Yes, and it happens constantly, but the personal representative appointed by the court signs rather than the heirs, and the sale is either completed on written notice to the interested parties where the representative holds independent authority or confirmed by a judge at a hearing where other buyers are allowed to bid it up.
Estates sell houses all the time, usually because cash divides among four heirs and a house does not. The mechanics are different from an ordinary sale in three specific ways: who signs, who gets told, and whether a judge has to bless it. Everything else, the listing, the escrow, the deed, is normal.
The representative's authority is the whole question
Until the court appoints someone, nobody can sell. The appointment produces letters testamentary (where there is a will naming an executor) or letters of administration (where there is not), and those letters are what escrow and the title company will ask for. A successor trustee, by contrast, needs no court at all, which is why a house in a trust is not a house in probate.
The letters are not always the same. Courts can grant full authority or a narrower authority, and the narrower version means a judge signs off on the significant acts, including the sale of real property. Read the letters before promising a buyer anything about the timeline, because the answer is written on them.
Independent administration: sell on notice, no hearing
Most states now have some form of independent or unsupervised administration that lets a representative act without going back to court for each step. Nevada's is the Independent Administration of Estates Act at NRS 143.300 to 143.815. Under it a representative with authority to administer the estate independently can sell real property by giving a notice of proposed action rather than by petitioning for confirmation.
The notice mechanics are the part worth understanding, since they are the protection the heirs get in place of a hearing. NRS 143.700 sets out when a notice of proposed action is required or allowed, NRS 143.705 says who has to be given it, NRS 143.725 sets its contents and NRS 143.730 how it must be delivered. A recipient may consent in advance (NRS 143.710) or waive notice (NRS 143.715). If anyone objects in writing under NRS 143.735, or obtains a restraining order under NRS 143.740, the representative has to get the court's authorization or confirmation after all, under NRS 143.745. Failing to object generally means being treated as having consented, which is exactly why the notices arrive by certified mail and exactly why they should be read.
Where an estate is being administered summarily instead, sales of real property still follow the general notice rules for estate sales: NRS 145.070 sends them to chapter 148 of NRS for the manner and the notice.
Court confirmation, and the bidding at the hearing
Where confirmation is required, the representative accepts an offer subject to the court's approval and petitions for a hearing. The date is published, and at the hearing the court can take overbids from anyone in the room. A buyer who has spent weeks in escrow and paid for an inspection can be outbid at the hearing by someone who walked in that morning, with the increment and the deposit terms set by local rule and by the judge.
That single fact shapes probate sales. It is why probate offers are often written below market and why probate buyers are usually investors or people who know the process. It is also why the court's job here is real: the overbid is the mechanism that protects heirs from a representative selling the house cheaply to a friend.
What a buyer should expect
Sold as-is, in the estate's condition, with the representative disclosing what they know and often knowing very little because they never lived there. No repairs negotiated in most cases. Longer escrows, because they wait on court dates and on the paperwork the title company needs. And, where confirmation applies, the possibility of losing the house at the hearing.
What buyers get in exchange is a motivated seller with a legal duty to sell, a house that is genuinely available, and less competition from ordinary buyers who do not want the complexity. Anyone bidding at a confirmation hearing should know the deposit rules and the increment before showing up, and should have the funds ready, since court-confirmed sales rarely accommodate a financing contingency.
The timeline, honestly
The petition to appoint a representative and the hearing on it take weeks, sometimes a couple of months. The house can be listed once the letters issue. The listing and escrow run at normal speed. Then the sale either closes on notice, adding a couple of weeks for the notice period, or waits for a confirmation hearing, which is set on the court's calendar and can add a month or more.
A representative who intends to sell should get the appointment moving on day one, because everything else queues behind it. Selling is often the fastest part of a probate; getting the authority to sell is not.
Questions people ask
Who signs the deed on a probate sale?
The personal representative signs in that capacity, not the heirs and not the deceased's family. Escrow will want a certified copy of the letters from the court, and in a confirmation sale a certified copy of the order approving the sale as well.
Can heirs stop a probate sale?
They can object. Where a sale proceeds on a notice of proposed action, a written objection or a court order forces the representative to seek the court's confirmation instead, and the judge then decides. Where confirmation is already required, interested parties can appear at the hearing and be heard.
Why are probate houses cheaper?
They are usually sold as-is by someone with no personal knowledge of the property, often after years of deferred maintenance, and the process discourages ordinary buyers. Court oversight and overbidding push the price back up, which is what keeps the discount from being larger.