Selling the home a parent lived in, or a home held in trust with siblings as beneficiaries, is not the same transaction as selling the home you bought last year. The checklist below exists because most people going through it are doing it for the first time.

Figure out what you’re actually selling

Before anything:

  • Is the home in a trust? If yes, the trustee has authority to sell per the trust document.
  • Is the home going through probate? If yes, the probate process has to progress before or in parallel with the sale. Talk to a probate attorney early - not after you’ve listed.
  • Is the title held individually, jointly, or as community property with right of survivorship? Different paths to sale.

The answer shapes the timeline and the paperwork. Your real-estate agent should confirm with the attorney before listing.

The step-up-in-basis conversation

For heirs selling an inherited Ojai home, the step-up-in-basis rules are meaningful. Under federal law, the cost basis of inherited property generally resets to the fair market value on the date of death, not the original purchase price.

Practical implication: if a parent bought an Ojai home in 1985 for $150,000, lived in it until they passed in 2025, and you inherit it and sell it for $1.8M, your taxable gain is calculated from the $1.8M at death - not the original $150,000. In many cases, inherited sales have minimal capital-gains exposure because the sale price is close to the step-up basis.

This is US tax law in broad strokes; confirm specifics with a CPA. It can make a very large difference.

The sibling question

If multiple siblings inherit jointly, the first practical question is: does everyone agree the home should be sold?

  • If yes: straightforward. Sale proceeds divide per the estate document.
  • If one wants to keep it: a buy-out of the other siblings’ shares is the common path.
  • If there’s disagreement: a partition action is legally available but expensive, slow, and family-damaging. Try to resolve outside court.

I have walked many sibling groups through this. The most important thing is to identify one decision-maker early - ideally the executor or the designated trustee - and have that person coordinate.

Prepping the home itself

Long-tenure family homes often have:

  • Decades of accumulated belongings.
  • Deferred maintenance.
  • Structural changes that may or may not be permitted.
  • Items the family can’t immediately agree on (furniture, art, specific keepsakes).

Plan 4-8 weeks minimum for cleanout and staging prep before listing. Most sellers underestimate this.

What to do:

  1. Walk the house once with all heirs present, tagging anything specific anyone wants.
  2. Hire an estate-sale professional if the volume warrants.
  3. Get a real-estate agent in early for a honest pre-prep walk-through - what to fix, what to leave alone. See the long-tenure sellers piece.

The emotional layer

Selling a family home - especially one where a parent passed - carries weight most transactions don’t. A few things that help:

  • Slow the timeline if you can afford to. Rushed estate sales rarely feel clean.
  • Separate decision-making from grieving. Both will happen; neither should be forced into the other.
  • Let one family member be the designated point of contact for the agent. Constant cross-communication wears everyone down.

The paperwork

Documents your agent + attorney will want:

  • Death certificate (original copies, multiple).
  • Trust document or will.
  • Letters of testamentary or letters of administration (if probate).
  • Existing deed.
  • Most recent property-tax statement.
  • Any known disclosures: prior insurance claims, work history, environmental issues.

A honest timeline

For a trust sale, assuming the trustee has authority and the home is ready:

  • Listing to offer: 2-8 weeks depending on market and condition.
  • Offer to close: 30-45 days typical.

For probate without trust, add 3-9 months for the probate process itself, depending on complexity.

What Michelle does

For family sales, I work at the seller’s pace rather than pushing to list. The best outcomes usually come from families that take the time to clean out properly, prep the home appropriately, and come to the sale decision with consensus.