Florida/California
My dead Uncle’s significant other (SO, they were gay) who lives in California has offered to sell me a house in Florida. SO owned the house with my Uncle with some kind of deed allowing the title passing to the survivor in the event of the death of one owner. My Uncle died last spring and his estate is in probate (I am not inheriting anything from my Uncle). SO says he has the right to sell the house because of the deed. I spoke to my Uncle’s executor and he agreed that SO has the right to sell before the will is probated but he said that the SO must first get the deed changed removing my Uncle’s name. The executor is an accountant in California and not a lawyer.
The price SO and I have agreed to is $500,000 which is probably under the appraised value of the property, and SO knows this and we have talked about it. This is a waterfront house damaged in last year’s hurricane which has not yet been repaired. SO has a contractor working on it but things are not going well and it looks like the contractor is not going to do the work. I think the contractor has really taken advantage of SO. About $25,000 worth of work remains to be done to make the house livable again. Before the hurricane in good condition the house would probably have sold for $1,000,000, however since the hurricane the real estate market for houses like this has tanked; there is not a single comparable sale since hurricane. Several houses like this one are for sale for $700,000 to 1,000,000 but no one is buying. SO and I have discussed all of this, and I believe that under the circumstances $500,000 is a reasonable price but who knows the real market value right now. SO would like the money and to be out of the headache of owning this house before the next hurricane season (June 1). Honestly I wouldn’t pay any more for it right now no matter who owned it.
To make things more complicated SO shows signs of Alzheimer's or something happening to his mind. He is still coherent most of the time but clearly not the man he once was and it’s getting worse. He is about 70 years old. He has no children, no siblings and no living family he knows of. I do believe he wants to do this understands the situation and I think it may be the best thing for him. He has a lawyer; his lawyer was also my Uncle’s lawyer and is helping with the estate. To make this happen it is clear that I will have to take the initiative; SO says he will sign the papers if I bring them to him.
I know that the first answer to most questions like this on this forum are get a lawyer, and I will but am not sure if I need a lawyer here in Florida (I live in Florida) or a lawyer in California or both. I have also thought about hiring a real estate agent to help make things work, but am not sure it would be worth the 6% fee. So my questions are:
What counsel do I need and where?
Does the claim that SO can sell this property before my Uncle’s estate settles ring true? I know that without seeing the deed no one can be sure, but is this even possible?
Any other advice is welcome, I want this to happen but I see lots of pitfalls along the way.
My dead Uncle’s significant other (SO, they were gay) who lives in California has offered to sell me a house in Florida. SO owned the house with my Uncle with some kind of deed allowing the title passing to the survivor in the event of the death of one owner. My Uncle died last spring and his estate is in probate (I am not inheriting anything from my Uncle). SO says he has the right to sell the house because of the deed. I spoke to my Uncle’s executor and he agreed that SO has the right to sell before the will is probated but he said that the SO must first get the deed changed removing my Uncle’s name. The executor is an accountant in California and not a lawyer.
The price SO and I have agreed to is $500,000 which is probably under the appraised value of the property, and SO knows this and we have talked about it. This is a waterfront house damaged in last year’s hurricane which has not yet been repaired. SO has a contractor working on it but things are not going well and it looks like the contractor is not going to do the work. I think the contractor has really taken advantage of SO. About $25,000 worth of work remains to be done to make the house livable again. Before the hurricane in good condition the house would probably have sold for $1,000,000, however since the hurricane the real estate market for houses like this has tanked; there is not a single comparable sale since hurricane. Several houses like this one are for sale for $700,000 to 1,000,000 but no one is buying. SO and I have discussed all of this, and I believe that under the circumstances $500,000 is a reasonable price but who knows the real market value right now. SO would like the money and to be out of the headache of owning this house before the next hurricane season (June 1). Honestly I wouldn’t pay any more for it right now no matter who owned it.
To make things more complicated SO shows signs of Alzheimer's or something happening to his mind. He is still coherent most of the time but clearly not the man he once was and it’s getting worse. He is about 70 years old. He has no children, no siblings and no living family he knows of. I do believe he wants to do this understands the situation and I think it may be the best thing for him. He has a lawyer; his lawyer was also my Uncle’s lawyer and is helping with the estate. To make this happen it is clear that I will have to take the initiative; SO says he will sign the papers if I bring them to him.
I know that the first answer to most questions like this on this forum are get a lawyer, and I will but am not sure if I need a lawyer here in Florida (I live in Florida) or a lawyer in California or both. I have also thought about hiring a real estate agent to help make things work, but am not sure it would be worth the 6% fee. So my questions are:
What counsel do I need and where?
Does the claim that SO can sell this property before my Uncle’s estate settles ring true? I know that without seeing the deed no one can be sure, but is this even possible?
Any other advice is welcome, I want this to happen but I see lots of pitfalls along the way.