Questions sellers ask How do I sell an inherited or trust-owned home in Palo Alto?

Start with who can sign

Almost every delay in an estate sale traces back to this, and it is worth settling before anything else happens.

If the home was held in a trust, the successor trustee has authority once they have accepted the role and can evidence it. This is the faster path, and it usually avoids probate entirely.

If it was not, the estate goes through probate and authority comes from the court. A personal representative granted full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act can generally sell without a court confirmation hearing, subject to notice to the heirs. Limited authority means the sale has to be confirmed by the court, which adds time and changes how offers are handled — including the possibility of overbidding in the courtroom.

Your attorney determines which of these applies. It is the first question to settle, because the answer changes the timeline, the paperwork and how offers are run.

The valuation you will need

A stepped-up basis resets the home’s cost basis to its fair market value as of the date of death. For a Palo Alto home held for decades this is very often the difference between a sale with no meaningful capital gains exposure and one with a great deal of it.

To establish it you need a written opinion of value as of that date — not today’s value, and not an online estimate. Maggie prepares these for attorneys, fiduciaries and families at no charge, usually within 48 hours.

One thing stated plainly, because it matters: that document is a broker’s opinion of value, not a certified appraisal. She is a licensed real estate agent, not a licensed appraiser. For many trust accountings a broker’s opinion is what is wanted; where an appraisal is required, she will say so and you should engage an appraiser.

Property tax is a separate question

Proposition 19 changed how a parent-to-child transfer is treated. The exclusion that once applied broadly is now limited, and generally requires the inheriting child to make the home their principal residence, with a cap on how much of the assessed value carries over.

This is not a real estate question and Maggie is not the person to answer it. It is worth putting to your attorney or CPA early, because the answer sometimes changes whether a family wants to sell at all.

What is different about the sale itself

Disclosure. A seller who never lived in the home genuinely does not know things. The answer is not to guess — it is to inspect thoroughly up front and disclose what the inspections find. A buyer who is told everything in week one does not discount; a buyer who discovers something in week four does.

Condition. These homes have often been lived in for thirty or forty years and are frequently the last house on the street not to have been updated. That is not the problem it appears to be. What it usually needs is clearing, cleaning, paint and landscaping rather than renovation — see what to fix and what to skip.

Clearing the contents. Often the hardest part, and rarely because of the furniture. Estate sale companies and senior move managers handle this properly, and Maggie can introduce people who have done it for her clients before.

Everyone is somewhere else. Siblings in three states, an attorney, a CPA and a fiduciary all need to be kept in one conversation. That coordination is a real part of the work.

If you are an attorney, fiduciary or CPA

There is a page written for you rather than for your client, covering how a referral works, the step-up basis valuation, and how she handles a family that is not yet ready to decide: for attorneys and advisors.