You Probably Cannot Sell It Yet
The first thing, and it saves a lot of wasted effort. If the owner has died and probate is not complete, or if there are siblings on the deed, or if you are acting under a power of attorney whose scope nobody has read, you may not currently have authority to sign a contract.
That is not a reason to stop. It is a reason to find out early, because establishing authority takes time and the property does not pause while you do. A buyer who agrees terms with somebody who turns out not to be able to convey has wasted both of you a month.
Should I Sort That Before Contacting Anyone?
The Mail Is Probably Going Somewhere Nobody Reads
The specific trap for people in your position. Virginia's spot blight procedure runs on notice sent to the owner at the last known address shown on the current real estate tax assessment records, and the response window is thirty days from the date it is sent.
On an inherited or long-vacant property that address is frequently the property itself, or a house somebody moved out of years ago. Post accumulates where nobody looks and a window closes. The full position is on our page covering the thirty day plan.
What to do: check what address the assessment records hold, and get post redirected or the record corrected. It is administrative, it is free, and it is the single most protective thing available to somebody managing a property remotely.
Nobody Has Told You What the Property Is Worth
People in your position are usually working from what a relative once said the house was worth, or from a figure somebody mentioned at a funeral.
Get an actual number from recent sales on that street, or from an agent with no interest in the outcome. Everything anyone offers you is a subtraction from it, and without it you cannot tell whether an offer is fair or opportunistic.
You Are Allowed to Take Your Time
There is real pressure on people handling an estate to resolve things quickly, some of it from other family members. Very little of that pressure comes from the property itself.
What is time-sensitive is narrow and specific: opening the post, correcting the address, and responding in writing if a notice has arrived. Deciding between repairing and selling is not on that list and does not improve for being rushed.
What If the Family Disagrees?
What We Can Do Without You Committing to Anything
Search the circuit court records for anything recorded against the property, check the assessment records for the address on file, pull the deed to see who is actually on it, and tell you what we find. That is often the most useful thing anyone does for a family in this position, and it costs nothing.
We will also tell you when keeping the property is the better answer, which on sound Richmond stock in the stronger neighbourhoods it frequently is.
The Ordinary Disclosures
We buy as principal, in our own entity, with our own funds, and we take title. We do not assign contracts. Nothing is charged to you at any stage, including if you decline. We are not brokers, not public adjusters, not contractors and not lawyers, and where a notice has been served the last of those matters.
We buy fire-damaged residential property across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and the surrounding region, in any condition, including property already subject to a notice. Beyond this region we would be the wrong buyer.
Where to Start
Open the post. Check the address on the assessment records. Then read the two routes on our page about how the process actually runs, and the sorting question on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart.
Then send an address, whether or not you have authority to sell yet.