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What's a probate sale???

2006-08-03T04:00:04Z

Have you ever seen a listing that says it's a "probate" sale? Or a conservatorship with "court confirmation?" Well, I'd like to explain what these are. We currently have two of them, one on Cortland in Bernal Heights and one on Quesada in Bayview. They're both priced at $399,000 and they both will go through two rounds of bids.
A probate sale occurs when an owner dies and didn't have a will. A conservatorship happens when an owner is unfit to manage his/her own affairs and a conservator is appointed to manage the sale of their property. If they determine that the sale requires court confirmation then they will go through the 2-bid process. The first round will set the price for the second round.
So, for example, if the list price is $399,000 and several offers come in, the high offer will set the price for the second round. In the first round, the offers are treated just as they are on a normal sale. Say the high offer in this example is $420,000. This will be noted on the MLS and then a court day will be set, usually 3-4 weeks after the initial offer. In court, there will be an auction. The first bid in the auction will be 5% higher than the initial high bid. So in this example, $420,000 plus 5% = $441,000. If no one bids, then the initial offer will win and get the property at $420,000. If people bid, then it goes to the high offer, and this is an open auction. Everyone in attendance will hear exactly what happens. The bid wins the property and at this point, there's no backing out, so it's prudent to do all inspections before going to court. You'll also need a cashier's check for 10% of the maximum amount that you want to bid. If you don't go to your maximum, you can get the remainder back in escrow. Call me if you'd like to see either of these properties or if you have any questions about the process.

Tuesday Tour, 7/11/06

2006-07-12T07:03:18Z

Today I went on Broker's Tour as I do every Tuesday. Some Tuesdays I have to hold property open if I'm working a listing. If I'm not working a listing, I can run around and look at property for clients or just to stay on top of the market. One of the properties I saw today was an interesting 3-unit building on Dolores in Noe Valley. 1185 - 1187 Dolores

What makes this one interesting is that the building has won the condo conversion lottery. For a 3-unit building, this means that the owner lived there for 3 years to qualify for the lottery and then it usually takes 4-6 years to actually win the lottery. There are two tenants in the building and they have the right to buy their units at a predetermined price if/when the building condo converts. If someone were to buy the building and do an owner move-in eviction (OMI), then the building would have to start all over for the condo process. Since there is one unit that will be delivered vacant, the owner's unit, the only reason someone would do an eviction would be if two partners bought the building together.

The other item that's interesting about this building is that when you win the lottery and there are tenants in the building, the owner has to offer the units to the tenants at a set price so that when the conversion is complete, they have the first right to purchase their units. In the case of this building, the purchase price for the units seems somewhat low which I think has kept people from buying the building. The price on the building has continued to drop and I think we're getting close to the correct price. It is a beautiful building.

Getting started on my Blog

2006-07-12T06:58:52Z

Welcome to my site. It's been a work in progress for a while and now I'm getting started. My friend Adrienne has built this for me and we'll be making changes as necessary as we figure out what works and what doesn't.