He Helped His Girlfriend’s Mom Sell A Family Property For $1.5 Million, But Then The Rest Of The Family Found Out And Everything Blew Up
by Heather Hall

Pexels/Reddit
Nothing causes family drama faster than money, especially when someone finds out the truth too late.
So, what would you do if you helped your partner’s family uncover the real value of a property, only to watch everyone turn on each other over past decisions and missed opportunities?
Would you take the blame for starting all the drama?
Or would you still view it as a win?
In the following story, one man finds himself in this exact situation and is not ready for the unexpected fallout.
Here’s what happened.
AITA for tearing a family apart over money?
My girlfriend’s father had a business that was started by his great-grandfather back in the 1950s and passed down to different members of his family.
His father eventually ended up being the sole owner after buying out the others.
The last person he bought out was his brother, to whom he paid about $20,000 back in the early 80s.
This business did not generate much money, so he left it to become a grocery store manager while renting out the commercial property.
When he passed, he left the property to his wife, my girlfriend’s mother.
She (the mother) has been receiving rent, about $2800 a month, but it’s barely enough to cover taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs.
The mother is not making much off the business, so she wants to sell it.
In most years, she takes home around $5,000.
She wants to sell it for about $350,000 and use the money to travel and see family, then move into a retirement community.
She’s not rich and is basically living off of social security and measly rental income.
My girlfriend asked my opinion since I’m experienced with land and property, so I told her I thought the asking price was too low for a commercial property sitting on an acre of land in the middle of town.
She said that’s what it’s worth according to their property tax.
Unfortunately, the family had been valuing the property incorrectly.
Apparently, throughout the entire history of the property, the family had been using the tax assessment to determine the price of buying in and out of the business.
I told her the tax assessment and property value are two different things, so I sent my appraiser out, and he came back with an appraisal of about $1.2 million.
They were shocked and didn’t think that was an accurate price until they started getting offers after it was listed.
After some bidding, they came to an agreement with a buyer for almost $1.5 million.
The closing is next week.
Now, his girlfriend is blaming him.
When their family found out, things exploded.
Everyone who’s still alive thought they got ripped off for the past buyouts, some dating back to the 60s.
They want their fair share of the selling price, but that’s almost impossible because we’re talking about a dozen people, with some owning half of the business at some point.
Now the family her mother was wanting to visit are threatening to sue.
It’s been stressful on my girlfriend, and she’s taking it out on me.
Last night, she told me that things might have been better if I hadn’t brought up the appraisal, since all it did was tear her family apart.
AITA?
Yikes! These types of situations are always so unexpected.
Let’s see if the folks over at Reddit had any advice to offer.
This person thinks blaming him is absurd.
According to this reader, the family has no claim to the money.
As this comment explains, he saved the mother from getting ripped off.
Here’s a great way to look at it.
This situation is not his fault.
The family needs to let it go because they’re not entitled to the money.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · aita, family business, family drama, family inheritance, money drama, picture, reddit, small business owners, top

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