First deal stuck in probate…

[Sara Walters]

Hi all - I’m in the midst of my first deal and have hit a snag. I have an accepted offer on a distressed single family home in East Texas. My realtor had learned from the listing agent that the owner of the home had passed away and her daughter, the sole next-of-kin, was the one selling it. It was a cash offer and our original closing timeline was 30 days. It’s now going on 1.5 months and we haven’t closed yet because a) the title company determined that the deceased owner hadn’t paid 5 years of back taxes on the property, and is still in the process of figuring out if there are any outstanding liens related to that, and b) the deceased owner did not have a will and the daughter’s lawyer is still working on settling the probate case. The closing date has been pushed back twice already.

With this being my first deal aside from my own home purchase, I have never dealt with probate, although I know it can be a very prolonged process. No one is able to estimate how long it will take and I am not interested in waiting around for this property for an indeterminate amount of time while other potential deals come and go. I am well past the 10-day option period to back out of the deal without penalty, so I assume I would forfeit my escrow deposit if I walked away now. Does anyone have any insight that might benefit me? Thanks! 

[Greg H.]

Maybe I just look at things differently.  This could be a long process so if I can get a long extension with low earnest money I would be golden.  6 months from now the property could have appreciated and I made money for my time.  If not, I walk away.  I would put up $500-1000 for almost any good deal in this scenario