The WAY to WOW Shows
Handling Real Estate in Probate
January 8, 2024
Automatically generated from YouTube captions; names and wording may contain errors.

[0:01] revive here uh let's see what do um do you wna um you want to try muting yourself there you want me to mute okay yeah let's see there we go yeah can you okay so um a as those of you who watched last week know uh we I switch platforms I'm now broadcasting from

[0:37] restream and uh so you know still a couple of bugs to work out here and there um but I'm I'm happy to say that this morning um I I have a guest um he's he's a two-time will now be a two-time uh guest on the way to wow shows um and uh you know rapidly becoming a a very good friend um as as well as a fellow uh alumnist from uh the University of Southern California and so William Elkins IV is is here today this morning

[1:14] and he's gonna be talking about the difference between a real estate certified probate advisor and just your you know typical real estate agent that probably most if not all you um know um and and uh so William thanks thanks for joining me this morning how are you doing oh you're gonna have to unmute now I guess sorry yes absolutely man uh Happy New Year to you Kevin thank you for

[1:50] having me on once again the first time was phenomenal how you doing buddy how's the new year started out um it's it's you know starting out well um been uh been working hard and uh as you can see the the show has a a pretty new look um from from last time you joined us so right love the new streaming platform yeah isn't it great yes yes yes absolutely man AB you know we we look real official here with this uh you know with the with the um the captions uh you know scrolling below

[2:25] and and all that stuff hey no I love that man uh I need to I need to get H to that that's that's phenomenal yeah in all ways you know exactly exactly so so William um tell us a if you would just just take a few minutes um and kind of set the stage here um how did you get involved um in um the real estate business in in a particular um specializing in in Probate it's there's not a lot of agents who do that

[3:00] yes yes absolutely um well I guess the the um from an infancy stage it it kind of speared uh senior year at morehous uh taking entrepreneurship and it was centered around real estate um and uh I I'm trying to remember the professor's name I strugg like as a while ago but um cyron C but um it's centered around real EST and I just knew at some point in my life I wanted to get involved in real estate

[3:36] that that that course just Peak my interest um so um moving forward I uh when I graduated I got a job with American Express during the high of 911 it didn't last um buddy of mine um rest in peace his mom own the mortgage Bank in britwood Sandra McBeth reyolds I do have to give her Kudos wonderful lady um she worked for a mortgage bank so um I I kind of started out in

[4:12] lending um so I I did that it was like having a freaking midlife crisis at 21 because I go from 45,000 a year to calling on real estate offices and Downey in the summertime 100% commission that's a difficult transition Downy the summertime is hot oh my God man so um so yeah I I uh I I did it for about a year I really wasn't ready um went to the broker side but uh somewhere down the line I um because it's long story I uh I was actually

[4:47] doing both sides of the business with a buddy of mine doing loans and real estate and I was recruited by K Williams and um I had to choose because I just I honestly I wanted to learn the real real estate side so I just had to let them know like you know I gotta go man I want to learn that KW is recruiting me I I really want to switch over to the real estate side so uh went over to KW in the marina and um you know even uh before I was at KW as a loan officer

[5:22] just when I would call on different uh properties that my buyer would want and get pricing the prob agents always stood out like there was just something about the probate listing agent there was a certain Mystique about them that always intrigued me and when you talk to you know the vets in the game they like yeah probate listen agents are no joke you gotta be on point to deal with them and proit is kind of like the corporate side of real estate so the fact that I have a corporate background you know it really was an

[5:59] affinity like it was a good mesh you know so um I um I got a call from a company called MTI education and uh they have you thought about being in Probate I'm like well actually a little bit you know so um I got certified and um started focusing on probate so talk to us if you would um about well there's that

[6:37] weird how is what you do um well first of all talk about the certification that you got what what did that involve because most agents they'll get licensed um and then you know kind of off they go so this is this is an addition to getting your real estate license right yes yes so you you can get uh certifications in different um aspects of real estate um you know like during the short sale era there was short sale certification um uh a senior uh helping out seniors there's a senior

[7:14] certification um so and then you know you have probate certification so it's literally a course um I think uh was about a month but you have to go through classes courses majority on online um and you have to take certification uh tests and and pass with you know certain credible scores so I mean you're you're really going through the Scholastics portion and earning your certification like you you learn how probate works from a to z

[7:50] um there's different stages you know different you know like for instance uh you have your letters of administration and your your letters of testamentary so what is what's the difference well letters of administration if you don't if there's no will in place letters of letters of testamentary is when there is a will in place there's certain nuances in in Probate that you would not know unless you have been certified so I feel it Separates Me from other Agents from a competency

[8:26] standpoint because probate is a complicated real estate transaction so um so yeah I I I um I always make it a point to to let people know like I am certified in this because see at the end of the day when there's real estate involved all the attorney's work everything is contingent on that sale it's the it's the most valuable asset in the estate so if you think about that logically why would you put all your eggs in one basket all the work that

[9:01] you've put in through probate to a random agent that could just totally kill the deal for you you know this doesn't doesn't make any sense you know you got to work with attorneys so uh you have to you have to have intellect you have to like be able to be a problem solver this is not a regular real estate transaction like so yeah I don't know if that answers you know yeah yeah it did

[9:37] so so in a in a and by the way we're talking primarily uh residential here um paron me yes absolutely yeah yeah so um in a in a typical uh residential transaction right um the agent will you know list the property right and they'll put it on the multiple listing service probably do some other marketing maybe have some open houses right they'll typically another agent will um will um uh bring in a buyer and

[10:15] they'll you know negotiate the agreement and you go into escro and esro closes right so how is it different um in terms of doing a pro right yes so there's certain nuances involved um for instance uh notice a proposed action right um what that means is all the heirs will be informed that somebody has petitioned

[10:51] for probate and they are informed if there's real estate that's going to be sold you know everybody has to agree so that notice of proposed action is sent in escro it's not sent prior so if you're not informing your clients or your petitioner asking those questions do you see any possible family members contesting your petition that whole escrow will will fall will die because when they send the

[11:26] notice of proposed action if anybody contest you're not closing that's a huge distinct difference between a standard real estate you don't have that um title issues once again the letters of administration everything is contingent on that a lot of clients see you can be administer over the estate but not administer over the wheel or over the like it's I have one and I had one and it's very complicated the he was

[12:05] granted he was granted administer over the estate but there still was a will there still was a trust that needed to be find found so okay you're administer over the estate but now we have a separate entity called a trust who is administering over that so guess what happens when we get to Escrow and I have a buyer to pay full price and they're ready to close tile says no we're not ensuring this policy you do not have full Authority what are you talking about look at the letters of administration yeah you don't look at the other line

[12:41] item yes he is AD Minister over the estate there is a trust so if you have no experience in Probate you're going to be lost as a listing agent and doing your clients a disservice undermining your fiduciary to them and then you're looking at getting sued see there's a whole lot of levels to this you're dealing with attorneys you're dealing with courts you're dealing with judges if you don't know what you're doing your exposure is huge so in that in that in that case where where the the person who um

[13:18] brought you in to sell the property they had um letters of administration or or letter um they were not though the trustee of the trust and it was actually the trust that to the house exactly and you know also advising he wants to do it all himself he knows everything he doesn't want to hire it's been three years we ain't sold nothing three years my friend yeah so

[13:55] I'm here to advise I have to look at this from an objective standpoint before this meeting I was on the phone with a petitioner did a conference call with an attorney guess what she's not even selling the real estate in the estate but I am an advisor so I help I have a team of professionals from attorney CPAs lock move out Crews forensic accounts whatever aspect of probate you're in I have a professional to take care of you and I told her just like I told the other lady I'm here to help

[14:30] you yes I am a broker I I only get paid if I sell real estate or rent out if there's real estate in the estate but I'm not going to just toss you to the side like the average agent would do I'm here to still help you so what I'm saying is when you're dealing with somebody that's certified that really has an knct in this business and they they do have some Integrity you're going to be able to get those resources and get help and assistance I'm she not going to sell this property probably her court date is on the 17th but she needs an

[15:05] attorney I didn't charge her for setting up the consultation with the attorney I'm not going to get any Pro Cut but I need her to know like look I'm helping you out the goodness of my heart but keep me in mind further down the road or just in general because that's how I feed my family but I still am willing to help because I don't know I just there's something about Pro like I I love to help people and it can be a very trying

[15:40] process you know so so um and and I'm I am not a probate real estate expert myself um but my understanding is that at least at times the property is being sold in Probate um when the court confirms sale could be subject to an overbid yeah that's uh yeah okay so the overbidding process so yes Kevin um okay there's two type of there's two type of

[16:15] probates non-court confirmation where the petitioner has full authority meaning full autonomy they control it they receive the whole estate they don't need permission from anybody they are the boss they sign listing listing agreement now that has to do with your bonding uh capacity because you got to get a bond that's the difference if you want to get full Authority right you gotta you gotta get the bond and you got to

[16:51] put up the money to get the bond now if you don't want to do that that that's to give or take if you want limited Authority right where the court is going to confirm and you have to get permission from the judge to sell or to to do a lot of things that's Court confirmation now the pros and cons the pros you don't have to put up the bond money the con you don't have full Authority you don't have full say so there's a big difference now the latter full uh uh

[17:29] Court confirmation deals yes so let's just round numbers property is for sell for 500,000 you got to offer for 500,000 and it needs Court confirmation when you go back to court the overbid process is $500 plus 5% I gotta check on that number so what that means is the the the courts will allow another buyer to outbid the current offer see it's

[18:04] about it's about maximum exposure maximum marketability that's why a lot of times the judge is going to ask how many how many open houses did you do so when you get these properties where oh in one day they're in escrow Court confirmation that might not have been the highest price you could get for the petitioner you just you just tied it up maybe you double ending it whatever it is but see that's probably why they do that because their goal is to have full marketability where you are

[18:40] maximizing the the the most the highest price that you can get for this property so that's probably why they get so so you get oh yeah we in s for 500,000 okay well we gonna see how far we can take that so then what happens is you go back to court and that day the judge is going to be like okay we have an offer at 500,000 overbid process time five 500 plus 5% this is the new price can anybody in the court uhhh uh come up with this keep in mind 10%

[19:16] non-refundable deposit and sometimes you got to consummate that full price right then and there that's why probank is a very can be risky if you don't have your Capital together and you do not have your ducks in a row because they not giving you time to go back to talk to your bank oh oh do we got a money no you got to cut the check right then in there nonrefundable 10% of the value of the property so we talking about 50,000 they not playing around man and that money's gone try to get it back it's gone if you do not

[19:51] perform once again so why would you want an agent that don't have any experience doing this does not have the intellect the education they they they gonna drop the ball especially on the court confirmation because now you dealing with judges so that's that's see that's because see some of my clients they don't want to put up the money for the bond because it could be like 5,000 understandable but it's like okay it's give or take so you gonna have to give

[20:26] up that that Authority you know so um you you have to that's why when when you're petitioning for probate and you have a conflicting sibling like I have a case coming up they're looking at your credit they're looking at your character because you got to look at it from this standpoint that they're trying to determine who can we trust you know you want to know the real purpose of the bond so she don't run off with the

[21:02] money so the so the petitioner the administra of the state does not run off with the money it protects the beneficiaries and you have to be able to explain this to your petitioners because it's very complicated and if you have an agent that doesn't understand and that they're going to be even more comp they're going to be even more confused and then they're just going to make it a rational decision so how what how I I distinguish myself as education and insight and talking and educating

[21:38] and informing my petitioner clients and let them have the information to make a conscious decision so no I'm R I love it I can talk all day no it's all it's it's all good information so um I know um one of the the um um Estates I handled This was um this was based in Alabama I think um so the attorney was able to get me an exemption from

[22:14] bonding okay okay so have you ever seen anything like that here in California I have not um laws are different state to state especially yeah you got your own set of real estate laws state to state that's why you have to be licensed in every state you do business in on top of that when you're in the probate realm there's separate probate laws state to state what happens in Alabama probate wise may not happen in California now I have not seen that I have not

[22:49] seen uh now did you get full Authority did you get Authority I have SE because that's the whole premise of the bond is okay if we gonna give you full Authority we need to make sure the whole beneficiaries are protected so you know there may be exceptions to the rules but I I haven't seen yeah part part of it was she made the case that since I was a member of the clergy that I think she told the judge you know this this uh you know this fiduciary is

[23:26] a former military there exception and and and since since you know typically the bonding fee comes out of the the estate it was a savings to the estate not to you know require a bond so well well so well usually the bond has the the bond comes out of the petitioner's personal Pockets because they they see they can't neg go the money in the estate is they

[24:02] haven't got part of the solidification of the full Authority is that Bond so you can't access the money so that like that's the dilemma with for a lot poti they gotta front that money they gota out of their own pocket just like with with with my client now with the attorney the retainer fee is 7500 that hasn't come out of her pocket now she can petition to be reimbursed first right when Pro is over but but but initially it has to come out and that's

[24:37] somewhat the limit I understand because to to be totally transparent with petitioners yes if the bond is 5,000 you're gonna be short 5,000 in your checking account you the money has to go to the bond company so yeah right but you can get reimbursed then you money hold on then you gotta look at first of all you're getting paid that's a lot of people don't understand the petitioners get paid what the lawyers get paid my friend same

[25:12] deal same calculation 10% of one you know know 57 you know it's it's affirmative you guys you know Kevin knows but you know it's complicated but see and that's what I told my client look I understand $7,500 is a lot of money I get it I'm not rich you're not rich but and this is what you also have to understand if you have somebody that's contesting and you don't do anything they win she doesn't trust her sister to do what she think her sister gonna squat so she's like and also what people

[25:47] need to understand is and this is from my attorney she says 95% of the time if they're sibling rivalries guess what the judge does appoints a third party licensed fiduciary so in essence ain't none of y'all gonna get it if y'all can't get along we not granting authority to none of y'all you better who petitioners listening family members listening do not have a trust or will in place hear me and hear me well work it

[26:25] out family bickering caution you guys more money you lose time real estate market is is is segmented it's it's a timing thing all you're doing is costing yourself more money and more money and more money so you know you you wanna you want to make sure that you get along now what the what a lot of people don't know is when you get granted full Authority you get paid for that see it's a lot of work involved in administering somebody's estate it is really a lot of work especially if

[27:00] you got a lot of assets checking artwork real estate literally that is all your responsibility so you get paid for that so you get compensated for the retainer that you put up and some petitioners forgo their Commission because guess what it's coming out of the estate so you know no no I'm GNA get that anyway so you know you are compensating when you do have to put the money up for the bond and for the retainer fee it's not like you're just going to be out of pocket forever

[27:35] but there are costs associated with going for full Authority uh petitioning that you the petitioner should know yeah yeah well um we're we're at the end of our time here today but um a lot of a lot of great information and um I I I I think it's worth emphasizing one last time that um if you are um the administrator for an estate or the exeutive and you have

[28:12] to you want to have someone like William here background and the experience in theate Arena to help you so that you don't end up costing your a lot of money and a lot of trouble I'm going to leave it leave it leave it with this and this is this is my goal and I this is not just a sales pitch inherently probate is a very stressful Endeavor my goal is to make it exciting

[28:47] and fun for my petitioners this gold at the end of the tunnel this light at the end of the tunnel a it's a huge light huge pot of gold and I tell them you got too much personal stuff going on what how you're gonna go crazy dealing with your per the personal from the the the the death of your your loved one on top of the business you're gonna go boo boo go cuckoo let me deal with that all the paperwork the back and

[29:22] forness all of the nonsense the the the minutia and let me let me if your goal is to liquidate the estate and and see the thing is every it's all subjective some family members want to keep everything in house and and recycle it and that's fine some want to liquidate and it's a it's a collective decision my goal is to get you that money what better way in in some instances when you're dealing with the death of a loved one money does not heal

[29:57] I'm not not saying that but what better way to and this is this is what's told to cherish and and kind of maximize and respect and honor all that your parents did for you or your loved one did for you getting the most out of the estate that you can and if the goal is to liquidate and to have a monetary gain let me do that and make you so much money where you can start your generational wealth going on but if you just just oh yeah like

[30:32] like I oh yeah I got a family member in a family that does Real Estate you know yeah yeah I'm G just let him handle it if if you're gonna be that carefree and nonchalant about your family's estate and what your mom and your dad your Auntie and Uncle uh uh live their lives and sacrifice for go ahead man just hire anybody Jo off the street but if you want to maximize wealth maximize your family's estate hire somebody that's certified in real estate hire our team because we're going to maximize dollars and you're going to have a stressfree Endeavor so

[31:07] yeah all right I'm I'm gonna let you have the last word on that so everyone thanks so much for joining us I appreciate it uh tomorrow at 10: am um will be business lessons from the military my guest is Josh jger and he is a expert on the career and philosophy of ulyses S Grant General and president he's going to be talking about how to translate us Grant's philosophy into business practice so I I I hope you'll

[31:44] join us for that I think it's gonna be really interesting and then on Wednesday 10 AM is people making money I'm G to be talking about how to use professional organizations in journals to enhance your professional so thanks again for joining us today I appreciate it have a wonderful rest of the day can I say one last and if you guys need to get in contact with us you can reach us at 31086 31589 follow us on Instagram at real estate itsf finest and we are here for

[32:19] you thank you Kevin it's an honor to be on your uh podcast and check this guy out man he's a he's he's he's a good one he's a good one thank you and we we'll um William we'll put your contact information in the show notes so anybody who whoever you know anybody who views this either who's viewing it now or who wants to view it later um they'll be able to get in touch with you thank you so much Kevin I appreciate it everybody have a blessed day okay hang tight here after I end the stream hang on one sec anyway thanks again folks for viewing and we'll we'll