This Erie bungalow had been in the same family since the 1920s — a home built when Erie was a thriving industrial city, and kept largely unchanged for a century. The current owner, now 98 years old, had long since moved to more accessible housing with his family. The house sat vacant, ownership never transferred, carrying costs continuing to accumulate on a property no one was living in.
His son was managing the family's affairs under Power of Attorney. The calculation was clear to him: his father was in declining health, the property was free and clear of any mortgage, and selling now — while his father was still living and the POA was still valid — was dramatically simpler than waiting and dealing with probate, Pennsylvania inheritance tax filings, Letters Testamentary, and the full estate administration process after his father's passing.
Selling under an active Power of Attorney is a straightforward real estate transaction. Selling the same property through probate after the owner's death requires filing with the Erie County Register of Wills, appointment of an Executor or Administrator, inventory of all estate assets, notice to creditors, a waiting period, and court approval of the sale — a process that can take 6–18 months and involves attorney fees, court costs, and Pennsylvania inheritance tax. Acting now, while the POA was valid, bypassed all of it.
The house is a textbook heavy rehab — a full structural and cosmetic overhaul from top to bottom. A burst pipe had caused water damage that went unaddressed. The electrical system was original or partially-original 1920s-era wiring, flagged as hazardous by anyone who walked through it. The interior was a time capsule: green 1970s appliances still in the kitchen, wood paneling throughout every room, vintage wallpaper in the original patterns, original furnishings that the family had not removed.
The property was free and clear — no mortgage — which simplified the financial side of the transaction significantly. But the condition made it impossible to sell through traditional channels. No retail buyer's lender would finance it. Listing with a Realtor would require either making the repairs or disclosing all known defects, creating significant liability exposure for a son who had never lived in the house and couldn't fully account for every system's condition.
The family had specifically ruled out a traditional listing for two reasons. First, the disclosure burden: as a vacant property with known hazardous conditions, listing it would require either fixing the electrical and burst pipe damage or disclosing them fully in a PA Seller Disclosure Form — creating liability for a seller managing the transaction as POA for an incapacitated owner. Second, the buyer pool: retail buyers using conventional financing couldn't close on a home with active hazardous conditions. Any listing would have attracted only cash investors anyway — at a lower price, through an agent's commission, and on a longer timeline.
A direct cash sale to Simply Sold RE eliminated all of that. No disclosure form required on the seller's side — we evaluated the property independently and assumed all condition risk. No cleanout required — we took it with all contents. Closing on a defined date, before any change in the father's circumstances required a different legal process.
This scenario is more common than most families realize. Pennsylvania has one of the highest concentrations of elderly homeowners in the country — and a significant number of those homeowners have properties that haven't been updated in decades, were the family home for 50+ years, and are now sitting vacant while the owner is in a care facility or living with family. The window to sell under an active POA is real and finite.
If you or a family member has POA authority over a property in Pennsylvania, and you're weighing the difference between selling now versus waiting, the legal and financial case for acting while the POA is valid is almost always compelling. We work regularly with families in exactly this situation — in Erie County, Luzerne County, Lackawanna County, and across the Commonwealth.
