Hello Bp Friends!!!! Looking For Help With Probate Leads

[Bruce Barber]

i hope everyone is doing great! I have a couple of questions about probate leads. I have been in the court house getting these with my partner and the work is fairly intensive. Does anyone know if there are other ways to get this info? Also what is better pre probate or probate leads? I see propstream has pre probate, how accurate are they and should i pursue them rather probate leads from the city offices?

Also there must be a market for these leads, do people sell probate leads that are gathered from the courthouses? I am able get the EX number from the courthouse but not on propstream.

[Dustin Na]

Great question Bruce. We work with probate sellers regularly at our company in Maryland, so I can share what's worked for us on the lead sourcing side.

Courthouse records vs. Propstream — honestly, I'd recommend doing both, but start at the courthouse. Here's why: courthouse records are the most current and accurate source. Probate filings hit the courthouse before they hit any third-party database. Propstream and similar platforms scrape and aggregate that data, so there's always a lag — sometimes weeks, sometimes months. By the time a lead shows up on Propstream, other investors may have already reached out.

That said, Propstream is useful for scaling once you've got your process down. It saves you the time of physically going to the courthouse every week. The "pre-probate" leads on Propstream can be hit or miss in terms of accuracy — I'd verify those against actual filings before spending time or money marketing to them.

A few tips from our experience:

1. Build a relationship with the clerks at your local probate court. They can point you to the right records and sometimes give you a heads-up on filing schedules.

2. Focus on the personal representative (executor), not just the property. They're the decision-maker and they're often overwhelmed — especially if the property needs work or has title issues.

3. Timing matters. Reaching out too early can feel predatory. We typically wait until the probate case has been open for at least 30-60 days before making contact. By then the executor has had time to assess the situation and is usually more receptive.

4. Your approach matters more than your lead source. Probate sellers are dealing with grief and stress. Lead with empathy, not with "I want to buy your house." We've closed deals simply because we were the only investor who treated the family like humans first.

We've put together some resources on working with families in probate and other complex property situations over at pagesofpurposellc.com — feel free to check it out if you want more detail on the process.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your probate investing journey!