HELP! I'm new to RE Investing & intrested in Probate & absentee..

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HELP! I'm new to RE Investing & intrested in Probate & absentee..

Frank L.
Temecula, CA · Member since 2012 · 16 posts · 0 votes

Hi, I'm just starting out my wholesaling & I want to start by doing Probate & Absentee Owners.

I read several forums about probate. GREAT INFO but none in which address my situation

So here's the situation..& I hope someone can help me out

I went to my local courthouse [Los Angeles County] & got some info on probate properties from the clipboard..

Here are the info that I got from there:

* Name of the deceased
* Petitioner name
* Property address
* Parcel #
* Appraisal
* Reappraisal (At times)
* Interested Bidder
* Bid Amount
* Case Number
* Attorney info
& * Court Date

What exactly do I do with this info. I remember reading somewhere to double check my info with the tax assessor info to make sure its right.

There weren't any info about the the petitioner except for the name & the attorney representing them.

1. How can I get in touch with the person that represents the estate not the attorney?
2. Do I just mail my mailings to the attorney? or both?
3. What does it mean when someone else is already interested in the property & already placed a bid on the property with a court date already set? Do I have to go to court to place my bid?
4. Correct me if I'm wrong, when I do go to the tax assessor's office & double checked my findings from the courthouse... When I do input the property addresses & find a different mailing address; That must be where I can contact the owner of the estate, right?

Any help that I can get is greatly appreciated! It would be best if I can get an understanding step by step on what I should do to maximize the quality of my leads.

THANK YOU!

@Sharon Vornholt, @Steph Davis

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Sharon Vornholt
Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
13y

Frank-

You have to find out if there is property in the estate.

When the leads are published in the newspaper here, it lists the name of the executor and their address. It also list the name of the decedent and an address. I have no idea why that info wouldn't be in the file since it is a vital piece of the probate process.

Sometimes that property address for the deceased is a nursing home or other facility. You still have to look up the person on the tax assessor's site by name, because they may own property even though they don't live there.

You are right about wanting to contact the executor rather than the attorney. Only mail the attorney if you can't get the executor info. They are not motivated to sell the property.

You need a subscription to the tax assessor's site. You don't actually need to go there. Here it costs $25 per nmonth.

I have never heard of bid amount. Maybe Steph or someone in California that does probates is familiar with this term.

I hope this helps.
Sharon

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  • Karen MargraveBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    13y

    Frank L. Were you trying to get Sharon Vornholt in the conversation? She's very generous with her help, so hang in there. Also, you might want to upload a profile pic, makes it more personal.

    If you will fill out the keyword alert, upper right, top of page under yellow banner, with terms like probate, inheritance, etc. you will be notified about those discussions. There's several people on here with knowledge of that market. Good luck! Also, check out the link at top Learn, scroll down to Beginners Guide. Have fun.

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  • Sharon Vornholt
    Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
    13y

    Frank-

    You have to find out if there is property in the estate.

    When the leads are published in the newspaper here, it lists the name of the executor and their address. It also list the name of the decedent and an address. I have no idea why that info wouldn't be in the file since it is a vital piece of the probate process.

    Sometimes that property address for the deceased is a nursing home or other facility. You still have to look up the person on the tax assessor's site by name, because they may own property even though they don't live there.

    You are right about wanting to contact the executor rather than the attorney. Only mail the attorney if you can't get the executor info. They are not motivated to sell the property.

    You need a subscription to the tax assessor's site. You don't actually need to go there. Here it costs $25 per nmonth.

    I have never heard of bid amount. Maybe Steph or someone in California that does probates is familiar with this term.

    I hope this helps.
    Sharon

    1Reply
  • Sharon Vornholt
    Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
    13y

    Karen Margrave. You are too nice. I have never heard about "bid amount" for probates.

    Sharon

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  • Rick H.
    Lender · Greater LA/Orange County area, CA · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    13y

    The OP may just be struggling with info overload. Generally, when pulling Pbt data from files I get everything I need (or want) from Letters and the service list (heirs, Bene's and other interested parties). The "bid amount" referenced is no doubt related to either a notice of proposed action or more likely, petition for order for sale, whereby the initial bid is the offer and the increased minimum bids required are documented. If this is present, it means the real estate is 'in play' and the primary remaining opp is for an overbid offer.

    Sometimes the original buyer can't perform or you, as bidding buyer, find a way to offer a higher price point and still make the deal work. I'm delighted at the times that someone figured a way to pay more than me because they saw an opportunity that I didn't, such as lot split, addition, redevelopment, re-zoning, etc. The lesson learned is worth more than than the initial sting of being outsmarted.

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  • Frank L.
    OP
    Temecula, CA · Member since 2012 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    13y

    Rick Harmon & Sharon Vornholt: THANK YOU BOTH for your insights!
    Karen Margrave: thanks for the advice. I'm still new to this.

    Sharon Vornholt: In LA County, where I'm from, the tax assessor does not have any online services & does not provide any subscriptions/list. We have to go to the tax assessor's office every time to do an address search.

    Rick Harmon: Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding on the info I had acquired at the courthouse.

    I can see that going to the courthouse was a waste of time because each of the probate property is being 'in play' & I don't know exactly what to do.

    What exactly should I do now? I was thinking of doing a mailing campaign for absentee owners but I'm on a budget & I'm not sure how much a mailing list would cost.

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  • Rob Pene
    Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2013 · 121 posts · 28 votes
    13y

    Starting off I understand probate to be a great list but a list that might take months to close bc the nature of the probate process.

    Here are somethings I'm doing bc I'm on a budget as well (in terms of marketing)

    - Connecting with other REI in my local area
    purpose: to find out intel info on investors, areas that are doing well for the wholesale approach, best practices on property acquisition approaches (direct mail, lists, digital)

    - Taking note on the "ugly" homes in my area
    purpose: research the address, current value, building a list to check at the county for absentee owners

    - Contacting FSBO homes
    purpose: to start the exercise of talking to home owners and gaining the experience of having these types of conversations. looking on craigslist for fsbo and using the fsbo site

    Frank, welcome to BP. Like Karen said, you might want to add a photo to make the profile a little more personable. BP is a great place to learn so you're in the right place

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  • Sharon Vornholt
    Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
    13y

    Frank - your tax assessor's site is online. If you google. "tax assessor Los Angesles County" it takes you here: http://lacountypropertytax.com/.

    I looked around the site. You just need the address to look up any property. You can get a lot of info free here. Most all big cites are online. You just type in "tax assessor's site and your county".

    Sharon

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  • Frank L.
    OP
    Temecula, CA · Member since 2012 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    13y

    Sharon Vornholt: Thanks for the info. Correction to my reply earlier. They don't offer any searches online.

    http://lacountypropertytax.com/portal/list/faq.aspx?faqID=44

    You actually have to go into an tax assessor's office to to a search.

    Thanks so much as always for your knowledge.

    Rob Pene: Thanks for the advice!

    0Reply
  • Sharon Vornholt
    Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
    13y

    I'm confused. What type of searches are you looking to do?

    Sharon

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  • Frank L.
    OP
    Temecula, CA · Member since 2012 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    13y

    As for the searches.. I want to do address searches for absentee owner. For that, you can not do an address search online on the LA County Tax Assessor's website.

    0Reply
  • Sharon Vornholt
    Goshen, KY · Member since 2009 · 835 posts · 683 votes
    13y

    It's probably that way in most areas.

    In my area, you have to buy that list from them. You can also get the same info from listsource.com. The advantage of getting it from the list company is that you can put in certain parameters like "equity of 50%, home values between this and this, etc. There were no parameters I could put in with my PVA except to omit zip codes. The list was too generic from the PVA.

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