Probate and Trust Sales
For executors and trustees: court and trustee timelines, a property that usually needs clearing, and one point of contact.
You're usually carrying something else
Clients arrive at this one already dealing with more than a sale. In their own words: "My mom passed and we just want to sell the house. Help us figure out what to do."
That's the actual brief. Not a marketing plan. Somebody to take the property off your list so you can deal with everything else.
Court and trustee timelines
Probate and trust sales run on a schedule set by the process rather than by the market, and that schedule drives everything else.
What the estate needs is an agent who works to those dates rather than pushing against them, and who can explain to the family what happens when. I coordinate with the attorney handling the estate rather than leaving the executor to relay messages between two professionals.
Clearing and preparing the property
Inherited properties usually need work before they can be shown, and often nobody in the family lives close enough to do it.
Cleaning, clearing, estate sale contacts, donation and haul-away, and repairs are coordinated for you, and I handle the staging myself. My years around a contracting business mean the condition review is realistic about what an older property needs and what a buyer will actually pay for, which matters when the estate is spending money it may not want to spend.
Patience with the family
These sales frequently involve several people who aren't all in the same place, financially or emotionally, and who may not agree about what should happen.
One client described a sale during an unexpected death: "Bobejo Kelley was compassionate and kind, lended great advice to us in the midst of our grief." That's the part of this work that doesn't appear in a listing presentation.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need court approval to sell?
It depends on how the estate is structured and what authority the executor or trustee has, which is a question for the attorney handling it. I work to whatever the process requires and coordinate with that attorney directly rather than routing messages through you.
The house is full and none of us live nearby. What happens?
It gets coordinated. Cleaning, clearing, estate sale contacts, donation and haul-away, and repairs, with the staging handled by me. You don't need to be local, and you don't need to project-manage it.
Should we fix it up or sell as-is?
It depends on the property and on what the estate wants to spend. The condition review is honest about which work returns more than it costs and which doesn't, which matters more than usual when the money is coming out of an estate.
Will you work with the estate's attorney?
Yes, directly, rather than leaving the executor to relay messages between two professionals.
Does the sale follow the court's schedule?
Yes. Probate and trust sales run on a schedule set by the process, not the market. I work to those dates and explain to the family what happens when.
What if the family doesn't agree?
It's common. These sales often involve several people who aren't all in the same place, financially or emotionally, and patience with the family is part of the work.
Probate & Trust by neighborhood
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