We can't answer any of these for you. But knowing which questions to ask makes that appointment far more useful.
This page is a checklist, not advice. We are property buyers, not attorneys. Every one of these questions has a different answer depending on your state, the estate, and the documents involved. The entire point of the page is to send you to a professional better equipped than us — take it with you.
Because a seller who understands their own authority and duties is a seller whose deal actually closes. The transactions that collapse in this business are almost always the ones where nobody established early who had the right to sign. We'd rather you spend an hour with an attorney first — even if that hour ends with you deciding to list the property instead of selling to us.
An attorney can answer the authority questions above much faster with the paperwork on the table. Useful things to gather: certified copies of the death certificate, the will or trust document if one exists, the most recent deed, mortgage, HELOC or reverse-mortgage statements, the latest property tax bill, any HOA statements, and the homeowner's insurance policy. If the property sits in a living trust, bring the full trust and any amendments, not just the signature page.
Vacancy raises its own list. Ask who is allowed to change the locks, shut off or keep on utilities, and talk to the insurer while the estate is open, and whether those costs can be paid from estate funds. Ask what the estate is expected to do about upkeep in the meantime. Our page on vacant inherited property covers the practical side; the legal side of who may act belongs with your attorney.
Loans secured by the house don't disappear when the owner dies, and their documents and servicers each have their own notice letters and deadlines. Ask your attorney to read whatever the servicer has sent, explain what the estate's options are, and tell you who should be communicating with the lender. We buy houses with existing loan balances, but we don't interpret loan paperwork for anyone.
Families often start emptying a parent's house before anyone has asked whether they're allowed to. If the estate is in probate or a trust, the furniture, jewelry, vehicles and papers may be estate assets with their own rules about distribution. Ask before anything is given away, sold, or hauled off. If you sell to us, the house can stay full — see how as-is and cleanouts work.
If siblings or other beneficiaries disagree about selling, ask your attorney what notice or consent the sale requires, what happens if one heir won't respond, and how disputes are usually handled in your state. Those answers shape everything that follows. Our page on several heirs inheriting one house explains how we keep every heir looking at the same written numbers without taking sides.
Once you have authority questions answered, a written offer gives your attorney something concrete to review: the price, the as-is terms, and who pays which closing costs. Ask whether it should be compared against an appraisal or broker opinion, and what records you should keep. Our offers carry no countdown, so there is time for that review — the full sequence is on how it works.
If you know where you stand, we can move straight to reviewing the property and putting an offer in writing.
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