Probate Sale

astreix

I saw a house in North London this weekend and put in an offer this morning close to the asking price (3% below asking price to be precise). The estate agent said it looked like a reasonable offer, but it is not like a normal sale by Vendor but a "probate sale". Hence even if I make an offer for the full asking price, they can't accept any offers before 3 weeks.

They need to ensure they are getting the best price for the property and hence they will market it for 3 weeks and then accept the best offer. He is asking me to put in my best offer, as there would be no to and fro for price negotiation and they will be accepting the best offer they get at the end of three weeks.

Does anyone know how a probate sale is different from normal sale by Vendor? Is the estate agent trying to pull a fast one by saying there will be no to and fro with regards to price negotiation, and hence getting me to increase my offer? Are there any pitfalls in buying where it is a probate sale?

Guidance will be very appreciated.

(BTW: I've done a bit of googling and it seems that probate sale usually takes place when someone has passed away and the house is being sold to repay creditors and inheritors. Can't understand why this should make the process any different though).

BlondeHeadOn

I'm selling a house through probate, and quite frankly I would have bitten your hand off if you'd offered 3% below asking - whatever time you'd offered it!

Never heard of this - can't see why it would make a difference (it wouldn't to me), but others may have different views.

getmore4less

There are a couple of possible reasons.

The beneficiary want to be sure they have the best price so the executor is covering themselves by giving a time limit.

One of the benificiaries want to own the place and they are trying to establish true market value.

jhe

as an executor of an estate i sold a house the same as i would have sold it if it were my own. 3% below sounds a reasonable offer. it is surely in everyones best interest for the house to be sold, the longer it stays unsold the more bills that still have to be paid on the house. as for estate agnts they will try and get the highest possible price for the house. i put the house up for sale after probate was granted. has the house just gone up for sale astreix?

astreix

jhe wrote: »

has the house just gone up for sale astreix?

Yes it came on the market 5-6 days back and first viewings were last weekend.

Fire_Fox

Why only 3% below asking price in this market?

RabbitMad

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why only 3% below asking price in this market?

Because they feel that is a fair price?

It amazes me that time and time again I see people saying (on different threads) that the OP is over paying by offering 5 or even 10% below the asking price whithout any idea of where the property is and whats is true value might be.

I went to see a property recently that was a repo with an asking price of £325. It was fairly obvious from the amount of interest in this property that I would have had to offer over £325 to get it and the agents / bank had deliberately put it on at a low price to help generate interest.

As the beeny once advised a developer on property ladder who wanted to put a house on at 240 even though the agents had valued around the 220 mark, "put it on at 220, if its worth 240 it will naturally find that level"

astreix

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why only 3% below asking price in this market?

I think the asking price is not set too high. This house next door (Identical in terms of size and design) sold for 75K more than the current asking price in April 2005. Prices in my area especially for larger family homes are definitely higher now than they were in 2005.

Part of the reason for the lower price can be explained by the fact that the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, carpets, colour needs updating, but it doesn't seem to be overpriced.

Other way to look at price is that for internal area my offer price works out to around £290/sq ft which again for the area is not too high in my opinion (there are other benefits too - very nice location, detached house, double garage, decent front garden + driveway, substantial rear garden backing onto a park etc)

Madmel

Just idly speculating here, but could it be that the previous owner left everything to a charity?

Last year my father's very good friend died suddenly. As he had no family, his will left almost everything to 2 charities. His executor (a distant cousin) wanted my father to have something to remember his friend with and the charities were incensed. They would not take offers, but insisted on EVERYTHING being valued professionally and that was the price they wanted.

I agree with previous posters that most probate cases within a family just want rid of the property for a reasonable price, hence this case ringing a bell with me.

VKay

I'm buying a house from the family of a man who's recently died. They seem keen to get the house sold quickly but as you say the executor wanted to get the best price possible and we thuoght we'd lose it at one point because they wanted more money.

Good luck

Ian_W

My MIL died earlier this year and her house sale went through much like a normal private sale, in that case my wife and her brother were co-executors and the only beneficiaries - SIMPLE!

However, issues around probate can be much more complex. The executors have a personal liability if they don't (and can't show) that they have obtained the best or at least a fair price when liquidating the assets of the estate - if they are not beneficiaries or there are other beneficiaries who aren't executors - then they need to be able to demonstrate they got the best price in the current market.

Marketing the property for a set number of weeks and accepting the best offer would be very difficult IMO to challenge, whereas accepting the first offer would be much easier. The difference to a normal sale is that the normal sellers are deciding based on their own finances whereas the executors may be acting as trustees of someone elses money.

drossoscarpets - SPAM reported :spam: