Marin is really two places. East Marin is the string of towns along Highway 101, from Sausalito and Mill Valley up through Corte Madera, Larkspur, San Rafael and Novato, plus the Ross Valley towns of San Anselmo and Fairfax. West Marin is ranch land and small coastal villages like Point Reyes Station, Inverness and Bolinas, mostly on septic and heavy with second homes. The calls sound different. East of the hills you hear estates, insurance and flooding. West of them you hear septic, rental licenses and owners who live somewhere else.

Probate is easy to find. Every estate in the county goes through the Superior Court at the Marin County Civic Center, the Frank Lloyd Wright building at 3501 Civic Center Drive in San Rafael, Probate Division, Room 113. The first hearing usually comes four to six weeks after the petition is filed. A simple estate runs 12 to 18 months, an average one 18 to 24, and the four-month creditor period after letters issue is the floor. Notice is published in the Marin Independent Journal or the Point Reyes Light. When nobody steps up, the Public Administrator posts its estate sale notices at the Civic Center.

Foreclosure is California's non-judicial trustee sale. The Notice of Default is filed of record, the owner has 90 days to cure, and the Notice of Trustee Sale has to go out at least 20 days before the auction. The owner can reinstate until five business days before the sale. Current Marin notices set the auction at the outside southwest corner of San Rafael City Hall, 1400 Fifth Avenue. On one-to-four unit homes, tenants, owner-occupants and certain nonprofits can file intent to bid within 15 days and top the winning bid through day 45, so the gavel isn't the end of it.

Tax sales here are thin and mostly land. The Treasurer-Tax Collector runs them online through Public Surplus with no live auction, sales have been years apart, and the county posted that no auction was scheduled for 2025. The March 2024 list had 113 parcels, and 98 of them were marked unimproved. Only seven claimed a homeowner's exemption. A Marin house with enough equity almost never gets that far, which is why the owners you can actually help show up much earlier, as an estate, an insurance problem or a house the family can't keep up.

Here's a call that's typical of the Ross Valley. Our caller reaches a woman in Oregon whose mother died in the Fairfax house she owned for decades. Her brother has letters, the case is open at the Civic Center, and the insurer sent a non-renewal notice two months later. Neither of them will move in, so the Prop 19 exclusion doesn't help. The hillside behind the house hasn't been cleared in years and she knows the resale inspection is coming. She wants a fair as-is number and a close after court approval. You get all of that before you dial.

Marin sellers lean retail, and we say that plainly. With a median owner-occupied value near $1,507,300, most owners have had an agent at the door more than once, and many already know what their house would list for. So our callers ask every seller whether a realtor or another buyer is involved, and that answer goes into the detailed verification note. A seller who knows the listing route and still wants a quiet, as-is sale is a real lead. One who wants full market value isn't, and we don't send that one to you.