BiggerPockets

I think the largest net cast would be be most effective; however, if you are looking for efficiency I would go with executors/administrators over heirs. The executors have a fiduciary duty to the estate and may have an obligation to report any purchase offers. The executors/administrators are the conduit to getting the offer submitted and considered by the heirs and court.

They could be akin in the lending arena to submitting a purchase offer to the servicer who in turn submits it to the investor.

Thanks for the help guys!

It looks like I am just going to mail a letter to the executor and only the heirs if there is 1 or 2 since sometimes there are over 5 or 6 heirs which then becomes pricey sending letters out to all of them.

Do either of you have luck sending letters to the attorneys representing these cases?

How do you go about finding the executor? Any ideas?

Thanks Nerissa! We do a lot of foreclosure property but have not looked into probate. I appreciate the info.

Nerissa -

I have great luck with probates. I mail to the executor or personal rep.

Call your local probate court and ask them how they are published. In my area, they are in the newspaper at the same time each month. In other areas, they are online. Regardless, they have to be published so that the creditors know that the person is deceased. I have a lot of info on probates on my blog.

An update on my probate letters: I mailed out letters just to the PRs.

My last mailer was 43 letters total and out of those, I got 3 calls. Two of whom want to sell and another call was to inform me that the house was already sold (since they called just to tell me it was already sold, I think they would have called me if it wasnt sold, or at least I think that might have been the case).

With 3 calls out of 43 letters, that is almost a 7% response rate. Maybe I'll try to mail to the heirs to see if I get a better response but to be honest, I'd rather just email a new group of PRs.

I haven't closed on any houses yet but at least I got some responses which is where it all starts :)

Sure Chris, here it is. I try to keep it as short and to the point as possible. I altered my version from a couple others that I have seen so feel free to alter it to whatever you like.

Dear Ms./Mr. ________,

First and most importantly, may I offer my condolences on the passing of your loved one,________. I am sincerely sorry for your loss.

The reason I am contacting you is I understand the house located at ___________ may be available to purchase. I am looking for a house in this area and would be interested in making an offer if it is going to be sold. Of course, I'm sure at this time the property may not be a priority for the family, but if in the future the heirs decide to sell, please call me and give me the chance to make an offer.

I will purchase the property in it's "As-Is" condition and pay all cash. This will save the estate time of fixing up and/or cleaning up the house and the extra attorney and realtor fees. I hope you understand you do not have to wait until this probate is completed to sell the property.

If you wish to discuss this further, I can be reached at __________. I'm sure I can give you a fair offer and get cash in your hands right away and faster than if you listed it in this current housing market crisis

In any event, I wish the best for your family in their time of loss.

Sincerely,

No problem Chris. Good luck as well on those probate deals!

Hi Nerissa,
Don't forget to follow up! Take the three names of the folks who called off your list, and send postcards to the rest. I send out letters every week and do this, building a spreadsheet out of the no replies. My list gets 1 letter, then 3 follow up postcards (one every three weeks or so). It more than doubles my response rate, and the postcards are cheap.

Josh asked for your letter in the BP docs, I'll go ahead and put in my template for the probate postcard.

Josh, I just uploaded the Probate letter in FilePlace, it's great that you encourage people to help each other out!

Jerry, I was wondering if I should follow up but with you getting double the response, I definitely should. Thanks for letting us know that and showing us the postcard you use.

Greg, I have heard mixed reviews on whether you should mail a letter to the lawyer representing the probate case. Can anyone else relate to whether mailing lawyers is a helpful tool for probate?