For after the loss of a spouse
Renting the home instead of selling it, after a loss.
Maybe you are not ready to sell the home you shared, but you are not sure you can stay in it either. That is a common place to be, and there is a middle path most people do not know they have: renting. You can rent the home out and keep owning it, you can rent somewhere smaller for a while and leave the house as it is, or, where the local rules allow, you can look at a short-term rental. None of these is a decision to rush, and each is a legitimate answer. Here is what your renting options actually look like, told plainly, with the people you should talk to before any of it.
This page is about the renting options. For the larger question of selling or staying, see should you sell, or wait, and the whole season lives on the loss-of-a-spouse hub.
Talk to an estate attorney first. Everything on this page and in these guides is general information about the home side of losing a spouse, not legal or tax advice. What passes to you and how title moves is a legal question for an estate attorney, and the tax answers belong with a CPA. I work alongside them, never ahead of them.
On this page
The short answer
You do not have to sell, and you do not have to stay.
If selling feels like too much right now, you are not stuck with only two choices. Keeping the home does not have to mean living in it, and living somewhere else for a while does not have to mean selling. Renting sits in between, and it comes in three shapes. You can rent the home out to a tenant and keep owning it, which brings in money but also hands you a landlord's ongoing work. You can rent a smaller place yourself and leave the house alone for a season, giving yourself distance without making anything permanent. Or, only where the city and any association allow it, you can look at a short-term rental. Each one is a real option, and none of them is a decision you owe anyone quickly.
Before you weigh any of them, the order that helps most is this: talk to your advisors first. An estate or real estate attorney, a CPA or tax advisor, and a financial planner can each tell you something a website cannot, about your taxes, your title, and whether carrying the home is comfortable on your own now. Real estate, mine included, comes after that. The rest of this page walks each renting path honestly, shows you the three side by side, and names the worries worth saying out loud, so that whenever you are ready, you are choosing from a clear picture rather than a foggy one.
Renting the home out
Renting out the family home, the honest picture.
Renting the home to a tenant lets you keep ownership and bring in income while you decide, in your own time, what you want the home's future to be. That is the appeal, and it is a real one. The part worth being honest about is that being a landlord is a job, not a set-and-forget arrangement. You screen and choose a tenant, you sign a lease, you handle repairs when the water heater fails or the roof leaks, you cover the stretches when the home sits empty between tenants, and you stay on top of the taxes and paperwork that come with rental income. If you have moved away, or would be doing this for the first time, that work is heavier, because you cannot swing by to check on things. A property manager can take most of it off your hands, and that is a completely reasonable choice, but their fee is a real cost line that comes out of the rent, not a small footnote.
Two financial questions belong with a professional before you go further, not after. First, taxes: rental income is generally taxable and gets reported to the IRS, and it can change your tax picture in ways that are specific to you. That is a conversation for a CPA, not a rule I can hand you here. Second, insurance: a standard homeowners policy generally assumes you live in the home, and once a home is rented to others it usually needs a different kind of policy, often called a landlord or dwelling policy. Continuing on the wrong policy can put a future claim at risk, so confirm the right coverage with your insurance agent before a tenant ever moves in. And there is a quieter question underneath both of those. Renting the home out means strangers living in the rooms you shared, sleeping where your life happened. For some people that is fine, even a comfort, knowing the home is lived in and cared for. For others it is more than they want to hold right now. Neither reaction is wrong, and it is worth sitting with honestly before the money math.
Renting smaller yourself
Keeping the house, and renting somewhere smaller for a season.
There is a lighter version of renting that people often overlook. Instead of putting a tenant in the home, you leave the house exactly as it is and rent a smaller, simpler place for yourself for a while. You are not selling. You are not becoming a landlord. You are giving yourself room to breathe somewhere with less upkeep, or closer to family, or just away from a house that feels too full of what is gone, while the decision about the home itself waits until you are steadier. When you are ready, you can move back, sell, or rent it out then, with a clearer head. It is one of the most reversible choices on this page, which is exactly why it can feel safe.
The honest tradeoff is cost. For the stretch you do this, you are carrying two places at once: the home's ongoing expenses do not pause just because you are living elsewhere, and you are paying rent on top of them. Whether that is comfortable for a season, and for how long, is a question for a financial planner who can look at your whole picture, not a number anyone should guess at for you. When it fits, though, it fits well: it is the bridge for someone who cannot yet imagine selling the home but also cannot quite stay in it, and it buys the one thing grief needs most, which is time, without asking you to sign away anything permanent.
Short-term rental
The short-term rental option, and where the rules matter.
A short-term rental, the nightly or weekly kind, is a third path some people consider, because it keeps the home flexible and available for your own use between guests. It only works where it is actually allowed, and it asks more of you than a long-term rental does. Here is what to weigh honestly, and please read the Utah short-term rental rules before you count on any of it.
Where it is allowed comes first
Many Utah cities restrict or outright prohibit short-term rentals, and some homeowners associations do too. This is the first thing to check, not the last, because the local rules can rule the option out entirely before anything else matters. Confirm what your specific city, county, and any association allow before you plan around it.
More work than a long-term rental
A short-term rental is a hands-on operation, not a passive one. It means turnovers and cleaning between guests, furnishing and stocking the home, guest messages at odd hours, and steady upkeep. Many owners hire a manager for it, which, like any manager, is a real cost that comes out of what the rental brings in.
The family home as a hosted space
This path puts guests in and out of the home you shared on a regular rhythm. For some that is manageable, especially with a caretaker or manager handling the comings and goings. For others it is more than they want so soon. There is no right answer, only the one that sits well with you.
No promises about the money
I will not hand you an income figure. What a short-term rental earns depends on the city, the rules, the season, and the property, and it is not a sure thing. A financial planner and the actual local regulations will tell you far more than any projection, so lean on them rather than on a hopeful number.
The three paths side by side
What each path solves, and what it asks of you.
It can help to see the choices next to each other, keeping in mind that staying in the home is always a fine answer too. None of these is better than another. They simply solve different things and ask different things, and the right one is whichever fits your life and your footing right now.
| The path | What it can solve | What it asks of you | Who to talk to first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent the home out | Income while you keep owning it | A landlord's work, upkeep, and tenants, or a manager's fee | CPA, insurance agent, attorney |
| Rent smaller yourself | Distance and a break, nothing permanent | Carrying the home's costs and a rent at the same time | Financial planner, CPA |
| Short-term rental | Flexible use, where the rules allow | Hands-on hosting and following local rules | City or county, then CPA and planner |
| Keep living there | Staying put and steady footing | The home's ongoing upkeep and cost, on your own | Financial planner |
The what-ifs
The worries worth naming out loud.
What if a tenant stops paying, or something breaks while you live far away? This is the fear that stops a lot of people, and it is a fair one. You do not have to self-manage from a distance. A property manager handles the calls, the repairs, and the day-to-day for a fee, which is often what makes long-distance renting workable at all. Utah has its own landlord and tenant rules, and anything that turns into a real dispute, including how notice and eviction work, is a matter for an attorney, not something you should have to puzzle out alone. Knowing that help exists for the hard parts is often what makes the whole idea feel possible.
What if you change your mind later? Renting is one of the more undoable choices here, and that is part of its kindness. A lease runs for a set term, and when it ends you are free to sell, move back in, or rent again, depending on what feels right by then. You are not locking the home's future in stone by renting it for a year. If keeping your options open matters to you, talk with your attorney about the lease length so it lines up with how much flexibility you want to hold. Nothing about renting says the decision is final.
And what if the house needs work before anyone could rent it? Many homes need some updating or repair before a tenant would move in, and that cost and effort is real, sometimes real enough that it tips the scales. In that case, selling the home as it is can be the simpler road, and there is no shame in choosing the simpler road in a hard season. This is exactly the kind of tradeoff a quiet conversation can sort out, whenever you feel ready to have it, and not before.
How I can help
No timeline, no pressure, and no wrong choice.
If you take one thing from this page, let it be that renting is simply another door, not a decision anyone is asking you to make today. Whenever you want to think it through, here is how I would help.
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Your advisors come first. An attorney, a CPA, and a financial planner should be in the room before any agent, myself included. They cover the parts that matter most, your taxes, your title, and whether carrying the home works for you now.
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Twenty years in Southern Utah. I have lived here more than twenty years, and I have helped people think through the home gently, renting options included. I can walk the choices with you without ever pointing you toward one.
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Agent and lender, one quiet conversation. I am licensed as both a REALTOR and a mortgage lender. If renting the home out later raises a financing question, I can talk it through in plain terms, taking one role at a time and never both at once.
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Statewide, and unhurried. In Southern Utah I can help you directly. Elsewhere in Utah I will connect you with a kind partner agent I trust nearby and stay involved. Whenever you are ready, and not a moment before, I am here.
Questions, answered
What people ask about renting instead of selling.
You have more than two. You can rent the home out to a tenant and keep owning it, you can rent a smaller place for yourself and leave the house as it is for a while, or, where the local rules allow, you can look at a short-term rental. Staying put is also a perfectly good answer. None of these is a decision to rush, and talking with an attorney, a CPA, and a financial planner first will tell you things no website can. Take all the time you need.
More than most people expect. Being a landlord means screening and choosing a tenant, signing a lease, handling repairs, covering the empty stretches between tenants, and keeping up with the taxes and paperwork that come with rental income. If you have moved away or would be doing this for the first time, a property manager can handle the day-to-day for a fee that comes out of the rent. Before you start, talk to a CPA about the taxes and your insurance agent about the right policy.
Generally yes. A standard homeowners policy usually assumes you live in the home, and once it is rented to others it typically needs a different kind of coverage, often called a landlord or dwelling policy. Staying on the wrong policy can put a future claim at risk. This is general information, not insurance advice, so confirm the right coverage with your insurance agent before a tenant moves in.
Yes, and it is one of the lightest paths here. You leave the house as it is, rent a simpler place for yourself for a season, and let the decision about the home wait until you feel steadier. It is highly reversible, since you can move back, sell, or rent the home out later. The tradeoff is that you carry the home's costs and a rent at the same time, so ask a financial planner whether that is comfortable for you and for how long.
Only where it is allowed. Many Utah cities restrict or prohibit short-term rentals, and some homeowners associations do too, so checking the local rules is the very first step, not the last. A short-term rental is also more hands-on than a long-term one, with turnovers, cleaning, and guest communication. I will not promise you an income figure, because it depends on the city, the rules, and the season. See the Utah short-term rental rules guide, and talk with a planner.
Gently, and entirely at your pace. If the day comes that you want to explore renting the home out, we start with a quiet conversation, not a listing. I work alongside your CPA, your financial planner, and your attorney, I never push a timeline, and you can pause at any point. In Southern Utah I can help you directly. Elsewhere in Utah I will connect you with a kind partner agent I trust nearby and stay involved. Whenever you are ready, and not before, I am here.
Keep exploring
Wondering whether renting the home is right for you?
I am Scott Buehler, and I have sat with people across Southern Utah who were not ready to sell the home they shared but were not sure they could stay in it either. There is no rush here, and no wrong choice. If and when you want to think through renting the home out, renting somewhere smaller, or whether staying makes more sense, tell me where things stand and we will go slowly, alongside your CPA, your planner, and your attorney. No cost, and no pressure, ever.
Not in Southern Utah? I will connect you with a kind partner agent I trust in your area, and stay involved, whenever you are ready.