All Forum Posts by: Sharon Vornholt

A probate attorney will be able to solve this.  

If the person was adopted from another country and it was a formal adoption, they they should be a l US citizen.  The court would have to appoint an administrator (which is the usual process when there is no will) then the property could be sold.   

My rule is I mail until I buy the house, someone else buys the house or they come off my list for another reason like they ask to be removed.

@Ben Ballinger is absolutely right. Slow and steady wins the race with direct mail.  You have to be  consistent.

People have short attention spans these days.  I would use shorter letters or postcards.  All people really care about is how you can solve their problem.  That's it.

Gotcha @Brandon Kocher.  That's a lead.  If they have property, the next decision I make is whether it is a property I would be interested in.

In my market the return is just that - 1 to 3% with an average of 2%. Direct mail works. I have been doing it for 25 years and it has always been my best source of leads.  In 2008-10 the returns were much higher.

You really don't want to call probates.  Send a letter. These folks are grieving.  The purpose of doing it that way is for them to call you when they are ready.  You need to communicate with the decision maker AKA the executor/administrator.

@Mark- that's an old thread. 

Louisvillegalsrealestateblog.com for the letter

A sample probate letter is on my blog in the right sidebar.  I use Yellowletters.com for Postcards.

I don't use yellow letters ever.

For out of state AO's:

I choose the state and counties I want the property to be in

Home values 50-300k

50 to 100% equity

2 or more bedrooms

That's it.

Sharon

@Tristan McGowan- There's just no point going down that path. You have to work this strategy withing the laws of where you live.  If you're looking for general information on probate, you will find a ton of that here.  Several of us have written a lot about that topic.  However.... it just may not apply in Canada.   Probate is very area specific.