The San Jose real estate market is hot. Homes go on the market and are sold a few days later, usually with multiple offers. They will often be open over a week-end and then offers will be presented on the following Tuesday or Wednesday. But if the home is a San Jose probate sale, it often takes longer. Why is that?
The answer is not always the same, and some San Jose probate sales will sell quickly, but most go through a process that is longer than the typical traditional resale. The main reason is that the Personal Representative for the San Jose Probate sale either needs to take the home to court for confirmation, or is trying to avoid taking the home to court for confirmation.
Here is how it works:
Court Confirmation Required:
The administrator of the estate is not given full authority by the Probate Court to sell the home. He or she can arrange for the home to go on MLS and can accept an offer, but that offer must be taken to Probate Court and at that time, other potential buyers have the opportunity to make non contingent offers on the home at a higher price than the original accepted offer. This way, the court can prove to all heirs that the home had full exposure to the market and is being sold at the highest price and best terms possible. None of the heirs can say everything was not done to get the most for the house.
Court Confirmation May Not Be Required
The Personal Representative of the San Jose Probate sale has full authority to sell the home. He or she can hire a real estate agent, accept an offer, and then send out a Notice of Proposed Action. A Notice of Proposed Action tells the heirs that the home is going to be sold for the accepted amount and they have a specific time period to object if they do not think the sale should go through. If there are no objections to the San Jose Probate sale, it will go through. If there are, the San Jose Probate home must go through the same court confirmation process as above. It is much easier for the Personal Representative for a
San Jose Probate sale to prove the offer is the best they will get by having full exposure of the house to the open market. It is very difficult to prove in court that 4 days on the market is full exposure. I always have my San Jose Probate sales on the market for 2 week-ends of open houses before offers are reviewed. I have done this in good markets and bad, and have yet to get an objection on the Notice of Proposed Action.
So if you are selling a San Jose Probate home, it is safer to have the home on the market for a longer than average marketing time to help prevent objections. If you are buying a San Jose probate home be happy that you have some extra time to make this big decision.
If you have any questions about buying or selling a Probate home in San Jose please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
marcy@marcymoyer.com
DRE 01191194
650-619-9285
