I was recently asked by some clients if I would help them make an offer on a Sunnyvale Probate Sale. Being that there is nothing more I enjoy in real estate than Probate sales of course I said yes.
This particular property was a little different than most of the Probate Sales I have been involved with. Many Sunnyvale Probate sales are done under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. With these types of probate sales the Personal Representative of the estate is given full authority by the Probate Court to sell a home which has been left in a probated estate. As long as the heirs have no objections, the Personal Representative is able to have the home marketed by a real estate agent and accept an offer.
In some other cases the court does not give full authority to the Personal Representative of an estate and an accepted offer needs to go to court for confirmation. When this happens an over bid process is allowed and the first accepted offer can be outbid by a subsequent buyer.
In the case of this Sunnyvale Probate Sale the process was unusual. The estate was being represented by The Santa Clara County Public Administrator's Office. While generally when the Public Administrator is the Personal Representative for an estate the sale usually goes to court for confirmation, in this case the Public Administrator was given full authority to sell the house. The plan was that all offers were to be presented at 3 PM at the Public Administrator's office on July 28th.
The offers for this Sunnyvale Probate sale needed to be accompanied by a certified check for 5% of the offered price. The offer would be the offer with no chance for counter offers or any changes after acceptance. A 10 day contingency period was allowed.
Unfortunately my clients had some trouble getting a a certified check. There was a computer glitch in getting money wired from an out of state bank to a local bank so they could get certified funds. I left Palo Alto at 2:30 PM with the hopes of getting to the Public Administrators office before 3 PM. The listing agent warned me that if I was late my offer might not be considered.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I walked into the Public Administrator's Office at 3:08. My client's offer for the Sunnyvale Probate Sale was not considered. There was a call for offers at 3:05 and I missed it. No exceptions.
I understood. There was a room full of agents who got there on time and I did not. So no offer presented on this Sunnyvale Probate Sale. As it turned out my client's offer was sixty thousand dollars less than the winning bid so my being late was irrelevant. However it was a great lesson in making sure to follow directions exactly when making an offer on a Sunnyvale Probate Sale.
If you have any questions about buying or selling a Probate sale please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
Cal BRE 01191194
650-619-9285
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