extra recovered for the estate
offers in 4 days
extra profit to obscene mortgage company
Wow, that hurt.
We had a phone conversation with the executor on this home early in her executor journey, and we stayed in touch here and there. In our interactions, the executor said that she was open to enlisting our help one day, so we were surprised to learn a few months later that she had listed the home with an agent without ever meeting us in person. That led to some internal reflection on our part because we feel in our hearts that our process leads to the best results for estates needing to liquidate real estate – ‘how did we let this happen?’ we wondered.
Fast forward about three months, and we got a call from this somewhat embarrassed executor because the home hadn’t sold. In fact, it hadn’t even had one single showing in those three months! She asked us if we’d still be willing to help her.
We arranged to meet at the property.
We met with the executor at the property for our unique Estate Recovery Assessment™. During our get-together, the executor said she had planned to work with us until a close friend told her that she just HAD to go with HER agent friend. We shared our opinion that the former agent had priced the home WAY too high and, compounding that error, the agent obviously hadn’t invested any time, money, or thought in preparing and marketing the home. We spoke a bit more and the executor casually mentioned that she hadn’t been made any mortgage payments on the house for the past year. “WHAT?”
It turned out that the executor’s mother had taken out a loan that we’d never seen before – an equity-sharing loan in which the lender provided her with money up front, and no payments were required. Sounds great, right? Maybe TOO great? It took a few days for the executor to find the underlying loan paperwork, and it turned out that the CATCH for the “no payments” feature was that in return for their investment, the lender received a bit under a 50% interest in the property. That meant that when it was sold, they potentially got almost half of the net proceeds – FAR above the amount of money they had loaned.
We did some deep digging into the specifics of her loan, and we realized that if the home sold for more than a certain price, the loan payoff amount would suddenly jump by over $48,000! Contractually, even one dollar over that particular number would cost the estate $48,000+. That also meant that if the home HAD sold for the ridiculous number the former agent had dreamed up, it would have cost the estate over $140,000 more in the loan payoff.
With that loan information in hand, and after explaining the payoff calculations to the executor and her attorney (who was left in shocked disbelief that a loan like this existed), we determined the home’s specific sale price, and the executor gave us the go-ahead to wrap things up.
Aside from the odd mortgage issue, the home also needed decluttering and organizing, and Silvina helped guide that process. We also needed minor updates to get a continued certificate of occupancy from the town, and our renovation guy (aka Bill) helped with those items.
Silvina placed the home on the market using a unique strategy that drove a lot of traffic to the house quickly. She attracted 42 showings in three days and the home sold at the required amount that wouldn’t trigger the payoff increase (saving the estate at least $48,000. Likely even more…)
Thinking back on this, we wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t been able to help. The executor would have found out a couple of days before closing that the mortgage payoff was some needlessly astronomical number, and she probably wouldn’t have blinked because she’d think ‘that’s just how things are’. She would have paid a contractor or two to help her get the certificate of occupancy and she would have been doing all of this on her own, with no backup physically or emotionally. And at the very end, some average agent would have been at the closing to collect their outsized payday for the few hours of work that they had put in. Personally, we find that disturbing.
More money to the estate. Less hassle for the representative. That’s what we do!
SERVICES PROVIDED
→ Estate Recovery Assessment™
→ Help with mortgage loan
→ Light repairs
→ Real Estate Marketing & Sale
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
One conversation. No commitment. We’ll tell you honestly what we think is possible.
Not a sales call. Just a conversation about your situation, what the property might need, and what your options actually are. There’s no obligation and no pressure.
If we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you. Or you can tell us.
Or call or text Silvina directly:
201-275-4159