We get many calls from people whom want to sell property, but a loved one has passed away and the property is still in their name. In essence, the only way to sell the property in this case is to probate the estate.
Probate is basically a legal process of putting together the assets of the deceased, paying off any debts or taxes owed, then distributing the remaining assets to the heirs. Probate laws and process may vary state by state, but the goal is the same.
Rural Land:
In the case of small parcels of rural land, heirs may sometimes pay the taxes for years and use the land as they always have for farming, hunting, or recreation. This is fine so long as they never find themselves needing to sell it. Probate can be expensive, so spending thousands of dollars to probate a piece of land that isn’t worth a lot may not make sense.
Vacant City Lots:
In the case of infill lots, or vacant city lots, the property must be maintained: mowed, cleaned of illegal dumping, and many times cleared of squatters. Otherwise code enforcement may place abatement liens on the property, which lowers the take home value if and when it’s sold. We know first hand because it has happened to us.
Unlike rural land, the only use case for infill lots is to build a home on it. And that’s it. And after a time, many people whom own or have inherited infill lots get tired of the maintenance and upkeep of a piece of land they will likely never use. We see this situation all the time.
The Solution:
At Spirit Land Company, we have probate attorney’s we’ve been working with for years whom can get these cases done quickly and efficiently. Whereas most probates take 6 months or even years to complete, our attorneys can usually have it done in about 60 days as long as it’s a fairly straight forward probate and we can get the proper paperwork signed by the family for filing.
The best part is, you don’t even need to go to court. The process is mostly paperwork and informal, and the attorney handles all the filing, posting of notices, and getting a few signatures from a judge. We would pay the attorney up front for the probate, then either adjust the price or deduct the cost of the probate from the funds you receive at closing. We would just need to add these terms to the Purchase Agreement.
Don’t Let this Happen to You:
There have been so many instances where we have reached out to someone about buying their infill lot, only for them to call us and say they lost it to the tax sale because they tried and couldn’t sell it, and just got tired of the upkeep and property taxes… so they let it go. In fact, this is how a good portion of properties wind up in the tax sale in the first place.
Another situation we see a lot is vacant lots that have so many abatement liens accumulated that the entire value of the lot is wiped out and sometimes even upside down. This is quite common, and many people in this situation contact us only to find out that there is no more value in the property due to the amount of accumulated liens attached to it.
Contact Us:
If you have found yourself in either of these situations, give us a call before you let it go, or before it accumulates too many city liens. We can complete the process and get cash in your hand quickly, rather than losing the property or it’s value all together.
If this is an option you would like to pursue, call us or submit the form on the website. You may be surprised about how streamlined and easy we make the process. We are always willing to provide creative solutions to solve problems when it comes to hard-to-sell properties.
David Scruggs
(405) 352-2000
www.spiritlandco.com