If someone has passed away and you’re the one selling their real estate, start here — clear answers and full value, not a lowball cash offer.
If someone has passed away and you are the person responsible for selling their real estate, you are in the right place. I am Aaron Glick, a Pennsylvania farm and land REALTOR®, and I help executors, administrators, and heirs sell estate property — farms, land, rural homes, and houses — for what it is actually worth, without the confusion and without handing it to a cash buyer for sixty cents on the dollar.
Here is the short version: once the county Register of Wills issues your Letters — the document naming you executor or administrator — you can list and sell the property. You do not have to wait for the whole estate to close. Below is how it works in Pennsylvania, what paperwork you will need, how the taxes work, and how to avoid the mistakes that cost estates real money.
You cannot list or sign until the Register of Wills issues your Letters. That is the first gate — and once you have them, you can move.
The mailers you are getting come from probate filings. Cash buyers pay well below value. Get a real number before you talk to anyone.
Free, confidential, no obligation. You cannot make a smart decision for the estate without knowing what the property is truly worth.
The legal side of selling:
• Can an executor sell before probate is finished?
• Do you even need probate to sell?
• What documents does a title company require?
• How long does probate take before I can sell?
• What if the heirs don’t agree to sell?
The taxes:
• PA inheritance tax on real estate (the rates)
• Capital gains and stepped-up basis
Selling strategy:
• Sell as-is, or fix it up and list?
• Estate sale vs. probate sale — what’s the difference?
If it’s a farm or land (my specialty):
• Selling an inherited farm or land in PA
• The family-farm inheritance tax exemption (0%)
• Clean & Green rollback when an estate sells
• Selling estate farmland with a conservation easement
Yes. Once the county Register of Wills issues your Letters Testamentary (if there is a will) or Letters of Administration (if there is not), you have the authority to list and sell. You do not have to wait for the estate to close -- selling the real estate is usually one of the first things that happens.
You will want a probate attorney to open the estate and handle the legal filings, and the buyer's title company will require the estate paperwork to close. I work alongside your attorney: they handle the legal side, I handle pricing, marketing, and the sale.
Usually not. The we-buy-houses and we-buy-land companies that mail executors typically pay 50 to 70 percent of true value, and they pull their mailing lists straight from probate filings. On the open market you almost always net more, even after commission and a little more time.
It is based on your relationship to the person who died: 0 percent for a spouse, 4.5 percent for children, grandchildren, and parents, 12 percent for siblings, and 15 percent for everyone else. A qualifying family farm can be 0 percent. It is due nine months after the date of death.
Usually little or none, because inherited property gets a stepped-up basis -- its value resets to what it was worth on the date of death. If you sell near that value, there is little or no taxable gain. Confirm the details with your CPA.
My specialty is farms, land, and rural property, where most agents have no idea what the ground is worth. I also list estate homes in my service area. If a property is outside what I can serve well, I will tell you honestly and point you to someone good.
Free valuation. Confidential. No obligation. No cash-buyer pressure.
Talk to Aaron