Five Sellers?!

I'm selling a house to a buyer client; seemingly a normal house in a normal, bedroom community type neighborhood.  It should be a fairly simple transaction. But...it seems to be some sort of estate, and has five sellers, with varying percentage interests. 

This means five folks to reach agreement on every step of the sale, five folks to sign every piece of paper involved with the sale, and five people for the title company to research in order to insure title.

Wow. I don't know the story of how this came about, but wonder if it isn't a result of poor, or no estate planning. 

To his credit, agent representing the sellers is doing a great job of wrangling the sellers for signatures, and was sure to have the title company do advanced title work to be sure clear title could be provided.  For this, I am thankful.

Over time, we run into a variety of scenarios where getting the proper people signing the listing and sale paperwork can be a challenge.  Aging parents, properties held in trust and dissolving marriages are a few of the forces that can make selling a property hard.  Powers of attorney don't always pass the muster of a title officer, divorce decrees usually have to be signed and filed by a judge, and aging parents may be deemed not of sound enough mind to sign selling papers.

Its best to engage in a bit of pre-sale planning before setting off to sell a property.  Look into who holds title and what might need to occur, well in advance of actually trying to sell the property.  Guardians can be appointed, affidavits signed, powers of attorney clarified and so on.  But really best to do this in advance.

Its a shame to see buyers spend hard earned money on inspections and appraisals, not to mention the emotional investment, only to find the seller can't actually sell the house. 

If you think you might have such a scenario on your hands, give me a call, text or email, and I'll refer you to a local real estate attorney to assess the situation.  Occasionally a title officer can even help. leslievjones@gmail.com  503-312-8038