Today I had lunch with my favorite Trust Officer from one of our local banks. We were talking about the state of the economy and how it is effecting trusts she administers as well as the real estate in those trusts.
My good friend said she used to administer trusts that had a few hundred thousand dollars in cash and a home that was fully paid for. The home would be sold and the heirs would split a million dollars or more. Those were the good old days.
This year she has had a lot of trusts where there was no cash, and the homes had large mortgages on them. This makes her job harder because it costs money to administer an estate and not having any cash till a home is sold is hard. However, the fact that so many homes belonging to people who were in their 80's have outstanding mortgages on them is a recent phenonenum. I have been saying forever that there is a huge portion of the population who never intended to pay off their homes. They were depending on the appreciation of their homes to have money to retire or to pass on to heirs. When the housing market lost equity they (or their heirs were out of luck.)
Even in a market that has held up much better than most of the country, this is a shift in retirement and
inheritance plans of many people.
The Asian chicken salad was delicious, despite the depressing conversation.
If you have any questions about selling a home in a trust or probate please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9285
D.R.E. 01191194
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