All Forum Posts by: Jim Garrity

I haven't had the benefit of researching Cook County, but from my experience, there may be online search limitations at the courthouse or county clerk level (these are two separate entities and if the court website does not publish petitions, the county clerk may publish this). 

Oftentimes, you will need a case number in order to ferret out the files, name, address or other criteria that you don't have. 

You can find the probate case number by looking up "notice to creditors" in your locale, found in legal publications and other online portals. 

This is a recursive, multi-step process, but worthwhile if you can undertake it. 

In terms of contacting the attorney, I think that it is worthwhile to reach out to attorneys in the mix, with managed expectations. 

You may not get the deal at hand, but if you are in it for the long haul, a sustained campaign can yield a reservoir of referral leads. In terms of differentiation, how about offering, with the attorney's permission, to take a photo of the estate home and share the photos with the attorney? Remind them that the estate does not want to get mired in code violations or deferred property maintenance issues. 

In terms of singling out properties, diligent court research should bear out where the Personal Representative resides and their relationship to the deceased, and you can flag those PR's that live out of state, as there is more urgency to sell - they likely don't want to travel on their own dime to maintain a vacant home or play landlord. 

From my experience, I would pay more careful attention to whether the PR is a spouse that lives under the same roof. The spouse seems to have more emotional attachment to the estate home than the children. 

I think it all boils down to the messaging - what is the language you are using when reaching out to those Personal Representatives? 

Call to action is important, in terms of what you want them to do next. Many people that would not otherwise pick up the phone would go to a website that is tailored to probate, a site that educates them on the process, builds empathy and convinces them why to sell to you. 

I can site some examples of such authoritative probate sites, if you are so inclined.