Death of spouse and real estate holdings

[Tom Albares]

My wife died two weeks ago and I’m confused what to do with my real estate holdings. 

My current situation is I own a house with a detached guest house in Tucson, AZ. It’s worth about $580,000 and $475,000 is owed on the mortgage. It would take about a $25k investment to make it really sellable, and the market is slow. 

My wife also ran a vacation rental business in Tucson. The condo is worth about $200,000 and $88,000 is owed on the mortgage. The business grosses $23,000/year and nets around $2000/year after all expenses including mortgage are covered. 

But I work in Palmdale, CA and we were in the process of buying a new construction home for us to live in while I finished my career. The house in Tucson would become a second home that we’d retire to. 

Now all of that has changed. I can keep the vacation rental business going if I want to. I can hold onto the house. But should I carry the burden of a huge house payment for a house I don’t use?  And I don’t want to rent it. Too big and niche for a normal rental. 

Any advice would be appreciated