Probate Lawyers

[Hal Cranmer]

On Friday I went down to our courthouse and started to look up probate leads. As I was standing at the booth talking to the clerk, a lawyer got in line behind me. He overheard my conversation with the clerk and asked "You looking for some cheap real estate?" I chuckled and said "Yup". He then proceeded to hand me his card and told me to call him because he has 6 properties in 'consevatorship'!

I got all excited but then I thought - I have no idea what 'conservatorship' means. Can someone help me understand what conservatorship is? Also, how should I talk to this lawyer next week when I call him? If this works out I would like to keep a long-term relationship with him. We mostly use title companies in my state (Minnesota) for closing instead of legal offices, but could I help him out in any other way - other than taking the properties off his hands? :wink:

After having this encounter, I also decided to write the names and addresses down of all the lawyers in the probate files, because I thought it might be good to contact them about potential properties as well. Does anyone have good ways to approach these people?

Lastly, do you guys have any outlines of letters I should use to send to probate sellers? Do you mention the deceased/sorry for your loss kind of stuff? Or do you get right to business and let them know you want to buy the house? Thanks for the help.

[William D.]

Hal,

I didn't necessarily have to justify my profits so much as I had to justify the the judge's decision to approve the sale. I was pretty sure after my walk through that the property would not qualify for conventional financing so I used that fact to my advantage -- basically telling the court that the pool of eligible buyers was cash buyers only and thus it should be reflected in the purchase price. There is inherent risk in purchasing a used house and it should be discounted.

Another note, It goes without saying, but make sure you read the purchase/sales agreement carefully. Most judicially approved sales are non-assignable. If you have thoughts of wholesaling the property or purchasing with a partner make sure you are aware of the limitations in the contract.

You also need to be extra careful about title. I came across some difficulties with my title because there had not been a title insurance policy on the property ever due to the age of the house and the fact that there was never a mortgage. You can come across a host of title issues regarding boundaries and inchoate liens for state succession taxes (assuming your state has one).

I don't mean to scare you away from probate sales. I just want to highlight the areas of risk because I had to learn the hard way.

Best of luck.