Selling an Inherited Luxury Home in Franklin Hills

What year, and whose design? Franklin Hills is known for individual houses by named architects on public streets. The City's SurveyLA report records the 1953 Schlessinger House at 1901 N. Myra Avenue by R.M. Schindler and the 1939 Gogol House at 2190 N. Talmadge Street by Raphael Soriano. Buyers touring an inherited house a few streets away will ask whether it has a similar record. Often the answer is that it does not, and a clear no is a fine answer. What matters is that the estate looked.

Is it a landmark? The City has designated the Van Pelt Estate at 2141 to 2149 Lyric Avenue as Historic-Cultural Monument #1249 and the Paul Lauritz House at 3955 Clayton Avenue as HCM #784. Because there is no district or overlay zone here, a house is protected only if its own address was designated. If the inherited house is, that status and any Mills Act contract belong in the disclosures and shape what a buyer can change.

What has been done to the hillside, and was it permitted? An inherited house on a slope may have decades of retaining walls, drainage and additions behind it, and the permits are often the only record left. We request the City's file, list what turned up and list what did not. The estate then discloses what it knows, and buyers can see the gaps for themselves.

Where is it, exactly? Buyers who are new to the hill use the Shakespeare Bridge on Franklin Avenue to place the house, and they ask which side of Hyperion Avenue it sits on. The Los Feliz Neighborhood Council uses Hyperion as the line between Los Feliz and Silver Lake. The listing answers both before they ask.

1. Ask the attorney which path applies. Full authority, limited authority or a living trust. The answer sets the order of everything that follows.
2. Rebuild the record. We request the City's monument status for the address, any Mills Act contract and the permits for past hillside work. This starts on day one because it takes time.
3. Walk the house and the slope. With the personal representative or trustee, we note the condition of the walls, the drainage and the rooms with the view.
4. Empty the house and make the repairs. The attorney directs how personal property is handled. The photographer comes only after the repair list is done.
5. Set the price with the attorney present. Comparable hillside sales come first. If the court will confirm the sale, the Probate Code 10309 appraisal and its 90 percent floor apply too.
6. Launch finished. Photos, the in-house Matterport tour and the same-day kickoff go out together. The listing names Franklin Hills and Los Feliz and gives the 90027 zip code.
7. Accept an offer that fits the path. Under full authority, Probate Code 10585 requires the Notice of Proposed Action to state the material terms, including the price and the commission. Probate Code 10586 requires delivery at least 15 days before the date in the notice. Under Probate Code 10589 a written objection moves the sale under court supervision.
8. Attend the hearing if one is required. Under limited authority, the court examines the sale under Probate Code 10310 and another buyer may overbid under Probate Code 10311.
9. Record the deed. Escrow closes and title moves to the buyer after the notice period or the hearing is finished.

Our post on probate court confirmation and the overbid rule works through the hearing and the minimum overbid at several prices. This section explains how the process works. It is not legal or tax advice. For your own situation, talk with the estate's attorney or your CPA as well.