Probate can be detrimental for thousands of homeowners each year.  

Meet Marco Sanchez 

The morning of January 5th, 2019, was full of fog, cold, and gloom. The phone rang at Akin Developers, and owner Miki Sunguza swiftly answered. She was bright and excited to potentially help whoever was on the other end of the receiver. Marco Sanchez said hello and asked if he had called the right place. The voice on the other side sounded as grey as the clouds outside and full of defeat. When Miki heard the depressed vocal tone, she began to listen more intimately. She knew she had the opportunity to turn his day around and wanted to make sure that she understood every part of Marco’s situation fully. He explained that he was a Lorton, VA resident and grew up down the street in Fairfax County. His parent had raised him along with his two brothers and three sisters in an upper-echelon neighborhood of Franklin Farm. Marco’s parents both passed on in recent years and, while the children had taken their time to lament, the house sat unoccupied. With time, the children stopped visiting their family home, and it fell into dilapidation. He next explained how these events began concurrently to a detrimental turning point in Marco’s personal life. He was now facing divorcing his wife of 13 years, child support for their three children, and alimony. He had always been close with his family, and they were there for him during this time too. Perceiving her brother may be in financial trouble, the oldest sister Camilla decided to step in and obtain the trust. Hopefully, to see where they might best help him fund starting over. They contacted an estate attorney and had the documentation pulled from the records.  

Marco’s Probate Problem 

Marco then explains their need for Akin’s intervention by describing the day when the attorney called the siblings into his office in the late evening hours of December 17th, 2018. 

He described all six of the children arriving and being eager to end the process quickly because it reopened their wounds, and it was almost supper time. When they were all seated, the attorney began to explain that he had found a predicament in dividing the trust or allowing any person access to it. While their parents had put together a trustee account, the document proved inadequately written and named no specific beneficiary at all, only to “Our Children.” “The quandary,” he said, “is that because no actual benefactors are listed, the assets can’t allocate to an individual.” 

The attorney proceeded to explain what was needed if they wanted to fight this. If they were to rectify the document, the Sanchez children would need to go before the court to prove they were the children of the recently deceased parents to appease the conditions. However, this, in turn, would more than likely take a couple of court dates which they would have to pay for each one out of pocket. 

This course of events was not ideal for the Sanchez children since the whole reason for this was to get some extra money to help Marco with his situation. They were told of a recommendation to go through Akin developers as they possibly could help. 

The Investigative Process 

Then Marco ended the initial phone call to Akin. Miki, from Akin Developers, knew she needed to help and who to call. Right away, Miki called their probate attorney partner and began investigating the property. She pulled the listing, all of the comps in the area, measured the rehab investment required, toured the property for visual reference, ran her numbers through her ROI calculator. Once all of this was complete, Miki put the method into action. She brought the findings to the Sanchez family and put an offer on the house to free them from the headache. While less than what the other estates are going for in the area, the offer on the house Miki gives is the best arrangement. 

Akin’s Made-To-Measure Property Solution 

The comps on this estate measured out to be $865,000.00 due to the community and property upgrades performed by the Sanchez parents. The home needed a minimum investment of $230,000.00 to reclaim its original brilliance. The inground pool would need to be drained and cleaned, HVAC replaced due to ants eating through it. The renovated attic would need fumigating to clear the new many-legged residents that made their home there during its lapse in occupancy. The house had a dumbwaiter that would either need restoring or to seal it off as it was unsafe to use at the moment. The entire estate would need new floors and repainting the walls due to the lack of climate control causing damage to the interior. All new appliances would be required as the original ones were no longer serviceable. 

All of this will be months of work before it would be ready to go on the market. Meaning the Sanchez family would have a hard time selling the house as-is, Akins is willing to take it off their hands and make the repairs themselves. 

In conclusion 

In the end, the Sanchez children acquired the funds they needed to support Marco in his time of need. By selling the estate at a more economical rate and allowing the probate attorney to dispense with all the “red tape.” the Sanchez children separated themselves from the situation. All the while ensuring Marco could manage all the intense developments occurring in his life. Selling the house left the probate attorney with the task of filing the paperwork and extricating the house from the trust so that they could free the entirety of the funds. 

Once Akins has control of the estate, they will fix all the legalities that come from it. When all of the legal work is complete, Akins can then restore the estate and then turn around and resell it to make the funds they put into it back. The process being this way is a “win-win” for both parties. While the Sanchez family doesn’t get top dollar for the estate, they can get the funds needed at the time. Akins can help their client in their time of need while also guaranteeing the company assets are also safe. Both sides come out ahead and are satisfied with how things turned out. 

Later on, Miki comes into the office to see flowers have been delivered to her desk, the card on them says from the Sanchez family. Underneath is a note that Marco has handwritten, “Thank you for helping my family and me in what was a very emotional time in our life.” Miki, not expecting this gesture, moves her. Things like this here are why she does this. She makes a note to send either an email or make a call to thank Marco as she gets ready to continue to help people that might be in the same situation as him. 

As for Marco, after everything, he has a decent apartment now, shares custody of the kids, and lives closer to his family. All thanks to Akins Developers’ timely help with their probate problem.