Most people think the hard part of selling an inherited house is the house. Usually it is not. It is a piece of paperwork nobody warned you about. I am Grant Howard with Howard Buys, and I want to walk you through a house I bought out in Harrison County, Indiana — because if you have inherited a property you cannot get to, this is going to sound familiar.
A house 1,200 miles away that had been empty for four years
The owners lived in Florida. The house sat here in Southern Indiana — vacant for four years, with someone local checking on it now and then. They had never lived in it themselves, so they could not tell me the age of the roof, the furnace, or the wiring. They assumed it needed a full rehab, and they were right.
They were not going to fly up to clean it out. They were not going to hire a contractor from 1,200 miles away and hope it went well. They wanted it sold.
We talked on the phone. I looked at everything I could pull up from my end and sent a cash offer that same day. They signed it that same day. From where they sat, selling the house took about twenty-four hours.
Then we ran into the actual problem.
The estate had never been settled
When the title work came back, the house was not legally theirs to sell yet. The estate had never been formally closed out.
That is extremely common with inherited property, and it is nobody’s fault. Someone passes away, the family is grieving, the house sits, and the legal side just never gets finished. Years go by. Everyone assumes it is handled because everyone assumes someone else handled it.
Here is what it means in practice: until the estate is cleared up, no title company will insure the sale — so no buyer can close. Not me, not another cash buyer, not a retail buyer with a mortgage. Everyone hits the same wall.
What we actually did
We did not cancel the contract. We worked it.
The sellers hired an estate attorney. We got the heirs identified and signed onto a contract extension so the sale stayed alive while the legal side caught up. An affidavit was prepared and sent to the title company. And I stayed on it the whole way — checking in, following up, keeping the attorney and the title company talking to each other so it did not quietly sit on somebody’s desk for a month.
Twelve weeks after they signed, we closed.
Twelve weeks is not fast, and I am not going to pretend it was. But it was twelve weeks of an attorney and a title company doing paperwork — not twelve weeks of the sellers flying up, cleaning out a house, chasing contractors, and then waiting on somebody’s mortgage approval. They never came up once. They did not fix a thing. They did not pay a commission. And once the estate was clear, the closing date did not move again.
If you have inherited a house, check this before anything else
The most useful thing you can do right now is find out whether the estate was ever actually settled. A few things worth asking an estate attorney:
Whose name is actually on the deed? If it is still the person who passed away, the property cannot transfer until that gets addressed.
How many heirs are there? If there is more than one, every one of them may need to be located and signed onto the sale.
Was there a will, and was it ever filed? Having a will does not automatically mean the estate is closed.
Has a title company looked at it yet? They will find every one of these issues eventually. Far better to find them now than after you have a buyer waiting on you.
None of this is a reason not to sell. It is a reason to start early — this part takes weeks, and it takes them no matter who you sell to.
Situations where I can usually help the most
An inherited house you live too far away to manage and do not want to pour money into.
A vacant property that has been sitting for years and costs you a little more every month.
A house that needs major repairs. Roof, foundation, water damage, a full gut — I buy in any condition and handle the work myself.
Back taxes or foreclosure stacking up on a property you never lived in.
How selling as-is for cash works
I buy houses in any condition throughout Southern Indiana and the Louisville area — no commissions, no repairs, no pressure, and no requirement that you live in the same state. You can see exactly how I buy houses and how I calculate an offer, so there is no black box.
If you have inherited a house you cannot get to — in Harrison County, Washington County, Clark County, or anywhere across Southern Indiana and the Louisville metro — let’s talk. Call or text me at (502) 414-8334, or get your offer started below. And if the estate is not settled, tell me that up front. It does not scare me off, and knowing early is exactly what keeps a sale like this one from falling apart.