Probate Real Estate Investor Tips10 Tips For Buying Probate Properties, You Should Know Many investment gurus, at least those wanting to extract large consulting sums from you, claim they are getting in on the bottom floor of investing in probate properties. The truth is my relatives been doing it since the 70’s and so have many others. It isn’t new, but the way in which to access the information is. You really don’t need to know all the ins and outs of intestate (when someone has no will) probate and the processes associated with one who has a will verses not having a will. What you need to know is that probate records are no longer available on line in Florida. They have to be viewed at the court house. This keeps many long range investors out of the loop as many records will need to be viewed in order to find those which are viable. There is only one other option in lieu of court house visits to pull probate records and that is to pay for official records to be pulled and that gets expensive quick. 2. Probate does not nullify mortgages, liens, encumbrances against a property. So, you will have to search the official records in the county to ascertain any and all owners and encumbrances against a property which can be done online in all but 5 Florida counties currently. For those counties you will actually have to visit the court house Clerk of Circuit Courts Office. Let's not get unsorted,
3. Your greatest chance of success comes from locating and contacting executors/representatives who are in a different state than the property in probate. 4. While you can’t view probate records online, you can locate cases to pull at the court house. This is the starting point. Many counties have summary pages for probate cases naming grantors, grantees, and a case numbers which can be found online in the official records or court records. 5. Since many times the executor of the estate is a very close relative to the deceased, you must be careful and tactful in your approach and contact. Send a letter, with a date and time of which you will be calling. If the recipient does not want you to contact them, provide a number where they can contact you and an address where they can respond. Sample:
I have been notified of your ownership of the following property at 3252 Sam Street, Titusville, FL. I am truly sorry for your loss, but time is not always on our side. With your inheritance comes tax liability and for many it becomes necessary to sell the property. I would like three minutes of your time on Feb 27th at 5:45pm to discuss this with you. I will be calling you at 717-934-8224. I am interested in purchasing the property and am aware of your need for privacy and time of solace. If you would prefer I not contact you please respond to K&C Acquisitions, LLC at 51558 SW 164 St, Miami, FL. 33434 or I can be contacted by phone at 305-247-0164. My name is James Mikel. All personal information received is confidential and will not be sold or shared with those outside of my organization.
Frankly, you can call me, say your name followed by “Not interested” and I won’t bother you further, I promise. Or write it on a post it note and mail it to me. Or email your name and “Not Interested” to jm@KCAcq.com either way I will not contact you further.
In our three minute conversation, I would like to address your needs and present the best way in which to proceed or not proceed if you so wish.
6. Always ask for permission to visit the property upon first conversation. If the answer is, no one lives there to let you in the house and we are out of state, inform the seller that you can make a good estimate of value based on viewing the property from the outside by window looking as you have many years of experience. Always ask how long the home has been vacant as many times the deceased lived elsewhere in the months prior to demise. 7. The transaction will be handled by a closing agent or attorney with title insurance and conveyed by warranty deed so even if your research skills aren’t top notch yet, anything you may have missed will be caught by the title underwriter Have A Story Or Something To Add On This Topic?Do you have a story about this? Something To Add Or Maybe Something You Know. Share it! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
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8. Never make a fly by night guestimate with your offer for the property, wait until you have actually seen it and worked through all of the comps. When pressured, inform the seller that to make a fair and just offer for the property you must have ample time to complete your work. Never dally for more than 2 days. Inform the seller that all paperwork can be handled via mail through the title agent and that no work will be required from them to improve or fix the property as you are buying as is with faults. It adds trust if you have the name and phone number handy of a title agent who knows you and can verify your intent. 9. If you intend to flip the contract to an investor, add “Or Assigns” after your name as Buyer on the contract. And as of 2010 you will need to add your marital status to the deed. I.E.-James A. Mikel, a married man, as Grantee, but this will be added to the deed when it is prepared for you. 10. When you call the seller to present your offer use your list of faults with the property to justify the price, if necessary. An offer of $40,000 is fair considering the house needs interior/exterior painting $4,000. Carpet needs replaced $1,500. The roof is over 20 years old cost of $6,000. Some of the siding is missing, etc, etc. “You can look up permitting records on the permitting office’s website in many counties and search by address AND for major renovations a Notice of Commencement will have been filed in the counties official records.” Typically not finding a permit is good news when researching older homes as it justifies the need to replace or improve items. As in the roof, a contractor price for a 1,000sqft roof may be $400 per square in areas such as Miami (a square being 100sqft) + the cost of materials. So in theory it could cost $5,400. But, in reality by using day labor, gathering the materials yourself, pulling the permit yourself or in some counties an owner conducting the work themselves can be exempt from permitting it can be done for about $2200 depending on materials used. The truth is if the roof isn’t leaking leave it alone, a light pressure cleaning and rolling with an antifungal wash will work wonders. |
