April 7, 2017 in Marketing Tips, Probates/ Probate Investing
I got a really interesting probate question from a new investor this week I thought I would share. The question went something like this:
Should I take some of the personal information from the obituary published in the newspaper and personalize my letter with that information?
March 21, 2017 in Mindset, Podcasts, Probates/ Probate Investing
Today I want to talk about success in probate investing, about your mindset, and how to finally get rid of your limiting self-beliefs.
So what does finding success in probate investing have to do with your mindset?
Everything!
Your mindset will affect every interaction you have with those sellers whether that is in person, through online communication or on the phone.
At the end of the day, they have a problem to solve. They have an unwanted property they want to get rid of.
The #1 reason I love probate investing is that almost 100% of these sellers want to sell the property. It just doesn’t get any better than that. They almost never want the house. (They just want the money in the house).
Whether they list the property or sell it to an investor will likely be determined by several factors.
The biggest factor will be the condition of the property, however that’s not the only reason these sellers would sell to an investor. There may be an existing mortgage on the house that the heirs cannot afford to pay. There could be back taxes owed or code enforcement fines or liens to be paid. If the heirs can’t afford to pay these amounts no matter how small they might be, they become a motivated seller.
August 15, 2016 in Podcasts, Probates/ Probate Investing
I get a lot of questions about working with probates, so today I have a short podcast for you called “Probate investing Q & A”.
It’s a quickie – only about 12 minutes.
This podcast was prompted by a few specific probate investing questions that I got recently. I love probate investing. I want to demystify this whole process for you so look for some more probate investing Q & A's coming your way.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Also, be sure to take advantage of 2 freebies I have for you on the blog homepage. There is an informative ebook and a sample letter that I send to probates. Read the rest of this entry →
May 23, 2016 in Probates/ Probate Investing
Probate Mailings 101I first wrote an article about probate mailings back in 2013. Truthfully, almost all of the information is unchanged except for the fact that the return on your probate mailings is somewhat less. What that means is that the percentage of calls you will get from each mailing is smaller than a few years ago. Today I thought it was time to update this information and tell you what's working best for me.
I can remember the time when I was getting around a 5 to 6% on all of my direct mail no matter what the niche or group of motivated sellers was. That statistic was certainly true for my probate mailings. Today that number is more like 2 or 3% tops. There are still investors in many areas that are only getting about a 1% return on their direct mail campaigns.
Here is the most important thing to remember:
Knowing this is huge! Most investors will throw in the towel and quit mailing after 3 or 4 probate mailings which give you a definite edge. You want to be the last man standing when they are finally ready to sell.
December 23, 2015 in Probates/ Probate Investing
It’s really odd how several people will ask me the same question over the period of a week or two. This past week I had no less than half a dozen real estate investors ask me the same thing; whether you should call probate leads as your initial contact.
Specifically they all wanted to know if they can pick up the phone and just call these folks as soon as they get the lead. My answer is always the same.
No! Don’t do that.
While there are exceptions, it’s almost always hurtful to the person on the other end of the phone. Read the rest of this entry →
September 8, 2015 in Probates/ Probate Investing, Q&A Videos
My reader question today comes from an investor that has really found himself in a situation he could have never imagined. He bought a great property that was part of an estate, and now the deceased's relatives won't move out of the house. Read the rest of this entry →
