Probate Property Marketing

[Robert Burns]

When marketing to probate properties what is the prevailing thoughts around marketing to the spouse of the deceased.  In other words just sending a letter to the estate of the deceased knowing that the spouse is alive and probably inherited the property they were living in.  Is that appropriate?  How likely will the spouse be interested in selling their property or do you market to them anyway because the spouse may be downsizing or moving to retirement home or something like that.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Rick H.]

Straight answer: follow your intuition. You are correct. 
Surviving spouses who live in a property are generally NOT good sales prospects.
Houses don’t have feeling; people do. You are prospecting for owners who are ready to sell a house that is, preferably, not their residence. 

Consider each property in terms of a ownership timeline (before, during and after) and life events that affect it. Think of probate as a title problem. However, merely filing probate is not a signal that a surviving spouse wishes to sell, let alone a distress sale.

To the contrary, look for estates with multiple, compounded issues (vacant, back taxes, foreclosure, multiple heirs or beneficiaries, etc.). After many thousands of probate deals since I started (1978) I can assure you that you will only do deals with    sellers who see you as solving their problem and have sufficient capacity, powers and authority to sell…PERIOD.

It’s very rare that I post in this forum anymore as I find some of the responses Miss the spirit of helpfulness.