Rather then write a new post, I thought I would share my ramblings from someone who asked me “Why probate?”I don’t want to limit myself to just one resource to buy and sell properties. REO’s are a great way to start out and find properties. Unfortunately, everybody and their brother are looking for them. I happened to participate as a voter in the battle of REIblogs contest and ran into a good resource on picking up probate properties.

Probate real estate is essentially property that has been inherited. Often times these folks are very motivated to sell. 1 in 10 might be willing to talk to you and less then 20% of those will actually accept your offer. Its a matter of numbers. Get enough letters out to folks to see if they are willing to sell. View the property, make an offer, buy and resell or buy and rehab for sale.

*I’m sorry if I am being generic, but If I get to specific, I will practically be plagiarizing some of the material I am learning from. That is not fair to the author. This process is so simple, its difficult not to.

Back on topic. Colorado has this nasty little $5 fee per probate file I pull. (only state to do this) That leaves me at a distinct advantage. Few others will be willing to pay this fee. It may take 200 files before I get a sale. Few would risk the $1000. $1000 to make 10-15k makes sense to me.Probates may sound like ambulance chasing, but is really a benefit for the folks owning the property. Often times they are out of state, never dealt with rentals, or just flat need the money to cover inherited debts. I can take the property off their hands with cash, close quickly, and basically help them offload something they don’t want without paying a Realtor commission. Its a win/win situation. Many will not like the low offers. 70% minus hard and soft costs, but for others its found money they didn’t have before. Part of the reason for using shear numbers.Ok so I rambled a bit on why I will be heading down this route.

What I have accomplished so far:
-Located local newspapers in 3 denver metro counties that can list notice to creditors. The list is quite large.

-Helped another rookie like me find the same info in his county.

-Found distinct maps for my areas.

-Found through talking to my neighbors a potential opportunity 6 houses down. Nice couple in their 80′s, lived in the neighborhood 47 years. Husband died 2 months ago, and the son promptly moved his mother to Florida. Good kid(older then me but, meh), she needs someone around.The house is currently vacant and very well landscaped. The interior needs updating, but this could be the perfectly motivated seller I am looking for. The house right next door just got rehabbed and is for sale at 104k. This house is the same layout with an added carport that could easily be converted into a garage.I will get a letter off to the son in the next week. Who knows, I may just be able to wholesale this to the rehabbers next door.