Where are companies getting their probate leads?

Question

I'm a big advocate of marketing to probate leads. Most anyone can stroll into their local courthouse and comb through the public records to find which probate cases involve real estate and market to those individuals.

However, there are also at least three companies I know of that sell probate leads for every county in the US so that we don't have to do that leg work ourselves. I've only used one company, but whenever I approach any of these companies about how they get access to their probate records, they clam up and don't want to divulge the info. One company claimed it was a "trade secret" he learned from his days as a mortgage broker.

It seems unlikely to me that each of these companies has hired individuals in the 3K+ counties in the U.S. to manually transcribe this information into their own proprietary databases.

Furthermore, many counties don't provide a means to access full probate case files online, even if you were willing to pay. This rules out the ability to scrape the info systematically into their respective databases.

All that said, I can't figure out how these companies are aggregating probate information across the country.

Does anyone have any insight into this business and how these probate lead providers can provide access to such a large repository of probate deals?

Joshua McGinnis · Answer

@Nelly Licona

I'd rather not give the names our directly, but they're easy to find (google: probate leads and look for the top result).

I asked where they're getting the leads because I'd like to do it myself. It seems infeasible for these companies to hire a team to sit at every courthouse every day and submit them to a database. Therefore, someone must be aggregating the probate leads and selling the data to the probate lead providers. I'd like to understand who the aggregators are and buy directly from them so save costs.

Nelly Licona · Answer

@Joshua McGinnis I would like to know which are the 3 companies you know of.

Also, your question, about where these companies get their leads from, are you asking that because their leads are not what they promise they are? Where does your questions comes from?

Thanks!

Rick H. · Answer

This topic comes up every other week or so.

I brought this up with two very large data aggregators who attended my exclusive mastermind event in Santa Barbara earlier this month. One of them is the founder/CEO of PropertyRadar and he confirmed that the data from so-called national providers is questionable. I had thought this to be the case.

As I've previously posted on BP, someone from upstate New York wanted me to JV with his efforts to promote thru my RTPG channel. While I was interested, (not for a profit, however) my instincts told me to be careful and not rush into things as my reputation was at stake if his data or service was questionable.

I am so glad I took my time because his true colors eventually came out! Saved my subscribers lots of problems and hassles for me answering complaints. The learning never stops.

Scott Rissman II · Answer

Im also Interested as how they get access as well. I know they dont get thousands of people to go to the courts to input this info. They get access somehow.

Joshua McGinnis · Answer

@Chadi D. Shoot me PM and I'd be happy to send you the links.