Inheriting a house may sound like a blessing, but, in some cases it can be an ongoing financial and emotional burden with no end in sight. This is clearly the case for many inherited properties in the central valley as the cost associated with the maintenance, repairs and upkeep continue to skyrocket, many new owners are clamoring to Sell My Inherited Sacramento House in Probate.
Before I get into the story, it doesn’t matter what city the house is located, because probate rules are created at the state level making the guidelines dependent on the state of the decedent’s property. Complicating matters even more for many of these new owners is that all filings need to originate in the county where the decedent resided and not necessarily where the property is located. This estate was in Stockton, California and this is the story of Rena and it is more common than you might think.
Sell My Inherited House in Sacramento, Stockton or Modesto
When I received the call from Rena she sounded exhausted. I quickly realized that I was on a speakerphone. Dennis, her husband, explained that they were driving through Sacramento and back to Seattle. They had just spent the weekend at her brothers house in Stockton to go through his effects when it all sunk in for Rena. She needed help.
She and her surviving brother in Arizona had inherited her brothers house. Rena had moved to Washington years ago but had talked to both her brothers on a regular basis, but she really didn’t want to be the executor of his estate. But she had promised.
Rena was in her late 70’s and she was particularly concerned that whatever inheritance she received would be taken by the state to cover her past medical bills and/or that it may throw her into another income bracket and cause her to lose some of the benefits that she was receiving from Social Security. Whatever the reason, Rena was convinced that this was NOT a blessing.
On top of that, this was her third trip to Sacramento and they knew that if they were going to finish cleaning out the house and see this estate through, she would come back at least 3 to 5 more times.
Rena told me that she had promised her brother to go through his things and only take what she wanted and to donate the rest. She promised to pay his bills with the proceeds from the house and divide what was left. He wanted a clean slate when Rena was done. He suggested to her that she could come down with Dennis and live in the house until they had liquidated his possessions, but after the second such trip, Rena knew that she was NOT comfortable living in her brothers house. She knew that she couldn’t handle the stress of being away from home and the pets, while living here and distributing his things to various charities that she and her surviving brother didn’t want.
The fact remained that Rena and her brother were close, and after a long illness he was gone. She really had not thought out the magnitude of the commitment she had made to her brother and really believed she needed to fulfill it exactly the way he had described regardless of the burden and cost physically, emotionally and financially. Dennis had other ideas.
Finally, Rena thought that she was familiar with every aspect of the estate and even had talked to the attorney that crafted her younger brother David’s will and Trust. When she called me, she was at her wits end. Rena had just been told that the Trust that had been drafted and paid for had never been filed with the county, and the attorney wanted another $2,500.00. The estate had $750 in cash, old tools in the shed and garage, household furniture, and two 15 to 17 year old cars that were beat up relics, not classics.
The attorney in previous calls with Rena and her brother had assured them that everything was filed and ready when Rena needed to liquidate the estate once the time came. Now, there was just a little matter of filing the paperwork with the County that had never been done. But that was NOT all.
To make matters worse Rena and her surviving bother in Arizona did not have the money to pay the attorney the fee that he requested. What he didn’t tell her was that since the the trust had never been filed, the estate still needed to go through the Probate court and get approval for the trust to be recognized.
No money and without an trusted advocate as an attorney, Rena took to the internet looking for a solution. She found my youtube channel and watched a few of my videos and read a few of my articles. Then she called me. Rena took a leap of faith.
We talked for at least 45 minutes and she wanted advice. I recommended that she should at least talk to Chicago title company ( I gave her Tana Fowlers name and phone number in Lodi, CA) about the house and have them order a preliminary title report and comparative market analysis to get an idea of the houses value and the titles entanglements. I also recommended that she call and order an appraisal of the house in its as is condition because she needed to know what it was worth. I explained that if it the estate went into probate, the probate referee would order an appraisal as well and that she should get a head of that. I wanted her to be prepared so that she could start to formulate her sales price for the house. She explained that she didn’t know anyone locally and asked if I could do any of that for her. I agreed to all three.
My name is Peter Westbrook and I specialize in all types of complicated real estate transactions. For the past 10 years I have helped hundreds of families see their real estate issues resolved. Whether it’s a probate in Sacramento, Stockton or Modesto, there is a solution and in all cases the common denominator is time and patience. In many cases I have advanced the cost of the probate and the purchase of the house even before the probate was final. If you have inherited a house in Sacramento, give me a call. I can be a fresh set of eyes. I am not an attorney but I work well with them, driving and paying for probates that are necessary for you to finally sell that house in Sacramento.
Call me at (209)-481-7780
Video Transcription
Peter Westbrook: Hello, my name is Peter Westbrook with Westbrook Real Estate Investments, and I’m a real estate investor in Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto and I am standing in front of a house that I just purchased. This is a house on East Lindsey Street in Stockton, California. The house is sitting on a good size lot, and it’s got a two bedroom, one bath house on it. I bought it from a family whose brother had passed away, and the house needed to go through a probate, and so what I did was I made an offer on the house including the cost of the probate, and I paid for that all in advance. The family didn’t have any money to do that itself.
If you find yourself with a house that needs to go through a probate, whether it’s been one year, two years, 10 years, 20 years, I’ve actually dealt with a 34 year old probate where I had to track down relatives in North Carolina from Stockton, and West Covina, California. Whatever the situation may be, enlisting the help of a professional, a real estate investor that understands the ins and outs of probate, and also knows what needs to get done to get a house sold and get all the paperwork in order, give me a call. My name is Peter Westbrook. My phone number is 209-481-7780. If you have a house that you have inherited, or a house that is in need of repair because of deferred maintenance, give me a call. I’d love to give you an all cash offer. Again, my phone number is 209-481-7780. My website address is www.ibuyhousesstockton.com. and www.westbrookrei.com/we-buy-houses-sacramento But, give me a call. I’d love to hear from you, and thanks for watching.