Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I want to Invest in Probate Properties?

What do Probate Properties offer over other properties?
Probate properties are those properties that were owned by an individual that has passed away. Generally properties owned in this manner are well cared for properties and require minimal refurbishing. This simplifies the amount of effort required by a Real Estate investor.
What do can I expect to make?
We have customers that have made $50K on an individual sale and others that average $7,500 per purchase. You can make money several different ways in the probate market. Remember, With our program you are in control - you can purchase properties outright and then sell them or you can partner with Real Estate Investors in your area and share in their profits. Here are some ways you can make money by buying and selling probate properties:

Wholesale a Property: $5-15K per deal
Buy at 40-50% Discount / Sell at 35% -> Net 5-15%
Buy and Sell a Property: $25-50K per deal
Buy at 40-50% Discount / Rehab at 5% / Sell at 20% -> Net 15-25%
Minimal rehab required. Most probate properties have been well maintained. We teach you how to estimate rehab costs!
Rent / Sell a Property: $60-80K per deal
Buy at 40-50% Discount / Own for 3 Years / see 2-3% appreciation / Sell at FULL MARKET VALUE!!!
What makes a probate property desirable
Oft times, properties in probate must be sold for financial or other reasons and the seller is looking to quickly turn the property. You will generally find that you are dealing with a motivated seller that doe not live in the property. In many cases this is "found money" to the heirs of the Estate and they simply want to "cash out"
What is Probate?
Probate is the legal process by which title to properties owned by an individual while alive are transferred to the heirs.
Will I make money from these leads?
There are hidden gems in these probates. If you work the leads you will find great opportunities to buy and sell distressed properties in your area.
Why don't more people work this market?
This is a fairly misunderstood market. Most people assume that once an Estate is probated, the property is tied up in court. In fact, the executor of the Estate does, most often, have the authority to sell the property.
Is this data available to the general public?
This is Public Record information and if you are willing to spend the time and energy necessary to retrieve the data any one can get this data. The amount of effort required to retrieve this data does not generally result in a good investment of your time. You would be much better off spending this time contacting Executors and closing deals.

Why should I use your Probate Leads?

Why should I consider Probate Leads for US Probate Leads?
We are the only company providing Probate data for virtually every county in the US. You will receive your leads each and every month without the hassle of trying to get the leads yourself.
How long have you been in business?
We have been providing Probate Leads for the past 5 years. We started in the Dallas/Ft Worth area and now provide data throughout the US.
Why isn't this service being offered by other companies?
There is a finite amount of probate data available in each county and it can be difficult to retrieve. Until we came along, no one had managed to put together a business model that could support this retrieval effort.
How can you provide data when no one else can?
We have relationships with Banks and Credit Card companies that utilize our service. These contracts have allowed us to establish a network of Data Researchers throughout the US. This network coupled with our proprietary data mining tools and processes allow us to access probate data at a cost which allows us to provide reasonably priced information to you.
Where does the data come from?
Our network of Data Researchers located throughout the US provide the first wave of data access. We couple that with proprietary tools and processes which allow us to access the data you need.
Is your data timely?
We retrieve the data every 30 days and then provide it to you. The data is as current at that time as the data is if you were to go to the court house and retrieve it yourself.
Do you provide all of the probate records?
We provide all Estate-related probates. Most probate courts also handle Guardianships, Conservatorships, cases pertaining to Minors, etc. There can be a great deal of excess information in these records - information that does not benefit you as a Probate Investor. We cull those records out and provide you records that have the potential for having Real Estate as part of the Estate.
Will I get all of the data found at the Courthouse?
In some cases a probate case file may be "checked out" to the courts. In this event, we will retrieve the missing data on our next visit.
Do you identify property with each lead?
We now offer two different programs - one with and one without probate leads.

Probates without Identified Properties. The effort involved in identifying properties early in the probate process is a costly one, so we offer a lower cost program for folks interested in reaching a large number of potential customers. We typically find that about 70-75% of the probate actions filed have Real Estate associated with them. The only good way to retrieve properties owned by a Decedent is to go to the local Appraisal Districts or Deed Records office and run the name of the Decedent and find the properties owned. This is a tedious process and can take quite a bit of effort. The actual process is quite labor intensive, in that, each and every property pulled must be "eyeballed" to ensure it is a valid property. We have found that the majority of investors prefer to mail to all PRs and let them say if they have a property.

Probates with Properties (Preferred Probates) We do have the ability to identify properties for individual probates that have been filed. As stated above this is a costly effort and the pricing does reflect that additional effort. Our program is set up in blocks of 5 leads and you can receive as many as you wish. Note that the pricing for these leads does compare favorably with the prices for other high end property leads. The principal difference being that probate leads are the Cadillac of Real Estate leads and you do get what you pay for.

Administratively, what is the process?

Is there a contract?
We do not require a contract. We do ask that you subscribe to our service via PayPal and your fee will then be deducted from your credit card each month on the same day.
If I'm not satisfied - Can I Quit?
We do not require a contract. We do ask that you subscribe to our service via PayPal and your fee will then be deducted from your credit card each month on the same day.
How do I get started?
Visit our Website at www.usprobateleads.com. Click on your state, then your county, find the product that most interests you and click on the shopping cart to purchase your subscription.
Do you take Credit Cards?
We use PayPal to manage our monthly subscriptions. This facility allows us to accept all major credit and debit cards. Just click on the shopping cart at the bottom of the screen and you will be sent to the appropriate PayPal link. If you do not wish to use PayPal simply give us a call at 877 470-9751 and we will take your credit card info over the phone and deposit directly to our bank account.
Do you take Electronic Checks?
We can take Electronic Checks. This facility allows us to accept your check for payment for a purchase. Please give us a call at (877) 4760-9751 and we will process your check.
If I purchase a product and someone else buys the "Exclusive" package later - do I lose my service?
We have reserved the right to sell to someone requesting an exclusive at a later date (the ground rules are discussed on the website). That being said - the Exclusive price in most larger counties is sufficiently high that we do not expect many takers on those. To be truthful we would prefer to have a number of individuals buying leads in a given county as opposed to selling exclusivity so we will be very judicious with our exercise of this clause.
How often am I billed?
You will be billed one time each month.
When am I billed?
You will be told when the next collection is scheduled for the county you select. You will be given the opportunity to request previous month's data and/or to start your subscription when the next collection is made. You will be provided a set of messages similar to the following:

Probate Leads are collected every 30 days. The next collection for this county is scheduled for ________ Your subscription will commence with the date of the next collection. Your credit card will not be charged until that date.

Click here if you wish to receive data for the previous month. You will be immediately assessed a one time charge for this collection.
Do you offer Volume pricing, if I choose multiple counties?
We offer volume pricing for purchase involving more than one county. Ask us to submit a bid for your counties.

What Do I get with my purchase?

When will I receive my first leads?
We have folks working around the country pulling leads each and every day. We will need to schedule your pulls, but we can assure you that you will see your first set of leads within 2 weeks. Then every 30 days after that you will receive your leads.
Can I buy leads by zip Code?
We provide probate leads (without the associated properties) - so the zip Code question is not applicable. That question would only apply if we were providing Decedent property information, then we would have the zip codes. Nationwide, we typically find that between 70-75% of the probate actions filed have Real Estate associated with them. Since we provide probate leads the question of zip codes does not typically apply unless you were interested in also buying property related data. In that situation we provide the information for all zip codes so that everyone has the same chance of getting a property in a good area.
How are leads sold, if multiple people buy leads from you?
We only sell an individual lead as many times as is shown on the website. Each county has a "maximum number of times" a lead can be sold. For instance, if someone wants a county where the max number of individuals receiving a lead is 3 - that means that each individual lead will be sold no more than 3 times. This allows us to sell the various packages we offer and ensure that no one lead will be oversold.
Should I consider the Exclusive Pricing option?
If you are a serious Real Estate Investor and want to ensure that you have a "lock" on probate leads in your area, you should purchase exclusive rights to your county. This will make sure that we do not provide this data to any other customer.
Do you provide telephone numbers?
Telephone numbers are generally not provided in probate case records for the executor of the Estate. Attorney telephone numbers are almost always available. We do have tools to mine the web for telephone numbers and would be happy to provide you a quote for that service.
How do I know if a county is available?
Visit our web site at www.usprobateleads.com, If your county is not available a message will appear when you click on your county.
What data do you provide?
You can see a sample of the data we provide by visiting our web site, www.usprobateleads.com and clicking on Example in the left most column under our logo.
Do you provide mailing services?
We work with several mailing services and would be happy to put you in touch with one of our mailing partners.
Should I try to identify properties in the Estate?
Depends on your preference.
1. We have found that folks can be just as successful when mailing to all executors each month and not worrying about trying to determine if that Estate has property. For example a one month mailing to 100 Estates would cost ~$40 - if 30% of the folks did not have property - you spent $12 that you shouldn't have. No loss!
2. Some folks do want to mail to only Executors with properties - in that case - check out our Preferred Lead option.
What is the General cost of having you identify probate properties in my county?
We retrieve property data by running the Decedent name through local CAD systems and identifying properties they owned. Note that there is the potential for error in that sometimes there is not enough info to fully qualify the search. In that case we do not identify a property. In general we see in the neighborhood of 70% of the number of probates with 1 or multiple properties. Please select the Preferred Leads option for pricing for these leads.

Miscellaneous Probate-related Questions?

What/Who is the PR?
The PR is the Personal representative. This individual is the person that has applied to be the Executor of the Estate. The term Personal Representative is now used in most states as opposed to Executor, Executrix, Administrator, Administratrix, etc
Should I contact the Attorney?
Sometimes the attorney is being kept from being paid because the only thing left to close the probate is the sale of real Estate. In these cases he attorney may be your very best friend. Other times you may find that the Attorney is quick to advise that only "full" value be solicited for Estate properties. This is case dependent and is generally a "toss up".
What is the difference between an Independently administered Estate and a Dependent administered Estate?
An Estate that is Independently administered is handled entirely by the Executor. The Executor does not need to seek permission to sell properties in the Estate. Any property sales in an Estate that is dependently administered must be approved by the state, which means additional paperwork.