Estate Home Sale Process

The first step in selling a home that is part of an estate sale is scheduling a time for us to visit the property and take a tour with a family member or beneficiary of the estate. From there, we will advise on the things that need to be done to the home to get it sold and advise on the price you will be able to get for the home when we list the home for sale. With estate sales, that typically means de-cluttering, donating and/or selling many of the items in the home prior to listing the home for sale as part of the estate. Sometimes buyers interested in purchasing a home that is part of an estate sale will also be open to taking the larger pieces of furniture in the home as part of the sale. This will save you, the seller of the property, time and money removing items from the property. You can choose to give the furniture away as part of the home sale or we can negotiate a price for the furniture during the attorney review period. As your real estate agents, we will advise on what can be left in the home and what will need to be removed from the home prior to listing the property for sale. As part of the estate sale, we will be recommending selling the home AS-IS. We are professionals at selling homes AS-IS in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs.

Typically all smaller personal items, artwork, old documents, mail and paperwork, clothes, etc. will need to be removed from the home prior to listing it for sale. If the furniture is in good condition and isn’t too dated, we will probably say that the furniture can be left in the home during the home selling process. If we recommend that all of the furniture be removed from the home prior to putting the home on the market, we will include virtual photo staging at no extra cost to you. Virtual photo staging and virtual de-cluttering works wonders with home buyers and we show the room before and after virtually staged furniture in the photos. This really helps home buyers envision what each room will look like with furniture in it and what the best layout for each room will be. Virtual staging gives buyers an idea of what their furniture will look like in the home and gets them excited to write an offer to purchase the property. We can feature shelving, plants, rugs, light fixtures and of course, beautiful furniture in our virtually staged images of your home.

Selling a Home AS-IS in Chicago (Estate Sale)

When selling a home AS-IS in Chicago, the seller agrees to disclose any known defects in the home when listing the home for sale. The buyer hires a home inspector to do their due diligence on the property after the offer is accepted by the executor of the estate and beneficiaries (if any). With an AS-IS home sale in Chicago, buyers are essentially agreeing to either “take it or leave it” after they review the home inspection report, however, if major defects are found that were previously undisclosed and unknown to either party, the buyer can ask for a monetary credit at closing or repairs to be made by the seller prior to closing. In this scenario, typically the seller would consider a credit to the buyer for any previously unknown major defect to keep the deal alive and successfully close on the property. However, the seller may also choose to decline the buyer’s request.

Furniture and other items may also be included in an AS-IS estate sale in Chicago. After a loved ones passing, it can become extremely overwhelming for the executors of the estate and its beneficiaries to get a home ready for sale on the public market. As people age, they can accumulate a tremendous amount of furniture and other personal items over time. A listing on the Private Network and Top Agent Network can be utilized to test the market and sell the property AS-IS with the furniture and other belongings inside if the seller does not want to pay for the disposal of the items prior to listing the home for sale. These “pocket listing” websites are exclusive to licensed real estate agents in the top 10% of all Chicagoland realtors and are extremely active communities where agents seek to match their seller and buyer needs before the property is listed publicly.

OUR ESTATE SALE TEAM - Chicago Estate Home Sale Experts

Real Estate Attorney for Estate Sale in Chicago

If you are looking to sell a home in the Chicago area that is part of an estate sale, we have assembled the best real estate team in Chicago to handle your home estate sale needs.

Not only will you need an excellent Chicago realtor, but you will also need a great real estate attorney and title company. In the Chicagoland market, real estate attorneys are used for nearly every real estate transaction and they manage the attorney review process for the estate home sale transaction. Your attorney will have a fiduciary duty to you - the seller, and will be negotiating and formalizing items that come up during attorney review. This could mean settling tax prorations, creating addendums for seller credits, helping obtain condo documents from the HOA (if selling a condo or townhouse) and more. The attorney managing your home’s estate sale process will also need a copy of the death certificate for the recently passed loved one and other paperwork from the executor of the estate and the beneficiaries. They attorney and the title company also handle all of the title work needed at the closing of the estate home sale and ensure the funds from the closing are wired to the executor of the estate and the beneficiaries appropriately.

Estate Advisor (selling personal items, furniture, cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering)

You may also want to hire an estate advisor team to conduct an estate sale or estate auction of the personal items and furniture inside the home prior to us listing the home for sale on the market. Hiring an estate advisor will depend on the contents of the home and how much monetary value the items inside the house are worth. An Estate Advisor will appraise the items inside the property and will manage the sale of the personal items and furniture for a fee. Once the home is cleared and the estate sale is complete, we will begin the process of taking photos and creating beautiful marketing materials for your estate home sale listing and get it sold for the most money on the real estate market.

Home Inspector

With a good home inspector, we can do a pre-market home inspection to have an understanding of how much work the property will need prior to listing the home for sale on the public market. Conducting a pre-market home inspection can save us time and money and we can offer the home inspection report to prospective buyers that will fully disclose the condition of the property before receiving an offer. With this knowledge, the buyer of the home will have to sign an AS-IS contract and it will increase the chances of the home closing successfully. More often than not, the executor and its beneficiaries have either never lived in the home or haven’t lived in the home in a very long time and thus, they don’t know the exact condition of the property. Conducting a pre-market home inspection will give the executor of the estate a complete overview for the current condition of the home and thus we can target the pricing of the home more specifically before putting the house on the market for sale.

General Contractor / Handyman

A good local general contractor or handyman may be required for some projects that need to be done in the home prior to listing it for sale. Homes in an estate sale are typically sold AS-IS, but if there are water leaks or some other major defects, the home may not qualify for conventional buyer financing and would be more suited for a real estate investor paying cash. With any investor home purchase, it typically means the executor of the estate and beneficiaries of the estate sale will receive less money for the home than if they were able to sell to a buyer that will be an owner occupant and using conventional or FHA mortgage financing. In this scenario, it may be financially advantageous to having some work done to the property before going public with the home listing. Sometimes, a fresh coat of paint and minor drywall work done by a local and reliable handyman can also really help improve the marketability of property and thus with a small investment, will increase the property’s value above and beyond what the executor of the estate and the estate beneficiaries expect to receive at closing.

Moving Company and Junk Removal

A moving company may also be desired if the executor of the estate and likely the beneficiaries will want to keep any items in the home and have them relocated. Using a local, fast and reliable moving company will be key to removing any personal items and furniture the family of the deceased loved one would like to keep prior to listing the home for sale. An affordable junk removal company may also be needed to discard clutter and another items that the family of the deceased love one doesn’t want to keep.