My grandmother bought the home we lived in the 90s for 90k at a 8% interest rate. I found out she refinanced the house several times from what seems like predatory practices and malicious advice and now owes 250k at 6%. Basically the house I thought was paid off now has 30 mortgage and she is 90. Her grandkids are in the will to inherent the house but do we inherent this mortgage?
You sure do if you want to keep the house. It also sounds like she leveraged the house for some extra cash when she refinanced.
That’s not necessarily a bad strategy, either. Most people, their home is their major asset, but you can’t really access that value to buy groceries in retirement. Take money out on a new mortgage on the inflated value of the house, buy groceries and pay mortgage with that money, and move in with the kids when/if the money runs out. The bank will take the house in the end, but leaving nothing to the heirs may be better than spending your last years living in your kid’s basement. The whole ‘reverse mortgage’ industry has grown up around just that plan.