Inherited a house you don't want? Sell it as-is, contents and all.

Can you sell an inherited house before probate ends? Most inherited houses are sold during probate, not after it. Probate is the court process that confirms who is in charge of the estate and who gets what. Once the court names a personal representative, often called the executor or administrator, that person can sign to sell the house. In some estates the sale needs a separate court approval first. Your probate attorney knows which applies to you.

Three common paths

• The house passed outside probate. A living trust, a joint deed with right of survivorship, or a transfer-on-death deed can move the house without the court. The trustee or the surviving owner can sell right away.
• Probate is open and the representative is named. You can sign our agreement now. We close when the court allows the sale, whether that is next week or in a few months.
• Probate has not started. You can still get a written offer today, so you know the number. Filing with the court comes first, and we wait for it.

What a cash sale changes

A listed house needs cleaning, repairs, photos, showings and a buyer whose loan goes through. An estate rarely has the time or the cash for that. We buy as-is and do not wait on a bank, so the closing date is set by the court and you, not by a lender. You send the address, we visit once, and you get a written offer with the comps behind it within 12 hours of our call. You decide with no obligation. Our step-by-step process is on how it works.

Leave the contents: the cleanout is free if you qualify. Clearing out a parent's house is the part most families dread. Decades of furniture, papers, clothes and a garage you cannot walk through. You do not have to do it. Walk through once, take what matters to you and your family, and leave the rest where it is. You choose one of the two options below, and nothing comes out of your price for it.

Everyone who owns a piece of the house signs the sale. In an open probate estate that is usually the personal representative, signing for the estate. Once the house has been deeded to the heirs, each heir on the deed signs. The title company confirms the list, so no one is missed and no one is paid twice.

At closing, the title company pays the mortgage and any liens first, then splits the rest the way the will or the court order says. Each heir gets their own check or wire. You do not have to collect money from your siblings or hand it out.

Heirs do not always agree. One wants to sell, another wants to keep the house, a third does not answer. We can send one written offer that every heir can read, and we talk to each of you separately if that helps. If you own a share and the others will not sell, you may be able to sell your share alone. We explain that on selling your share of an inherited house.

Do you pay taxes when you sell an inherited house? Short answer: often less than people fear. Inherited property usually gets what the tax rules call a stepped-up basis. In plain words, your starting cost for tax purposes becomes the home's value on the date the owner died, not what they paid decades ago. IRS Publication 551, Basis of Assets, lists the fair market value at the date of death as the usual basis for inherited property. If you sell soon after for about that value, the taxable gain can be small or zero.

IRS Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators, explains the personal representative's tax duties: collecting the assets, paying creditors, filing the estate's returns and then distributing what is left. An estate may also need its own tax ID number before it can close a sale. Your attorney or CPA handles that.

We are not tax advisors. State inheritance taxes, a long gap between the death and the sale, or a house that was rented out can change the picture. Please ask a CPA before closing. We send the closing statement to whoever you name.