Not Sure What to Do With a Loved One's House?

Before You Clean Out the House, Fix It Up, or Put It on the Market

When someone passes away, the house can quickly become one more responsibility in a situation that already has too many of them.

There may be probate or trust paperwork to deal with. Family members may have different opinions. Bills keep arriving. The house may be sitting vacant. There may be decades of belongings inside. And sooner or later somebody asks: “So what are we going to do with the house?”

You may not know yet. That's okay. Before you start filling dumpsters, hiring contractors, calling agents, or making decisions because everyone feels like something needs to happen, it helps to understand what you're actually dealing with. A few questions can change the entire plan:

• ?Who currently has the legal authority to make decisions about the property?
• ?Does the house need to go through probate, or is it owned another way?
• ?What is the house realistically worth in its current condition?
• ?What might it be worth after repairs?
• ?Are those repairs likely to put enough additional money in the estate to justify doing them?
• ?Does the family want the highest possible retail price, the simplest sale, the fastest resolution — or some combination of the three?
• ?What happens to everything still inside the house?

You don't have to have those answers before you call me. In fact, that's why I think I should be one of your first calls — not necessarily because you should sell the house to me. I buy estate properties, but selling directly to me is only one option. My first job is to help you understand the real estate side before you spend money, move belongings, or make decisions that may be difficult to undo.

You Have More Than One Option for the House

One of the easiest mistakes to make is assuming there are only two choices: hire an agent or sell the house to an investor. There are usually several possibilities worth comparing.

• Keep the House

  Sometimes the right answer is not to sell at all. An heir may want to live there. The property may work as a rental. The family may need more time before making a decision. If keeping the house makes sense financially and everyone involved is comfortable with it, there is nothing wrong with that answer.

• Repair or Update the House, Then List It

  If the house is fundamentally sound and a reasonable amount of work could materially increase what a retail buyer will pay, making some improvements may be worthwhile. The important question is not whether a renovated house will sell for more — it probably will. The question is whether the additional sale price is enough to repay the repairs, carrying costs, time, effort, uncertainty, and selling costs required to get there. Sometimes families spend $40,000 trying to create $30,000 of additional value.

• List the House As-Is

  You don't necessarily have to renovate an estate property before listing it. A good real estate agent can put the house on the open market in its current condition and expose it to a large pool of potential buyers. The tradeoff is that buyers using traditional financing may still have inspection, appraisal, insurance, or lender requirements, and you may have showings, buyer negotiations, and cleanout expectations along the way.

• Sell the House Directly As-Is

  A direct sale can make sense when the family values simplicity, certainty, timing, or avoiding the work involved in preparing the property for retail buyers. You can usually leave repairs, cleanout, unwanted belongings, and much of the property preparation to me. The tradeoff is straightforward: an as-is offer has to account for the repairs, holding costs, resale costs, and risk I take on after closing.

I don't think you should compare an as-is offer with the projected retail price of a completely renovated house as though those were the same thing. They aren't. The useful comparison is what the estate is realistically left with after the money, time, work, and risk required by each option. If selling directly to me is the best fit, I'll explain why. If I think you'd be better off listing the house, doing a particular repair first, or keeping it, I'll tell you that too.

I Understand This From Both Sides

I've worked with estate properties professionally for more than 20 years. But my understanding of this isn't only professional.

When my mother passed away, I was the person she had trusted to handle her estate. I accepted that responsibility without hesitation. I also had absolutely no idea how difficult it would become. There were documents to understand, decisions to make, property to deal with, and family members who understandably had opinions about what should happen.

What surprised me was how lonely the responsibility could feel. When you're the trustee or the person everyone expects to handle things, other people may get to react to decisions. You're the one who has to make them. You're trying to honor what someone wanted, protect the estate, be fair to everyone involved, keep things moving, and make decisions while you're dealing with your own loss.

I learned firsthand how quickly something as practical as a house can become emotional. So when somebody tells me, “My brothers and sisters all have opinions, but I'm the one actually dealing with the house,” I know exactly what that sentence means.

That experience changed the way I work with estate properties. I won't manufacture urgency where there isn't any. I won't tell you the house needs to be sold simply because buying houses is what I do. And I won't pretend the property exists separately from everything happening around it. Sometimes the hardest part isn't the house. It's the situation surrounding it.

If Selling As-Is Makes Sense, I Can Take a Lot Off Your Plate

Estate houses are rarely just houses. There may be furniture, clothing, photographs, paperwork, tools, boxes in the basement, a garage full of things nobody has looked at in years, or an entire lifetime packed into every room. You don't necessarily need to deal with all of that before you sell to me.

Leave the House As It Sits

Take the things your family wants. You can leave unwanted furniture, household items, old appliances, basement contents, garage contents, and other things you don't want to sort, move, donate, or throw away. I'll deal with the remaining cleanout after closing.

You Don't Have to Make the Repairs

The kitchen can be dated. The roof can be old. The furnace can be near the end of its life. There can be plumbing problems, electrical problems, water damage, foundation issues, deferred maintenance, or a house that simply hasn't been updated in decades. I've bought houses in virtually every condition. There is no need to apologize for it — my job is to understand what the house needs and account for it in the numbers.

Difficult Property Conditions Don't Embarrass Me

Some estate properties have been meticulously maintained. Others haven't. Sometimes an elderly parent could no longer keep up with the house. Sometimes a property sat vacant. Sometimes there was hoarding, years of deferred maintenance, water intrusion, animal damage, or rooms the family hasn't entered in a long time. I've seen difficult houses before. I'm there to solve the property problem, not judge the person who lived there or the family dealing with it now.

Things That Matter Don't Automatically Become Trash

This is especially important to me with estate houses. If you leave belongings behind and we find things that are obviously valuable or sentimental during the cleanout — photographs, family documents, jewelry, keepsakes, or similar personal items — we set them aside. I'd rather make the phone call and ask whether your family wants something than throw away something you can never replace.

We Can Work Around the Estate's Timing

Some families need the property dealt with quickly. Others aren't ready. Probate may still be underway. A trustee may need time to get organized. Family members may be traveling. Someone may still be living in the property. Tell me what the situation requires. If we decide to work together, we'll choose a timeline that makes sense for the property and the people involved rather than creating an artificial deadline.

What Happens If You Call Me?

Reaching out does not commit you to selling anything. The first step is simply a conversation.

• 1
  You Tell Me What's Going On

  Tell me about the house and the situation surrounding it. You don't need real estate terminology and you don't need every document organized beforehand. Start with what you know.

• 2
  We Figure Out the Questions That Need Answers

  I'll help separate the real estate questions from the legal or estate-administration questions. If something needs to be answered by your estate attorney, title company, or accountant, I'll tell you that rather than pretending it's my decision to make.

• 3
  I'll Help You Compare the Real Estate Options

  We'll talk about the house in its current condition, what similar properties are selling for, what repairs may or may not accomplish, and the practical differences between listing it and selling it directly. If I believe listing the house deserves serious consideration, I'll say so.

• 4
  If a Direct Sale Makes Sense, I'll Explain the Offer

  I'll show you how I'm looking at the property and what I'm accounting for. You can ask questions, think about it, and talk to your family or advisers. There is no obligation to accept an offer because we had a conversation.

• 5
  You Decide

  My goal isn't to talk you into a particular outcome. It's to get you from "I have no idea what we're supposed to do with this house" to "Okay, I understand the options, and I know what makes sense from here."

What Families I've Worked With Have Said

Common Questions About a Loved One's House

Need Help With the Estate Side Too?

The house is only one part of settling an estate. Probate, trusts, title, creditor claims, taxes, and disagreements among family members can all affect what happens next. Some of those questions need to be answered by an estate attorney, accountant, title professional, or another adviser — I don't pretend to replace them.

What I can do is help you separate the house questions from the estate questions, so you know what needs an answer, who should answer it, and what actually has to happen before the property can be sold. If you're already working with an attorney or another estate professional, I'm happy to work alongside them on the real estate side.