Selling my mum's house

[siadwell]

My mum died earlier this year and left me her house, which is a large bungalow on a good-sized plot of land in a sought-after area of a Midlands town. The bungalow itself is only 2 bed and 1 bathroom, as it was built by my parents before I came along. It has also had very little done to it for about 20 years, so is rough around the edges.
While I wait for probate to come through, someone who lives near the bungalow has approached me and asked to buy it. He is in his 70s but has been in the building trade for decades and he wants to do it up before he and his wife move in as their last home. I quite like the idea that a developer doesn't buy it to rip it down and cram 3 executive homes onto the site.
For the purposes of valuing mum's estate, I got an estate agent to look at it and they said it was hard to price, as houses in this area vary widely and some have had a lot of money spent on them by people moving into the area. However, the agent agreed with my proposed ballpark figure.
This potential purchaser is having his own house valued tomorrow and wants the agent to also give him a price for mum's house. If he's happy with the numbers, he's willing to make me an offer.
Couple of slight issues:
1) I'm a little bit nervous about doing this without an estate agent involved, although I don't think they'd really be earning their fee if I already have a buyer lined up.
2) The potential purchaser would like to have some work done inside the house before it's ready for them to move into, so he hinted he might want to start this before I have probate.
3) I live 3 hours drive away, so will have to do pretty much everything remotely.

Any advice?

 

[MontyVeda]

i wouldn't let him near it until everything has gone through and the house is his. Extreme example but what if he knocked through a wall, caused structural insecurity and decided not to buy after all?

 

[vickster]

Talk to a solicitor (you'll need one anyhow for the sale), but as above you won't want him doing anything until he's paid the full amount and that may not be permitted before probate

 

[HarryTheDog]

I sold my last house with no Estate Agent but had to have a solicitor to sort out deeds etc, in your case a state agent is of no use if you have decided on a price with the buyer, save yourself some money. ( I sold my place via word of mouth via a architect I knew )

 

[Rocky]

Go through an estate agent and conveyancing solicitor. There’s so many red flags in the scenario you describe - I wouldn’t let the builder near the place to do work until you’ve exchanged. You may pay a bit for the estate agency/solicitor but they’ll do the heavy lifting for you.

 

[fossyant]

You will need the solicitor though, but also probate to sell it. Don't let them in until sold - what if there is irreparable damage from building works and they pull out.

MIL's house was very difficult to price too - houses on their road hadn't sold for years, so no guide price. House needed updating, and despite being a four bed detached, it was located off a council estate, which affected the price. The new buyer's got a bargain as similar sized houses were a lot more. That said, I wouldn't fancy the modernisation needed - new kitchen, bathroom, re-wire etc.

 

[Profpointy]

No need at all for an estate agent if you are confident the price is OK. The job of the estate agent is to market the place, show people
round and what not. If you don't need that then don't pay for it

You do need a solicitor, well, strictly speaking you don't but in practice yes

I would not let him start any work, before its his, but that said perhaps the risk is mostly on
him

 

[vickster]

No need at all for an estate agent if you are confident the price is OK. The job of the estate agent is to market the place, show people
round and what not. If you don't need that then don't pay for it

You do need a solicitor, well, strictly speaking you don't but in practice yes

I would not let him start any work, before its his, but that said perhaps the risk is mostly on
him

Not if he starts, messes up, pulls out as mentioned?
Lots of Google hits about selling a house before probate granted eg.. https://www.gnlaw.co.uk/news/selling-a-house-during-probate/

8 Key Stages to Selling a House When Dealing with Probate​

1. Value the estate
2. Pay any inheritance tax due
3. Obtain the grant of probate
4. Prepare the property for sale
5. List the property for sale
6. Accept an offer
7. Exchange contracts
8. Complete the sale

 

[wiggydiggy]

1) I'm a little bit nervous about doing this without an estate agent involved, although I don't think they'd really be earning their fee if I already have a buyer lined up.
2) The potential purchaser would like to have some work done inside the house before it's ready for them to move into, so he hinted he might want to start this before I have probate.
3) I live 3 hours drive away, so will have to do pretty much everything remotely.

Any advice?

I've got some experience of a similar situation, but before I delve into the detail I'd say this:

Ask 3 local estate agents for a valuation of the house, be honest and tell them it is for probate. They are used to this and most will do a drive by valuation, they may do a walk in if you ask. Don't give this value to the buyer, but ask them for their offer. If it matches or beats what you expect then proceed, if not then tell them you think it's worth more and will be going to an estate agent. I wouldn't mess around at this stage as at any point that buyer could pull out and you have lost time.

Edit - By proceed I mean tell them you'll be going for probate etc and will be in touch when ready to start the sale process. Until then they have to wait.

1) No estate agent

This is fine so long as you still get a good conveyencing solicitor to handle all the legal side, you may want to engage a surveyor to survey the house (don't give to buyer) in case of any disputes later.

2) Work done

No chance in hell. They get the keys when the sale completes and you have their money.

3) Remotely

You may need to visit occasionally but remote is fine. I bought my house (not selling I know but...) remotely and apart from the initial and follow up viewing I did everything over the phone or videocall.

 

[I like Skol]

If you are not keeping the property in the family then I would suggest you forget any notion of sentimentality and simply maximise your inheritance as it won't happen again. You'll be kicking yourself when your proposed buyer either sells on quickly for a profit, or dies sooner than expected and the land/property ends up in the hands of a developer anyway!

If you can get more by using a selling agent even after factoring in their fees then do it. It's not being greedy and unless your mum wanted it to go to a particular person then why wouldn't you?

 

[palinurus]

2) The potential purchaser would like to have some work done inside the house before it's ready for them to move into, so he hinted he might want to start this before I have probate.
3) I live 3 hours drive away, so will have to do pretty much everything remotely.

Any advice?

For 2: No

For 3: I sold my mother's flat from a distance. I needed the place cleared and some works needed to be completed first- nearly everything had to be arranged remotely (even little jobs like disconnecting a washing machine- this would have involved about an eight hour round trip for me) but I did it by giving very clear instructions to electricians and other tradespeople about where to obtain keys and stuff- it all went fairly well. Everyone I dealt with was really good- so there was some luck involved.

 

[markemark]

I would allow a builder on site whilst I was there for quoting/measuring up purposes, that is reasonable and fair for a potential buyer. I've done second viewings before with a builder to quote for potential work as it factors in to a purchase. They shouldn't be allowed to touch a thing until completion (not exchanged as mentioned above). Not until it's theirs and paid for. They could easily start something (knock down a wall) then stop and pull out of the purchase for all sorts of reasons and devalue the property.

 

[Alex321]

For 1. I wouldn't worry in the slightest about not going through an estate agent. All they are foir is introducing potential buyers to sellers.
For 2. As others have said, and absolute no-no until the contract is signed.
For 3. Most house sales are effectively done remotely. When we last bought a house, we viewed about a dozen, and the owner was present in less than half of those. The issue there would be that you will need the keys to be available for surveyors, as the buyer will certainly want a survey done.

 

[PK99]

i wouldn't let him near it until everything has gone through and the house is his. Extreme example but what if he knocked through a wall, caused structural insecurity and decided not to buy after all?

That very nearly happened when we were selling MiL's house.

Against our instructions, the Estate agent let the purchaser have the keys. We went round to find walls knocked through and major ground floor remodeling in progress. Completion went ahead a week or so later.

Then, before moving in, the purchaser stepped in front of a car on Finchley road and died. Had that happened before completion we would have been comprehensively stuffed

 

[Cycleops]

I thought everyone knows that estate agents are mostly licensed thieves. Sounds like you’ve already got one involved so be prepared for them demanding a large sum for doing virtually nothing. Your conveyancer will handle everything for you. You hold the keys so control access.