How To Reach Probate Leads In Real Estate Investing

Probate real estate investing, or investing in inherited  property, is one of the most profitable real estate investing ventures. Accessing these leads can make you big profits in  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
The best way to locate probate leads is the county courthouse.   All my neighboring counties have a place where they display all the probate filings.   The information included in the filings contains the name of the deceased, the executor, also called administrator or trustee and beneficiaries.

The executor is usually an attorney.  One of the beneficiaries frequently takes over the role of the 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, there are publications that list all filings in the county court system.
These publications also include probates and are good sources of leads.

 You are likely to have such a publication if you live in a big metro area.   These will cut your workload drastically because you do not have to go to the courthouse to get your leads.

3)    Probate attorneys
Probate attorneys could be good sources of leads.   In my business, they are not 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 home sellers first try to sell through a Realtor. Do not be surprised if you find probate deals listed in the MLS as estate sale.

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.  In the current age, you can do this on the internet on your local county website.

You may find that the property may still be in the name of the deceased, or their estate such as John Doe estate.

 You then need to real 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 usually send them one letter every month for 6 months.  Probate process can drag for a long time but 6 months is good enough.

If you have been consistent in your message, when the time comes to sell, you will be the first person they will think about.

I no longer contact the listed 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 your leads come from a Realtor, then you will need to make your offer through the Realtor.  If you send mail solicitations using the name of the deceased, they bounce back with a stamp "Deceased".

 If you do not have the addresses of the beneficiaries, you are best off working with the Realtor.

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