When something good happens to me I like to Pay It Forward to the people who have helped me along the way. For everyone who reads and comments on my blog or who sends me an email behind the scenes, you all inspire me to keep going. That means the world to me and I want to say THANK YOU!
Read on to see why I’m choosing to give away this Probate course and also take note of the Bonus Giveaway at the end of the post.
Probate Investing Got Me Over The Fence
Back in the summer of 2009 I was over a year into my investing career. Take the word career very lightly here, because to be honest all I was doing was reading about real estate investing. I dabbled with a foreclosure list gotten from listsource, driving for dollars, MLS listings and a few other lead sources. It took me 2 months of staring at these lists before I actually got the guts to send out my first batch of letters, boy was I nervous. I just sent out 1000 letters to get people to call me and I am not at all a phone person…gulp!
Finally sending out those letters though gave me a rush of euphoria…I was finally taking action! Three weeks and two responses later my euphoria had all gone away and I found myself deflated and wondering what I was doing wrong (this is when I didn’t realize it takes time to build a mailing campaign). Over the next few months I just talked about sending mailers and spent my time going to open houses to learn my farm area. I became the Pretender Investor, the guy who talks a good game but never really does anything. I was frustrated with myself.
What turned me around really was when I decided to concentrate my efforts on one type of lead list and one mailing strategy. Keeping things simple was going to be the only way. Probate looked tempting after reading many glowing opinions about it over at FlippingHomes.com and REIClub.com forums. I then found Ron Mead’s course and made the plunge. I was going to follow it to the tee so help me…
I did just that, and here is a series of posts I did back in 2009 about me going through Ron’s course…
- Finding The Deceased Part 1
- Finding The Deceased Update
- Finding The Public Notice Newspaper
- Finding That Darn Public Notice Newspaper
- Creating Your Lead List
- Is Real Estate Involved?
- 4 Import Keys to a Probate Letter
- Make Money From Your Leads
- Probate List is In hand
- What to Say When They Call?
- Got the Meeting Now What?
- Figuring Out Your Offer
- Follow Up Postcard
- Same as Last Week
- Rinse and Repeat
Even tough I didn’t have obvious success with my first run at probate, I definitely credit it for how I got where I am today. It helped me get over the proverbial fence.
Giveaway
Over the years, I’ve gotten a ton of people asking me about Ron Mead’s probate course, 31 Days to Profits in Probate Real Estate. I always say it is great for newbie investors who just need to get started. The reason is that Ron doesn’t overload you with information, he just gives you a straight line method of taking action. I recommend it to everyone!
So as a way of giving back to you all who have motivated and helped me, I would love to pay it forward and help someone out who is just getting started and needs a little direction. So I’m going to purchase a copy of the 31 Days to Profits in Probate Real Estate course and for a lucky newbie.
To Enter For A Chance To Win…
Post a comment below about why you think you are struggling to get your investing career off the ground and how this course might help you.
On Tuesday October 8th, I will choose the best comment as the winner. If we get to 50 comments (entries) I will award a larger Bonus Prize as well. So spread the word!
** Please note, I am an affiliate to Ron’s Products so if you do not win the prize and choose to buy the product on your own i’d be thankful if you click the affiliate link. I also provided a non affiliated link as well.**
The Prize:
***** Contest has ended *****
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Comments 17
I am struggling to get started because I fear I will make a mistake. I know it’s a matter of just doing it, but the unknown can be a little scary at times. I think a structured course would help me to become more confident with the process. If I had it all spelled out I would at the very least have an idea of what to expect. Congratulations on your success!
Wow. I wish I’d known about your blogging about this! Probate leads are something I’ve been really reluctant to embrace for a few reasons, the biggest of which is getting through the gatekeepers. I’ve heard some people have had negative results.
I’m looking forward to reading your previous posts on the subject and jumping right in. It’s kind of like swimming in uncharted waters for me, but I trust that I can definitely pick up some good pointers from you.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
George Stroud
Hey great site. I am struggling because I am determined to only Buy Right. My area has only 2 smallish metro areas (80K population each) and the rest is semi-rural. I mail to various categories of people, absentee’s, NOD’s etc. I NEED any new demographic i can get due to my limited farm area. I am interested in the ins and outs of probate as a way to expand my farm. Any help I can get is very appreciated.
Thank you,
Bill
Hey Scott!
We’ve obviously spoken before about probate and its good to see another post from you on this subject. You mention getting ‘over the fence’ and ‘where you are today’ can you elaborate on what probates have meant for your business? Have you continued to just mail to 80 a month? Have you been tracking your response rate and ROI on your mailings?
Thanks!
Jeremy
Author
Hey Jeremy!
Sure no problem…What I meant by getting me over the fence is that the course helped give me direction and a course of action. I was going to get a probate list, mail to that list a proven letter and then follow it up a set number of times and then repeat. I needed some direction in the beginning or I was going to over think things, get overwhelmed and then not do anything. Happened over and over again until I started following the course.
Where I am today is sending out 400 to 600 letters a month to probate leads. I follow up 3 times to each lead (though thanks to Sharon I will look into mailing them more follow-ups) unless they respond. Our response rate has averaged about 6% over all mailings. In the end I no longer fear sending out letters, getting calls, negotiating with a seller, signing a contract or finding a buyer. I’ve been apart of the entire process and my confidence is there now.
Our next step is to turn more of the callers into deals. This is a learning process for us and we are figuring it out as we go.
Scott,
Great to hear things are still moving forward for you. Probate is an excellent niche especially for the “newbie” investor because the sellers are truly motivated! As a quick tip I always tell my seller that we’ll pay the cost of probate if they have not gone through the process yet if they sell us the home. It works out great because I work this fixed attorney cost into our gross/net offer.
As always having a great title/escrow officer if a must.
Randy
Author
Hey Randy,
That is a great tip and something I’ve not tried before. Thanks man!
Hi Scott
I’m struggling because I have been reading your blog since before you moved it and still followed you off and on up to now .
I’ve done some mailing but really indentify with maling to this and mailng to that , pretty much dabbling
I have a real estate licence and have even negotiated a couple of short sales for a broker.
But not mine very own : find a deal, made offer ,got under contract and all the steps inbetween to cash a check
I think the bulk of short sales have run it’s course and probate’s might be better especially considering there’s tons of investors out there these days and not alot of them are into probates
I’ve followed your yellow letter tutorial and used it but would love to find out about and just pursue probates.
If I win great but either way I have to thank you for sharing your
Thanks Scott. I am impressed with your continued effort. I am not sure I have quite that many probates in my targeted area. Probably close though. At this point my budget will not allow to mail to that many let alone follow up that often.
Good luck and I will keep you posted on my results as I’ve already purchased Ron’s course.
Hey Scott
I have been reading your stuff for over a year and I’ve always liked the way you shared your progress along the way. I discovered wholesaling a long time ago and it took awhile to jump in and actually start to make things happen. I had a big problem with information overload, trying to copy too many of the teachers. I believe that every real estate “guru” has something to offer, it’s just sticking with a plan and attacking it head on.
I always thought that probate leads would work out the best for me because I could sympathize with that motivation more than many of the other things that would motivate someone to sell a property at a substantial discount. I just never bit the bullet and started a direct mail campaign. I’m glad that you found success through Ron Mead’s probate course because that was a course I looked at awhile back. I have done a few deals over the past year through bandit signs and HUD but I have not yet created a system that I could grow into a business.
I am ready to begin with direct mailing and targeting probate leads is what I am always drawn back to. I look forward to learning more from you and from the help of a successful method from Ron Mead. Congrats on your success and please keep sharing, it’s blogs like this that helped me get started in the first place.
Hi Scott,
Good to see your having success with your probate leads. It’s always been one of my main staples for finding rehab deals.
Author
Thanks Matt, I believe it’s a great place to start for a beginner.
After reading your post about your struggles with getting into real estate, it was as if I were reading something I had written about myself. I’m not much of a phone person either. I’ve also found it to be hard to get into real estate investing when you’re trying a shotgun approach and hoping that something comes from it. Doubt begins to creep into your mind after a string of failures. Then you begin to become paralyzed against moving forward.
I’ve heard of people doing well with probate but I have never had any experience or read anything about that type of strategy. It is something that I will be looking into and perhaps this course is exactly what I need to move forward. After starting to read the book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, I am visualizing more now of what I want. Probate may me the perfect vehicle for me to get there.
I thank you for your honesty and candor about yourself. It is nice to know that others have gone through what we newer real estate investors are struggling with.
I have been struggling in the real estate business since 2006 when I was forced out of my job as a chemical engineer . i was earning six (6) figures as an engineer. My problem then, was i had no time to devote to the real estate business. In 2006, when I lost my job, i thought that , well , now I will have all the time now to devote to my passion, real estate. Boy, was I wrong ! The real estate market went south !!
All my efforts and money ( I had saved during my over 20 years of being an engineer- MY RETIREMENT money), also went south with the market. I had purchased just about every course and went to every seminars about real estate. ((5 dollars here 3000 dollars there . Man , the money went fast.
i tried working the rehabbing business and purchased numerous machinery and tools for the business in anticipation of having success in this area. But to my chagrin…NO SUCCESS !
Now, at this juncture, as you can imagine, I also lost my family. My wife and my four kids. My wife left with the kids to live with her family members..
today, I try to make a living with selling all those material/tool;s/equipment I purchased for the rehabbing business…I have so many stuff i bought, that even today I am still trying to sell them to earn money.
I have not given up thus far in making it in the real estate business. What else do I have to lose ?
You seem very dedicated Sir. Keep pressing on and everything will come together in a big way.
Author
Thanks Sean, hopefully that information I sent you helps you out.HA! I thought you were talking to me with your comment. I agree completely with what you are saying about Merrick though.
I have been following your blog since its inception and been reading alot – although i learnt alot but havent been able to get a creative rei deal yet.. I even went to the extent of getting my real estate license before the market crash and got completely burnt out by tire kickers, people who couldnt qualify, people who wanted to see 20 properties with even making an offer, and the slew of short sales i worked on which the bank would not be motivated to sell for 2 more years from our offer.. Was completely frustrating.. I learned alot from it all but still havent been able to get that lil or no money down deal.. A couple weeks ago i met a guy who told me he was doing mailings to probates and inherited homes – he said that past year he did many deals and did 19 k in profit last 6 weeks alone.. This sparked my interest and motivation once again that this can be done.. but he was reluctant to share his knowledge with me possibly because we are in same market area or he dosent want the competition.. Please consider me for these courses your offering – as my fire has been reignited to give it a go once again.. Love your Blog and thanks for sharing all your info with us.. as this also keeps me filled with hope i too can make it happen.. Love the pay it forward idea also – it be great if it could come my way because this is a niche i would like to get involved with.. Thanks again.. best of Luck in all your future endeavors.!!