So our wonderful neighbor one house down passed away at the age of 91 back in late June. He was a great guy and our son loved waving to him and running over to his house to say hello. He'd sit out on his front door Halloween night and give out not pieces of candy but brown lunch bags full of candy and goodies to the neighborhood kids.

We spoke to his son and two daughters and told them how sorry we were for his passing and how he loved all the kids including ours. They told us that he spoke well of us and liked having "good neighbors", and inquired if we'd be interested in buying his home.

We looked at it and it would be GREAT for us! It's 2500 sq feet with 4 BR, 2.5 baths as opposed to the 1800 sq feet our duplex (twin) home is with 3 BR and 1.5 baths. A custom-built brick single home, built in 1951 and in PRISTINE condition. Brand new roof, brand new forced hot-air oil heat, newer central AC, beautifully landscaped yard, overall a very well maintained home. We'd be stupid to pass up such an opportunity, so we looked at it several times, enlisted some help like our Realtor and family member who is an attorney and we put in an offer. We went back and forth a bit doing the counter-offer thing but they accepted our final counter and we are now in a mad scramble to get our current house ready to be listed and sold by 11-30-2017!

There is a very low supply of homes for sale right now in our area and things are selling quickly again so we are very hopeful we can get ours sold in a month or two and get into this new home. The move will be the easiest one in the world, go out our front door, turn right and walk about 100 feet!

It's a solid home but there are some things that will need to be upgraded such as the 100-amp service and ungrounded receptacles throughout the house, and we are hiring an inspector who is a trained engineer to do the inspection along with radon, termite and lead. I'm going VA on the loan so we won't have to put a ton of money down which is great since we don't have that laying around after having child #2 in May.

Anyone ever buy a home in an estate sale like this? We are dealing directly with the co-executors and their attorney and not involving realtors at all.

Congrats!

quote:

Anyone ever buy a home in an estate sale like this? We are dealing directly with the co-executors and their attorney and not involving realtors at all.

Yes. I'm an attorney and used to teach real estate at the community college. It was a pre-licensing course for those who wanted to be real estate agents. I've done multiple real estate deals without having to pay the commission.

It sounds like you are on the right path to getting this done successfully.

Is the attorney handling this?

Usually, the sale has to be through probate proceedings, petitions for approval of the terms, a hearing, final order approving etc. Get a title company involved. It will have to insure your title as well as any mortgage, if PA is similar to other states I am familiar with, and will want to examine the process and documentation ahead of closing.

Do all the physical inspections carefully, boundaries, improvements.

You never know what you will find in title searching. I was recently quizzed by a fellow here I know who had questions about deeds, conveyancing etc. It turns out he is the third generation to possess the house, no deeds, probate etc. Talk about keeping it in the family! I would hate to have to straighten it out years from now.

Pay your own real estate attorney to oversee this. That attorney represents them, not you.
Hopefully it will go smoothly but there are any number of potential issues you might overlook. Money well spent.

Sounds like a good deal to me. Recommend that you heed the advise of JAllen and 220-9er

My wife's aunt is an attorney and is representing us on our end plus our Realtor who got us our current house (and will be selling it again for us) is advising in a lot of ways even though we are not officially involving realtors on either side of this.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
It's 2500 sq feet with 4 BR, 2.5 baths as opposed to the 1800 sq feet our duplex (twin) home is with 3 BR and 1.5 baths. A custom-built brick single home, built in 1951 and in PRISTINE condition. Brand new roof, brand new forced hot-air oil heat, newer central AC, beautifully landscaped yard, overall a very well maintained home.

Sounds like a time capsule of a home. I looked at one like this in the 1990s. A brick single, extra high poured concrete basement, a full tiled practically never used bathroom with cast iron corner tub that looked like a period display in the Smithsonian. I couldn't swing it, and always drive by wistfully. It was built at the edge of a development in the early '50s on an odd lot, then used as a UL Lab office. The one that got away, pocket change by today's standards.

Sounds like you have a perfect home in grasp. Good luck. I've bought two in Pennsylvania using an Abstract Company, 3rd generation. Got title insurance on each, did my own inspections. Never dealt with a realtor yet but it is a matter of time, I imagine.

As far as electrical concerns:

Heavy-up (panel upgrade) in my area runs $2,200-$2,800 for fair priced companies, all the way to $4,000 for ripoff or franchise companies.

Changing outlets to grounded may or may not be possible. It will depend on if there is a ground present or if they used AC/BX cable (metal jacketed). If neither are the case it requires new wiring or the installation of GFIs and putting stickers on outlets stating "GFCI protected outlet, no ground present".

Another concern is older houses are often overloaded and can have large sections of lights and plugs on each circuit which will likely require you to split one or more circuit into two.

You very likely will need to add GFIs to required locations and add smoke detectors. Luckily there are some wireless detectors that can give you same benefits as the hardwired ones without cutting up the walls.

Pay to have a video inspection of the lateral sewer line.

No practical advice, but wanted to wish you the best going forward.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
Pay to have a video inspection of the lateral sewer line.

Good idea! I'll add that to the list.

you need to hold on to the currant house as a guest home, besides, you will need it when the kids move back home , after college, and and! you
are going to need help in a 12 years with the mowing and snow shoveling etc.

you are not getting any younger

My brother and I sold our mother's home after she died. In Texas, we probated her will, got a muniment(sp?) of title and sold the house to a neighbor who was looking for a house for his daughter. We used a lawyer to probate the will and a real estate agent to close. Only hitch we had was she hadn't probated my dad's will, so we had a small bit of extra paper work with the title company to show that we were the only heirs. Other than that it was no harder than any other real estate sale.

Congrats sound like a win/win should everything go well....

what an excellent opportunity - hope it works out for you

please heed JALLEN's advice - he's a smart old guy