Probate Real Estate Investing

If you are considering investing in probate properties, you should first know about probate itself. Probate is a legal process.

The process begins after an individual’s death and includes proving that the person’s will is valid, identifying and inventorying their assets, appraising property, selling the property to pay debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining probate property among heirs and beneficiaries as per the individual’s will or state law.

After a person’s death, the person named as executor of his or her estate must manage the estate assets during the probate process. This process may take anywhere from several months to a year. During that time, the executor may have to sell off some of the estate’s assets in order to maintain the property, satisfy debts, or follow instructions of the will.

Often, real estate may be sold during the probate process to satisfy these circumstances or others.

In many cases, heirs or beneficiaries inherit property through probate in which they have no interest. Such property may be in need of repair or have an outstanding mortgage.

Since these heirs and beneficiaries have no interest in the property, and they certainly do not wish to inherit mortgage or repair costs, they offer this property for sale at bargain prices. Remember that you will be buying such property in as is condition.

Because of this, finding real estate in probate can require some diligent research. It is often helpful to hire a real estate agent to help you find probate properties for sale.

Just remember that many realtors invest in these such properties themselves and are often hesitant to give up the goods on the best bargains.

For this reason, it takes a person of a certain category to get involved in investing in probate real estate. You will need to have a lot of patience and be willing to track down estates through sources like county records and local newspapers.

Newspapers carry funeral notices and by researching those, you might gain some valuable leads. Since proceedings are a matter of public record, searches at the county courthouse can be an effective means of finding probate opportunities.

I’ll share more with you soon…

Warm Regards,

Mark Walters~
3rd generation real estate investor