The suffering of American heirs

For many young Americans who cannot afford to buy a home amid the price crisis, inheriting a house from their parents seems like a dream opportunity. However, Audrey Rutter’s experience shows that this can lead to many problems.

Audrey Rutter and her sister in 2023 inherited their parents’ house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is a two-bedroom house that her mother bought for $38,000 in 1998, then added central air conditioning and heating.

Rutter’s sister wants to rent it out, but the house has deteriorated due to lack of regular maintenance, so it needs money to renovate first. When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, all savings had to be prioritized for treatment costs.

Rutter had just graduated from a master’s program, was looking for a job and was about to have a wedding in Chicago, so she didn’t have much time and finances were tight. Both sisters did not have enough money to renovate the house or buy back the other’s ownership. Disagreements over how to handle the inherited house strained their relationship.

“I just want to sell the sarcophagus to end everything,” Rutter said. That time was so stressful that when a real estate company offered to buy the house for $52,000, she felt much more relieved.

In the end, the two sisters decided to sell their childhood home without negotiating and paying much. Rutter used the allotted money to pay for the wedding and as a financial buffer while applying for a job.

Americans are entering a period of “The Great Wealth Transfer”, when tens of trillions of dollars in assets will be transferred by the parents’ generation to their children. Housing will play an important part in this process, as real estate prices increase sharply.

According to real estate data analysis company Cotality, in the 12 months to August 2025, 340,000 homes in the US were transferred ownership through inheritance, a record high.

According to Peggy Sizow, director of fiduciary asset management at National Advisors Trust, an independent fiduciary asset management company, this is probably the most popular type of asset in the inheritance planning process, especially in the United States today.

However, the heir will face a series of financial burdens, from maintenance costs, real estate taxes, utility bills to debts or financial obligations tied to the house.

According to Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, some heirs will also have to pay estate taxes that relatives were previously allowed to defer. If they can’t afford it, they may have to sell the house, but even cleaning it up to put it on the market can cost a significant amount of money.

The inheritance process becomes more complicated when many family members own the same property. Disagreements over whether to keep, rent, or sell are common, especially when siblings have different incomes, financial goals, and levels of attachment to the home.

“When it comes to money, people are often strongly influenced by emotions. Money can bring out the best and worst sides of people,” Sizow said.

When Chrissy Burgess and her two siblings inherited their aunt’s vacation home in New York state, all three wanted to keep the house in the family and continue the annual Independence Day gathering tradition. They want their children to also have summers by the lake as beautiful childhood memories.

However, the house had many problems, from a leaky roof, damaged windows to bat and mouse intrusion. The space is also too small for all three families to stay together. When everyone has their own home and children to care for, the question is how much money they can contribute to repairs, as well as how that contribution will affect ownership ratios and future financial responsibilities.

After many years of consideration and many tense discussions, the three siblings decided to hire a lawyer to draft a joint management agreement, regulating the use of the house, renovations and related issues.

They also built an additional part of the house so that all three families could come and relax together. Burgess said everyone understands that the money invested in the house is unlikely to be fully recovered if it is later sold.

“This is a way for our families to be together. Everything is very complicated, but also extremely meaningful,” shared Burgess, who now lives in Brooklyn.