How Does Mountain View Just Cause Eviction Affect A Probate Sale?

On Nov. 8th Mountain Voters approved Measure V, commonly known as the Rent Control Measure. If you are the Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has rental property to sell this is a huge deal. You need to know the rules in order to make sure the property is sold without breaking any new laws.

What does restricting rental price increases have to do with selling a Mountain View rental in Probate you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

The reason is MOUNTAIN VIEW JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Measure V relates to not only rent control, but also JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Just Cause Eviction means that tenants cannot be asked to vacate just because the lease is up or they are on a month to month rental and you give 30 or 60 days notice (if they have been there a year or more).

Tenants can only be told to leave a Mountain View Rental Property under the following circumstances:

1.      Failure to pay rent or other breach of lease
2.      Continuing failure to give landlord access
3.      Repairs that will last over 30 days that are needed for code upgrades or health and safety reasons. NOTE: COSMETIC REPAIRS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXEMPTION. This would include a kitchen or bath re-model to make the property more valuable.
4.      Owner or family member going to occupy the entire property
5.      Withdrawal from rental market with 120 day notice to tenant, unless over 62, disabled, or a tenant for 5 years or more. In these circumstances you need 1 year notice.

The good thing is that single family homes, condos, and duplexes are exempt from both rent control and Mountain View Just Cause Eviction. If you are an Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has a four- plex or more units to sell Mountain View JUST CAUSE EVICTION rules will apply to the estate.

Some things you should NOT do before selling the building are:

1.      Try to evict the tenants because they make the building look messy.
2.      Try to evict the tenants because the property is dated and you want to upgrade it before putting it on the market.
3.      Raise the rents above the allowable rent increase so the CAP rate looks better and makes the property more valuable.

Some things you can do when you are selling a Mountain View Four-Plex  or larger building in Probate.

1.      Paint the exterior
2.      Make sure the tenants do not leave personal property outside the building
3.      Upgrade the landscaping
4.      Give the tenants an incentive to keep their apartments clean and allow showings.

This law is new, and takes effect Dec 23rd. There is an emergency ordinance that was passed Nov 16th to keep landlords from evicting tenants in order to raise rents on vacant apartments before that date, so if you are reading this before Dec 23rd you are out of luck anyway.

Just remember the Mountain View rental market is strong, and even with rent control and Just Cause Eviction there will be buyers for your Mountain View Apartment in Probate so relax, hire a great real estate agent who knows Probate (like myself) and let the process work itself out.

If you have any questions about selling or buying Probate property in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

Specializing in Probate and Trust Sales

650-619-9285

marcy@marcymoyer.com

www.marcymoyer.com

Personal Representatives: Have Mountain View Probate Sales Inspected

If you are a Personal Representative for a Mountain View Probate Sale I am sure you are overwhelmed with all of your responsibilities. It is not an easy job! You may be charged with selling a home or condo in Mountain View in Probate. If so, this a a great time to be doing that. However, even in a strong seller's market, you have to do whatever you can to get the best offer for the Mountain View Ca Probate estate.

One of the most important things you can do right now is to get the Mountain View probate home fully inspected before you put it on the market. It may seem as if you are spending money on inspections that could be spent by the potential buyer. After all, the buyer of the Mountain View Probate home you are selling has to buy it "As -Is" so the estate will not be making any repairs anyway.

This is a common mistake that many Personal Representatives of Mountain View Probate homes who are not from this area make. While it is true that the estate will not be making any repairs, it is also true that most buyers in this area are very familiar with how most Mountain View sellers market their homes. The inspections are done ahead of time and most of the offers will be non contingent on an evaluation of the property condition. They are comfortable with the condition, and once their offer is accepted you have a done deal. If you do not do the inspections before putting the Mountain View Probate home on the market, you could very easily end up with a buyer who wants to renegotiate the price or a sale that falls through. This can be very problematic if there are expenses involved in holding the home before it sells. These could include mortgages, taxes, insurance, lawn care, etc. If the estate is cash poor and house rich, which many Mountain view Probate homes are, it can be very complicated to find the money in a delay.

The competition for Mountain View homes and condos for sale is fierce. Buyers are willing to pay a lot of money and give you wonderful offers for your Mountain View Probate sale, but they want to know what they are getting. If you have your Mountain View Probate home fully inspected before it goes on the market, price it appropriately, and market it widely, you will have the best chance of getting the best offers for the estate, and therefore doing the best job you can as the Personal Representative.

If you have any questions about selling a Mountain View home or condo in Probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
www.marcymoyer.com
marcy@marcymoyer.com
DRE 01191194
650-619-9285

Don’t Hold Up Mountain View Probate Sale: Get Your Letters Certified

And by certified I don’t mean on Sesame Street.

There is nothing worse than getting to the closing of your Mountain View probate sale and finding out, oops you can’t close.  Or even worse, you are an out of town Personal Representative on this Silicon Valley Probate Sale and you are told there is a hold up. You need a CERTIFIED COPY OF YOUR LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION in order to close the sale. Where are they? Did you leave them out the house? Did you leave them with your attorney?

Make sure that you have these letters in the certified form in your possession so that you can get them to the title company so that you can close this escrow.

There are many things to remember when you have the responsibility of an estate, whether it is a large or small one. There is a lot of paper work. You probably are dealing with mounds of paperwork from your deceased loved one as well as from the court.

Just treat the Letters of Administration like gold, since this is what proves you have the right to sell a home that does not belong to you. If you can not find anything else, find these and you can deal with the other papers later.

If you have any questions about buying or selling Probate Sales in Santa Clara County or San Mateo County  please free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

How is a Mountain View Probate Sale Different From a Regular Sale?

How is a Mountain View Probate Sale Different From a Regular Sale

A probate sale is not the same as a regular sale,  but unless court confirmation is required the differences are not that great. It is a world away from a short sale or foreclosure.

In a probate sale, the owner of a property has passed away and the home is being sold to settle an estate.  The owner may have had a will, or may not have had a will, but definitely did not put the house in personal or family trust.  The seller of the house is the personal representative of the deceased and is charged with disposing of the assets of the estate to be distributed to the heirs.  The personal representative can be anyone the owner requested if their was a will, a child or other relative, a trust department from a bank, a professional like a lawyer or accountant, or  a Public Administrator. This person must be appointed by the court and will get his or her authority from the probate court. 

The personal representative can request full authority to sell the estate, meaning they do not have to get the offer confirmed by the probate court or in certain circumstances they do not have full authority and must have any offer confirmed by the probate court and leave open the possibility of over bids to the original offer.

Certain rules apply:

1.     The house is sold “As Is”

2.     Disclosures are limited.  You will not be given a transfer disclosure statement, a seller’s supplemental disclosure, an earthquake hazard report, or a signed Natural Hazard Disclosure. You will be given the report, but the successor trustee does not have to sign it.

3.     The water heater needs to be strapped but there is no smoke detector requirement for a trust house.

4.     If the Personal Representative has information about the house they have to give it to you, but they may not know much.  For example, if the Personal Representative is a child of the owner and was involved in repairs on the house they will need to disclose that.

5.     All heirs to the estate are given a Notice of Proposed Action to sell the home.  If this is not done until after an offer is accepted by the successor trustee then they have 45 days to return the notice or any objections, so escrow can not close before then. 

6.     If the offer needs court confirmation then things can get tricky.  After an offer is accepted the court sets a confirmation date and a minimum over bid amount.  On that day another potential buyer can purchase the house if they offer the amount of the overbid or higher and the first buyer does not want to offer more.  At that point the subsequent buyer can not have any contingencies and must accept the house the way it is.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in a trust please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Trust and Probate Sales

Disclosing a Death in a Mountain View Trust Sale

California has a lot of disclosure laws for the protection of all parties in a real estate transaction, particularly buyers. There are buyers who do not want to buy a home where there has been a death on the property, and there is a disclosure obligation to disclose if there has been a death in recent years.  This works very well if the seller has to fill out the Seller's Supplemental Disclosure or The Seller's Property Questionnaire and Supplemental and Contractual Disclosure forms. But many trust properties are exempt from those disclosures, and many of those properties would be more likely to have had a recent death.  So what do you do if you want to know if there has been a death on a Mountain View home that is exempt from seller's disclosures?

The answer is really simple, ASK THE SELLER.  What you have to do is for you or your agent to ask the seller's agent to ask the seller directly if the owner died in the house.  While the trustee or executor does not have to fill out the written disclosure asking about a death, they do have to answer honestly. Trust me, the person selling the house will know.

The trust advisory that the buyer is supposed to sign when they make an offer tells you to do that. It says "If the Property is being sold because of the death of an occupant of the Property, and if Buyer has concerns about the manner, location, or details of the death, then Buyer should direct any specific questions to the seller."

so if you are concerned, ask.

If you have any questions about buyer or selling a property in Trust or Probate anywhere in San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties, please fell free to ask me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

marcy@marcymoyer.com

DRE  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Trust and Probate Sales