When Time’s Running Out: How REsolve Closed a California Probate Home with a Reverse Mortgage in Just 4 Days
Daniel Tromello
When a borrower passes away and the property is tied to a reverse mortgage, things can get complicated fast. Add probate court, an aggressive foreclosure timeline, and a looming auction date, and you’ve got a situation where most buyers tap out.
A few months back, Daniel and his team got the call: a California house in probate, still subject to a reverse mortgage, was heading to foreclosure in just four days. No extensions. No wiggle room. Sell the home fast, or lose it on the courthouse steps.
Within hours, REsolve’s team mobilized. Underwriting. Title. Capital. Escrow. Every department moved in sync to keep the deal alive. Four days later, the property closed.
The deal closed on time because the team followed a proven process and stayed fully aligned from start to finish.
Because when you're inheriting a home with a reverse mortgage in California, and probate court is moving slower than the lender’s foreclosure clock, you need more than a buyer. You need a solution.
The Situation: A Reverse Mortgage in Probate and a Deadline to Sell the Home
In this case, the borrower had taken out a reverse mortgage years earlier. When they passed away, the house passed into probate, but the reverse mortgage lender didn’t wait. The foreclosure process was already in motion.
That’s the part most heirs don’t expect. Probate doesn’t freeze a reverse mortgage. In California, lenders can push forward with foreclosure, even while the estate is still being sorted out. The probate court might approve the sale of the home, but if title isn’t clear and escrow isn’t ready, the lender can move to take the property anyway.
That’s what happened here. The estate was still working through the final steps. The family didn’t want to lose the home’s equity, but the lender had already set the auction date.
REsolve was brought in with four days left on the clock.
The property was in rough condition. The house needed work, but the real pressure came from the timing. There was no margin for delays. The reverse mortgage company had marked the loan as due and payable. The foreclosure sale date was active. Every hour counted.
Probate Pressure: Why California Heirs Often Face a Race Against the Clock
Inheriting a home sounds like a process that should come with time, but reverse mortgage lenders don’t wait. When the borrower passes away, the clock starts. And in California, probate court and foreclosure timelines don’t always line up.
When REsolve got the call, the foreclosure date was locked in. Probate approval was pending. There were only four days to close.
The team had to:
Reverse mortgage probate sales require structure, speed, and a team that knows how to move under pressure.
This deal worked because that’s what we’re built for.
Nothing about it was unusual on our end. The pressure was real—four days to close, probate barely approved, foreclosure date already set. But this is the kind of transaction we’ve structured everything around.
We didn’t need to figure anything out. Title was already in motion. Capital was lined up. Escrow was ready to move. Every part of the team knew what to do because that’s the way the business is designed.
REsolve runs with full-time underwriters, analysts, acquisitions leads, capital managers, data specialists, and dispositions. Everyone’s already working the system. So when something like this hits, we just shift attention and move. It’s not about rushing. It’s about being able to perform whenever something hits the calendar.
Nobody’s stressed about the timeline. When something like this comes in, the team knows what needs to happen and how fast we need to move. A four-day close doesn’t feel crazy when the process is already tight. It’s just about running the play the way we’ve done it over and over again.
Most reverse mortgage probate deals don’t fall through because the buyer backs out. They fall through because the information comes in too late, or the full picture isn’t clear up front. That’s where time gets lost, and in deals like this, time is everything.
When there’s a short window to sell the house and foreclosure is already moving, here’s what slows everything down:
These are the things that break the clock. And once that clock runs out, it’s too late to clean it up.
For agents bringing these kinds of deals to investors, the fastest way to keep things moving is to bring the right info early. Here’s a quick gut check before making that call:
The more details are clear up front, the faster everything moves. These deals are sensitive. They usually come with some level of distress. But with the right prep and the right buyer, they don’t have to fall apart.
If you’re staring down a foreclosure deadline, stuck in probate, and trying to sell a house that feels like a ticking time bomb, hear this: you’re not alone, and this isn’t impossible.
This isn’t about luck or finding “the right” investor at the last minute. It’s about being prepared, being strategic, and moving with people who already know how to handle it. That’s what REsolve is built for. This is the work we do every day.
We don’t flinch at four-day deadlines. We don’t stall when title gets weird. We don’t slow down just because the probate court does.
If you’re an agent with a tough file on your desk or a family dealing with pressure you didn’t ask for, bring it to us. We’ll show you what’s possible when experience meets urgency.
Because at REsolve, closing fast isn’t a miracle. It’s the result of a team that knows exactly what to do and has the resources in place to do it. And if your deal’s up against the wall?
We’ve got you.
Have a situation like this on your plate? Reach out.
We’ll walk you through exactly what needs to happen and move fast to get it done.
