The Inherited Fixer-Upper, Sold As-Is By Estranged Co-Trustees

3 bed, 2 bath · 1,656 sq ft · 1.2 acres · Built 1978 · Closed March 22

A family rental owned for more than 30 years, inherited by two estranged cousins who lived in different states and spoke mostly through their attorneys, with tenants of 10 years still living in it. The house needed a lot of work, the kind of property that cash buyers would love to buy at a discount.  The seller did receive two offers, but both initially came in under the asking price. The seller countered both buyers above asking, at $769,000, and one accepted. The sale closed five weeks after it went on the market, ahead of schedule.

The Results

• Sold for $769,000, $19,025 (2.5%) over the $749,975 list price
• $64,000 more than the winning buyer first offered. That offer was $705,000.
• $49,000 more than the best offer we received, which was $720,000
• 28 groups at the first open house, about twice the usual turnout for a semi-rural home
• Closed March 22, five weeks after listing and more than three weeks before the tenants’ move-out date
• About $25,000 less withheld for state taxes at closing. Instead of 3.33% of the price, only $492 was held back.
• Sold as-is. The buyer paid for the septic inspection.

The Family and the House

The owner bought the property in 1988 for $230,000. It is a gently sloping, oak-studded 1.2-acre lot down the street from the local high school and a few minutes from the coast, with room for horses and gardens. The house is a 1,656 sq ft split-level with wood cathedral ceilings, a sunken living room, and a rooftop deck off the primary suite.

The owner never lived there, and neither did either of his heirs. For three decades it was a rental, one of several rental houses he owned, and in 2013 he put them all into a living trust. When he passed away, the trust named his daughter and her cousin as successor co-trustees and equal beneficiaries, which meant two people who had not gotten along in years now owned everything together and had to agree on every step.

They were in very different positions. The cousin lived nearby and could sign papers in person. The daughter lived in Washington State, and every trip down to deal with the estate meant time away from her husband and her life back home. Decades of bad blood had left the two of them essentially estranged, so each hired an attorney and the attorneys did most of the talking. The cousin had been pressing to sell since the day the father died, and at the same time refused to put a single dollar toward repairs. That left the daughter in a bind she felt deeply. A modest investment split two ways could have added real value, but she wasn’t willing to fund it alone so her cousin could collect half the upside. She and her husband loved the house and had even thought about keeping it, but it needed far more work than they could take on from another state.

Agreeing to sell was only the first hurdle. The cousins then had to agree on an agent, so the daughter’s attorney sent my name over to the cousin’s attorney, and we waited. For the daughter, the sale was about more than money. Selling meant she would no longer be tied to a partner she didn’t trust, and she could finally stop shuttling back and forth and go home to Washington.

The Situation

• Tenants of 10 years. The same tenants had rented the house for a decade at about $2,800 a month. They had been given notice to move out by April 16. The heirs wanted them treated well during their last weeks in the home, and every showing needed 24 hours’ notice. One of the tenants had recently been laid off, which made the move even harder, and the daughter hated the thought of putting him out. I met with him at the house, promised to help him find a new rental, and put out feelers for a job. He was on board with the plan right away. Tenants who feel respected rather than kicked to the curb make showings go much more smoothly, and these tenants made it easy.
• A lowball already on the table. Before we even listed, an as-is cash buyer offered the heirs $650,000 to $700,000. With one co-trustee eager to be done, it would have been easy to take it and walk away from tens of thousands of dollars.
• A true fixer. After decades as a rental the house needed paint inside and out, new flooring, and probably a new roof. The pre-listing inspection also found moisture-damaged siding. I estimated it would take about $150,000 to make it a $1 million home. The trust was selling as-is, as they had no cash to do any of the repair work.
• A trust sale. A trust is exempt from the standard seller disclosure statement, and the heirs had never lived in the house, so they couldn’t answer buyers’ questions from experience.
• Rural paperwork. A septic system, a recorded road maintenance agreement, agricultural zoning, and a horse-boarding stable next door. Buyers, lenders, and title all ask about these.
• The wrong buyer for investors. At $2,800 a month in rent, the numbers didn’t work for investors. Several looked and passed. The buyer would have to be someone who wanted to live there and fix it up.

What We Did

1. Inspect before listing

The co-trustees ordered a full home inspection on January 9, five weeks before the listing. I put together a full disclosure package before the first showing: the inspection, the preliminary title report, the natural hazard report, septic records, the road agreement, and my own visual inspection disclosure. I also had the co-trustees complete the short exempt seller disclosure for trust sales. Two agents had downloaded the package by 9 AM the morning after the listing went live.

2. Price below the comps

The four closest recent sales ranged from $760,750 to $989,000. They sold at an average of $576 per square foot and 98.5% of list price. We listed at $749,975, below all of them and just under $750,000.

That price took some explaining. I told both co-trustees I would list at whatever price they wanted, but recommended going a bit under market to get maximum attention and multiple offers, since a list price is only an invitation to submit offers and never obligates a seller to accept one. Both agreed and both signed off on the price. Two days later the daughter warned me that her cousin had already complained to her attorney that I had listed below what the cousin’s own REALTOR® said the house was worth, and urged me to get everything in writing. Fortunately it already was. By then we had nine inquiries in a single day over a holiday weekend, and the listing was starting to make the rounds on social media. It was looking like the market was taking notice, and I let them know, again, I expected we’d sell over list price.

3. Market the land, and keep the tenants’ trust

Interior photos of a tenant-occupied fixer don’t help much, so the marketing focused on the acreage: a drone video and aerial photo with the parcel lines drawn in, a property website, a stack of printed flyers, and another flyer showing monthly payments for FHA and conventional loans. I emailed agents and my sphere a “Screaming Deal” announcement. To protect the tenants, showings were set for specific times only: one weekday showing window and one Sunday open house. The tenants cooperated throughout.

The interior photos I did take were not flattering. The fireplace shot was rough, and the best angle on the vaulted ceilings also showed a sheet tacked up over a window and clothes piled at the top of the stairs. The daughter laughed and agreed they should stay out of the listing. Sometimes less is more, especially when the floor plan is the real surprise, and this one had a great floor plan hiding under the wear and tear.

4. Hold everyone to the same timeline

Agents called asking to bring offers early. I told each of them we would not go under contract before the Sunday open house, so every interested buyer had a fair chance. There were 17 inquiries over the long Presidents’ Day weekend. The two groups at the first weekday showing each stayed 30 to 45 minutes. Then 28 groups came through the open house, and three asked for the disclosure package.

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5. Keep the heirs informed

Both co-trustees got a written report after every showing and open house, plus a link to an online portal tracking activity. When an updated home three-quarters of a mile away listed at $850,000, I toured it, made a video, and sent the heirs an 11-point comparison. That showed them who would buy each house: buyers with more money wanting move-in ready, and buyers willing to do the work themselves.

6. Don’t take the first offer

The first offer came in 10 days after listing, at $720,000, from buyers who had come to both the showing and the open house. The second came the next day at $705,000. Neither was close to asking. I recommended we wait until the first offer’s expiration date, try to bring in more buyers in the meantime, and then counter at full price or higher. One trustee replied at 2:40 that morning:

“Their offer is low and it is early in the ballgame. I think we can do better. My thinking may change if after a couple of months we haven’t received better offers. So down the road, this offer may seem sweeter, but for now I agree to your plan.”

It took four days, not two months, to have a buyer under contract above asking.

7. Counter both buyers above asking

On February 27 I sent both buyers a Seller Multiple Counter Offer at $769,000, $19,025 over the list price. The second buyer also had to pay for the septic inspection. Late the next evening the second buyer, whose offer had been the lower one, accepted the full counter. The other buyer was undecided, and the remaining interested parties (who had yet to submit an offer) were talking about a contingent offer or $650,000 cash. I advised the heirs to take the committed buyer.

8. Disclose problems as they come up

At an open house during escrow, some buyers noted a wet wall above the door into the garage, and what looked like mold on a garage wall. The heirs had already sent a roofer after an earlier storm, but this was apparently a new development. I updated my written disclosure with everything we had seen and had both co-trustees sign it. The buyers stayed in the deal. Their appraiser inspected on March 11.

It helped that the winning buyer was a contractor. I listened in while the buyers walked the house and spent a long time out on the land, and they were clearly excited. A contractor sees a stained garage wall as a project and gets the repairs done at cost, while most buyers see a reason to renegotiate. When the daughter asked whether the mold was a deal-breaker, I told her what I tell every client: almost any problem can be solved as long as the buyer has the will to buy and the seller has the will to sell. I also told her not to worry about the house, since that’s why I have so much gray hair. I do the worrying for my clients.

9. Close early, in two states

The tenants moved out weeks before their April deadline, and everyone wanted to close as soon as possible. That gave us less than a week to finish. The co-trustee in Washington signed with a mobile notary and sent the documents back by FedEx the same day. The local co-trustee signed at the escrow office.

The house had never been the owner’s home, so escrow first planned to withhold 3.33% of the price, about $25,600, for state income tax. Because the trust’s taxable gain was only a few thousand dollars, I worked with escrow to withhold based on the gain instead, which came to $492.

The family wanted this sale to pay off the mortgage on another trust property, but escrow can only pay debts secured by the house being sold. The heirs’ attorneys arranged that payoff outside of escrow. The loan funded and the sale recorded the morning of Friday, March 22.

A Look Inside the As-Is Sale

The Offers

Timeline: Listing to Closing in Five Weeks

Prepare

• January 9: Pre-listing home inspection.
• February 10–13: Market analysis, seller report, and preliminary title report.
• February 15: Listing agreement signed. Live on MLS at $749,975 that evening.
• February 16: Drone video and aerial photos, property website, and flyers. Two agents download the disclosures by 9 AM.

Market

• February 19: First showing. 17 inquiries over Presidents’ Day weekend.
• February 21: Email announcement to agents and my sphere. Title report comes back clean.
• February 24: Open house, 28 groups.
• February 25: First offer, $720,000.
• February 26: Second offer, $705,000. I tour the nearest competing listing and send the heirs a comparison.
• February 27: Both buyers countered at $769,000.
• February 28: Buyer B accepts at 8:47 PM.
• March 1: Both co-trustees sign. Pending.

Close

• March 3: Garage leak found. Disclosure updated and signed March 7–8.
• March 11: Appraisal.
• March 6: Tenants out early, more than a month ahead of their deadline.
• March 16: Closing moved up to March 22.
• March 18–20: Co-trustees sign, one by mobile notary in Washington and one in person.
• March 22: Loan funds. Recorded and closed at $769,000.

The Takeaway: Two Heirs, Two States, One Decision at a Time

Settling a parent’s or relative’s real estate is rarely just a sale. There are co-trustees who need to agree, tenants who deserve respect, attorneys on both sides, and tax questions most people have never had to answer. Here, both heirs got the same information at the same time, so they could make each decision together, even from different states. The tenants were treated fairly and moved on early. The house sold over asking because we waited for real competition and then countered at the price the land was worth.

The heirs closed in five weeks with no repairs whatsoever (even with an actively leaking roof!), kept almost all of their tax withholding, and received $64,000 more than the buyer first offered.

The sale recorded at 10:15 that Friday morning, and by early afternoon the money was sitting in the trust account. For two heirs in two states who could barely agree on anything, the daughter’s reaction is exactly how it should feel:

“We didn’t have any worries and if there were any, you worried about them.”

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