Reply to Increasing density drives low-income minorities out of DC, new study shows

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Grandma dies. No will. There are a number of heirs. Heirs don't have the money for a lawyer.  Taxes on house do not get paid as none of the heirs can come up with the money or any money for a lawyer.  House sold at auction.  This happens all the time in poor areas.[/quote]

If this is a common thing Mayor Bowser could certainly look at how to transfer houses to relatives and not have them sold at auction for peanuts [/quote]

I'm not sure that most of them sell for peanuts.  Yes, there are "we buy houses for cash" people around, but I think most people still go through traditional channels and the heirs split the proceeds.  And, of course, people of all backgrounds have to deal with deciding whether to sell their parents' homes when they die.  DC halves its already-low property tax rate for homesteaders over 65, which presumably helps grandma to stay in her home.  Estate taxes don't kick in until $2 million in DC, which is still quite a bit more than most of these houses are worth.

The biggest challenge with keeping one of these inherited houses in a gentrifying neighborhood, I think, is that many of them haven't been renovated in many decades and are often in rough shape from deferred maintenance. In situations where there are heirs who might like to live in the house and can afford to do so, it's one thing to figure out the financials, but often quite another to figure out how to do a major renovation that often involves replacing most of the major systems in the house.  A program to help elderly residents maintain their historic houses might help somewhat (I know that MA has some version of this).  Targeted financial literacy information for elderly residents and their heirs seems like a good idea too.  But beyond that, [b]I'm not sure how much DC can do [/b]to prevent people from deciding to take the money and sell their parents' or grandparents homes.[/quote]

DP. Or even should do. Imagine telling people that they're not allowed to sell the property they inherited.[/quote]

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