E271 Non-Professional with Probate Real Estate

<p>Today we describe some real-world examples of mistakes made by non-professional executors dealing with probate real estate.</p> <h2>Making it personal with tenants</h2> <p>Often times, a non-professional executor is a family member or friend who has too much history with the tenants.</p> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-42365" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Making-it-personal-with-tenants-300x169.jpg" alt="Making it personal with tenants" width="300" height= "169" /></p> <p>For example, one of our executors helped the decedent in her final years and felt that the tenants were taking advantage of the decedent (late paying rent, not cleaning up after themselves, poor property upkeep, etc.). So, when the decedent passed, the executor has lots of bones to pick with the tenants: where the tenants parked, the condition of property, etc.</p> <p>If tenants want to be difficult, they can make probate very difficult. As we’ve talked about before, it can be very hard to get rid of bad tenants in probate, so picking a fight isn’t helpful. For the sake of probate, it’s often best to let it go and move on.</p> <p>In our example, the executor got into huge fight with tenants and the tenants called the police. A huge production was made, and we had to spend months in litigation to get them to vacate.</p> <p>When a professional executor is involved, he or she doesn’t have that blood-boiling history with tenants. A benefit of hiring a professional executor is that we don’t get emotionally invested.</p> <h2>Knowing what renovations are worth doing</h2> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-42366" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Knowing-what-renovations-are-worth-doing-300x169.jpg" alt="Knowing what renovations are worth doing" width="300" height= "169" /></p> <p>In the past, we’ve discussed certain renovations that almost always make sense (<a href= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXirjc2geM8">Episode 254: Best Renovations to do Before Selling Probate