Dear MarketWatch, My mother-in-law moved into our rental home eight years ago. From the start there was miscommunication about how much the rent was going to be. We thought she would pay the asking amount; she thought she would get a deal. She paid the asking price at the time.
Fast forward eight years, and two kids later. She is still paying the original amount we quoted her. She signed a month-to-month. We pay the rest of the mortgage — $500 a month — as well as anything maintenance-related (lawn, etc.) We want to sell the house because of the boom. She also put in $60,000 into the house via upgrades — her picks, not ours. We covered the house payments while this was happening as well as put in our own money to fix up stuff. I specifically asked her to not do one of the upgrades, and she did it anyway. How do we break it to her that we want to sell, and do we pay her back the total amount she put in? Sincerely, Never rent to family ‘The Big Move’ is a MarketWatch column looking at the ins and outs of real estate, from navigating the search for a new home to applying for a mortgage. Do you have a question about buying or selling a home? Do you want to know where your next move should be? Email Jacob Passy at [email protected] Dear Family, You said it yourself — it’s inevitably a tough situation when family and real-estate transactions mix. It throws the standar …