Tn Land for sale by owner questions ?

[FTG-05]

Well, you're not going to believe this:

Survey and title examination complete; financing complete and ready to go; closing $$$ in the bank, ready for a cashier's check request. Everything ready to go and we're now hot to close on Thursday, Sept. 26.




















Until we found out today that the seller died Sunday night!

We can't catch a break here. :mur::mur::mur::banghead::banghead::banghead:

The daughter had power of attorney, but that passed when he did. So now we're in the beginning's of a estate process, of which I have no clue. According to my attorney, we have a legally enforceable contract and he knows of no reason why the estate would not want to turn this depreciating asset* into cash for the heir (the daughter, who wants to move forward with the sale) and do it fairly quickly. But who knows what's going to happen.

Over 25 years of experience for my banker and over 30 for my attorney, and neither had ever seen someone die 4 days before a closing like this. One more for good measure: :mur:


* I call it a depreciating asset even though it's not really. Probably better, due to it's remoteness and isolation, to call it an asset at risk. At risk due to the fact that if the meth heads find out it's empty and no one's out there watching it, I fear that they'll get to it and strip out all the copper or worse. Once the owner/seller died, we no longer had permission to be on the property, although I'm going to continue unless and until my attorney says otherwise. Comments?

Thanks,

 

[dave1949]

Sorry for your bad luck. It sounds like if you still want the property, and their are no heirs to fight over it, you have a reasonable chance of getting the sale done after probate.

 

[FTG-05]

But how long does probate take? I heard that they can sell stuff prior to probation but don't know any details.

Thanks

 

[dave1949]

But how long does probate take? I heard that they can sell stuff prior to probation but don't know any details.

Thanks

Don't know how long really. It depends on how complex the estate is I suppose.

At what point does/do the heir(s) have the legal ability to sell the land?, sounds like a good question for your attorney.

My guess is that any disposal of the estate would be overseen by the probate judge until the probate process is final.

 

[FTG-05]

I'm guessing that a lot of it may depend on what's in his will. Since I highly suspect he knew this was coming, I also believe his will is pretty up to date, at least according to a mutual friend.

We know the daughter wants the property sold (actually both properties, he bought another house just before he died!). She's currently in town, so not making any money while she's off work from her nursing job in the PRK. But, since my attorney has not yet heard from the estate attorney (AFAIK), we're all currently in limbo. And we have half of our stuff already moved out and into a storage unit (mostly my tools and shop equipment); we were dead serious on completing the sale by Sept. 30, as required by the contract we signed at the auction and we are actively working to sell our current house - now that has to be put on hold.

Anymore thoughts or comments about the probation process?

Thanks,

 

[Beltman60]

only comment is I'm praying for ya
I can't believe this has happened to ya
just try to hang in there

 

[FTG-05]

I just talked to the auction house people, they know and have already spoken with the estate lawyer (all these people know each other and have known each other for decades). The auction house stands to lose over $27K if the sale does not go through - they're motivated.

Right now, the tack that we, the daughter and the auction house want to take is for us to move in quickly (less than a week) under a simple lease agreement ($1/month, pay utilities etc.) and then let the probate process work through itself and close within 30 or so days. The lawyer told the auction house that closing should happen within 30 days as well as the daughter. As noted above in the .pdf, going to the probate judge is not necessary in order to enter into lease agreements (or to sell real estate for that matter). This is in the estate's best interest since the property is so remote and isolated; and with deer season starting in TN, at some risk for vandalism (the closest house is 1/4 mile away).

The daughter will meet with the estate lawyer today or tomorrow. She is a doctoral candidate who lives in the PRK; she is very intelligent, very articulate and very motivated to get the estate completed (she has two properties to sell plus about half his farm equipment). This property has already been through auction, contract signed and buyers who want to complete the sale - this is obvious low hanging fruit for the estate to turn a non-liquid asset into cash and one less problem to deal with. It should be a no-brainer.



Ok, to recap for the TL, DR crowd:

- Will, executor and estate representative already established
- Probate will start either tomorrow or Monday (probably Monday).
- The probate judge is already on board
- Auction house (broker), estate lawyer and daughter are all on board to complete the sale
- It won't take 6 months
- We'll probably move in next week or so.
- We don't want our escrow and/or expenses back, we want the property (if you saw it, you'd want it to).

 

[FTG-05]

So, more movement on this today, some unexpected:

- My attorney and the estate attorney got together today and decided to probate the will in Lincoln County, TN vs. Limestone County, AL; the reason being that TN will be faster than AL. While he was an AL resident, TN law allows non-resident probate if you own TN land.
- The TN attorney and the AL attorney have already started discussions (it can't be my attorney due to Conflict of Interest), so that's good.
- The plan is to take the will to the LC Clerk and Master (the LC version of a Probate Judge). Hopefully at that meeting, the will will be declared good and valid and the sole heir (the daughter) given permission to execute the contract signed Aug. 31 between us and her dad.
- If all goes well, we may close this week!

And, as a reminder of what all the fuss is about:

and:

and finally:

 

[FTG-05]

A quick followup:

We signed last Monday since the daughter decided to return to the PRK Friday AM and leave us high and dry (2nd closing was scheduled for Friday last week). We reversed the process and we signed the papers Monday, then they were overnighted to the daughter that afternoon. It's now past COB Thursday, so the RoR has now expired.

We have confirmation that the daughter (sole heir) signed and shipped the package back yesterday PM and it has arrived at my attorney's office.

We countersign the deed tomorrow and the place is ours!


So, let's review some specs:

- +37 acres in SW Lincoln county, TN on top of a ridge (we gained another .16 acres with the survey)
- Excellent views to the North and NE
- One mile down a gravel road off of a minor two lane blacktop
- Closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away, next two are 1/2 mile, after that it's one mile to the next ones.
- Down hill acreage can be cleared, uptop is mostly forested with one open spot beside where the house and shop (+2700 sq ft) sits.
- Crap load of deer; saw +6 on the way out tonight right down from our place, usually see them leaving when we arrive; plus craploads of turkey.

 

[dave1949]

I guess things can zip along with a motivated seller and buyer. :laughing:

Congratulations!