You just inherited a house from a parent or family member. The property is in New York. You live in Texas, or Florida, or California. You have a job, a family, and zero interest in flying back every six weeks to coordinate repairs and showings. This guide is for you.
You are probably not the legal owner yet
If your parent passed and named you in the will, you are the beneficiary, but the property still legally belongs to the estate until probate concludes. In New York City and the surrounding counties, this is handled by the Surrogate’s Court of the county where the deceased lived. For background, see NY Courts overview of the probate process.
What the executor can do during probate
If the will named someone as executor (often the oldest child, or a sibling, or sometimes an attorney), that person can sign contracts to sell the property on behalf of the estate before probate fully closes. The actual deed transfer happens at closing, after Letters Testamentary are issued by the court. This is what makes cash sales work fast for inherited properties: the contract gets signed early in probate, the title company runs everything in parallel, and the deal closes around the time the Letters arrive.
What heirs typically argue about
Three siblings inherit a house. One wants to keep it. One wants to sell. One has not made up their mind. We see this every week. The path forward is usually a forced sale (where the holdout sibling either buys out the others or agrees to sell) or a partition action through the court (slow, expensive). Most families settle without the court. A cash sale that lets all three split the proceeds quickly often becomes the easiest resolution.
The taxes piece
Inherited property gets a stepped-up basis. If the house was worth $900,000 the day your parent passed and you sell it for $900,000 six months later, you owe essentially no capital gains. This is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of inherited property and it is part of why selling sooner rather than later usually makes financial sense. We are not your accountant, but most of the heirs we work with confirm this with theirs before they sell.
What we typically buy
Inherited homes are about a third of our deal flow across the NY metro. We buy them as-is, with whatever is inside still inside (heirs almost never want to deal with the contents either). We work with executors directly. We coordinate with the title company on the probate paperwork. The heirs are usually not in New York at closing; they sign electronically.
If this describes your situation, call (516) 964-7222. The conversation is free and we will tell you honestly whether selling fast makes sense for your case or whether you would do better listing it traditionally.
The first 30 days after probate opens
For most heirs we work with, the first 30 days of probate are the hardest. The court has not yet issued Letters Testamentary so the executor has limited authority. The property is sitting empty (or worse, occupied by a relative who refuses to leave). Insurance is in flux because the policy was in the deceased person’s name. Mail is still arriving for someone who is gone. We have walked dozens of executors through this stretch.
Insurance is the silent emergency
Most homeowner insurance policies have a vacancy clause that voids coverage after the property has been empty for 30 or 60 consecutive days. The minute the homeowner passes, if the property goes vacant, the clock starts. If there is a fire on day 62, the policy will not pay out. Heirs almost never know this until it happens. The fix is to call the insurer immediately, disclose the situation, and either pay for a vacant-home policy ($800-1500/yr) or close the sale quickly so it becomes our problem.
What we are looking for in an estate property
We can move on probate properties faster than the typical buyer because we are not contingent on bank financing, we accept the as-is condition without inspection negotiations, and we coordinate with the title company on the probate timeline directly. The estate gets liquidity, the heirs get clean splits without coordination headaches, and the property goes to someone who is paid to deal with what is inside the four walls. If you are in week three of an estate situation in the NY metro, send us the address. We will tell you whether our offer makes sense for the estate or whether you would do better waiting six months and listing traditionally.
Which NY metro neighborhoods we see the most estate sales in
Our estate-sale pipeline skews heavily toward Queens, Nassau County, and Westchester. The reason is demographic: these neighborhoods had their first big wave of postwar single-family construction in the 1950s and 1960s, and the original owners (or their adult children) are at the age where estate transitions are common.
If your inherited property is in Bayside, Forest Hills, Manhasset, Great Neck, Yonkers, or any of the neighborhoods in our service area, we will look at it. Related situations we handle the same way: properties in active probate, houses with significant contents to clear, and estate properties divided in divorce.
Sellers in similar spots also ask us how to sell a house in foreclosure or sell an inherited home.
We buy across Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Westchester and New Jersey, so you can sell your house fast in Manhasset NY, sell a house fast in Douglaston NY, or read about how we buy houses in Little Neck NY.