Selling An East Palo Alto Probate Sale Off Market Is Not The Best Way

A few months ago I was contacted by an administer of a probate estate in East Palo Alto. He wanted to sell his mother's home but was in a quandary. His mother had died last year and all her belongings were in the house. His sister was still living in the East Palo Alto probate home and she was a hoarder. The home was a mess and his ill sister did not want to move out until the house was sold.  Since all the heirs have to agree to the sale, and his sister was hard to convince to co -operate, he did not know how to get the house sold so they could close this East Palo Alto probate.

I explained they could do an off market sale where the house would not be exposed to the public and there would be very little disturbance to his sister.  I also explained he would get less than he would on the open market. My client thought if he could get around $390,000 he would be satisfied. I called an investor I knew who flips homes and he immediately offered $385,00 for the home. However after further investigation he dropped his price to $360,000 which my client did not want to take. It is so common for investors to offer you a price you will take to tie the house up, and then lower it after you are in escrow, with the hopes you will agree.

In this case my client did not agree and canceled the sale. He managed to convince his sister to leave the house so we could sell it. After a little de cluttering, but not that much, I put the home on MLS, did pre sale inspections, and held one open house. My East Palo Alto probate sale received 6 offers and sold for $422,000.

The East Palo Alto estate receive $62,000 more by going on the open market, 17% more than the investor was willing to pay. I hear this story over and over again. Many investors will try to convince an Administrator of an Estate to sell the home off market because it is a mess, or needs repair, or just ugly.  If the Administrator is not familiar with the market or just overwhelmed it may seem like a good idea. It is not. 

If you hire a real estate who is familiar with East Palo Alto probate sales and knows how to properly prepare a home to bring out its best attributes, then selling off market will be a financial loss. Let the East Palo Alto real estate agent do the work and you can collect the money.

If you have any questions about selling an East Palo Alto probate home please feel free to contact me. I have a proven system to prepare and sell probate homes to get you the best price and terms.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

Cal BRE 01191194

650-619-9285

Getting an East Palo Alto Ca Probate Home Ready To Sell Part 1

I have a new listing coming on the market in East Palo Alto that is being sold through Probate. The seller has passed and the home must be sold to settle the estate. Like many homes in probate, this East Palo Alto Probate is filled with personal belongings that need to be disposed. The owners are at a loss, so they hired me, because I specialize in dealing with selling San Mateo County homes in probate and can help them deal with the mounds of personal property.

The Personal Representative of the estate is one of the sons of the deceased. In addition to the home being filled there were also two automobiles, and 2 large mobile bar-b-ques that his father used for his catering business.

The first thing I did was call an auction house DGW who sent someone to look at the home and contents to see if any of the contents were saleable. The Personal Representative had already given the court an estimate of the value of the personal property and his attorney said it was ok to go ahead and sell anything of value so that the money could be distributed amongst the heirs when the estate is settled.

The rep fro DGW said there was some value in the estate and suggested we call the office to set an appointment for pick up. This auction house will pick up the items they think they can sell and take them to auction. We had the pickers come to the house and remove those items which they thought they could sell. It was only a small portion of what there actually is. They said furniture, especially upholstered furniture has no market and they only took the cars, the stetson hats, some tools, sewing machines, and some very nice boots.

When they left the house was still packed.

So then what?

Well, the next step is the other son is inviting the family to come and take what they want. This is ok, because they can prove the remaining items have no monetary value. They could not do it before the appraiser from DGW came and said everything left is not salable.

I will go there after the family has taken what they want and assess the situation.
This East Palo Alto Probate is to be continued.

If you have any questions about trust or probate sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
www.marcymoyer.com
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9295
D.R.E.  01191194