Sell an Inherited House: Compare Your Options

There is no single best way to sell an inherited house, and the comparison that decides it is not really "agent versus cash buyer." It is which path leaves the estate — or whoever now holds title — best off once price, costs, condition, workload, and certainty are counted the same way.

One question comes first: who is legally recognized to sign a listing agreement or a deed here? Being named executor in a will does not answer it. What answers it is the decedent's state of domicile, the county where the property sits, how the property is titled, whether a court has issued letters or a trust names a successor trustee, and who else holds an interest. Alongside that sit the mortgage and liens, insurance and occupancy, whether the estate can pay what it owes, and the records that will matter for tax later.

Once the signer is clear, compare at least one marketed-listing estimate against one written as-is or cash offer, using the same property condition and the same comparison date. Then read the net, not the headline.

This page is written for whoever will actually sign — an appointed personal representative, a successor trustee, or a surviving owner already named on the deed. If you are a beneficiary without a role, the section on who can sign explains your position and what you can and cannot do.

Where to start, and what can wait

Where to start, by situation

Starting points, not conclusions about your property. Find the row that describes the estate, then read across.

If this describes the estate	Where to start	Pause before listing if
Title passed outside probate — surviving joint owner, transfer-on-death deed, or funded living trust — and the recorded deed confirms it	One local opinion of value from a licensed agent, alongside one written as-is offer	The recorded deed does not match what the will or trust says
Nobody holds court-recognized or trust-recognized authority yet	The probate court in the decedent's county — self-help materials, forms, clerk's office	Always. Nothing is listed, shown, or accepted until this is settled
A personal representative is appointed, the property is marketable, and the estate can carry it	A local full-service listing benchmark, with a discounted-listing route beside it	The letters restrict selling real property, or the court must approve the price
Condition, distance, or carrying costs make preparation and showings impractical	One written cash offer, on the same worksheet as one marketed-listing estimate	A condition adjustment after inspection moves the number materially
The property sits outside the decedent's home state	The probate court in the county where the property sits	A second, separate proceeding may be required in that state
Co-owners disagree, the estate may be insolvent, occupancy is unresolved, or the buyer is a family insider	Pause on any service; get review from a probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state	Always
You are a beneficiary or heir with no appointed role	Ask the representative or trustee for a copy of the letters or trustee certificate	You are asked to sign anything as though you held authority

The first practical step

Order the current deed from the county recorder where the property sits, and put it beside the will or trust, the latest mortgage statement, and the insurance policy. Those four answer most of what a listing agent, cash buyer, or title company asks first. If the decision to sell is not settled, the keep, sell, rent, or buyout comparison is the better page to start on. If the death was very recent and the practical first steps are still unsettled, what to do when someone dies covers that stretch first.

When to stop and get professional review

Involve a probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state, an estate CPA, or both, before signing anything, if: no court order or trust document clearly identifies who may convey the property; co-owners or beneficiaries disagree; the estate's debts may exceed its assets; a court must approve the sale; the buyer is a relative or fiduciary; an occupant's right to remain is unresolved; the property sits outside the decedent's home state; the date-of-death value cannot be reconstructed; or the decedent received Medicaid after age 55 or was in long-term care, because a state recovery claim may reach the estate.

Two situations deserve a name. Most executors are also beneficiaries — that is normal and it is not a conflict anyone should feel ashamed of, but it is exactly why a sale to an insider needs someone outside the family to look at the price and the process. A sale unwound because a beneficiary objected, a creditor was paid out of order, or a fiduciary sold to himself costs far more than the review that would have prevented it. And if a document was changed late in the decedent's life in circumstances that trouble you, that is a question for a probate attorney; where financial exploitation of an older adult is suspected, adult protective services or law enforcement is the right call.

What needs attention now, and what can wait

Timing	What belongs here	The boundary
Now	Secure the property and contents; keep insurance and utilities in force and tell the insurer if the home is unoccupied; gather the deed, will or trust, mortgage statement, lien and tax records, and any date-of-death valuation	Nothing is listed, shown, or accepted while authority to sign is unresolved
Soon	Confirm who is recognized to sign and whether co-owners, notice, or court approval apply; request one market analysis and one written as-is estimate; build one net worksheet	Use identical property assumptions for every estimate, and ask how each company is paid
Later	Choose the path; review the agreement; coordinate title, payoff, inspections, disclosures, contents, closing, and records	Estate obligations come before distributions
Only if applicable	Court approval of the sale; ancillary administration for out-of-state property; occupancy process; insolvency; disputed title; an insider sale; Medicaid estate recovery; specialized appraisal; tax review	Each is specific to the jurisdiction, the documents, and the facts

Contents

• Where to start, and what can wait
• Who is allowed to sell an inherited house?
• Does the court have to approve the sale? Fourteen states, verified
• What deadlines apply when selling an inherited house?
• What are the ways to sell an inherited house?
• The current shortlist and the neutral benchmark
• How do I compare a cash offer to a listing?
• Who should you call first?
• Questions families ask at this stage
• What to do this week

Who is allowed to sell an inherited house?

Most problems that surface later in an inherited-house sale trace back to something nobody checked at the start. This is not legal work. It is document collection: find the paper that answers each question, and notice which questions the paper does not answer.

Order matters. A listing agreement signed by someone the title company will not accept is not a shortcut; it is a sale that stalls at closing.

Two related points about the money, because a house sale produces the largest single sum most estates will ever hold. Sale proceeds belong to the estate, not to the person who signed. They go into an estate account opened under the estate's own tax identification number, never into a personal account — not even briefly, and not even with every intention of paying the right people afterward. Mixing estate money with personal money is one of the few executor errors that is genuinely difficult to explain later. And whoever holds authority is generally expected to be able to show where every dollar went, so keep the closing statement, the payoff letter, and the account records from the beginning rather than reconstructing them at the end. Distributing money to beneficiaries before the estate's creditors are handled can create personal exposure for whoever authorized it.

A note on debts and claims against the estate

That last point is a separate question from whether surviving relatives owe the decedent's debts. Generally they do not. Debts belong to the estate, and where the estate cannot pay, most unsecured debt goes unpaid. The exceptions that actually catch people are joint accounts, co-signed or guaranteed loans, and community-property rules in some states. A collector may contact the personal representative or administrator to discuss the debts, but is not allowed to say or hint that you are responsible for paying them out of your own money (Can a debt collector contact me about a deceased relative's debts?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). If you are not the representative and not a surviving spouse, a collector may contact you once to find out who is handling the estate, and is not allowed to mention the debt at all (When a loved one dies and debt collectors come calling, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

Medicaid estate recovery. One claim is specific to houses and is often discovered too late. Federal requirement, administered by each state. For a person who received Medicaid at age 55 or older, states are required to seek recovery from the estate for nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services, and states may choose to recover the cost of all other Medicaid services for those individuals. States may not recover from the estate of someone survived by a spouse, by a child under 21, or by a blind or disabled child of any age, and every state must have a procedure for waiving recovery where it would cause undue hardship (Estate Recovery, Medicaid.gov — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). What counts as the estate, how a claim is filed, and what is exempt are set by state law (Medicaid Estate Recovery, Administration for Community Living). The house is usually the asset a claim reaches. Contact the state Medicaid agency before distributing sale proceeds, and consider an elder law attorney where recovery is in play.

What the paperwork words mean

• Letters — the court document proving someone has been appointed and may act. Letters testamentary follow a will; letters of administration follow an intestate estate. Being named in a will is not the same as holding letters.
• Personal representative — the umbrella term for whoever the court appoints. An executor is named in a will; an administrator is appointed when no executor serves. States use these words differently.
• Independent administration — administration a personal representative conducts without seeking a court order for each step. Some states grant it by default, some require the will or the beneficiaries to authorize it, and some do not use the term at all.
• Supervised or dependent administration — administration in which the court authorizes or confirms significant acts, often including the sale of real property. It is the slower and more protective route, and some states order it where there is a dispute, a minor beneficiary, or a bond.
• Creditor claim period — the window, set by each state, during which claims against the estate can be presented. Its length and starting point vary; the probate court in the decedent's county can say what applies.
• Ancillary administration — a second, separate proceeding in another state, sometimes required when the decedent owned real property outside their home state.
• Small estate or summary administration — a shortened official procedure some estates qualify for instead of full probate. Whether real property can pass through it, and at what value, is set by each state's statute. Thresholds and eligibility live on the small estate affidavit thresholds by state page.
• Basis — the figure used to work out taxable gain when the property is later sold. For inherited property it is generally the fair market value at the date of death, not what the decedent originally paid.
• Alternate valuation date — a date six months after death that may be used instead of the date of death, but only where the executor filed a federal estate tax return and made that election.

Who can actually sign: roles and authority at a glance

"Executor" is a document role. Authority to convey real property comes from a court, a trust instrument, or the deed itself, and those are not interchangeable. A title company asks which one applies before insuring the transfer, and the answer changes the timeline, the cost, and who is accountable. Two boundaries are often missed: a power of attorney ends at death, so an agent who managed the decedent's affairs for years has no authority to sell afterward; and a will does not override a beneficiary designation or a survivorship title, because property passing that way never reaches the will at all.

Role	What it covers	Who holds authority, and is the court involved?	What it changes for timeline, cost, and accountability
Named executor, not yet appointed	Nomination in a will	None yet; the will must be offered to the court and the appointment made	No listing or acceptance until appointment; the delay is the court's queue, not the market
Personal representative or administrator	The probate estate	The court, proven by letters — sometimes with limits, a bond, or required approval	Filing fees and possible bond premium; accountable to the court, creditors, and beneficiaries
Successor trustee	Property titled in a living trust	The trust instrument plus acceptance; usually no court, but the title company wants proof	Often faster than probate; accountable to beneficiaries under the trust's terms
Surviving joint owner or transfer-on-death grantee	Property passing by survivorship or recorded designation	The surviving owner or grantee, on the recorded document; usually no court	Usually the shortest path to a clean signature; recording and lender steps still apply
Agent under a power of attorney	The principal's lifetime only	Nobody — the authority ended at death	Signing under a lapsed power of attorney is a defect in the chain of title
Beneficiary or heir	A right to receive once administration finishes	Not authority to convey, unless the person also holds title or an appointment	May be asked to consent or join in a deed; that is not the same as holding authority

Verification status. Verified for the general role boundaries above, including that a power of attorney does not survive the principal's death. Partial for everything state-specific — whether a personal representative needs court approval or a bond to sell real property, whether a transfer-on-death deed exists at all, what a trustee must produce for a title company, and how a spouse's or minor child's rights affect a sale are set by the decedent's state and sometimes by local court practice. The next section verifies the court-approval question for fourteen states and states plainly which states it does not cover.

What the lender can and cannot do after a death

Federal — applies everywhere. Reviewed August 4, 2026.

The mortgage does not disappear when the borrower dies, and it usually does not become due either. Here is what the law actually gives you, and what it does not.

• The lender generally cannot call the loan because the borrower died and the house passed to family. Federal law lists transfers that a lender may not treat as triggering a due-on-sale clause on residential property of fewer than five dwelling units. Two of them are a transfer by devise, descent, or operation of law on the death of a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, and a transfer to a relative resulting from the death of a borrower (12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d), Preemption of due-on-sale prohibitions — Office of the Law Revision Counsel).
• Being confirmed as a successor in interest gets you information, not liability. Mortgage-servicing rules define a successor in interest as someone who receives an ownership interest in the property from a borrower, including by descent on a joint tenant's death or by transfer to a relative on the borrower's death; a confirmed successor in interest is one whose identity and ownership interest the servicer has confirmed (Regulation X § 1024.31, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). A confirmed successor is then treated as a borrower for servicing purposes, which is what gets the servicer talking to you and reviewing any loss-mitigation request (Regulation X § 1024.30(d), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).
• That treatment does not put you on the note. The Bureau's official commentary to § 1024.30(d) states that treating a confirmed successor in interest as a borrower does not affect whether that person is subject to the contractual obligations of the loan — state law decides that, and assuming the loan is a separate step you would take deliberately.
• None of this pays the mortgage. The exemptions stop acceleration; they do not stop the monthly payment, and a loan that was already in default before the death is still in default. Confirmation is also not authority to sell: it settles who the servicer will speak to, not who may sign a deed.

The Readiness Check: what to gather before you list

Use this before requesting a single estimate. Mark each gate Ready, Hold, or Review. Hold is not a failure; it means the next action is a document, not a phone call.

Gate	Evidence to locate	Pause or escalate when
Owner and transfer path	Recorded deed; will; trust; beneficiary, transfer-on-death, or joint-ownership documents	The owner of record or the transfer path is disputed or undocumented
Recognized signer	Letters or court order; trustee certificate and acceptance; titled owner's identification	A named executor is not appointed, the appointment carries limits, or court requirements are unclear
Other participants	Co-owner interests; spousal or beneficiary claims; required notice or approval	Consent, notice, or approval is disputed or jurisdiction-specific
Mortgage and liens	Latest statement; written payoff quote; lien and title search; servicer's successor process	The loan is in default or foreclosure, the payoff is disputed, or the servicer will not communicate
Insurance and security	Current policy; occupancy status; utilities; who holds keys and codes	Coverage may lapse because the home is unoccupied, or the property is not secured
Occupancy	Who is in the home; any lease; the plan for personal property	Anyone's right to remain, or to be asked to leave, is unclear
Estate finances	Carrying costs; known claims; taxes; reserves; a solvency review; whether the decedent received Medicaid at 55 or older	The estate may not be able to pay what it owes, money would be distributed too early, or a Medicaid recovery claim has not been checked with the state agency
Tax records	Date-of-death value; alternate valuation if elected; improvements; rental history; selling costs	The date-of-death value or the improvement record cannot be reconstructed

Full probate stages and local timing belong to how probate works; notices, claims, accounting, and closing sit on the executor document and deadline checklist. This page needs only the sale-readiness slice.

Does the court have to approve the sale? Fourteen states, verified

Coverage. This table covers fourteen states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Massachusetts. It does not cover the other thirty-six states or the District of Columbia. If the property is anywhere else, the answer exists — it is in that state's probate code and in the practice of the probate court in the decedent's county — but it is not on this page yet, and we would rather say so than guess. Route to your state's court system through USAGov's federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts directory, then ask the probate court in the decedent's county what it requires to authorize a sale of real property.

What this answers, and what it does not. It answers whether a personal representative generally needs the court's approval before selling estate real property, and what that turns on. It does not decide your estate. Local court practice, the wording of your letters, the terms of the will, a bond requirement, and the title company's own standards can all change the answer. Property that passed outside probate — by survivorship, a recorded transfer-on-death deed, or a funded trust — is usually outside this table entirely.

All fourteen rows verified August 4, 2026, against the linked official source. Next review: August 2027, or sooner on a statutory change.

State	Approval generally required?	What the answer turns on	Governing law	Status
California	Depends on the authority granted	Under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, limited authority excludes the power to sell real property and requires court supervision; full authority allows a sale after a Notice of Proposed Action to interested parties, with no court confirmation. Court supervision is required either way if the buyer is the personal representative or their attorney.	Cal. Prob. Code §§ 10400 et seq., 10403, 10501; Judicial Council form DE-165, Notice of Proposed Action	Verified
Texas	Usually no in independent administration; yes in dependent administration	Estate property may not be sold without a court order except as Chapter 356 provides. No order is required where the will authorizes the executor to sell. Independent executors may act without court approval, and distributees may agree to a power of sale written into the order appointing an independent administrator.	Tex. Est. Code §§ 356.001, 356.002, 356.251, 401.006, 402.002; Chapter 356, Sale of Estate Property	Verified
Florida	Yes, unless the will confers a power of sale	Where the estate is intestate, or the will confers no power of sale, the personal representative may agree a sale but no title passes until the court authorizes or confirms it. Where the will confers a specific or general power of sale, the representative may sell without court authorization or confirmation.	Fla. Stat. § 733.613	Verified
New York	Usually no	Every fiduciary — executor or administrator — is authorized to sell real property unless the will, the appointing decree, or a later order says otherwise. The default power does not reach property that the will specifically disposes of; for that, the Surrogate may authorize a sale for the purposes set out in SCPA 1902.	N.Y. EPTL § 11-1.1(b)(5); N.Y. SCPA § 1902	Verified
Pennsylvania	Usually no	Unless the will provides otherwise, the personal representative may sell any real property not specifically devised; specifically devised property requires the devisee to join. A court-order route exists where the representative is not otherwise authorized, is denied the power by the will, or wants the sale to carry the effect of a judicial sale. Where a bond was required, real-estate proceeds are not paid to the representative until the court rules on additional security.	20 Pa.C.S. § 3351; 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3353, 3356	Verified
Ohio	Yes, unless the will grants a power of sale or everyone consents	No probate court order is required where the will or devise authorizes the sale. Separately, the representative may sell where the surviving spouse and all beneficiaries — or all heirs, if intestate — give written consent to a power of sale that is filed in the probate court. Otherwise the route is a land-sale proceeding.	Ohio Rev. Code § 2113.39; § 2127.011	Verified
Illinois	Usually no in independent administration	The court grants independent administration unless the will forbids it or supervised administration is required. An independent representative's administrative powers are exercisable without court order, and the Probate Act's court-order provisions for real estate do not apply to a sale made under a power in the will or under those independent powers.	755 ILCS 5, Probate Act of 1975, §§ 20-15, 28-2, 28-8	Verified
Michigan	Usually no	Except as restricted by the will or by an order in a formal proceeding, the personal representative may sell, mortgage, or lease estate property and may dispose of land in this or another state. The statute's court-approval requirement for selling a decedent's real property applies only where the representative is the state or county public administrator.	MCL § 700.3715	Verified
North Carolina	Yes for a sale to pay debts, unless the will grants authority	Title to real property vests in the heirs or devisees at death, subject to the representative's powers. To sell real property to pay debts and claims, the representative must institute a special proceeding before the clerk of superior court — except where the will gives authority. A general power-of-sale provision is enough to remove that requirement.	N.C.G.S. § 28A-15-1; § 28A-17-8	Verified
Georgia	Yes, unless the will grants a power of sale	The personal representative may sell real property subject to the sales article, and nothing in that article limits a power granted by the will. Otherwise the representative petitions the probate court; notice goes to the heirs or beneficiaries, and if no timely written objection is filed the court orders the sale summarily. If an objection is filed, the court hears it and may require public outcry or confirmation.	O.C.G.A. §§ 53-8-10, 53-8-13; Georgia Probate Court standard form GPCSF 13	Verified with limitation
Virginia	Yes, unless the will directs or authorizes the sale	Real estate passes to the heirs or devisees at death rather than into the representative's hands. Where the will devises real estate to be sold and appoints nobody else to sell it, the executor has the power to sell and convey; an administrator with the will annexed has the same power if no executor qualifies. Otherwise the representative applies to the circuit court, including where real estate must be subjected to the payment of debts.	Va. Code § 64.2-521; Va. Code §§ 64.2-106, 64.2-532	Verified
Washington	Usually no, where nonintervention powers were granted	A personal representative acting under nonintervention powers may mortgage, encumber, lease, sell, exchange, and convey estate assets, real and personal, without an order of court and without notice, approval, or confirmation. Where nonintervention powers were not granted, the supervised route with court confirmation applies instead.	RCW 11.68.090; RCW 11.68.011	Verified
Arizona	Usually no	Until the appointment ends, the personal representative has the same power over the title to estate property that an absolute owner would have, held in trust for creditors and others interested, and that power may be exercised without notice, hearing, or order of court. The authorized transactions are subject to any restriction in the will or in an order in a formal proceeding, and a sale involving a conflict of interest is voidable.	A.R.S. § 14-3715; A.R.S. §§ 14-3711, 14-3713	Verified
Massachusetts	Yes, unless the will empowers the representative to sell	A sale to an arm's length third party is conclusive only if one of two things is true: where the decedent died without a will, a license to sell has been issued under chapter 202; where the decedent died with a will, either the will empowered the representative to sell that real estate, or a chapter 202 license has been issued. Appointment alone is not authority to sign a deed.	G.L. c. 190B, § 3-715(a)(23½); G.L. c. 202	Verified

On Georgia's status. The statutory rule is verified, but Georgia does not publish its code through a free official portal the way the other states here do. The linked source is the state probate court's own standard petition form, which cites the governing section. Everything else in the row is sourced to the statutory text.

One California detail that catches sellers. Where the personal representative is selling under court supervision rather than full independent authority, the court's permission is needed before signing an exclusive right-to-sell listing agreement, and each extension is capped at ninety days (Cal. Prob. Code § 10150(c)) — see the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego's mandatory petition form PR-144. Ask about this before an agent hands you a six-month listing agreement.

What deadlines apply when selling an inherited house?

Selling is rarely the thing with a clock on it. Three deadlines do attach to this task, and each is worth knowing before you sign rather than after.

Deadline	Layer	Period	What happens if it is missed	Can it be cured?
The creditor claim period, before sale proceeds are distributed	State	Set by the decedent's state; ask the probate court in the decedent's county what applies and when it started	Distributing before it closes can leave whoever authorized the distribution personally exposed to a claim that arrives afterward	Prevented rather than cured. Hold the proceeds in the estate account until the period closes and known claims are resolved
Court permission for an exclusive right-to-sell listing agreement, in a California court-supervised estate	State — Cal. Prob. Code § 10150(c)	Each authorized period is capped at ninety days	The listing agreement is signed without the permission the court requires	Yes — petition the court, on the county's mandatory form, before signing rather than after
Electing the alternate valuation date	Federal	Six months after the date of death, and available only where a federal estate tax return was filed and the election made on that return	Basis remains the fair market value at the date of death	The election is made on the return; it is not available afterwards

Other deadlines can be running in the background of an estate — a state's requirement to lodge the will with the court, a spousal election, a disclaimer window, tax filing dates. Those are not sale deadlines and this page does not resolve them; the executor document and deadline checklist and the probate court in the decedent's county are the right places to confirm what applies.

What are the ways to sell an inherited house?

Before any company name enters the picture, it helps to see the paths as contract structures rather than brands. Each puts the cost in a different place, and each gives the seller a different amount of control over price.

Two things are worth saying plainly. A marketed listing offers exposure to the open market; it does not guarantee a price, a buyer, or a timeline. And a cash route is not free of cost because no agent commission appears — the economics show up in the offer amount, a service charge, a condition adjustment after inspection, or the closing terms. Neither point is a criticism. They are the reason the comparison has to happen on net proceeds rather than headline numbers.

Path	Who you are contracting with	Where the cost shows up	What limits it, and what to verify first
Local full-service listing	A licensed agent and brokerage, under a written listing agreement	A negotiated listing fee, plus any buyer-side compensation the seller agrees to	Needs time on market, showings, and an estate that can carry the property. Verify license, the agreement's term and fee, and estate-sale experience
Discounted agent match	A referral platform first, then the agent and brokerage you actually sign with	A reduced listing fee, sometimes with a minimum; the platform is paid from the agent's side	Depends on which agents participate locally and whether the discount fits the price band. Verify who represents you, how the platform is paid, and the minimum
Direct cash purchase or iBuyer	The buying company itself, under a purchase agreement	The gap between offer and open-market value, plus a service charge and a condition adjustment	Property and market eligibility; the price is set by the buyer's model, not negotiated. Verify address eligibility, the offer's line items, inspection rights, and cancellation
For sale by owner	Buyers and their agents directly, with a closing professional you hire	Marketing, attorney or title work, and any buyer-agent compensation	Legal, disclosure, and negotiation workload falls on the signer; not automatically cheaper. Verify state disclosure forms, representation boundaries, and who drafts and closes
Auction	An auctioneer or auction platform, under its terms	Auctioneer and marketing charges, plus a buyer's premium	Reserve terms, bidder pool, and any required court confirmation. Verify auctioneer licensing, reserve and premium terms, and whether the court must confirm
No provider yet	Nobody	Continued carrying costs, plus the cost of the review that resolves the question	Deliberate — it holds until authority, title, occupancy, solvency, or tax facts are settled, and it carries the lowest personal exposure of any route. Verify through the court, title, servicer, insurer, or tax path that answers the open question

Pick the two paths your situation actually supports, not all six. For most estates that is a marketed listing and one as-is route. Take each to a written number, then put both into the same worksheet.

The current shortlist and the neutral benchmark

How options got onto this page

The gates are published before the names, because the gates are the only reason to trust the names.

1. Relevance. The option must help compare or carry out the sale of an inherited house.
2. First-party evidence. A current page published by the company itself must disclose its role, eligibility, how it is paid, the contract path, and its material limits.
3. Consumer availability. A seller must be able to use it directly, and it must be possible to say honestly who it does not fit.
4. Equal fields. Every option is evidenced from the same categories on the same review date. If a consequential field cannot be verified from the company's own documentation, the option gets no profile. Where one option carries more citations than another, that reflects how many of its own pages the company spreads its terms across, not a different standard of proof: Clever and HomeLight each state their role and compensation in a single document, while Opendoor's charge, breakdown, timing, and cancellation terms sit on separate Help Center pages.
5. The benchmark stays. A neutral local open-market listing remains in the comparison, so discounted and cash routes are never judged in isolation.
6. Independence. The page must remain complete if every commercial link is removed. Estate Made Clear is an independent publisher — not a brokerage, law firm, lender, tax preparer, or government agency. No company here paid for inclusion, placement, or a favorable description.

This page does not score or rank. There is no rubric, weighting, or star rating, because a defensible score would need local price, service, and outcome data we do not have. Options appear in a fixed order — neutral benchmark, then agent-matching services, then direct cash purchase — reflecting the "compare exposure before convenience" principle, not quality.

Refresh cadence. Terms, pricing, and availability are reviewed at least quarterly and again before any material update. Every provider statement below was reviewed on August 4, 2026; terms change without notice, and the written agreement or offer controls.

Side-by-side: role, cost, coverage, and time

Reviewed August 4, 2026, from each company's own documentation. Fees shown are what the seller pays; court, title, and closing costs apply to every path and are excluded here.

Option	Role, and who represents the seller	What the seller pays, and on what basis	Where it operates	Time to close, and what sets it	Evidence status
Local full-service listing agent	Licensed agent and brokerage; the agent represents the seller under a written listing agreement	A listing fee set in the agreement, plus any buyer-side compensation agreed to; negotiable, set locally	Everywhere, through state-licensed professionals	Market-dependent; set by exposure, offer, financing, and title, and by any court step	Category benchmark; compensation is negotiated per transaction, and no national timeline is published
Clever Real Estate	Agent-matching referral service and licensed brokerage; the matched agent, not Clever, represents the seller	Free to be matched; 1.5% listing fee with a $3,000 minimum at closing if you sell with a partner agent; buyer-agent compensation separate	All 50 states, per Clever's own statement	Same as any local listing; Clever publishes no timeline of its own	Fee, minimum, matching, and coverage verified from Clever's FAQ; local agent quality not verifiable in advance
HomeLight Agent Match	Introduction service and licensed California broker; states it is not the seller's agent	No charge to the consumer; a referral fee may be paid to HomeLight from the referred professional's commission	Nationwide introductions to licensed local professionals	Introduction only; the timeline belongs to the referred agent's transaction	Role, non-representation, and compensation verified from HomeLight's Terms of Service; no seller discount published
Opendoor	Direct cash buyer; it buys the home itself, so nobody in the transaction represents the seller	Offer price, minus a variable service charge, a condition adjustment for repairs found at assessment, and estimated closing costs; no fixed percentage published, and the charge is stated to be non-negotiable	Selected markets and eligible property types; checked per address	Seller-chosen closing date; provider-stated 14 to 60 days, with a 21-to-60-day figure on other Opendoor pages	Charge structure, offer breakdown, cancellation, and closing range verified from Opendoor's Help Center; the actual charge appears only in your own offer

None of the four resolves the questions this page opens with. Authority to sign, co-owner consent, occupancy, estate solvency, and any court-approval requirement sit upstream of every option in that table, and no agent, platform, or buyer absorbs them on the estate's behalf.

Local full-service listing agent — the benchmark

Best for: almost every estate as a comparison point, and as the working path when the property can be shown, the estate can carry it, and price discovery matters more than a fixed closing date.

Not ideal for: an estate that cannot pay taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance through a marketing period, or a property needing investment the estate cannot fund. It is unusable until someone is recognized to sign.

Personal liability exposure: the ordinary fiduciary duties apply — proceeds to the estate account, no distribution before creditors are handled, and a record of the transaction. A marketing period also means months of carrying costs paid from estate funds, which the representative has to be able to justify.

The listing agreement is the whole relationship: a contract that establishes representation, sets out how the property will be marketed, and states the compensation, which is negotiable (Consumer Guide: Listing Agreements, National Association of REALTORS®). Since the 2024 practice changes, buyer-agent compensation is negotiated separately rather than published through the MLS, so ask what the seller pays on each side.

Verify before you engage or pay:

• Are this agent and this brokerage currently licensed in the state where the property sits, and is there disciplinary history? Check with that state's real estate commission, not with the agent.
• What is in the listing agreement — term, services included, total the seller pays, and how to cancel? In a court-supervised California estate, confirm whether the court must approve an exclusive listing before you sign one.
• Has this agent closed estate or trust sales, and do they know what a title company here requires from a personal representative or successor trustee?

Clever Real Estate — a published discount, with a floor

Best for: a seller who wants a conventional full-service listing at a lower listing-side fee and is comfortable choosing from a short list of introductions. Clever states that matching is free with no obligation, that the seller signs a listing agreement with the agent rather than with Clever, and that it earns a referral fee from the agent's commission only when a sale closes (Frequently Asked Questions, Clever Real Estate).

Not ideal for: lower-priced properties. The $3,000 minimum replaces the percentage whenever 1.5% would come to less, so the effective listing rate rises as the price falls — which matters for a modest inherited home. It also does not suit a seller who wants to pick a specific brokerage or agent personally.

Personal liability exposure: the same as any listing. The referral relationship does not change who the seller's agent is, and it does not transfer any part of the representative's duty to the estate.

Verify before you engage or pay:

• At this property's likely price, does 1.5% or the $3,000 minimum apply, and what is the total once buyer-side compensation is added?
• Which brokerage does the matched agent work for, are they licensed in this state, and have they handled an estate or trust sale in this county?
• What does the listing agreement itself say about fee, term, and cancellation — since the agreement, not the platform's description, controls?

HomeLight Agent Match — introductions, without a published seller discount

Best for: a seller who wants a second source of local agent candidates to compare against agents found independently, especially for a property in a state or metro the family does not know.

Not ideal for: anyone whose main goal is a lower listing fee, since no pre-negotiated seller discount is published and the fee is whatever the seller negotiates with the referred agent. It also does not suit someone expecting the platform to stand behind the professional: HomeLight's terms state it is not the seller's agent, does not represent the seller, does not endorse the professionals it introduces, and is not aware of the terms of any agreement the seller reaches with them (Terms of Service, HomeLight). Those terms also state there is no charge to the consumer and that HomeLight may receive a referral fee that is a percentage of the professional's commission — real compensation, paid out of the transaction.

Personal liability exposure: an introduction transfers nothing. Diligence on the referred professional, and the duty to the estate, both remain with whoever signs.

Verify before you engage or pay:

• What listing fee is this specific agent proposing, and what is the total once buyer-side compensation or concessions are included?
• Is the referred professional licensed where the property sits, and what is their record with estate or trust sales?
• What happens to the family's contact details and property information after the introduction, and who else receives them?

Opendoor — a direct buyer with a published offer structure

Best for: a property inside Opendoor's markets and eligibility rules where the estate needs a known number and a chosen closing date more than price discovery — a vacant home the family cannot maintain, or one several states away.

Not ideal for: any estate that wants to test the market, any property outside Opendoor's eligible markets and property types, and any sale a court must approve at a price it finds adequate. Because Opendoor states the service charge is standardized by market and property and is not adjusted through negotiation, the estate cannot shop those terms the way it could shop a commission.

Personal liability exposure: the highest of the four, for one reason. Where a court must find the price adequate, or where beneficiaries may question it, accepting a below-market offer for speed is the decision a representative is most often asked to justify. Document why the estate could not carry the property.

Opendoor's Help Center describes an offer breakdown showing the offer amount, then a service charge, a condition adjustment for repairs identified at the home assessment, and estimated standard closing costs such as title insurance, escrow fees, property taxes owed, and recording fees — arriving at net proceeds (What's included in my Opendoor offer?, Opendoor Help Center). The service charge covers buying, holding, preparing, and reselling the home; it varies, appears in the breakdown, and is not published as a fixed percentage (What is Opendoor's service charge?, Opendoor Help Center). A second option, Cash Now, More Later, pays part of the proceeds at closing and a further amount tied to the eventual resale, with a variable charge based on the upfront cash (What selling options does Opendoor offer?, Opendoor Help Center).

On timing, the Help Center describes a seller-chosen closing date with closing typically taking 14 to 60 days, and states a seller may cancel before closing with no penalty or fees, after which the sale is final. Other Opendoor pages describe a 21-to-60-day window, so treat any range as provider-stated and eligibility-dependent, and confirm the date in the written offer rather than in marketing copy.

Verify before you engage or pay:

• Is this specific address eligible, and does eligibility survive the assessment once the home's actual condition is known?
• What are the four line items on the written offer in dollars — offer, service charge, condition adjustment, closing costs — and how does the net compare with a local agent's estimate for the same condition?
• If a court must approve the sale, will the company hold the offer through that process, and what are the cancellation terms in the purchase agreement itself?

Considered, and not included

In every case the reason is the stated gate and nothing more; none of it is a finding about a company's conduct or quality.

• HomeLight Simple Sale — evidence gate, as of August 4, 2026. HomeLight's own pages describe Simple Sale as a cash offer sourced from an investor network, for homes nationwide in almost any condition, and state that there are no fees charged by HomeLight while individual investor fees may vary (Need to Sell My House Fast?, HomeLight). The buyer's identity and the fee the buyer charges are therefore not disclosed in advance, and HomeLight's own pages give different closing figures — as few as seven days on one (What Is Simple Sale?, HomeLight), and other figures elsewhere. Those fields could not be verified at the depth applied to the options above.
• Attorney-matching and estate-administration services (for example LegalMatch, ClearEstate) — scope gate. These do not help compare or carry out a house sale.
• Estate-planning document platforms (for example Trust & Will) — scope gate. Planning documents are a different task from disposing of inherited property.
• Cleanout, hauling, and estate-sale companies (for example LoadUp, MaxSold) — scope gate. These belong after authority and contents decisions, on compare estate cleanout services.
• Financial-adviser matching (for example SmartAsset) — scope gate. Advice about proceeds is not disposal of the property.
• Probate advances, inheritance advances, offers to buy out an heir's expected share, paid document retrieval, and asset-finder services — permanently excluded by policy. Estate Made Clear does not list, rank, or route to these in any form, and they were not evaluated. Probate filings are public records and companies buy them, so unsolicited mail or calls offering to buy the house or advance an inheritance are marketing, not a deadline, and nothing about them requires a response.

How do I compare a cash offer to a listing?

One worksheet, three columns, same assumptions. This is what turns several different sales pitches into one comparison.

The Net Proceeds Worksheet

The formula. Estimated cash available to the estate or titled owner, before any income-tax calculation:

Gross sale price or written offer − mortgage payoff and other liens − listing, service, or transaction amounts − seller-paid buyer compensation or concessions − repair or condition adjustments − closing and transfer costs − carrying costs through closing (taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, security) − cleanout, moving, and storage − reserves the estate must hold back = estimated net

How to fill it in. Use one column each for a marketed listing, a discounted-listing route, and a cash route, and hold four things constant: the property's condition on a stated date, which contents and fixtures are included, the occupancy status, and the comparison date. If one estimate assumes repairs and another assumes as-is, the gap between the columns is not real. Where an input is uncertain — several will be — write a conservative, an expected, and a favorable version, all labeled estimates. Nobody, including the companies quoting you, can say today what a specific house will sell for.

Two lines people underestimate. Carrying costs run every month the property is held, and for an inherited home they often include a vacancy-rated insurance premium, utilities kept on for showings, and yard service. Cleanout is its own project with its own cost, and it usually has to happen before either a listing or an as-is sale.

On privacy. There is no reason to enter a property address, an exact mortgage balance, estate values, or beneficiary names into a tool that saves them, and no reason for a company to need that detail before giving you a range.

A worked example

Illustrative only. These figures are not estimates for any property, and they are not benchmarks. They are chosen to show how the lines interact.

Assumptions used below, so you can rebuild it with your own: a 3% listing fee and 2.5% buyer-side compensation in the marketed column; a 1.5% listing fee in the discounted column, which on a $300,000 sale exceeds the $3,000 floor that discount programs commonly apply; and a service charge set at 5% in the cash column. That 5% is an assumption for illustration — Opendoor does not publish a fixed percentage, and the charge on any real offer appears only in that offer's own breakdown.

Line	Marketed listing	Discounted listing	Written cash offer
Gross price or offer	$300,000	$300,000	$258,000
Listing fee or service charge	−$9,000	−$4,500	−$12,900
Buyer-side compensation	−$7,500	−$7,500	$0
Repair or condition adjustment	−$4,000	−$4,000	−$9,000
Closing and transfer costs	−$4,500	−$4,500	−$4,500
Carrying costs through closing	−$4,200	−$4,200	−$1,260
Cleanout	−$3,000	−$3,000	−$3,000
Mortgage payoff and liens	−$120,000	−$120,000	−$120,000
Estimated net	$147,800	$152,300	$107,340

On those inputs the listing routes win by a wide margin, which is the usual result when a property can actually be marketed. Now change four inputs and watch it move:

• The estate cannot fund repairs, so the house goes to market as-is at $270,000 and the $4,000 repair line drops to zero.
• The listing fee stays at 3% of the lower price, and buyer-side compensation stays at 2.5%.
• The marketing period runs eleven months instead of five, so carrying costs rise from $4,200 to $9,240.
• The condition adjustment on the cash offer comes back at $3,000 rather than $9,000.

The marketed listing now nets about $118,410 and the cash offer about $113,340 — roughly $5,000 apart, which is smaller than the uncertainty in either estimate. That is the point at which convenience, certainty, and the family's capacity legitimately decide, and nobody should feel they took the wrong path.

When to get separate tax review

Keep tax out of this worksheet. Net proceeds and taxable gain are different calculations with different inputs, and blending them produces a number that is wrong for both purposes. Flag the estate for separate tax review if:

• the date-of-death value was never established;
• an alternate valuation date was elected on a federal estate tax return;
• the property was substantially improved;
• it was rented and depreciated;
• it sits outside the decedent's home state; or
• an heir lived in the home.

Keep the categories apart when you ask: federal estate tax, state estate tax, state inheritance tax, the decedent's final income tax return, income tax on any gain from the sale, and the property's basis are six different things with six different rules.

Who should you call first?

Most of what an estate needs at this stage is not a sales service at all. This section is about the kind of help, not the brand — the characteristics to look for, so you can evaluate whoever is available where the property sits.

• Best when nobody is appointed yet: the probate court in the decedent's county — its self-help center, published forms, and clerk's office, which can tell you what to file even though it cannot tell you what to do. This costs nothing beyond filing fees. Ask: What does this court require to authorize a sale of real property? Is approval needed? What are the filing fees, and is a bond required?
• Best for confirming what a small estate requires: the same court, plus the state's small-estate or summary administration procedure if the estate qualifies under that state's rules. Whether it qualifies is a question for the court and the statute, not for this page. Ask: Does this state's simplified procedure reach real property at all, or only personal property?
• Best for a property that can be marketed: a listing agent licensed where the property sits who has closed estate or trust sales in that county, will put the fee basis and term in writing, and knows what the local title company requires from a personal representative or trustee. Ask: What is your fee, and what is the buyer-side number? Have you closed a trust or estate sale in this county?
• Best for a property the estate cannot prepare or maintain: a direct buyer or investor route giving a written, itemized offer with a stated service charge, a stated condition adjustment, defined cancellation rights, and disclosure of whether the contract can be assigned. Ask: Can I see the four line items in dollars before I commit to anything?
• Best when authority, title, occupancy, solvency, or court approval is unresolved: pause on choosing any sale service and get review first. Look for a probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state who offers limited-scope representation for a defined question and will quote the fee basis — flat, hourly, or percentage — in writing. Many state bars run a lawyer-referral service, and legal aid organizations serve households under income limits. Ask: Do you take limited-scope work for a single question, and what is your fee basis in writing? Have you handled a sale requiring court approval here? The when probate legal help may be needed page covers how to make that call; if you have already made it, find probate process help compares paid options.
• Best when the decedent received Medicaid at 55 or older, or was in long-term care: the state Medicaid agency, and an elder law attorney where a recovery claim may reach the house. Ask: Is there a claim against this estate, what does it cover, and what is the hardship waiver procedure here?
• Best when the numbers, not the law, are the problem: an estate CPA or enrolled agent who can address date-of-death valuation, adjusted basis, and reporting for the year of sale. Ask: What records do you need from us now, before they become hard to reconstruct?

The One Scorecard: what to ask everyone

Do not build a new set of questions for each company. Use this as the scorecard for every option, including the free official path, and write the answers in the same columns. What matters is not who sounds best; it is who could answer in writing and who could not.

Ask	Where the real answer lives
Who represents the seller here, and who does not?	Agency disclosure; listing agreement; the platform's own terms
How is the platform, agent, brokerage, investor, or buyer paid, and by whom?	Fee schedule; referral disclosure; the settlement statement
What services are included, and what is excluded?	Listing agreement; written service description; written offer
Which amounts are fixed, variable, negotiable, or minimums?	The fee or offer breakdown, in writing
What happens after inspection — can the number move?	Repair or adjustment clause; cancellation rights
Can the purchase agreement be assigned to another buyer?	Purchase agreement; the buying entity's details
What is the closing window, and what can extend it?	Written offer; financing and title conditions; any court requirement
Who handles title, escrow, payoff, tax forms, and disbursement?	Closing instructions; a closing professional licensed where the property sits
What data is shared, with whom, and for how long?	Privacy policy; the consent you are asked to give; platform terms

Three answers should slow you down: a listing fee quoted without the buyer-side number beside it; a cash offer described only as a single figure with no line items; and any agreement whose cancellation terms cannot be found in the document. None of those means a company is behaving badly. All of them mean you do not yet have enough to compare.

Questions families ask at this stage

Can we sell the house before probate is finished?

Sometimes, and it depends on the state, the court, and the title path. In many jurisdictions a personal representative can sell estate real property during administration, though some require court approval, notice to interested parties, or a bond. Property that passed by trust, survivorship, or beneficiary deed may not need probate at all. The fourteen-state table above answers the court-approval question for California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Massachusetts; anywhere else, ask the probate court in the decedent's county what applies here.

Do all the heirs have to agree?

There is no universal rule. Whether consent is needed depends on who holds title, what powers a will or trust grants, what the court has ordered, and the law of the decedent's state. Sometimes an appointed personal representative can sell without every beneficiary signing; sometimes every co-owner on the deed must sign. Treat any blanket answer — in either direction — with caution.

What if we cannot find the will?

The title path controls, and the will is only one of the documents that can set it. Start with the recorded deed: if the property was held in survivorship, passed by a recorded transfer-on-death deed, or sits in a funded trust, it did not travel through the will at all. If the property was titled in the decedent's name alone and no will can be produced, the estate is handled as intestate, and the county probate court's own process determines who may be appointed and in what order. The clerk can tell you what that court requires to open the file. A missing will slows things down; it does not strand the property.

What if I do not want to be the executor?

You are not obliged to serve. Being nominated in a will is a nomination, not an appointment, and a person named can decline before the court appoints them — the procedure and the paperwork are set by the probate court in the decedent's county, and the clerk can tell you what to file. Two things are worth knowing while you decide. Until the court appoints someone, nobody has authority to list, sign, or accept an offer, so the property should be secured and insured in the meantime. And declining is ordinary. Courts see it constantly, from people who live far away, who are unwell, who are managing their own grief, or who simply do not want the job. It carries no penalty and no judgment.

How long does this take?

There is no honest national number, because the clock is set by whichever dependency runs longest: the court's calendar for appointing a personal representative, the state's creditor-claim period, any required inventory or appraisal, the sale itself, tax filings and clearances, and any dispute. The sale is often not the slow part. An uncontested estate may move faster than that list suggests and a contested one much slower; the court clerk in the decedent's county can tell you which steps apply.

What does it cost — and which costs are which?

Keep the categories separate, because they are paid to different people at different times. The court's filing fee is set by state or county and published in that court's own fee schedule. Then there may be publication or notice costs, certified death-certificate copies, a bond premium if the court requires one, and an appraisal. Personal-representative compensation is separate and governed by state law or the will. Attorney fees are separate again, and the fee basis — flat, hourly, or percentage — belongs in the engagement letter. None of those are sale costs, which include the listing fee or service charge, buyer-side compensation, condition adjustments, and closing costs. For actual figures, use the fee schedule published by the probate court in the decedent's county; national averages will not match it.

Does selling the house let us skip probate?

No. Selling does not change how the property is titled or whether the estate needs administration — the title path was fixed at the moment of death by the deed, the beneficiary designation, or the will. The causation runs the other way: you generally cannot convey the property until the title path is resolved, which is why the authority check comes first on this page.

What records will we need for the tax side later?

Preserve the fair market value at the date of death, since the basis of inherited property is generally that value — or the value on the alternate valuation date, but only if the executor filed a federal estate tax return and elected it (Gifts & Inheritances, Internal Revenue Service). Keep the appraisal or valuation, records of improvements, any rental and depreciation history, and the closing statement showing selling costs (Publication 551, Basis of Assets, Internal Revenue Service). Whether a gain is reportable, and by whom, depends on the ownership path and the facts; a tax professional should apply it, using the guidance for personal representatives in Publication 559.

What to do this week

Build the packet before you build the shortlist: the recorded deed, the will or trust, the letters or trustee certificate, the mortgage statement, the insurance policy, and whatever establishes the date-of-death value. That packet answers most of what any agent, buyer, or title company will ask, and it is useful no matter which path you choose.

Then, if the signer is settled, request one local market analysis and one written as-is estimate in the same week, and put both into the same worksheet. If the signer is not settled, that is the whole next step — and it is enough for now.

About this page

Publisher. Estate Made Clear is an independent educational publisher. It is not a brokerage, law firm, lender, tax preparer, title company, insurer, funeral home, government agency, or court, and it does not retrieve documents or locate assets on anyone's behalf.

Who writes and maintains this page. Written and maintained by the Estate Made Clear editorial team, which researches every legal and procedural claim against the governing statute, court rule, official form, or agency guidance, and every commercial claim against the company's own published terms. Where a source could not be verified to that standard, the page says so on the row rather than filling the gap.

How this page is funded. Estate Made Clear is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links. No provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion on this page, and compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked. If a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. The inclusion gates published above are the actual basis for what appears, and this page is built to remain complete and usable if every commercial link were removed.

Review status. This page has not yet had review by a probate or estate attorney or by a tax professional; when that review is completed, it will be credited here by name, role, and date.

Next verification. Provider terms, fees, and availability are rechecked at least quarterly; the state table is rechecked by August 2027 or sooner on a statutory change. The earliest of those dates controls the page.

Corrections. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us at hello@estatemadeclear.com. Corrections are made on the page itself and the verification date for that section is updated.

What this is and is not. This is general information about a process, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and reading it does not create a professional relationship. It cannot account for your state, your county's court, your documents, or your family. Where the answer turns on those things, this page says so and points to the official source or the qualified professional who can apply it.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 4, 2026

Next review: November 4, 2026 (quarterly provider-terms recheck; the state table by August 2027, or sooner on a statutory change).

• Can a debt collector contact me about a deceased relative's debts? — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — that relatives are generally not personally liable for a decedent's debts, the exceptions, and the limits on what a collector may say to a personal representative.
• When a loved one dies and debt collectors come calling — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the single locating contact permitted with someone who is not the representative or a surviving spouse.
• Estate Recovery — Medicaid.gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — mandatory recovery for long-term care services for enrollees 55 and older, optional recovery of other services, the surviving-spouse and child protections, and the required hardship-waiver procedure.
• Medicaid Estate Recovery — Administration for Community Living — that state probate law defines what the estate includes for recovery purposes, generally including the home.
• Regulation X § 1024.31, Definitions — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — successor in interest and confirmed successor in interest for mortgage servicing after a borrower's death.
• Regulation X § 1024.30(d), Scope — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a confirmed successor in interest is treated as a borrower for servicing purposes, and the official commentary that this does not create liability on the loan obligation.
• 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3, Preemption of due-on-sale prohibitions — Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives — the Garn–St Germain transfers on a borrower's death that a lender may not treat as triggering a due-on-sale clause.
• Publication 551, Basis of Assets — Internal Revenue Service — basis of inherited property, adjusted basis, and the records needed to establish it.
• Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators — Internal Revenue Service — federal tax administration by personal representatives and estates.
• Gifts & Inheritances — Internal Revenue Service — fair market value at the date of death as the general basis rule, and the alternate valuation date condition.
• Notice of Proposed Action, Judicial Council form DE-165 — Superior Court of California, County of Alameda — full versus limited authority under California's Independent Administration of Estates Act, and the absence of authority to sell real property without court supervision under limited authority.
• Petition for Authorization to Enter Into or Extend Exclusive Listing Agreement, form PR-144 — Superior Court of California, County of San Diego — the court-permission requirement and 90-day cap for exclusive listing agreements under Cal. Prob. Code § 10150(c).
• Estates Code Chapter 356, Sale of Estate Property — Texas Statutes — the general court-order requirement, the exception where a will authorizes the sale, and the application for an order of sale.
• Section 733.613, Personal representative's right to sell real property — The Florida Senate — when court authorization or confirmation is required and when a will's power of sale removes it.
• EPTL § 11-1.1, Fiduciaries' powers — New York State Senate — the default fiduciary power to sell real property, its carve-out for specifically disposed property, and the SCPA 1902 route.
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 3351, Power to sell — Pennsylvania General Assembly — the personal representative's power to sell real property not specifically devised, and the bond-related restriction on proceeds.
• Section 2113.39, Sale of property under authority of will — Ohio Laws — no probate court order required where the will authorizes the sale.
• Section 2127.011, Sale of real property with consent — Ohio Laws — the written-consent power of sale filed in the probate court.
• 755 ILCS 5, Probate Act of 1975 — Illinois General Assembly — independent administration, the independent representative's powers exercisable without court order, and the real-estate article's exception for those powers.
• MCL § 700.3715, Transactions authorized for personal representatives — Michigan Legislature — the power to sell estate property absent a will restriction or an order in a formal proceeding, and the public-administrator exception.
• G.S. § 28A-15-1, Assets of the estate — North Carolina General Assembly — the special-proceeding requirement to sell real property to pay debts, and the exception for authority given by will.
• Chapter 28A, Article 17, Sales, Leases or Mortgages of Real Property — North Carolina General Assembly — the petition procedure and sales under a power in the will.
• Petition of Personal Representative for Leave to Sell Property, form GPCSF 13 — Georgia Probate Court standard form, Fulton County — the petition route under O.C.G.A. § 53-8-13(b).
• § 64.2-521, Personal representatives to sell real estate devised to be sold — Virginia Law, Code of Virginia — the executor's power to sell where the will devises real estate to be sold, and the administrator with the will annexed.
• RCW 11.68.090, Nonintervention powers — Washington State Legislature — the power to sell and convey estate real property without an order of court and without notice, approval, or confirmation where nonintervention powers were granted.
• A.R.S. § 14-3715, Transactions authorized for personal representatives — Arizona State Legislature — the transactions a personal representative may properly undertake except as restricted by the will or by an order in a formal proceeding.
• G.L. c. 190B, § 3-715, Transactions authorized for personal representatives — Massachusetts General Laws, Massachusetts Legislature — the condition that a sale to an arm's length third party requires either a power in the will or a license to sell issued under chapter 202.
• Federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts — USAGov — the routing directory for state and county court systems in jurisdictions this page's table does not cover.
• Consumer Guide: Listing Agreements — National Association of REALTORS® — what a listing agreement establishes, and that compensation is negotiable.
• Frequently Asked Questions — Clever Real Estate — matching process, 1.5% listing fee with $3,000 minimum, all-state coverage, no consumer charge, and referral compensation paid from the agent's commission.
• Terms of Service — HomeLight — introduction-only role, non-representation of the seller, no consumer charge, and referral fee paid by the professional.
• What Is Simple Sale? — HomeLight — the investor-network cash offer, nationwide coverage, and a stated closing figure.
• Need to Sell My House Fast? — HomeLight — the statement that HomeLight charges no fees on Simple Sale while individual investor fees may vary.
• What is Opendoor's service charge? — Opendoor Help Center — variable service charge, what it covers, and the absence of a published fixed percentage.
• What's included in my Opendoor offer? — Opendoor Help Center — offer breakdown, condition adjustment, estimated standard costs, and net proceeds.
• What selling options does Opendoor offer? — Opendoor Help Center — regular cash offer versus Cash Now, More Later, and the variable charge tied to the upfront cash amount.
• Can I negotiate my Opendoor offer or the service charge? — Opendoor Help Center — service charge standardized by market and property rather than negotiated, and the closing-date range.
• What is the Opendoor Seller Guarantee? — Opendoor Help Center — cancellation before closing with no penalty or fees, and finality at closing.