Straight Purchase vs. Refinance via Quit Claim

Hello,
We found a boarded up house where the previous owner had died (4yrs ago). We found the heir to the property, signed a purchase agreement and stopped the city from moving to foreclose due to unpaid nuisance liens placed on the house.

Our deal with the heir included; 1) we would get immediate possession of the house to bring it up to code and 2) we would take the case through the probate process so we could get clear title (and she could get her money).
We didn’t realize how much work was required to get it up to code - it’s our second year in renovations with all our money tied up in the property.

We’re looking at getting the property financed and after talking with a bunch of brokers one suggested that if we wanted to get money at closing we could do a refinance of the property if we used a quit claim and recorded our names on title.
We are the personal representatives of the estate and also have power of attorney from the heir.
Our purchase price was ~54k, with ~20k into the place, and a conservative market price of 110k (after repairs)

Does anyone have experience in this?
Thanks!

The property is in OR.

Our purchase price was ~54k
If you have already purchased the property from the estate, why isn't the deed already in your name?

We have a purchase agreement with immediate possession. Closing will happen when we have the property work complete and financing in place. It was a little risky until we were able to locate the will in a lockbox that left everything to the heir which in turn gave us a valid purchase agreement.

Back to the matter at hand, anyone with experience using a quit claim to enable showing up on title?

Muchas gracias!

Don’t forget to take the property through probate with the heir.

The title company or attorney shouldn’t let this close until the estate has been probated. To take possession by a quick claim deed is very risky. Despite the will, you don’t know what long lost relatives will come out of the woodwork to contest it. I would not even risk putting any money into the house until you are the clear owner and are covered by title insurance, just in case! I think it is a little suspicious that after 4 years, an heir showed up. It’s possible and things like that happen all the time, but it is very suspicious! There is a lot of fraud going on out there, people selling vacant houses they don’t own, with forged deeds, forged driver’s licenses. They use someone who appears honest and reliable to deal with the unsuspecting investor. They say things like “let’s just use a quit claim deed and back date it so you don’t have any seasoning issues.” They are so good, they can even look legit the title companies.

Hopefully there is no cause for alarm in this case, but I would caution you to be very careful and make sure you are protected first!