Cleo215 Asked August 2017
Do I need to go through probate to sell my deceased mother's house in Nevada?
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My mother passed four months ago. She had a will leaving everything to my two siblings and me, to be divided evenly I am the excexture of her will. The title to her house is in her name. We would like to sell the house. Is there a way to do this without hiring a lawyer and going through probate? We are all in agreement and no one is protesting the will. The house is in Nevada.
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Even thought I was the only heir, I still hired an Elder Law Attorney to walk me through this process, filing the necessary paperwork, and paying the fees. I cannot touch anything in the Estate until after a Probate Judge signs off.
One reason for Probate is to allow any creditors to come forward with any debts a parent might owe. Those debts are paid through the estate while under Probate. The Executor needs to keep up-to-date paperwork on all payments made from the estate, copies of the bills and copies of the checks, etc.
Each State is different on there Probate laws, so I would advice seeking the help of an Elder Law Attorney.
Also find out IF you need to be a resident of NV to be not represented by atty type of executor. If one of you isn't there to be boots on ground in the city where house is & as needed, I wouldn't attempt going it without probate atty.
Personally to me if you live there & are comfortable in a courthouse & understand filings and there are no debts against the estate and the only asset is the house doing a muniment of title is ideal. To me it's like low cal probate.... usually under 1k to open then requires a couple of filings at the CH and then a wait of 3 -6 mos and then Title transferred. Sounds ideal, right?
BUT what I see as a problem is that you don't want to keep the house. Your not simply transferring to just a single name. You & your sisters want to sell it and that is more than likely have costs to do. Whomever pays those expenses (taxes, utilities, insurance, upkeep, etc) can have those costs placed as debts against the estate. The $$$ will add up & somebody is going to have to front the $. Plus one of you is likely need to deal with all this.... basically be at the ready to do estate & property management. You know your sisters & their spouses best. Will they pay & participate? Or is all going to fall to you with their expecting to share equally; so you work for free? This site is littered with posts from the do & pay for everything daughter (& more rare son) who ends up having to share as per the terms of the will with her do nothing but have their hand out siblings. Often it's not the siblings but the spouses that get greedy.
So could this happen? Mull this over. It may be that realistically you need to hire a probate atty and just let them do what needs to happen. Realtor should be one experience with selling property that is in an estate as there will be time needed to get orders through court. Freqflyer is spot on as to Probate Judge sign off.
Insurance is mucho importante and will likely need to be a new vacant dwelling policy as moms old homeowners isn't valid anymore & VDP are pretty pricey. To me, this needs to be a priority to get done. Good luck & they not to get overwhelmed!!
Also for the Condition report, ask Realtor how to do it so to lessen issues. My understanding is that since it's technically owned by estate, so you Personally can't say what the Condition of property is. Most of the time realtor uses a MLS form with a check off on majors on house... like roof "excellent, good, fair, poor, unknown". You probably want to check unknown on all. And price reflects Condition unknown with all inspections / repairs to be on buyer.
Also try to clearly define with your siblings how any costs on the house are to be paid for and how reimbursed. Unless your able to get it sold today with set aside done manana, there's going to be costs to have house on the market.
Insurance especially to be paid for & needs to be a policy that covers vacant dwelling unless moms old homeowners will stay in force.
Buyers can be pretty savvy on shifting costs on estate sales as buyer knows that often families are flat over the house & just want it sold. If you find the interest is from the we buy ugly houses crowd, their likely to offer land (unimproved) value plus 10/20% with closing costs paid by seller.
I sold my Dad's house "as is" and it worked out great. The first contract was first time buyers and my gut feeling was the isn't going to work, and it didn't, they voided the contract after the home inspection. Next contract was a professional flipper and he came in at a very reasonable price, no home inspection, etc. Smooth sailing.
Now I did hire a professional licensed Appraiser to give me a ballpark price on the house so I would know where to price it. He knew exactly what to look for, took into consideration that the kitchen and baths needed updated, etc.
If you use a Realtor, ask him/her not to list as the Owner of the house "estate of Jane Doe" as buyers will feel they could contract way under the price. Under Owner, have it say "Call Listing Agent".
Is the house empty of personal items, furniture and stuff? Such a house sale is better to be totally empty. My office had one client who listed the house but dragged their feet on moving the porta-potty which was sitting in the dining room along with other medical items [owner had died]. Oops, some buyers minds go into over-drive thinking someone died in the house, it's just human nature to think that way. Empty, empty, empty. Put stuff in the garage until you can move everything.
As for homeowner's insurance, I was lucky the insurance carrier was ok in keeping the insurance as is since the house was going on the market "For Sale". Some carriers would void the insurance on an empty house :(