If retail would net the heirs more, do you say so on the first call?

Question

I've been sitting in on calls with heirs to learn the language, and the same moment keeps coming up. Somebody asks what the house would sell for on the open market, and there's a real answer that is higher than the cash number.

One view is that you say it plainly. The house might bring more listed, here's roughly what an agent commission and two months of holding would cost, here's what I can pay Friday with no cleanout and no showings. If they choose retail you lose the deal and keep a reputation, and in probate reputation is how the next three attorneys hear your name.

The other view is that you're a buyer, not their advisor, and volunteering a comparison you can't stand behind is its own problem. You don't know the condition behind the locked back bedroom, you don't know what the estate owes, and a number you toss out on a first call becomes the number they anchor to for six weeks. Some people I've talked to say they only discuss retail if the heir raises it, and then they refer to an agent and walk away rather than sell against themselves.

I genuinely don't know which one is the working practice here versus the thing people say out loud. If you're licensed in your state the disclosure rules on that conversation are different, and that varies state to state, so I'm asking about the unlicensed cash buyer version.

devon_pierce · Answer

I raise it first, every time, because the heirs are going to find out anyway. Two of them will call an agent the week after they talk to me and if my number came with no context it looks like I was hiding something.

What I don't do is name a retail figure. I say the house could probably list for more and a licensed agent can tell them what for, then I explain what my price buys them: no cleanout, no repairs before photos, one closing date they pick. That's a comparison they can check instead of a number I made up. Maybe a quarter of them go list it. The ones who don't never wonder later whether I lowballed them, and the ones who do sometimes call me back in March when the listing goes stale.

tonyv88 · Answer

On the management side I see the back end of this, and the heirs who felt rushed are the ones who make the closing miserable. Every request goes through a cousin, every document takes nine days.

But bramble, careful with "an agent can tell them what for." I watched that turn into a three way conversation where the agent's opinion of value was fantasy and the buyer got blamed for the gap. If you're pointing people at retail, point them at somebody who will actually walk the house and tell them the roof matters. And if the estate isn't through its own process yet, whoever the personal representative is may not be free to sign anything either way, which is between them and their attorney.

If retail would net the heirs more, do you say so on the first call?

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