You inherited a house you never planned to own, in a city you may not live in, full of belongings and bills that keep arriving every single month.
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You did not plan on owning a house in Orlando. A parent, an aunt, or a grandparent left you a property, and it arrived with a mortgage statement, a tax bill from the Orange County Tax Collector, a lawn that keeps growing, and forty years of belongings still in the closets. If you live in another state, every one of those problems costs you a flight and a week of vacation days to solve.
Inherited houses in Orange County carry a specific set of local problems that nobody warns heirs about. The homestead exemption that kept your parent's tax bill low disappears once the property changes hands, and the Orange County Property Appraiser reassesses at full market value. Insurance carriers treat a vacant house very differently from an occupied one. Deferred maintenance that was invisible while someone lived there becomes obvious the moment the air conditioning is turned off in a Florida summer. This page walks through how inherited property actually works in Orange County, what your real options are, and when selling to a cash buyer makes sense and when it plainly does not.
Before anything else, you need to know how title currently sits. That answer determines whether you can sell next month or next year. Pull the deed history through the Orange County Comptroller, which is the official recorder of deeds, mortgages, liens, and judgments in Orange County. It takes a few minutes and it is free.
ClearHomeOffer is not a law firm and nothing here is legal advice. Which of these applies to you is a question for a Florida probate attorney or the title company handling your closing, and the answer changes what you are able to sign.
Florida uses two main paths. Summary administration is the shorter one, generally available when the value of the estate subject to administration in Florida, not counting exempt property, does not exceed the statutory threshold, or when the person has been deceased for more than two years. It does not appoint a personal representative in the usual sense, and courts issue an order determining who receives what. Formal administration appoints a personal representative who receives Letters of Administration, and that document is what a title company will want to see before it insures a sale.
Probate petitions for Orange County are filed with the Orange County Clerk of Courts and heard in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Under Florida probate rules a personal representative usually has to be represented by an attorney unless they are the sole interested person. In formal administration, creditors are given notice and generally have three months from the first publication of the notice to creditors to file claims, which is one of the main reasons formal administration takes longer than families expect.
If the house was your parent's homestead, Florida constitutional homestead protections usually shield it from most creditor claims against the estate and it passes to heirs under specific rules, especially when there is a surviving spouse or a minor child. That is often good news. The tax side is the bad news. The homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes assessment cap belonged to the person who died, not to the house. Once ownership changes, the Orange County Property Appraiser removes the exemption and the property is reassessed at just value, typically effective the January 1 after the change. Families who inherit a home their parent bought in the 1990s frequently see the annual tax bill jump by thousands of dollars. Look the parcel up at ocpafl.org and compare the assessed value to the just value. The gap between those two numbers is the increase you are about to inherit.
One related warning. If nobody notifies the Property Appraiser and the homestead exemption keeps being applied after the owner has died, Florida law allows the county to go back and recover the improperly exempted taxes with penalties and interest as a lien on the property. Report the change rather than letting it ride.
Every month the estate holds the property, it pays. Budget realistically for the mortgage if there is one, Orange County property taxes, insurance, utilities, and lawn care. Two Central Florida specifics deserve attention:
If the house is in decent condition, the estate has authority to sell, and you can carry the costs for a few months, listing on the MLS almost always nets more money. Orlando is a real market with real buyer demand. The tradeoffs are time, a cleanout before photos, repairs that show up in the inspection, agent commission, and the risk that a financed buyer's appraisal or insurance quote kills the deal on an older roof.
This maximizes price on paper. In practice it requires capital, a contractor you trust from out of state, permits pulled through City of Orlando Permitting Services or Orange County, and months of carrying costs while the estate stays open. It works well for heirs who live locally and poorly for heirs who do not.
Orlando has genuine long term rental demand from the hospitality, healthcare, and university employment base. If the house needs little work and the numbers pencil out, this can be the best long-term financial outcome. It also means becoming a landlord, coordinating with siblings who may want cash instead, and complying with Florida landlord tenant law.
This is the right answer when the house needs significant work, when you live out of state, when siblings need to be cashed out cleanly, or when carrying costs are eating the inheritance. You accept a price below retail in exchange for certainty, speed, no repairs, no cleanout, and no commission. It is the wrong answer if the house is in good shape and you have both time and patience.
Shared inheritance is where families get stuck. One heir wants to sell, one wants to keep it, one wants to move in. If co-owners cannot agree, Florida law allows any co-owner to file a partition action, which in Orange County is heard in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Partition can end in a court-ordered sale, and the legal fees come out of everyone's share. A negotiated sale, or one sibling buying out the others at an agreed price, is almost always cheaper than litigation. When we buy from multiple heirs, we work with the title company to get every required signature and to disburse each heir's share separately at closing, which removes the fight over who holds the check.
Send us the case number and your attorney's contact. We coordinate with them on Letters of Administration, court authority, and any required orders so nothing at closing surprises you.
Take what matters to your family and walk away from the rest. Furniture, clothing, paperwork, a garage packed to the ceiling. We handle the entire cleanout after closing at our cost.
The title company disburses each heir's share according to the estate documents. Out of state heirs can sign remotely with a mobile or remote notary and never fly to Orlando.
Often yes. You can sign a purchase agreement early and close once the court has given the personal representative authority to convey title. In many Orange County estates the contract sits while probate runs in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, then closes shortly after Letters of Administration are issued. A summary administration can move quickly. The exact answer depends on how title is held and what your probate attorney and title company require, so ask both before you commit to a closing date.
Florida has no state income tax, so the question is federal. Inherited property generally receives a stepped-up basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death. If you sell near that value, the taxable gain is often small or nonexistent. Gain is measured from the stepped-up basis, not from what your parent originally paid. Get the date of death value documented, and confirm your situation with a CPA, because rental use, improvements, and timing all affect the outcome.
The loan does not disappear. Federal rules generally let an heir who inherits a home be recognized as a successor in interest, talk to the servicer, and assume or pay off the loan without triggering the due on sale clause. Keep the payments current if you can, because the lender can still foreclose on a delinquent loan even while probate is open. Call the servicer early, put your request in writing, and get the payoff figure before you agree to any sale price.
Usually yes, and often significantly. Your parent's homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap do not transfer to you unless you qualify in your own right. Once ownership changes, the Orange County Property Appraiser removes the exemption and reassesses the property at just value, generally effective the following January 1. Look up the parcel at ocpafl.org and compare assessed value to just value. That difference is a fair preview of the tax increase coming your way.
Not if you sell to us. We buy inherited Orlando homes exactly as they sit, and we handle the cleanout after closing. Take the photographs, documents, and keepsakes your family wants, then leave the rest. If you list with an agent instead, plan on a full cleanout before photos, which for a long-occupied Orange County home often means several roll-off dumpsters and a week of labor.
Yes, as long as everyone who holds an interest signs. We routinely close estates with heirs spread across several states. The title company confirms who must sign, prepares documents for remote or mobile notarization, and disburses each share separately at closing. If some heirs refuse to sell, one option is a partition action in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which is slow and expensive. A negotiated buyout is nearly always the cheaper path.
We would rather you check our numbers than take our word for it. These are the official records for your property.
Look up your property's assessed value, ownership history, and exemptions. Use this to sanity-check any offer you receive, including ours.
Search foreclosure filings, lis pendens records, and civil case history tied to a property.
The probate court for Orange and Osceola counties. Start here if you inherited a home and need to understand the estate process.
Official record of deeds, mortgages, liens, and judgments recorded against a property.
Check open code violations and accrued daily fines before you sell. Unresolved violations follow the property, not the owner.
Verify whether past work, such as a garage conversion or an addition, was permitted and closed out.
Check delinquent property taxes, tax certificates, and pending tax deed applications.
The estate is open, the house sits empty, and the bills keep coming while you wait on a court calendar you do...
The house is packed floor to ceiling, you cannot even get an agent through the front door, and the cleanout...
You know the house needs work, you are not going to do it, and you want a straight answer about what it is...
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