WA State
My father passed away at the end of last year, and I’m the PR of the estate. One of the estate assets is a condo and there are six heirs total with varying percentage interests.
I had the condo formally appraised at $435k. A realtor later did a market evaluation at $399k. Honestly, I think the appraisal may have come in high, but I don’t really know yet. An inspection was conducted and found many costly issues.
One of the heirs wants to buy the condo for $370k. Everyone is generally okay with them buying it in principle, but some heirs do not want their inheritance reduced just because another heir wants the property. Other heirs are okay with losing part of their inheritance to help lower the price, at varying percentages.
As the estate attorney explained, as Personal Representative, I have a fiduciary duty to the estate as a whole, not to any one beneficiary, and my duty is to get the best price for the condo, not to favor a particular beneficiary.
He said a couple months on the market was not a set rule, just an example of what might be a reasonable amount of time to expose it to the market and see whether it would attract offers above $370k. He also said that if the heir buys it directly, avoiding commissions could justify some discount from market value, but that I can’t just ignore higher offers and sell to the heir for less.
The heir is convinced the attorney is “very wrong” and thinks he is feeding me misinformation for some reason. I’ve asked them to clarify which points are not accurate according to state law and best practices, and I assume they are gathering that information now.
My understanding is that the attorney is basically saying:
- the heir absolutely can buy it
- the issue is whether the estate can justify the price
- and as PR, I need documentation showing I acted reasonably for all heirs
If you’re an experienced realtor, listing agent, probate attorney, or PR, does the attorney’s advice sound normal to you or “very wrong”? Any other advice is appreciated.