Probate Monday: Inching Closer and Closer

Scott Costello All 7 Comments

Probate Investing MondayNew Probate Leads In Hand

Last week was a pretty good week.  I got my new list of probate leads from my source and was even able to talk with the owner on the phone for about 45 minutes.  He gave me some great advice for marketing to probate leads and is an overall good guy.  Some of his tips he mentioned to me he said he had never told anyone else before.  So in honor of that I’ll keep most of them a secret.  I will say that I’ve heard similar words of wisdom from listening to Bill Guerra’s stuff and from my readings around the web.  Non the less, it was very helpful to have those ideas re-enforced to me, as over time I tend to forget.  Here are a few of the ideas…

  • Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up some more.  It was recommended to place each lead into an 18 month mailing course.  Every month a reminder would get sent out about who you are and what you can do for them.  It was funny as he’s gotten calls that said “I figured I’d call because I don’t think the mail will stop until I do.”    The mailers would range from, letters, post-cards to greeting cards.
  • Make a connection with the seller.
  • Throw Realtors under the bus.  Sell your service as the best option for them.  You must be subtle though, you don’t want to come across as a sleazy salesman.

Offer on the Parsippany House and Seller ReCall

Unfortunately I was unable to accompany Bruce to the house in Parsippany this past week.  I had to much JOB work to do and couldn’t get away during my lunch break, which really sucked!  It would have been a great learning experience for sure.   The good news, is that Bruce made an offer of about $150k (if you remember back a few posts I came up with an offer amount of $156k so I’m right there with my calc).   The owner is now weighing his options and might either take the offer or list the house with Bruce to sell.  Either one of those two scenarios would result in a paycheck for me.  This marks the closest any of my leads has come to being a deal.  Another step to the positive direction!

Another first for me is a call I got over the weekend.  A seller by the name of Anthony rang me up talking about a duplex he owned in Flemington that has been vacant for 7 years.  It turned out that this guy had called me back in December about another house he inherited.  Anthony told me that he was behind on some bills and needed to sell the place.  Do you hear that sound???  That is the sound of motivation!  I however wasn’t on my game when we were on the phone together.  I forgot to ask how much he still owed on the house or if there were any assessments.  Stupid me, but I’m sure Bruce will follow up with the guy and get that information from him.

A Couple Notes

I’ve got to make sure I don’t start relying on Bruce to much as a safety net.  It will stunt my growth if you know what I mean.  It’s great to have him there for support and helping me through my deals by partnering with me, but I have to make sure I follow through and do all the do diligence myself.  I’m getting pretty comfortable with sending out mailers and talking with callers on the phone.  What that means however is that I need to take things to the next level and make myself uncomfortable again.

I guess I only had one note.

Have a good one!

Scott Costello
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Comments 7

  1. Scott,
    Good stuff. Its good to have a resource to get through the first deal or two. I have 3 houses that I know could be deals, I just have no idea how. Sounds like were bothing getting close.
    Jason

  2. I know what you mean Jason. I'm more excited about completing a deal for the experience more then the money I'd get from it.

  3. Pingback: Increase Your Probate Leads | Real Estate Investing News Watch Blog Aggregator

  4. Great tips, Scott. It's great to see you keep on keeping on!

    Good idea about followups. Do you have a system to remind you to do follow-ups?

  5. I don't have a reliable system that is for sure. One time someone mentioned the box method. You pre print out all the mailers for a lead and place them in boxes that are separated by month. When the new month comes you mail everything in that box. Simple

  6. Scott,

    I'm starting to do something similar. I print all my mailers at one time, have them stamped and ready. All I have to to do is drop them in the mail box when the time comes.

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