How To Reach Probate Leads In Real Estate Investing
How To Reach Probate Leads In Real Estate Investing
Investing in inherited property - probate - is one of the most profitable ventures in real estate investing. Accessing probate leads can mean big profits for your real estate investing business.
We look at where to find probate leads and the best ways to market to them.
How do you find inherited property?
1) Local courthouse
Your county court house is the best place to find probate leads. In my local counties, there is a place where all probate filings are displayed. The information included in the filings contains the name of the deceased, the executor, also called administrator or trustee and beneficiaries.
The trustee is usually an attorney. Frequently, one of the beneficiaries takes over the role of administrator to reduce attorney fees.
Beneficiaries are the people who have inherited the property, usually relatives of the deceased.
2) Publications
In my local market, we have publications that summarize all court filings in the county court house.
These publications list probates as well and provide a good source of leads.
If you live in a big metro area, you may have similar publications in your market. You will have less work because you will not need to go to the courthouse for probate leads.
3) Probate attorneys
You might get good leads from probate attorneys. In my market, I do not consider them an important source of leads. Even though I have contacted them from time to time, I have not had a single deal that has come from an attorney.
But this may be because I concentrate more on courthouse leads and publications.
4) Realtors
Most people trying to sell their house will first try to list it with a Realtor. MLS listings can be a source of probate listings too!
If you work with a realtor, you should be able to easily identify these deals easily.
Marketing to probate leads
The next thing after you find the name of the deceased is to find out if they owned real estate. You can do this on your local county website.
The property may still be in the name of the deceased, or their estate such as John Doe Estate.
Next you must reach the beneficiaries. It is important to remember that because of death of a loved one, the beneficiaries need to be handled with sympathy, not aggression.
I send them a nice sympathetic letter every 30 days for 6 months. Probate process can drag for a long time but 6 months is good enough.
When it comes time to sell, it is you they will think about first if you have been consistent.
I stopped contacting the probate attorneys because they rarely respond. Also, the beneficiaries must try to save money by minimizing attorney fees, and usually delegate administration to one of the beneficiaries.
If you have located your leads through your Realtor, then you must make your offer through them. If you send mail to the address of the deceased, it will bounce back stamped "Deceased" by the post office.
If you do not have the addresses of the beneficiaries, you are best off working with the Realtor.
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