Deceased Owner of Property--Who gets the Property?

Deceased Owner of Property--Who gets the Property?

Member since 2018 · 64 posts · 39 votes

Hey guys. So I've been trying to get my first wholesale deal done, and I've had some ok leads but nothing I could close on.

I'm currently working with a guy whose sister passed away and he tells me that he is now the owner of her house. He showed me a copy of some will he has, but I can't make heads or tails of it. (It has been folded up and the ink is faded.) This might be a dumb question, but he has to have his name on the title of the house before he can sell it, right? He is pretty old, and is in a motorized wheelchair, and I told him that I would go downtown to..... I guess public records... clerk of circuit court?.... and see if I could find out what he needs to do before he is legally able to sell that property.

I feel like I'm close to closing my first deal, and I want to do everything I can to make it work.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge when it comes to a situation like this? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

0Reply
21 views

1 Reply

Jump to latestLatest
  • Rental Property Investor · Temecula, CA · Member since 2018 · 12 posts · 5 votes
    8y

    Hi Robert - I think you have a lot of homework to do. ;^) While the guy says he's the owner because the sister died and left it to him in a will, you're right to go to the county tax records and see whose name is actually on the title. (This will also show if the property taxes are current - lots of times, elderly people forget to make these payments. And, are there any other liens from some past repairs or judgments?)

    Since I'm not a lawyer and I don't know what state you're in, you'll need to find out if this property passed to this guy automatically because a living trust was in place, or if it needs to go through probate before he gets it, or if he was a joint owner with the sister.

    If all this is clean, then you should be able to buy it from the guy. But that's why you'll want a title company to handle the transaction - they'll make sure the title is clean.

    If in doubt, go get a lawyer who knows real estate. 

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.