All Forum Posts by: Sharon Vornholt

Hi Tyler -

I think that is a perfect number to start with, however I have one question. Are those absentee owners?  What is the "motivation".

Sharon

Welcome to the site @Lauren Galan. You will find a wealth of information on this site. Good luck.

Sharon

Erick - You can't.  You can get leads from Probate Daily but they are expensive.

Sharon

Jonathan -

You are not looking for "any Joe Schmo"; you are looking for that one really motivated seller in a distressed situation. They are two very different animals.  Folks that have a house for a retail buyer won't be looking for "Joe Investor".

Sharon

I can actually count on one hand the number of complaints I have had from probate mailings over the years.  On the rare occasions when I do, they are fine after I explain how many people we have been able to help.

Just keep everything professional and you will be fine.

Sharon

@Dev Horn -  I agree with you on sending yellow letters to probates.  Don't do it. I hear these folks complain all the time about getting yellow letters and postcards.  I have never had a complaint about white, professional letters.

I also picked up on @Vicki Gleitz 's comment on getting names out of the obits.  I don't think anyone should be doing that.  

Once the family is ready to settle the estate which will involve selling any property in the estate, they will start the probate process.  Folks open the estates quickly in some cases but in my area it may be months or even more than a year later. 

Sharon

Carl - there are over 3300 counties in the US, so each one is different.  One think that makes probates so attractive is that most people don't want to do the work and that's good for the rest of us.  :)

Sharon

Just ask where the probate records are kept and go from there. Be sure to ask what their procedure is and you'll get a lot further with those folks.  

Have you called the probate court to see if they are available some where else like the newspaper or online?  Always Google "your city and state or county - probate" and just see what comes up.

I hope this helps.

Sharon

Carl - Each one of the 3300+ counties is different, so you will have to figure that part out.  You can get leads from sites like Probates daily, but they are expensive and often they are actually obits not really probates.

You only need 4 pieces of info:

The name and address of the deceased and the executor/administrator.  That's all.

Sharon 

Jacob -

I would recommend that you get a list that is the size you can mail to every month; that is the key; mail to them monthly until one of 3 things happen;

• You buy the house
• Someone else buys the house
• Or they are removed from your list for some reason (such as they ask to be removed)

Sharon

PS: @Brandon Turner - thanks for the shout out.