The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Sell an Inherited House? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Arturo is with us in St. Louis. Hi, Arturo.

How are you? I'm good, sir. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm kind of wondering what the best course of action, and I'm going to tell you real quick, I'm 27 years old. I'm on Baby Step 3B.

I learned about all your programs about two months ago, and I just want to say thank you. Your knowledge is very helpful for many people. Well, thank you. Way to go. You're doing great. Thank you. Thank you.

I have about $78,000 saved up. I am single, and I don't know if I should buy a rental property. I live in St. Louis. There's houses here for less than that, which I can purchase. It's $750 around there. Or I should buy a small house or a small condo and just keep it, even though I'm not going to be happy with that purchase. You're not going to be happy with that purchase? You mean it's not going to be like – Yeah.

Would you live there? I mean, can you buy something you'd be willing to live in? That's what I would say. I want to be rent-free. Like, I understand that it's a big step, but it's something I wouldn't really be happy living there. I travel quite a bit, and leaving my stuff in there in not a good neighborhood, I don't know, I don't feel really comfortable.

That's cool. So what is your income? I do $73,000 a year. Where did the $78,000 come from? Savings. You just saved it up. Yeah, I save about $2,500 a month, and I've been doing this job for about three years now.

Okay. Well, here's the way I look at this. When somebody asks me a question, almost of any kind, I asked myself, if I were in your shoes, what would make me have? Because it's a money question. What would make me have the most money and the best life 10 years from now? Which of these two choices? Now, the way I would know what to do is, number one, I've done this a long time teaching people, worked with a lot of people for 30 years. Number two, you know, we study million millionaires what do you want to be you know and

so we want to have some money and um i find almost no millionaires that rented while they bought rental property the vast majority of them buy a home pay it off and save and invest and then buy rental property like that's almost all of them um and so uh that's what i would tell you to do now as far as buying a home goes or a condo that you like that you'd be willing to live in leave your stuff in while you're traveling all those kinds of things i get that i don't have any problem with it there's two courses we could go with one is sit right where you are and save up a little more money you're a savings maniac dude you're on fire just save up a little more money and You're a savings maniac, dude. You're on fire. Just save up a little more money and then go buy something.

I mean, you don't have another $30,000 in a year, and so, you know, and another $30,000 after that. Or I don't yell at people for taking out debt on a home, so buy you a little condo that's in a good neighborhood that you're comfortable with, that your stuff can be in, and that will go up in value. And, you know, put 50% down, you know. Buy something for, you know, $180,000, $160,000, or whatever, something like that, and you can get something pretty good for that in St. Louis.

Now, if you do that, then turn around and just pay that off in the next, like, what, three years? I mean, you're going to do that really fast. Put it on 15 year fix but pay it off really really fast so by the time you're 30 you're sitting there the house has gone up and the condo's gone up in value it's now worth 200 plus and it's paid for now that's that's a big building block in your millionaire house that we want to build called your net worth so if you wanted to buy something now and plan to pay it off very, very quickly, put it on a 15 year fixed. I don't yell at people for doing that. It's the only debt that I don't yell at you for taking out. Um, and, uh, now I will tell you in fairness, and I always put this disclaimer out there. I don't borrow money for anything. So if I woke up in your shoes, I would be forced because I have a rule. I do not borrow money for anything ever under any circumstances ever.

Period. I quit because I found that is really the shortest path to wealth. So I would be in your shoes. I'd be sitting there renting and I would pile up the cash and I'd buy me a property. And if I didn't like that property, I'd keep piling up cash because I had no rent now and pile up more cash and um then i would move again and the good news is you're 27 you're single you can move pretty quick like a few hours right i mean it's not that much to it it's not like old married people they've been collecting crap for 40 years they have to marry move you know it's like your stuff jumps in the truck, you go. And so it's not a big deal.

So you could buy something that way, wait a year, buy a hundred and something thousand dollar property. Two years later, you got the cash plus that, sell that property, and you move up to something about $200,000 probably. You could go that route if you want. I don't borrow money, so in full disclosure, that's the way I would end up doing it. But if you were to go the other route you would still be under the column of someone who is wise and that's following them the normal steps that someone who has a one to a five million dollar net worth

goes through and that's the process charlie is with us in philadelphia hi charlie how are you hi dave thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? So my wife and I, we bring home about $7,700 a month. We also have $200,000 in debt. About a year ago, she started a music therapy company. So far, she's made about $ made about 24 000 but we haven't

touched any of that money um we reinvested it in the business okay now my question is she's thinking about quitting her job so she can do the business full-time um her reasoning is that she wants she thinks she can double double the business in the next year if she has more time and focus on there. I just wanted to get your thought on that. What does she make now? Around $43,000. And so if she's wrong, you take a $20,000 pay cut in your household.

You go from $43,. If her supposition is wrong, the only thing we're sure of is that she made 24. Yes, sir. At a business. And so if she's wrong and the business doesn't go up just because she's at it full time, she took a $20,000 pay cut. That's what happens if she's wrong. So what I tell folks is this. That might be an okay risk, given that you make as much money as you make. You know? You've got a lot of debt that's weighing this decision down. That's the problem.

But I think she might be right. But here's the way I look at it. You want the boat close enough to the dock that when you jump from the dock, you can hit the boat. And what that means is you want her music therapy income to be close enough to her day job income that when you make that jump, it doesn't feel like you're just hoping you can hit the boat, and you end up wet in the lake. You see what I'm saying? This is a

pretty far leap you're describing but it might be that you work it a few more months and let's see if we can get that up to 30 from 24 i mean if you're making 2,500 bucks a month 20 or 3,000 dollars a month that's 36,000 a year that's not a far jump from 40 so you could do that one see that's a step. So maybe we work this business just a little more, and let's get it on up and give up our sleep and win. Business leaders, I'm not going to lie. Finding the right people to make an impact at your company for years to come is hard work. But I can tell you from personal experience,

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Terms and conditions apply. Joyce is with us in Greensboro, North Carolina. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Joyce. Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Quick question. I'm looking for the best way to stay for a grandchildren's college fund. Is there a good alternative to the 529 where you don't have the restrictions?

What kind of restrictions are you trying to avoid? Like if the kids decide not to go to school. Okay. All right. Well, yeah. I guess the 529 versus whether to just get stocks and that sort of thing. Right. You could just buy mutual funds.

There's a couple of different ways to do that. As a grandparent, you don't have quite the influence that you do as a parent. So with our kids, we would recommend if it was your children to do the 529 or the ESA, the Educational Savings Account, which has to be used for college, but then pretty much brainwash them that we have a college fund and you're going to college. You have a college fund, you're going to college. But as a grandparent, you don't have that option. So you think there's a probability that the parents aren't going to brainwash them into going to college?

Well, the parents have looked at the 529-2, and they're thinking about the restrictions. I think they will, but I think just looking into the future, if something happened and they did not, I was just trying to think of the best way to provide money for them and to help the parents provide money for them. Well, the best way is a 529 because it keeps the government's hands off of the growth. It's tax-free growth. And so if the probability is 50% that they're not going to go to college, I wouldn't use

a 529. If the probability is 5% that they're not going to go to college i wouldn't use a 529 if the probability is five percent that they're not going to go to college i would use a 529 okay and so there's always a chance some kids not going to go to school and then you can transfer the money to a sibling you can do a lot of different things with it you can actually now pay for uh private school for k through 12 with them This last tax law changed that. So there's a few things like that that you can do. But, you know, again, it's a probability thing in your minds as if it's just like,

oh, I don't know if I want to do that. Well, you're not, money's not trapped. The government doesn't take the money. It just penalizes you on the growth is all if they don't go. So again, if it's a five percent probability that they might not go and if they were to get scholarships by the way academic and academic or athletic scholarships or something you can pull that much the equivalent amount out of the 529 without any taxes on it oh okay so if they get a five thousand dollar scholarship you can pull five thousand

dollars out of the 529 there There's no taxes on it. Oh, great. And can I ask you one more quick question? Sure. Is there a rule of thumb for the percentage that you would withdraw from your retirement as not to deplete, you know, your money over time? I know it's a guessing thing. But it's... No more.

If you've got it invested in good growth stock mutual funds and i do and if it were returning like mine have been returning north of 12 percent if you pull less than 12 out and it's growing at more than 12 you're never going to get into the principle and so we tell folks you know don't pull out more than 6% or 8% if you're earning 12%. Now, if you're earning 6% and you pull out 6%, you're eventually probably going to get in a hole there. But pull out less than you're earning on average on the investments, considerably less. And that way you never really touch the goose.

All you're dealing with is the golden eggs. The income is the golden eggs. The goose is the principal. And that's what you're dealing with is the golden eggs. The income is the golden eggs. The goose is the principal. And that's what you're facing. Myrna is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Myrna. How are you? Hi, Dave.

It's so good to talk to you. You too. What's up? So my husband and I have been following your program since 2015, and we are currently at Baby Step 4. We are pregnant, and we are currently living in a basement. It doesn't sound as bad as it sometimes sounds, but it's a basement apartment, and to save money so that we can eventually buy a house.

And our eventual goal was to be able to buy this house that we actually were staying in because we'd fallen in love with it and to buy that house, you know, two or three years or whenever the owner decides to sell it because they're currently 92 and looking to move on. And so my question is, they actually let us know recently that they're interested in selling it and wanted to know if we were interested, which we're just not sure if now is the best time for us to buy, but we love this house. So you're out of debt, and you have your emergency fund in place. Yes. And you're putting money into retirement.

Have you saved any money for a down payment? That's what we're working on now so and we just started that process right how much have you got saved for your down payment right now we only are at like three thousand okay and how much is this house they haven't they don't have an official price yet they need to do all the comps. Roughly. I'm thinking it's going to be between $250 and $300. Okay. And so, will they give you a little time to scratch together your down payment?

That I would have to find out. It sounds like they're trying to sell by the end of this year. Okay. And what is your household income? We make $6,000 a month. Okay. So if you stop temporarily putting money into your retirement and you lean on Baby Step 3B, your down payment,

how much could you have saved by the end of the year? Oh, that's a really good question. We'd probably be upwards of maybe 30 or 40. Yeah, that's pretty cool. That puts you in a really strong position, wouldn't it? Huh, I didn't think about stopping the retirement. Yeah, it's a temporary thing. Sometimes folks do Baby Step 4 while they're saving for a house.

Sometimes they temporarily, for the first home purchase will stop their baby. Step four. And we call that baby. Step three B, then above your emergency funds, saving your down payment. And I think that's going to get you there. I think you're in good shape. Yay. If you want this house, it sounds like if they'll give you to the end of the year to scratch together your down payment you probably and be in pretty decent shape to buy it 15 year fixed rate and the payment should

not be more than a fourth of your take-home pay ruby's in pittsburgh hi ruby welcome to the dave ramsey show hi thanks dave happy to be with you today happy to have you how can i help so i have a question um going through a lot of life changes right now. Actually, my husband, my new husband and I are new to your program and got really excited about it. So we basically paid off our student loans. He didn't have very many and I've always been debt free. And so now, you know, we're married. We actually have a baby on the way. And yeah, thank you. And we're looking at moving where my husband is. He's actually three hours away with his work.

I'm looking at a house purchase. And so my question is actually related to a company stock I have. I've been working in the tech industry, and part of my compensation has been a company stock that's been vesting over the last few years. And I didn't realize I've never touched it. And as of now, my best value is almost $150,000. And so I'm just kind of wondering right now, you know, we have about 50,000 saved. When we got pregnant and we got on this program, we just started saving money because we knew we'd have a house in our future. And so we have about 50,000 in savings right now. Our joint income is $200,000.

So we make a decent income together. And we're looking at purchasing a house for $350,000 in the next six months. And so I'm looking at this right now. If we wanted to move forward on the purchase, we'd like to move forward on it because the baby's on the way. Good point. But we don't have quite enough saved right now with our $55,000. And so I'm wondering if I should take out some of this vested stock. All of it.

And put it, all of it? Yeah. And just throw it up the mortgage. Yeah. That's $200,000 down on $350,000 and then pay the stupid house off in three years. Well, so that's my question as well. This house, it's like a five-year house for us. Pay it off.

Pay it off. Huh? Pay it off. When you sell a paid-off house, you know what they give you? A check. Cash. You're not going to lose the money by paying it off. Money's not gone. And you don't know what's going to happen.

So right now, get the house. Get it paid off as quick as you can. You make good money. Don't wallow around in debt. Make your move. Don't be three hours away from your husband when you're pregnant. I'm with you. Do it.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Thanks for joining us, America, in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. Daniel and Jennifer are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Doing good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. Welcome, welcome. And how much debt have you two paid off?

It is $211,191.34. Wow. And how long did this take? 34 months. Okay. And your range of income during that time? It was $150,000 starting out and ended at $200,000. Way to go. Where do you all live? Connecticut. Cool. What do you do for a living? I'm in accounting. And I'm an advisory

manager for a big global firm. Very cool. Good for you guys. $211,000. Wow. What was that? Mostly student loans. About $175,000 of it was was student loans and then a little bit of everything else we brought on a 401k we got car loans credit card loans pretty much everything we were normal as you would say you were normal plus a little wow yeah look at this i mean that's a lot of debt no older than you guys are yeah so uh i mean 34 months so three so three, so $70,000. You cash flowed this, I guess, right? We did. And, wow, what happened 34 months ago?

Is that when you got married, got out of school and everything, or what? We just got engaged, got a condo, and I kind of sat down and tried to understand our finances, combining our finances and everything. And when you put all those numbers together, I was like, I really don't know. I was a finance major. I don't know much about personal finance, though. So I actually Googled personal finance 101, and your name came up.

I listened to your podcast. I came home, and I'm like, this guy makes a lot more sense, actually, Jen. So why don't we start listening to him? And she got on board pretty quick. So the accounting major had no trouble getting a hold of this, right? No, not at all. Not at all. Okay.

And so how long, and then you get married after that, right? Yeah. We cash flowed our wedding. And then after that, once we were married, you know, we really kicked it into high gear. Our brother-in-law bought us FPU as a wedding gift. Oh, nice. So that was great. Okay. So once they heard you had joined the cult, they helped you get all the way in, huh?

Yep. Okay. Yeah, he actually paid his off in like three or four months. Wow. I kind of told him about you. He's like, oh, that's a good idea. And he pays pretty quickly, too. He jumped in there, too.

Wow. So you're getting everybody on board. Good. Very cool. This is impressive, you guys. Thank you. That's a lot of debt. It was.

I mean, you must feel like you lost 300 pounds. Yeah, it's a huge relief. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, the weight, I'm telling you. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You had this impressive result. Communication and persistence. You know, we always sat down and did our budget every month and talked about every dollar and where it was going and just stuck to our plan plan even when all our friends were going out and we just, you know, stayed at home and, you know. Loud Netflix. Yeah.

You've been on beans and rice. I mean, looking at this. Yeah. A little bit, for sure. You for sure hadn't been doing anything. You've had no life for 34 months. But now you can do anything. I mean, you're making a couple hundred a year.

How old are you two? 29. 29. Oh, man. A couple hundred a year. How old are you two? 29. 29. Oh, man. A couple hundred a year and you have no debt at all. I mean, you're in an amazing position. Feels really good. Not bad.

Very well done. Very, very well done. So what was the hardest part of this for you all? The hardest part, I think, was really just sticking to the budget. You know, seeing everybody go out every weekend, go out to dinner, movies, all that stuff. You know, we like to socialize with all our friends and hang out. So staying home and really just sticking to it. It was really helpful any time I feel like, oh, I want to go out or I want to buy this nice gift.

She was there to be like, oh, we have every dollar is in the budget, is in the budget. So and then similarly, when she would want to go out, we had a good every dollar is in the budget, is in the budget. And then similarly, when she wouldn't want to go out, we had a good way to kind of work off each other throughout the 34 months. Yeah, you hold each other up. Yep. Because it's a long track. I mean, 34 months, that's amazing. But that's a lot of debt.

This is very cool. Very proud of you all. So did you have more people cheering you on or saying you were insane? It was a mix of both, I say it was a good mix some family a lot of family members are kind of oh you always you always being dead don't worry about it but you know other family members are no you got this you can do it um just with the amount of debt we had it was a huge mountain to climb so it definitely took some time and then i remember before i think when i turned 29 i'm like you know what we have enough money let's just let's just make the last payment. And then huge sigh of relief after that.

I love it. Yep. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you two. Very, very well done. Thank you. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That needs to be the next chapter in your story, that you're millionaires and outrageously generous along the way.

You are on track. I mean, you've got a great income. You should be able to do that pretty quick. Very well done. along the way. You are on track. I mean, you've got a great income. You should be able to do that pretty quick. Very well done. Daniel and Jennifer, Norwalk, Connecticut, $211,000 paid off in

34 months, making $150,000 to $200,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Oh, that's how it works. I love it.

Very well done, you guys. Very, very well done. Lila is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Lila. How are you? I'm good, Mr. Ramsey. It's such an honor to talk to you. Well, you too. How are you? I'm good, Mr. Ramsey. Such an honor to talk to you. Well, you too. How can I help?

Okay, so I just finished baby step number one, 29 years old. I've been married for a year with my husband. And now we're on baby step number two. We have $70,000 in debt. That is $45,000 of student loans, two bachelors and a master's, and $10,000 for his car, and then I think $2,000 for medical bills. So it's around $70,000. But my car is dying slowly but surely, leaves me on the side of the road half the time. So I am in a pickle where I don't know if I need to stop baby step number two and stay for a car, a little used car, or if I could just push through and later on buy a car. Not

really sure what to do. What's your household income? I make $47,000 and he makes $38,000. And we live in Southern California in a tiny studio apartment. We pay $1,000 a month, which is unheard of in my area. I know. I know. Okay. Very well done. All right.

So how many times exactly have you been on the side of the road? Oh, this year, it's February, so probably twice, probably three times last year, four times. In the whole year last year and already twice this year? Yeah. I got about 40,000 miles left on that car, according to my very honest mechanic. Yeah. So what is happening to the car that is leaving you on the side of the road? It's old.

It's a 14-year-old car. It's my first car. I got it when I was 15. I have a 1960 Corvette that does not leave me on the side of the road. Okay. What is happening to the car, other than age, that's leaving you on the side of the road? What's the type of breakdown you have? Everything from like just tune-ups.

So like transmission fluid is leaking, so then that has to be fixed. None of that leaves you on the side of the road. What broke that left you broken down on the side of the road? Yeah. What broke down that left you on the side of the road? Yeah. What broke down that left you on the side of the road? A tune-up doesn't do that. Leaking transmission fluid doesn't do that. Yeah, you know, it'll just stop.

It won't turn on. So sometimes it's the battery, so then I have to recharge the battery. Sometimes it's just the most random things and i keep taking it back in and i just don't know if it's costing you more money than than a bus pass okay um okay uh yeah i probably would save a couple thousand dollars and put with this car and buy a different car. Sell this car and put a couple thousand dollars with it and do that and buy a better car. And then I want him to drive that car and I want you to take his. Okay. I'll tell him that.

He doesn't know the federal law. Federal law is wife gets the good car. I'm recording that right now. Yeah. If anybody's on the side of the road, it needs to be his butt, not you. Yeah. I think I would. I think I'd stop for a second here and get you something that would be reliable transportation. And let's get back in the game then real hard but not not anything big couple thousand bucks

this is the dave ramsey show Thank you. Matt is with us in St. Louis. Hi, Matt. How are you? Hey, Dave. Good. I've got a question about if I should buy or rent. I actually moved to St. Louis in the fall to start work. And I went to school close to home, so I saved up money. And I've got enough to afford, you know, I think to buy a place. And I'm just wondering if it's a wise investment at this point. Well, real estate as a long-term play, especially your personal residence, owning is a wise investment. We tell folks not to buy until they're debt-free, have their emergency fund, plus a down payment,

and then on top of that, don't take out more than a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay, so you can turn around and get it paid off as fast as possible. So, you got any debt? No, sir. Good. How much money you got saved? About $35,000. Good for you. What's your income? It'll be $53,000. How old are you? 22. Okay, so you're just out of school. What's your degree in? It's in accounting. Good for you, and you've landed a great job already, straight out. Well done. Yeah, luckily.

You dating anybody? I've got a girlfriend, yes. Okay. Pretty steady, or what? Yeah. We've been dating for about four years. That's pretty steady. Okay.

Yeah. All right. Well, sometimes guys buy a house when they're single, and then they find out after they're married it was the wrong house. Right. house when they're single and then they find out after they're married it was the wrong house i heard what you said about uh buying uh you need to find out how far you need to be from your mother-in-law yeah in the first year you get to know each other in the first year of marriage so i'm not in a hurry for you to buy a house at 22 you've obviously done a lot of very wise things so far you've saved money you've gotten a really good job in a career field that's very marketable gotten a degree in that career field that's very

marketable um you know you're you're obviously wise beyond your years in all of those regards if you want to buy something hold back enough of that 35 to call it your three to six months of expenses emergency fund and buy. I wouldn't be mad if you waited 18 months and see how this relationship stuff goes and pile up a little more cash. I just don't want you to wait 10 years to buy. Right, yeah. And I'm not telling you any of this regarding how hot the market is one way or the other. It's more based on where you are in your stage of life

and the things that are going on with you. You can take your time a little bit. I would buy a home in the next few years. You can do it now or you can do it in the next few years, whichever is the place you want to do that. But I can promise you that two things would occur if you were to marry this young lady. One is your

household income is going to probably double which would change the house you would potentially look at and secondly obviously uh you know her opinion her vote is going to come into the equation and that's a minimum so uh you know you might buy something and then you may sell it and move after you get married. But that would be okay, too. As hot as this market is, you're probably going to come out on that. It's not the end of the world. So you can go ahead. If you waited two years and see how this other stuff plays out, it's not the end of the world.

I wouldn't wait five years. I wouldn't wait ten years. Michelle is with us in Boca. Hi, Michelle. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help you today? I'm so grateful for you, Mr. Ramsey, and having met you. Thank you for coming down to Church by the Glades. We really appreciate you. Thank you. We love that church.

I'm wearing Pastor's shoes he gave me today, as a matter of fact. Here, look, YouTube. He gave me these really cool shoes. Oh, he's very cool, actually. He is cool. Shoes are way cooler than me. All right. So what's up? How can I help? Okay, so we're currently in baby step number two, down to our last big student loan,

which we should be done with by October, God willing. My spouse and I inherited a home about four years ago, unfortunately, when my mom passed away without leaving a will. So I had co-signed for her on that, and we were on the deed. I was told with rights of survivorship. I've paid all the bills on there. The house has been rented. And I have a brother at my issue right now because I've heard you in the past. Sorry, I'm really nervous.

I've heard you in the past say that we should not have a property which is greater at a distance. We are here in Florida, but the house is about five and a half hours away. The renters, they are really great. They even pay on time or early. What is the house is about five and a half hours away um the the renters are they are really great they even pay on time or early what is the house worth the house is worth i got some comps from uh one of your elps and and another realtor as well and they told me maybe about we could put it on the market for about 189 is what i was told um 189 to 199 if you had 150 000 piled in the middle of your table your kitchen table the chances of you going five hours away and buying a rental property is zero right okay so the only reason you would keep this property is that you're emotionally attached to it because it was your mom's. Did you live in this property as a child? I lived in it as an adult. I went to grad school and stayed there with her.

She helped me out. But my issue is that I have a brother who is not on the deed and he's not on the home and who I would like to preserve a relationship with. He is a realtor, and he lives up north. And he's not in this market, but he's not really on board with me selling the house right now because he feels that we're not going to make much of a profit. You're going to make all profit because you didn't pay anything for it. And he's not on the deed, and it's not his problem. So if the only way you can keep your relationship with your brother is that you do what he says, and what he says is a bad idea, you've got other issues with your brother.

He's an older brother, isn't he? Of course he is. He's acting like it. Yeah. So I would just gently and kindly say, you know, so you're planning on giving him some of the money, I take it? Well, I mean, I don't want to sever the ties, and I was thinking of maybe splitting it with him. I mean, though he has not truly, and honestly, he hasn't contributed to it.

Right. There was no will. Was there any indication from your mother that was what was supposed to happen? No. Okay. Well, I mean, again, a relationship you have to pay for is called prostitution. I mean, that's not a relationship. If the only way this guy's going to be happy is you give him money and he gets to tell you what to do he's got other issues so he hasn't told me that directly okay he hasn't told me that directly

but i don't mind if you want to split the money with him i want you to do it out of strength rather than out of intimidation no no right well i mean i'm afraid i'm not going to have a relationship if he if i don't give him the money that's intimidation right that's not strength so i want you guys to pray about this talk to god about it and say this is your house god what do you want me to do you're my father my brother his opinion counts but it doesn't make my decisions if i'm in your shoes i'm selling the house and if you want to give him some of the money i'm okay with that do it from a sense of peace a sense of peace, a sense of strength, not a sense of I'm trying to make someone happy who's never happy.

You know, you can throw money at people like that your whole life, and it's never enough. So, I mean, your mom didn't leave him the house. That's apparently a reason. But, again, if there's some kind of other conversations that were had with your mom that I'm not privy to in this discussion, then we can change that whole thing. So, but I would not be keeping the house. And if he wants to, if he wants to buy it, he can buy it. He can buy it. But I don't know how we are making a profit on it because it's not his house.

So besides that, the profit issue is not an issue. You would not put $150,000 cash in a rental five hours away. It's not wise. So I hope that helps you. I'm selling it. The only question is whether he's going to be mad. And I may give him some money, and the only question is whether he's going to be mad. And I may give him some money, and the only question is whether he's going to be mad. But those are just things you have to work through as a part of the relationship. It's not part of the decision, really.

Thanks for calling. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer. Blake Thompson, our senior. He's now our chief production officer here in the offices of Ramsey Solutions. And Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, and we'll be back. Hey, guys, this is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.

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