The short version: you can usually start marketing and listing a property before probate is granted, but completing the sale — actually transferring title — generally has to wait for the Grant. The trick is structuring things so the gap between "ready to list" and "legally able to close" costs as little time as possible.
What can happen before the Grant
Preparing a home for sale, getting it professionally photographed, and actively marketing it doesn't require legal title to have moved anywhere — an executor can generally get all of this underway while a probate application is still in process. An offer can even be accepted on a conditional basis, with the condition being that the sale completes once the Grant of Probate is issued.
What has to wait for the Grant
Actually transferring title at the Land Title Office — the step that legally completes a sale — generally requires the Grant of Probate to be in hand, since that's the document that legally confirms the executor's authority to deal with the estate's property. Most buyers' lawyers and notaries will insist on seeing the Grant before registering a transfer, for good reason: without it, there's no confirmed legal authority behind the signature on the transfer documents.
Why this timing strategy is worth considering
Probate applications can take real time to process. Doing the real estate groundwork in parallel — rather than waiting for the Grant before even starting to think about listing — means less dead time overall. A property that's already prepared, listed, and under a conditional offer the moment probate comes through is in a meaningfully better position than one that's only starting the real estate process from scratch at that point.
Mark Jontz structures exactly this kind of parallel timeline regularly — getting a home market-ready and under a conditional offer while probate is still in progress, so there's no wasted time once the Grant actually arrives.
The real risk: buyer patience
The main downside of this approach is that buyers under a conditional offer are essentially waiting on a timeline the executor doesn't fully control. If probate takes longer than expected, there's a real risk a buyer walks away rather than waiting indefinitely. Setting honest, realistic expectations with the buyer and their agent from the start — rather than guessing optimistically at a closing date — matters more here than in a typical transaction.
Not every estate needs probate at all
Worth knowing: not every estate requires a formal probate application. Smaller or more straightforward estates sometimes proceed without it, and property held jointly with right of survivorship can often pass directly to the surviving owner without probate being involved for that asset at all. Whether probate applies to your specific situation is one of the first things worth confirming.
This page provides general information only and is not legal advice. Whether probate is required, and how a sale can be timed around it, depends on the specific estate — please consult a lawyer about your specific situation.