You didn't choose this house, and you may not want it. Here's what your options actually look like — including the ones that don't involve us.
When you inherit a house, you have three genuine paths. It's worth knowing all three before anyone — including us — tries to sell you on one.
Move in, or rent it out. This makes sense when the house is in good repair, is somewhere you'd actually want to live or own, and there's no mortgage eating the value. It's a worse fit when you live far away, the house needs significant work, or several heirs would have to co-own it indefinitely.
If the house is in decent shape and you can afford to wait, a traditional listing will usually produce the highest gross price. Understand what it costs to get there: agent commission, a pre-listing cleanout, repairs and paint, staging, showings on a house that's four states away, an inspection-contingency negotiation, and carrying costs the whole time. On a full estate that has sat empty, the gap between gross price and net proceeds is often much wider than people expect.
A cash offer, as-is, nothing cleaned out, no commission, and no repair negotiation. The gross number is lower than a renovated listing would bring. The net is frequently closer than people assume, and it arrives without work, travel, or a year of uncertainty. This is the right choice when speed, certainty, and not-having-to-deal-with-it are worth more than squeezing out the last dollar.
We will tell you when option 2 is better for you. If the house is clean, updated, and in a hot market, a listing will probably beat our offer and we'd rather say that than waste your time.
This is the question that trips up most inherited-house sales, and the answer depends entirely on how the property was held when the owner died. Broadly, you'll be in one of these situations:
A transfer-on-death deed, a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or a completed probate distribution can put the property directly in your name. If so, you can sell it like any other house you own.
If the owner held the property in a living trust, the trustee generally handles the sale under the terms of the trust, often without probate at all.
Selling trust property →If it passed by will, or with no estate plan at all, the estate usually has to be opened and a personal representative appointed before a deed can transfer.
Selling in probate →Extremely common, and not a problem. A probate attorney can usually establish which of the above applies quickly. We're happy to talk to you before you have that answer.
Which category you're in — and what authority you need before signing anything — is a legal question specific to your state and your estate. Please get that answer from a probate attorney rather than from us or from anything you read online.
You don't need to have probate figured out, and you don't need to clean anything up first. Just tell us where it is and what happened.
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