How to sell a home with joint ownership

The thread covers the basics well, so let me add the Florida-specific requirement that derails more of these sales than any disagreement between co-owners does. Pull the deed and find out how title is held. In Florida there are three common forms and they behave differently. Tenants in common means each owner holds a separate, transferable share. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship means the survivor takes automatically on a death. Tenancy by the entireties is available only to married couples and carries creditor protection that the other two do not. Which one you have determines what you can sell, what happens if an owner dies mid-transaction, and who has to sign. Now the part nobody has mentioned. If the property is anyone's homestead, Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution requires that owner's spouse to join in the conveyance, and Florida Statute 689.11 backs it up. That is true even when the spouse has never been on the deed. So if one of your co-owners is married and lives there, their spouse signs, full stop. A closing agent will catch this, but usually late, and it has held up plenty of Florida closings while somebody tracks down an estranged husband or wife. Practical order of operations: Get a title search before you list, not during escrow. In a joint ownership situation it is cheap insurance and it surfaces the signature problem, old liens, and any gaps in the chain while you still have time. Get every owner's written agreement on three numbers before you go live: the list price, the lowest price you will all accept, and how proceeds split. Put it in writing. Verbal agreements between co-owners hold up beautifully until an offer arrives. Have one owner designated to communicate with the agent. Six owners with six opinions calling the same agent is how deals die. If a co-owner genuinely will not cooperate, Florida partition under Chapter 64 is the backstop, and if the property came to you through family there is a separate heirs property procedure that gives co-owners a buyout right at appraised value before any forced sale. That is a conversation for a Florida attorney, not a first step. This question is from 2021, and Bradenton values and insurance costs have both changed substantially since, so get current numbers. I am a real estate professional, not an attorney, and homestead and title questions in Florida genuinely warrant an hour with a local real estate attorney. I am Zoltan Peresztegi, a Realtor working the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay in Los Angeles County. Bradenton is not my market, but if you want an introduction to a strong Manatee County agent, just ask. Zoltan

Since you and your brother have both been added to the deed through probate, you're in a good position; you both just need to agree to sell and sign off together at closing. Since the loan isn't in either of your names, you'll want to confirm with the lender how the existing loan gets paid off or transferred at closing. Also worth deciding together how you'll handle the current tenants and their lease, since that affects your sale timeline and buyer pool. Sounds like you're already through the hardest part with probate done!

Selling a jointly owned property in Florida requires all owners on title to sign the listing agreement and the closing documents. There is no legal mechanism to sell a jointly owned property over the objection of one co-owner without court involvement. In Inverness and throughout Citrus County, Florida, joint ownership situations vary widely: married couples, siblings who inherited a property together, former partners, or investment co-owners who have divergent exit timelines. When all parties agree, the process is straightforward. When they do not, the party who wants to sell may need to pursue a partition action in Florida circuit court, which compels a forced sale of the property. The most cost-effective path is always a negotiated resolution among the co-owners before the property hits the market. A real estate attorney can help structure a buyout, a delayed sale timeline, or a cost-sharing arrangement for the holding period that gets all parties aligned. The partition process is expensive and slow, so it is a last resort, not a first move. Kevin Neely & Kaitlynd Robbins | K2 Sells, Keller Williams Elite Partners

If multiple people own the property, all owners must agree to sell and sign the listing and closing documents. If one party disagrees, you may need legal mediation or a court-ordered sale (called a partition action). A real estate attorney and your agent can help navigate this process smoothly.

Working with an experience Realtor can help you navigate the tenants rights, preparing the home to sell, pricing it well and marketing it for maximum exposure. I have a list of vendors, from movers to cleaning crews. Tenants have rights and it's important to know what they are and how they pertain to your situation, what repairs( if any) that add value to the home and most importantly, a Realtor who understands how hard this has been for you and answers all your quaetions!

So if you have gone through probate and you are now listed on the deed that part should be good. Have you contacted the lender? several things can happen. 1. They can call the loan in full since you are not on the loan. 2. Keep paying the loan the taxes and insurance while you try to sell the home. 3. The lease, when does the lease expire? You might want to have an RE attorney review it for you. If the lease is set to expire, you must send them notice of non-renewal depending on what the lease states. If it is silent to that, then 30 days. If they are on a month to month lease and the lease does not state how long, then 15 days notice is required by either party. If you you can work with them while you are trying to sell, it might be easier overall. What ever you do make sure your attorney agrees, or it can be a nightmare.

I wish I could answer your concerns. But, the question was not completed. I would suggest contacting a real estate attorney in your area for advice on how to prepare the dead to list.