Have a client's or an estate's DFW house to sell? What we send, and what we need to close

Who you’d be sending your client to

J.D. Thorne is a Texas real estate sales agent, TREC #0705914, sponsored by Myers Home Buyers LLC, TREC #9005311. Look up both on TREC’s license holder search. He also buys houses for his own account. RESE’s office is at 3420 K Avenue, Plano, and we buy in eight counties: Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, Ellis, Johnson and Grayson. Each county’s probate court or county clerk, and its deed records, are on Areas we serve.

When RESE is the buyer, J.D. buys for his own account or through a company he controls. He is the buyer in that deal, not your client’s agent, and every party gets that in writing before any contract (22 TAC §535.144). If we bring in a partner buyer instead, that is disclosed in writing too. How to check us out lists every check, with where to run it.

What your client gets

Within 24 hours of getting the address, we send one written sheet with three numbers:

1. Our cash offer. As-is, with whatever is still inside. It closes in about 10 days once title is clear.
2. What it should list for, and what they’d net. J.D. can list it.
3. A fix-then-list number. We front the repairs and get repaid at closing.

Every party gets the same sheet at the same time: the executor, each heir, both spouses, both attorneys, the guardian. Nobody gets a private number. Cash is always the lowest of the three. That’s the trade for speed and certainty, and the sheet shows what it costs. You pick the closing date, so it can follow the court’s order or the decree. After a cash closing, the seller can stay up to 30 days on a written leaseback.

The cash offer comes with proof of funds: a bank statement or lender letter that matches the price. The earnest money goes to a Texas title company named in the contract, and you or your client can call it.

Option	When it fits	What it costs the estate or client
Cash sale to RESE	The house needs work, the parties want one date and no showings, or a deadline is set	The lowest of the three numbers
List it, with J.D. or another agent	The house shows well and the estate can carry it for a few months	The commission, time, showings, and a buyer whose loan can fall through
Fix-then-list	It needs a few weeks of work and nobody wants to fund repairs	The commission and weeks of waiting; the repairs are repaid at closing
An heir or a spouse keeps it	Someone wants the house and can buy out the others	No sale, and no need for us. If the court or the other side needs a value, hire an appraiser.

What we need to close, by case

The title company decides what it will insure, so we ask it early what it wants. This is the usual list.

Case	Who signs the deed	What the title company will want	The rule
Independent administration	The independent executor or administrator	Letters from the court, and the will if it limits the power of sale	Estates Code §402.052
Dependent administration	The administrator	An order authorizing the sale, then an order confirming it	§§356.251, 356.556; see selling a house in probate
No administration	Every heir who owns a share	A recorded affidavit of heirship, or a court’s judgment declaring heirship	§§203.001, 202.202
Divorce	Both spouses, or as the decree or a court order directs	Both signatures on a homestead, and the court’s permission if a restraining order bars a sale	Family Code §§5.001, 6.501(a)(11), 7.001
Guardianship	The guardian	A court order authorizing the sale	Estates Code §1158.001
Power of attorney, owner still living	The agent under a durable power of attorney	The power of attorney, recorded with the county clerk within 30 days after the deed is filed	Estates Code §751.151

A recorded affidavit of heirship becomes prima facie evidence of the family facts once it has been of record for five years (§203.001). A judgment declaring heirship is a final judgment (§202.202). Which one a title company will insure on is up to it. An executor, administrator or guardian selling in the course of the administration doesn’t owe the buyer a seller’s disclosure notice (Property Code §5.008(e)(5)); see selling as-is in Texas.

Other cases have their own pages: heirs who disagree, a parent moving to assisted living, a rental with tenants and a lien or title problem.

How to send us a client

Call or text J.D. at (214) 616-6452, or have your client fill out the form on /sell. Tell us the address, who can sign, the court and cause number if there is one, and who should get the sheet. Everyone on that list gets it at once.

We can’t pay a referral fee to anyone who isn’t licensed. In Texas, a broker can pay a commission or other compensation for a broker’s work only to a license holder, or to a broker licensed in another state who conducts none of the negotiations here, and a sales agent can pay a commission only through his sponsoring broker (Occupations Code §1101.651). We don’t give legal advice either. We work from the letters, the order or the decree, and from what you tell us.

Questions people ask

Are probate sales cash only in Texas?

No. An independent executor can sell for cash or list the house without asking the court, unless the will limits the power of sale (§402.052). In a dependent administration or a guardianship, the court’s order decides cash or credit, public or private (§§356.001(b), 1158.001(b)). The sheet shows a cash number and a list number so the executor can choose.

How long after probate can a house be sold in Texas?

An independent executor can sign once the court issues letters. A dependent administrator needs the court’s order to sell, and conveys only after the court approves the sale as fair, properly made and lawful (§356.556). Our cash path closes about 10 days after title is clear, on the date you pick.

Who buys probate houses as-is in Tarrant County?

We do, in Tarrant and the seven other counties we serve. Tarrant County’s probate cases go to Probate Courts No. 1 and 2, linked on Areas we serve. We buy as-is, with whatever is still inside.

Can you send the same numbers to both sides in a divorce?

Yes. Both spouses, or both attorneys, get the same sheet at the same time. We don’t take sides, and we close on the date the decree or the attorneys set. See selling the house in a divorce.

Should the estate sale happen before you buy?

Either way works. We buy as-is, so the family can run an estate sale, take what matters and leave the rest. If the house is packed floor to ceiling, see selling a house with everything in it.

Do you pay referral fees?

We can’t pay one to an attorney or executor who isn’t licensed. Texas law doesn’t allow it (Occupations Code §1101.651). Your client gets the same written sheet as every other party.