How do I get a list of houses in probate

Question

I am interested in this because just a few years ago I was in a situation that involved acquiring a house through probate. I was living with my grandfather until he passed away and left the house to me if I wanted it. At the time I was a little overwhelmed by the situation but I remember just wanting to get out of it. We ended up letting the house foreclose because I was not anywhere near ready nor did anyone else in my family want the responsibility. I look back on this situation now that I am a little older and am quite upset at myself for not taking advantage of the situation but the point is I'm sure there are others out there going through the same process. My question now though is how do I find out where these houses are.  What are the steps that need to be taken to find and contact the families that are in these situations and just want out?

Jerry Holt · Answer

@Fillipe Silvas  I think your question was how do you source probate leads for your area?

You are located in Galveston county. You are very fortunate that you live in an area that you can access probate case files online at http://www.galvestoncountytx.gov/cc/Pages/CourtRecordsSearch.aspx. Search by date and it will pull all of the probate filings for that date range. You will be looking for the "Application to Probate" documents. Once you open it you'll be able to locate the executor/PR's address and the attorney's contact information. Good luck!

Rick H. · Answer

Uh, it doesn't really work that way in the real world.

If you want to build a list of currently active probates (versus later distributed, inherited property owners) you'll either be,Ed to start at court house, pay someone else to go there for you, or search for a commercial list data provider.

Open probates are like a moving bus that travels for six months to a year, or more.

Court clerks are paid to archive public records, not provide lists to would-be marketers.

If you wish to create your own list, your objective is to build a list of 20-200 by going to the courthouse and physically pulling files to build. Yes, it's tedious however you'll learn a lot. 99% of people drop out after two weeks of doing this.

Commercial list providers may or may not cover your market. Subscribers find the data stale or even missing key opportunities).

Don't even think of bothering the attorneys until you have a license and snout (50) probate deals under your belt.

Seriously, probates are not a very good list to start, as most are not motivated Sellers. I suggest foreclosure and delinquent tax lists which are both readily available and some owners will be deceased.

James Boothe · Answer

I've had very good results by mailing to probate attorneys guess I was just lucky.

Kyle Jones · Answer

Rich how do you come across delinquent tax list? Also, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using such a thing?

Rick H. · Answer

I'm very intentional in my selection, aggregation and subsequent filtering.

Delinquent and defaulted tax lists are some of the easiest data to purchase or compile yourself.

There are 3,141 counties in the U.S. and each one has some method of taxing and assuring payment.

In my state, California, delinquent property taxes are considered 'defaulted' after one year and one day. However, tax collectors may not force sale via auction until (5) years or more have elapsed.

You can get most lists of properties going to sale online several months prior to the auction, online for free in most counties. However this data may not be in a format that is helpful (APN's and legal but no street address), many scrappy junk odd lot parcels and insufficient or incorrect owner addresses. That's the rub.

Or, you can search for a commercial list provider such as listsource or core logic and pay the money.

My recommendation is to filter down to a small handful of properties in your area (10-20) and really drill down the title ownership, record owner whereabouts and become very familiar with their property so that you become the expert.

James Boothe · Answer

Call, email, or send a short and to the point letter along with your business card to probate attorneys. Contact probate attorneys and let them know you're an investor that buys houses and the attorney will be a good resource from there. The attorney can refer the family to you as a potential buyer, should the family no longer want or need the property.

It never hurts to send a simple letter and business card to probate attorneys.

Fillipe Silvas · Answer

@Rick H.

I have never thought of searching for defaulted tax lists but that sounds very interesting. I will be looking into that soon. Thank You

Fillipe Silvas · Answer

@James Boothe

Thanks for the advice!

@Jerry Holt

Yes that's exactly what I was wondering. Thank you so much!! I will be checking into that tonight!

How do I get a list of houses in probate

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