Sell Fresno House › Inherited houses
The house your parents left you, with everything still in it.
You live somewhere else, the house is in Fresno, and every weekend you spend sorting a lifetime of belongings is a weekend you do not have. We buy inherited houses as they are, contents included, from whoever has the authority to sell.
or call or text (530) 635-8196
Take what matters
Photographs, papers, the things you want. Leave the rest. We clear the house after closing, and anything that looks like it belongs to the family we set aside and call you about.
Who can sell it
It depends on how the house was held. Your attorney confirms which of these you are.
- The trustee
If the house was in a living trust, the successor trustee named in the trust can sell it without the court. The sale needs the trust document and a death certificate. This is the quickest case.
- The executor or administrator
If there was a will but no trust, or no will at all, the house usually goes through probate in Fresno County Superior Court. The person the court appoints gets Letters that let them sell. With full authority they can sell after a short notice to the heirs; with limited authority the sale is confirmed at a court hearing where other buyers can bid. Either way we write the offer to fit the process and work through your attorney.
- The heirs, for a smaller estate
California lets smaller estates pass real property by a court petition instead of a full probate. Whether yours qualifies depends on the value and the date of death. Your attorney will know.
- A surviving spouse or joint owner
Often already the owner by survivorship, and able to sell once the death is recorded against the title.
Two things that change the money
Casa Fresco does not give tax or legal advice. These are two questions worth asking your own advisor before you decide anything.
- The property tax
Since 2021, a house that passes from a parent to a child is reassessed to today’s value unless a child moves in and makes it their home. On a Fresno house bought in the 1980s that can mean the tax bill goes up several times over, starting the year it transfers. The county assessor can tell you what the new bill would be.
- The capital gain
An inherited house generally takes a new tax basis at the value on the date of death. A sale soon afterward, at around that value, often means little or no capital gains tax, however long your parents owned it. Your tax advisor can confirm what applies to you.
What we need to make an offer
The address. Whether there is a trust or a probate case, and who the trustee or executor is. Whether anyone is living there. That is enough for a first reply. We do not need the house emptied, cleaned or shown.
Executors and trustees owe the heirs a fair price, so we expect you to have our offer checked against an appraisal or an independent broker’s opinion of value, and we say so in the offer.
Questions families ask
- We have not started probate. Can we still talk?
Yes. We can tell you what we would pay now, so the family knows the number before it hires an attorney. The offer itself waits for whoever is appointed to sell.
- Several of us inherited it and we do not agree.
That is common and not something we can fix. We can give the family one written number to talk about. Whoever has authority to sell signs; if that is all of you, all of you sign.
- A relative is living in the house and will not leave.
Tell us. We may still buy it, with that person in it, and deal with it afterward as the owner under California law. The price will reflect it.
- The house is full. Will you really take it like that?
Yes. Take what you want. Anything that looks like family papers or photographs, we set aside and call you.
- Is your offer less than listing it would bring?
Probably. An as-is offer is lower than what the same house sells for after repairs, on the open market. If getting the most money matters more than being done, list it with an agent. We will say so if that is what we think.
Tell us the address and who is handling the estate. We will tell you what we would pay, in writing, and the family can take it from there.
or call or text (530) 635-8196