Each of these seven have subcategories. Real estate, for example, has six subcategories:
1. Owner-occupied home
2. Vacation home (including hunting, fishing)
3. Income-producing (multi-family residential, commercial, retail, industrial)
4. Agricultural (farm, ranch, orchard)
5. Timber
6. Raw land
To illustrate what help looks like, consider the example of a lakeside cottage that has been owned by one family for generations. Advisors with experience working with multi-generational families know that by the second or third generation, such properties likely have dozens of owners and certain issues are sure to arise:
a. Who is responsible for keeping critters and others outside during the off-season and in between family visits?
b. Who referees disputes if two family members want to use the cottage at the same time?
c. Who decides if a repair is needed, and if so who pays for it (remembering that not all family members have an equal ability to pay)?
d. What happens (and who decides) if an owner doesn’t plan to use the cottage or can’t afford to pay his or her fair share of the costs?
Therefore “help” with respect to a vacation cottage requires:
1. someone with diplomatic skills to help develop a governance plan for the property;
2. someone to pay property taxes, insurance and other routine bills;
3. someone to inspect the property periodically to insure it is being kept up;
4. (if the owners so decide) someone to rent out the cottage during vacant periods;
5. someone to supervise the contractors maintaining the property;
6. (if the owners so decide) someone to handle the property’s sale;
7. someone to prepare the property’s financial statements every year; and
8. someone to appraise the property from time to time.