Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had some experience with probate estate sales. We recently lost to an offer at 790k, which was the initial listing price, when we had an escalation of up to 820k. It is the dead of winter and near the holidays so there were only 2 offers put in, ours and the asking price. Our offer was never even considered.
Our agent is very experienced and mentioned that the listing agent was being very dodgy and dry. I thought this sounded odd considering the executor should have the estate's best interest in mind, and we had the same contingencies as the other buyer.
I thought this all sounded a little fishy considering the home looked like it was being valued WAY lower than what it should have been. The 2 homes next door are valued at 1.1m, and this house had complete updates to everything aside from the master bathroom.
I did some digging and the property record card lists the executor's name as "successor to trustee" under the Grantor section, showing the sale price at $790k as of 12/30/25. I pulled the deed of the home and it has now been signed over to the daughter of the buying agent for $10 as of 1/6/2025. I dug even further and found that the buying agent has a total of 8 homes over the last 25 years on her profile, all of which are a fraction of the price this home sold. It also seems that the executor and buying agent went to the same college. I tried to dig into a court date to outbid the buyers but could not find any information.
Can someone help me make sense of this? Its very frustrating to lose a home you love without your offer even being considered, especially when its the higher offer, and in a probate sale. Am I having a tinfoil hat moment or does something sound off here?
Edit: It is also worth mentioning that our offer was much more clean as we were pre-approved for the mortgage same day, vs they had a 5 day waiting period because they were having "issues with mortgage paperwork"
Edit 2: After more digging, the listing agent's HOA president is the buying agent
Posted by bylertailey
8 Comments
The $10 is the cost of recording a deed, not the sales price of the property.
What state are you in? Non-disclosure states hide sales prices.
If I was in your shoes, I would at least reach out to the seller and notify them about your offer. The seller might have had no idea you even made an offer if seller agent hid it from them. Kinda sounds to me like the seller’s agent was self dealing.
It’s all about what the seller wants, decides, and accepts. I know it sucks that they didn’t accept your offer, but unfortunately it does happen. Buyers being related to someone doesn’t matter. How many homes they own or have purchased doesn’t matter. The seller can accept or decline an offer at will. They have every right to do so.
>and we had the same contingencies as the other buyer.
Did you have an inspection contingency?
This situation definitely warrants investigation. The connection between the buying agent and executor raises ethical concerns. Document everything and consider requesting a court audit of the probate sale process.
1) Connections matter in all types of business.
2) How do you know your offer wasn’t considered?
…because it wasn’t the best. You purposely didn’t state what your offer was WITHOUT the escalation clause. The escalation clause is not automatic and is a counter offer. Your experienced agent should have know estates and courts don’t always counter and go back and forth. They most often take the best offer. You should have submitted your best and final to begin with.
If you think your offer was not presented to the seller; I think you can report this to the local board of realtors there? That typically is against the best interest of the sellers. Especially, since yours was the better priced offer. Ask your agent if they think that maybe the case.
A sale for ten dollars and “other good and valuable consideration” is not unusual