Please visit our new site!

Whether you're a subscriber, an occasional visitor or just happened across Probate Sales: Tales from the Court for the first time, we appreciate your readership.

To better serve our clients, we have upgraded our website with a cleaner look and easier navigation. We've also added a blog feature (at the About Us drop-down menu) as well as extensive resources on the sale of real property through probate, trust and conservatorship.

Our previous posts on Probate Sales: Tales from the Court will remain accessible online, but from now on, all new posts will be added on the new blog page.

We hope you will continue to find The Sanborn Team at our new home — www.sanbornteam.com, that you will subscribe to the feed on our new blog and that you will continue to rely on us for all of your real property needs through probate, trust and conservatorship.

Thank you!
Nancy Sanborn and team

Selling Celebrity

The Sanborn Team was recently the listing agent for a celebrity property in the gated community known as The Summit. A property under conservatorship, the listing and sale were managed much like a probate and subject to court confirmation.

Not surprisingly, celebrity-owned properties, wherever they are and whomever the star, attract abundant interest — from the media, the public and even from other real estate agents. Everyone wants a look inside. People want to know the star’s secrets.

But, as listing agents, our job is not only to get the property sold, but also to protect the privacy of the owner. In this case, that meant assisting the conservator to make the most of the property, carefully monitoring access to the residence, marketing it aggressively and representing the conservator and conservatee in court.

It was a strategy that worked. The property was placed on the market for $2.995 million and sold for $4.2 million.

For publicity, celebrities have publicists; for real estate sales through probate, trust, conservatorship or standard transaction, they have The Sanborn Team.

Visit The Sanborn Team website and call us for more information: 310-777-2858.

Busy market!

The Sanborn Team had a sale yesterday. A probate property in Monterey Park, California, generated eight offers and had overbids prior to the court hearing. That's good news in a sluggish marketplace!

We will soon be putting a five-unit building on the market. It's in the Pico/Doheny area of Los Angeles and will be priced at $799,000. All of the units are one bedroom. More on that soon.

Meanwhile, if you have questions about the sale of real property through probate, trust or conservatorship, call Nancy Sanborn at 310-777-2858.

Six Good-News Reports

Fires, floods, earthquakes and unrest crowd the airwaves. But guess what? There’s good news out there, too. Here are six examples:

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its first NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) yesterday. The IMI lists “metropolitan areas that have shown improvement for at least six months in three key economic areas—housing permits, employment and housing prices.” Okay, none of the 12 metro areas listed are in California, but improvement is encouraging!

On a similar note, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reports this week that “August now ranks as this year’s best month for both pending and closed sales around Washington state.” While prices are still down, “Last month’s volume of pending sales was the highest number of mutually accepted offers since April 2010 when the homebuyer tax incentive expired,” the NWMLS reports.

In its August 2011 Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), released yesterday, ISM reports that “Economic activity in the non-manufacturing sector grew in August for the 21st consecutive month.”

In case you missed it, last week Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 771, which prevents excess document fees for home buyers in a common interest development, such as a condominium or townhome.

In his press briefing Tuesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, Thomas R. Frieden, said, “we have good news, which is that there are fewer Americans smoking today than in the past.” There were three million fewer smokers in 2010; additionally, heavy smokers are now smoking less.

Finally, The Sanborn Team is hard at work selling homes in Southern California. Probate properties continue to sell at very attractive prices, even when those prices are above asking! Our attentive service and decades of work with heirs, conservators, trustees and probate attorneys gives our clients the solid footing they need to make great decisions.

The Sanborn Team knows how to deliver good news! Browse our website or contact us now at 310-277-2858.

Probate, trust, conservatorship....and copyright?

We were delighted to read Bernice Ross’s succinct and informative article on copyright, “Know the basics of copyright, trademark infringement” in today’s issue of Inman News. Bernice is not only an extremely knowledgeable and successful real estate coach and author, she is also a dear friend of The Sanborn Team. What’s more, she’s right on target with her information about copyright.

It’s an issue we’ve thought about a great deal. As we’ve worked to create original text for our posts, we’ve observed that not everyone is quite so conscientious. In fact, a while back, purely by accident, we discovered that the text from our blog was being “borrowed” in its entirety by another agent who was posting it as their own.

The irony, of course, is that a huge part of our business representing clients in the sale of real property through probate, trust and conservatorship is sharing information. We advise other agents, buyers, sellers, fiduciaries, administrators, conservators, trustees, accountants, executors and even attorneys to make sure that the parties to a transaction have all of the information they need, when and where they need it.

We do our homework. And we respect the talent and integrity of the many skilled individuals and businesses with whom we work. It’s a pretty simple way of doing business: surround yourself with smart, honest people and do the work right the first time. It’s a philosophy that’s served us well for more than 30 years.

If you have questions about real estate sales through probate, trust or conservatorship, we would be happy to talk with you. Call Nancy at The Sanborn Team: 310-777-2858.

Collaborating for Successful Probate and Trust Sales

The Sanborn Team offers a comprehensive array of real estate services for those selling real property through probate, trust and conservatorship.

At The Sanborn Team, we take the word Team very seriously. Beyond disclosures and documentation, knowledge of Probate Code and court requirements, counseling of buyers, sellers and agents, and aggressive marketing of property, we also bring access to experienced professionals who understand the complexities of court-administered sales.

• We cooperate with other real estate companies and real estate agents to offer sellers the widest exposure to potential buyers.
• We interact with a network of skilled local agents who can provide showings and other on-site services in communities throughout Southern California.
• We work with escrow officers who have years of experience with probate contracts, including specialized disclosures, inspection reports and the need for on-time precision to meet the court’s demands.
• We work with title officers who provide critical historic information on properties in probate.
• We counsel buyers’ agents to assure that buyers are prepared to bid or overbid with the necessary timing and paperwork.
• We bring in property-readiness services to make the most of “as-is” sales.
• We cooperate with the preferences, presentation methods and contract terms of attorneys.

Our services save time, expedite the transaction and assure that if a higher price can be attained for the property, it will be.

At The Sanborn Team, we are comfortable with clients, other agents, attorneys, fiduciaries, administrators, conservators, trustees, accountants, executors, court personnel and other parties to the transaction. Our business is to achieve the highest selling price for the heirs.

Call Nancy Sanborn for further details: 310-777-2858.