What to watch out for when buying probate sale property

[Animesh Das]

Hello,

I am interested in a property that is offered as probate sale.

The property is in very bad shape and they are selling as-is. They need all cash offer

But the location is good.

So I am thinking that I can score a deal.

But I wanted to know what to watch out for when buying a probate property.

Do I need to worry about unpaid liens and taxes etc like when we buy property at auctions? Or will I get a clear title?

They have a text in listing "ask city for more info". What do they mean by that?

Googling doesn't answer all my questions, so posting here. Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Animesh

[Tyler Mullen]

My answer is more specific to the law in my state, so check CA accordingly.

Depending who’s administering the probate they may qualify as an exempt seller when it comes to providing a form 17 (WA State specific) or requiring disclosure of material defects, like unpaid liens.  This is a common reason why sales of this type sell cheap, the buyer is taking more risk of something being unpaid by seller at closing.  The things you won’t have to worry about would be the debts within the probate that are not tied to the property, that’s for the probate to settle with the property sale proceeds.  Even if insolvent, the court and the PR settle that.  Properties “short sell” within the insolvent bounds of a probate all the time.

Seller will be able to tell you the deed type they are going to convey to you, probably something like “Personal Representatives Deed”.  You’d typically find no problem getting buyers title policy per your (or your lenders) needs.  I’m confused by what you mean by “...will I get clear title?”.  I mean, yes you should and that’s what your title policy will cover if not.  But if you mean to say will you get clear title because you know that the probate estate knows about a cloud on title, for example, the deceased inherited the property but the previous probate was never actually completed properly... then the current PR would have to QT from the court or they might even be required to open/re-open the previous probate to settle the issue.  I’ve had experience in both these and similar scenarios, still nothing to be too worried about as long as things are completed properly.