Real Estate s Best Kept Secret: How To Make Millions With Your Very Own Probate Real Estate Goldmine! By Stacy Kellams A person who leaves a will ought to come back and see what a mess they left. ~ Will Rogers What Is Probate? You may be asking yourself the same thing most people ask themselves right about now. What is probate? When a person passes away, his or her assets generally must pass through probate. Probate is the process by which legal title of property is transferred from the decedent's estate to his or her beneficiaries. The 4 main goals of the probate process are: 1. To appoint a personal representative (also know as the PR ), to administer the decedent s estate; 2. To gather the assets of the estate; 3. To pay all the debts and taxes of the estate; and 4. To transfer title and distribute any remaining assets to the heirs and/or beneficiaries.
Why Probate? Why did I choose probate over all the other different ways there are to invest in real estate? Over the past 12 years I've done every type of real estate investing there is including foreclosures, tax liens, wholesaling, rehabbing, retailing, single-family, multi-family, landlording, mobile homes, lease options, and owner finance. You name it, I've done it. And while you can make money with all those forms of real estate investing, in my experience, nothing comes close to the profit potential of probate real estate investing. All those other forms of real estate investing have one thing in common --- competition, and in most cases fierce competition. Probate however, has very little to virtually no competition because most investors know so little about the probate process. Probate Facts You may be surprised to know that there are 3 times more probates than foreclosures in this country. Most real estate investors don't realize that. Even with as many foreclosures as there are right now, there are still 3 times more probates than foreclosures. There are currently over 5 million unsettled probates in the United States. In addition to that, 1.5 million new active probates come into the system each year. By now I know you ve realized there's no shortage of probate property. And did I mention, the great thing about probate is that there's no competition? Very few real estate investors are actively pursuing probates. Very few real estate investors get lucky enough to stumble upon a probate real estate deal every now and then, and it turns out to be the best deal of their life. Less than 3% of all real estate investors actively pursue probates on a full-time basis which leaves the door wide open for you and me.
Buy Property For 30% To 50% Below Market By the way, have I mentioned that you can often buy probate properties for 30% to 50% below market value? Right now you might be asking yourself, why would the personal representative sell the assets of the estate for a discount of up to 50 cents on the dollar? That's a great question. There are several reasons why the personal representative would do that. Remember, one of the main goals of the probate process is to pay all of the debts of the estate. Since most estates do not leave enough cash behind for the heirs to pay all of the debts, the heirs must liquidate other assets to obtain the necessary cash to pay these debts. The largest asset of the estate is usually the real estate, generally a single family house. Out of state heirs is another reason the personal representative would be willing to sell the house for less than full market value. When this happens, and it happens quite often, the heirs find themselves in a situation where they must take time off from work and away from their families to pay for expensive out-of-town trips to take care of the needs of the estate. They would much rather have a quick belowmarket sale so they can get back to their normal lives as fast as possible. In most cases, the personal representatives that oversee the estate are completely overwhelmed and they really don't know what's going on. They have been thrust into this position without fully realizing how much time and energy it really takes to probate an estate. When we show up as probate investors and offer to take the real estate off their hands through a quick sale, they're happy to see us and appreciate our help. As probate investors, we are there to help settle the estate so the personal representatives and heirs can get on with their lives. Another great thing about probate is that you're usually dealing with an unemotional sale. By that I mean, the heirs want the money, not the real estate. In 99% of the probate cases they must sell the house in order to bring cash into the estate. When you get right down to it, you're dealing with the ultimate motivated seller.
Another reason I love probate properties is because the estate will often owner finance these properties. That makes it much easier for us to buy these properties because a portion of our financing is already in place. It's a benefit that probate has that foreclosures don't have, especially in today's financing environment. What Kind Of Property Can You Find In Probate? Anything a person buys during his or her lifetime can be found in probate; that includes, single-family houses, apartment buildings, condominiums, duplexes, office buildings, commercial property, businesses, antiques, jewelry, automobiles, boats, motorcycles, coin and stamp collections, art, and much more. These can all be found in probate and purchased for 30% to 50% below market value. There are currently over 5 million active probates in the United States; this means there are assets worth over $3 Trillion at your disposal through the probate process. Needless to say, there are more assets tied up in probate than you or I can ever buy. Probate Myth vs. Fact There are a lot of myths about probate and I would like to dispel some of those right now. Myth #1: Attorneys get all the great probate deals. This is a very common misconception, and it's completely false. In all my years of doing probates, I have never once come across an attorney who was also actively investing in probates. That's not to say there aren't any attorneys out there investing in probates, I've just never met any. There are several reasons why probate attorneys don't invest in probate properties, but the main reason they don't invest in probate properties, or pass deals under the table to other attorneys for that matter, is for liability purposes. They could lose their license for improperly handling a client s estate. Myth #2: If you have a will, you don t have to go through probate. I hear this myth all the time. Actually, there are very few ways to avoid probate. One of the ways to avoid probate is to have all of your
assets in a trust, and less than 1% of the population holds title to everything they own in trust. That means 99% of all estates will go through the probate process. This means a never-ending supply of real estate leads for you and me as real estate investors. The best part is, the majority of real estate investors don't know how to find these amazing leads, so there's virtually no competition. Myth #3: Probate properties need major repairs. Actually, the exact opposite is true. Most probate properties only need minor cosmetic repairs such as new carpet and new paint. More often than not, probate properties are in excellent condition and just need a little freshening up. Myth #4: The heirs can't sell the property until the probate is finished which can take up to three years. This is another very common misconception that I run across all the time. In fact, the heirs and beneficiaries of the estate don't realize that they usually only have to wait a few weeks to sell the property. Myth #5: I d be taking advantage of someone s misfortune. This is another one of those myths that couldn't be further from the truth. You see, with probate investing you're dealing with a motivated seller who is actively trying to sell their property. In fact, they must sell the property in order to raise cash to pay the debts of the estate, often involving short tax deadlines. Anything left over is split between the heirs. Most heirs would rather not jointly own real estate with the other heirs and would rather have the cash from selling the property than the property itself. Unlike other types of real estate investing like foreclosures, you're dealing with a motivated seller who wants to sell not one that is upset because they re losing their home and they have to sell. I have stacks of testimonials from heirs and beneficiaries telling me how happy they are that I was able to help them when no one else could. My real estate transactions are always win-win and instead of a handshake at the closing table, I usually get a hug. I love the fact that I get paid to help people for a living.
I can t tell you enough about how powerful probate real estate investing is, and I'm sure you realize now that you don t want to miss your chance to learn more about this incredible opportunity. Here s what two of my students have said about my probate real estate system Hi Stacy, My name is Bob and I bought your Probate System back in August of this year. I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes to a whole new system that not many investors know about and therefore I can make a lot of money in it. Your system is very detailed. I learned a lot from it and I am very excited about this new avenue. I normally enjoy talking to people and helping them out of their situation and your course has showed me another way of helping them out. Thank you again for your diligence and expertise. I highly recommend your system to anyone who is thinking of getting involved with a master and learning how to help people with difficult situations and make a lot of money at the same time. Thank you again and I wish you the best. Bob Saadai Lake Forest, California Thanks to Stacy s advice, I was able to profit over $100,000.00 on a 36 unit apartment building. Do yourself a favor and listen to what Stacy has to say he knows what he s talking about. Jeff A., Indiana Stacy Kellams is the nation s leading expert on buying and selling probate real estate. Stacy is revolutionizing real estate investing with his proven step-by-step probate investing system Probate Power Profits, and now you can be the beneficiary of Stacy s 13 years of real estate expertise. Stacy and his students are making a tremendous amount of money and having a whole lot of fun with very little effort by investing in probate real estate.