[ocdtrekkie]

Passing it down to your kids is huge. Unfortunately what I've learned is most people are incredibly selfish and do not actually care what happens to their family when they pass.

Renting and owning may not be all that financially different to you with a mortgage of 30+ years, but it will definitely be financially different to your heirs.

[fragmede]

Yes it will - you can split stocks/financial portfolio way easier than you can real estate. If your heirs don't get along, leaving them to split the house, especially if they're not well off, is a recipe for giving money to lawyers. Forcing your kids to sell their childhood home in a time of grief just seems cruel. Passing down a financial portfolio with specific shares/dollar amounts is much more straightforwards.

[ocdtrekkie]

Again the difference is though that if you are renting that money is not going into your net worth. The principal from your mortgage is. Concern about difficulty with handling it is resolved by having a good will that makes preferences on how it should be handled clear.

[kakacik]

Instructions in the will: 1) sell the house via real estate agency and let them handle the optimal price with view on selling within 6 months (so no surface for arguments when one of heirs want to maximize gain even if it takes 10 years to sell); 2) split what comes back proportionally

It doesn't have to be that hard