Probate & Obituary Marketing

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Marketing to probate and obituaries can be a wonderful opportunity to investors but for me the key to success is to avoid dealing with the issues of death and to stick to the issues of dealing with the property.

I start my marketing with obituaries followed with probate filings and find it just another effective way to acquire property.

Short of courthouse research you can go to your local library and go to the reference department and research using what is called a Polk City directory that will list if the deceased party owns real estate.

I use a simple letter that has produced great response as follows:

This is the letter that I use.

Dear

I am looking at purchasing several properties at and around ________________________(property address) and would like to talk to you about the purchase of ________________________(property address) if you would be interested in selling.

Thank you for your time and you can reach me at ( )______ - ______________.

Sincerely,
John Michael

Did you know that;

*Having a will guarantees that your estate will go through probate?
*Your exact probate cost is unknown but the average cost of probate is 4% to 10% of the gross estate?
*The average length of probate throughout the country is 13 months?
*90% of all estates of singe-widowed adults age 60 and over go through probate?
*Failure to utilize each spouse's federal estate tax equivalent exemption can cost an estate up to $235,000 in unnecessary taxes?

*****END OF LETTER*****

Keep in mind that that normally you will have to have cash on hand to make this type of purchase but you will find some properties can be obtained through creative strategies.

Using creative strategies does work if only you ask. The worst that can happen is you will get a "NO"! So you get 100, 200 or even 300 no's before you get a "YES" to your creative strategy such as a "NO MONEY DOWN", "LEASE OPTION PURCHASE", "SUBJECT 2", "OWNER FINANCE", or any other creative form of investing!

It only takes one "YES" to profit!

"You're never a loser until you quit trying." By Mike Ditka, Football Player, Coach

[Mark D.]

The PR or the Executor, once approved, is the only person that needs to sign over the deed. Based on the will, an initial court filing will propose this person as the PR or executor subject to a future court hearing. In California utilizing the IAEA, the PR or Executor (with Full Authority) applies for the Letters of Testamentary, which gives them the authority to sell the property. This authority is usually granted within 3-6 months of the initial Probate court filing. In the case that the PR or Executor has Limited Authority rather than Full Authority, the sale will need to get court confirmation and will be subject to the overbidding process which usually drives the price up. Here is a brief overview of the process in CA but the laws can vary per state so verify in your state.