for a partition order:
1. The co-tenant requesting the partition must give notice to all of the other co-tenants.
2. The court must order an independent appraisal to determine the property's fair market value as a single parcel. If any co-tenant objects to the appraised value, the court must hold a hearing to consider other evidence.
3. Any co-tenant (except the co-tenant(s) requesting partition-by-sale) may buy the interest of the co-tenant seeking partition for a proportional share of the court-determined fair market value. The co-tenants have 45 days to exercise their right of first refusal, and if exercised, another 60 days in which to arrange for financing. If more than one co-tenant elects to buy the shares of the co-tenant(s) seeking partition, the court will pro-rate the sellers' shares among the buyers according to their existing fractional ownership percentages.
4. If no co-tenant elects to purchase shares from the co-tenant(s) seeking partition, the court must order a partition-in-kind, unless the court determines that partition-in-kind will result in great prejudice to the co-tenants as a group. UPHPA specifies the factors a court must consider when determining whether partition-in-kind is appropriate.
5. If partition-in-kind is inappropriate and the court orders a partition-by-sale, the property must be offered for sale on the open market at a price no lower than the court-determined value for a reasonable period and in a commercially reasonable manner. If an open market sale is unsuccessful or the court determines that a sale by sealed bids or by auction would be more economically advantageous for the co-tenants as a group, the court may order a sale by one of those methods.
Conclusion
In summary, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act preserves the right of a co-tenant to sell his or her interest in inherited real estate, while ensuring that the other co-tenants will have the necessary due process to prevent a forced sale: notice, appraisal, and right of first refusal. If the other co-tenants do not exercise their right to purchase property from the seller, the court must order a partition-in-kind if feasible, and if not, a commercially reasonable sale for fair market value.

[smoothy]

Requesting Moderators merge this with the other thread on this topic.

[ScottGem]

Is there no mortgage? Your cost basis will be the value of the condo when you inherited it 13 years ago. You will need to get an appraisal as of that time if you don't have it already. Your profit will be the difference between the cost basis and the selling price minus any improvements made. Since you have lived in it for the past 13 years, you can defer your gain if you buy a new home within 2 years (I think).

{Mod Note: threads merged, please don't start multiple threads on the same issue}

As noted, they can sell if they can find a buyer. But the likelihood of finding someone to buy a 1/2 share in a condo is extremely small. It might help us help you if you outline the exact situation you are facing.

[joypulv]

Many people sell their half to the other occupant or someone who knows that person. I've done it myself. Easy. But don't entertain any notions of selling just half to a total stranger. 'Forcing partition' doesn't build a wall down the middle; it merely forces the sale of the entire property.

ScottGem, the rules about rollover changed. But there's the occupancy rule, and I don't know if OP is considered an 'occupant' (owner?) for 2 years. Here's beginning reading.
Tax Topics - Topic 701 Sale of Your Home

[AK lawyer]

The link supplied by Joypulv is interesting. I wasn't sure whether OP would meet the "ownership and use" test until I did some further reading. I think this suggests that OP would indeed qualify for the "rollover" tax exclusion:

"Qualified individual. For purposes of the reduced maximum exclusion, a qualified individual is any of the following.

• You.
• Your spouse.
• A co-owner of the home. [emphasis added by me]
• A person whose main home is the same as yours." Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home