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Sell, the house. As others have said, being a long distance landlord is not easy, and your return on investment on a paid for house with no debt leverage will not be high. Invest the proceeds in a reasonably safe investment, for example, a professionally managed R/E Investment Trust (REIT). Decent REITs are paying 3.5% - 5% these days, they do the management for you, and they have upside appreciation potential in a way that a bond does not.
Your chances of getting ensnared with inheritance taxes are low, but you haven't revealed the value of the house to us.
Don't blow the cash on something ephemeral.
It's $100,000 is what we were told tax wise. A real estate broker told my mom when she wanted to sell it before she got sick. That's not counting the acre she has beside it. That's taxed at $20,000.
The trustee (mother or whoever is named in the trust) has to convey ownership of the property to the beneficiary before you can do anything with it.
Renting a house with a previously stated mortgage of $100/mo indicates the rental value may be low, perhaps too low to properly maintain the building without the ower incurring substantial out-of-pocket costs down the road.
I would take the previous poster's advice and raise chickens on the property for additional income.
It's $100,000 is what we were told tax wise. A real estate broker told my mom when she wanted to sell it before she got sick. That's not counting the acre she has beside it. That's taxed at $20,000.
Just read an article about Inheritance Tax on Wikipedia (Usual disclaimers about Wikipedia apply). It appears that estates are granted a $5,000,000 exclusion before inheritance tax is levied. Don't worry about inheritance tax. Your greatest concern should be the expenses of probate, but apparently the house is in a trust so you will avoid probate and its associated costs.
When the time comes to sell the house, invest the money wisely. You are unlikely to have this large amount of money at one time ever again. It could be the start of your retirement fund. Invest the money in a REIT, reinvest your dividends, and pretend you never received an inheritance at all. Live your life like you don't have the money.
Are you sure you won't need to sell the place to help pay for your mom's care?
If not, one thing you could do is sell it on an owner contract. You might get a higher price for it, if you're willing to carry the loan and sell to someone who doesn't have a large down payment or qualify for a traditional bank loan. Plus, you will make additional money collecting interest on top of a higher sales price.
As long as the person otherwise looks like a good risk, you would probably get a higher return on the money than most other investments. And if they default, you get to keep all the money they already paid you - and then sell it again.
I purchased two different owner-contract properties. One was a condo, the other a 2 acre parcel. I offered 10% interest to both, with low down payments. It was a great deal for the sellers, and I still sold both properties at a good profit.
I also knew a seller in a small town who had sold a property twice to people who he had to foreclose on. I rented an apartment on that property. I told him wow, that's too bad. And he laughed out loud and said he's just making money hand over fist selling it over and over.
I don't know anything about the tax issues in selling on an owner-contract, but it's something to consider. You'd have a monthly income instead of a one-time payout. But buyers who can't get the best deals, will buy properties in locations that aren't ideal - but that doesn't mean they will be a bad risk. And they are happy to pay a higher interest rate to get the deal.
You could put an early payoff clause in the contract, in case they decide to refinance at some point, too.
Sell it! Price it below market value. Be done with it.
FYI....if you rent it, you're going to have to pay income tax on all that rent! Just move on with your lives.
One would only pay taxes on the income that exceeds the costs of maintaining and managing the property, subject to variations depending on other incomes and laws.
You say that like the idea of having an income on which one must pay taxes is a bad thing. Do you not have an income? Do you not pay taxes?
In general, having an income is a good thing, even if one *does* have to pay taxes on it.
You put your mother's house in a trust to avoid having it tapped to pay her end-of-life bills?
Many wise people employ legal strategies, such as trusts, to protect and conserve assets.
Using every lawful means to protect, conserve and increase assets, while minimizing taxes, is how people can become wealthy. Knowing of such strategies, and failing to use them, is foolish.
Being ignorant of these things can be cured through education. If you want to be wealthy, learn what wealthy people do, and do likewise.
Libraries, bookstores, and the internet are resources by which one can become educated in order to cure ignorance.
Not to use [freely] available resources is stupid. Unfortunately, modern science has not yet found a cure for 'stupid', and many people will continue to complain about what others have, and which they could have for themselves for the price of a little effort...but they will never have it because they choose to continue to sit on their butts in front of the TV and complain about what they don't have instead of doing something about it.
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