A few years ago, in one week, I was able to locate forty-one probate notices in my local newspaper. After investigating in court, I found that twenty-two of these farms had real estate (bienes immovables). So, on Friday of that week, I sent twenty-two letters to each of the Personal Representatives (20-25 is a pretty typical week).

In my letter, I told the personal representative that I might be interested in purchasing the property that the heirs had inherited. I told them if they were interested in selling to call me.

Three weeks later, on a Tuesday afternoon, I received a phone call from a lady in New York saying that her husband had received my letter and that he might be interested in selling the property he had inherited when his sister passed away. The property was close to where I live in Oregon. She also said that she was a very successful real estate agent, so she would represent her husband to make sure he didn’t “dry it dry.”

I said I had no intention of taking anyone to the cleaners, and if my service didn’t benefit both of us, we probably wouldn’t do any business.

He gave me the address and I went out to see the property, which turned out to be a condominium. Fortunately, the exact same model condo next door was for sale at $104,950, so I had a pretty good idea of ​​the fixed value from the start. Five days later, that condo sold for full price, so I knew what the market would pay for this older, smaller condo.

When I first walked in, I noticed there was a pretty strong nicotine smell. The lady who had died was a heavy smoker and she had lived there for 23 years. Other than that, a few fixes were needed (painting, carpet cleaning or replacement, new countertops, kitchen flooring, and some landscaping in her backyard) that I estimated would cost $3500.

The next day, I called the lady in New York and told her that I was interested and that I would pay her $68,000 for the property and that I could close in three weeks. She told me that she thought the offer was “ridiculous” but that she would pass it on to her husband.

On Saturday morning, I received a phone call from the husband who turned out to be a semi-retired attorney who seemed quite capable of negotiating for himself. He proceeded to tell me the story of his sister’s life, how many times he had already flown to settle the estate, how disruptive this was to his life, how the money from the sale of the property meant nothing to him as it was being donated to a university, etc. etc.

Bottom line though: my offer was too low. So I said, “Well, what would it cost me to buy this property?”

“I will not accept less than $70,000!” he said.

After pausing for a few moments, I said, “You know, I think $70,000 is a fair price for both of us. Why don’t I write up a deposit agreement and have it signed for you?”

He said, “Are you sure we can close this month? My wife and I are going to Europe next month and we have to close before we leave.”

Now here’s the real problem, isn’t it?

You didn’t really care about the money, did you?

He just wanted the deal done so he could go on vacation without this hanging over his head.

The extra $2,000 was really about to the narration me for what i would sell it, no me narration to the.

No problem! “I bet we can,” I told him.

“I’ll open the escrow right now, you sign the escrow I’ll send you overnight (by the way, I gave you a check for $100 as escrow) and fax it to me and we’ll close in 21 days.”

Twenty days later I signed the papers buying the condo at 1:15 in the afternoon. I immediately sold the condo to an investor friend of mine for $80,000 netting $9300 after closing costs.

By the way, my investor friend, who is an auto mechanic, worked on the property after work and on weekends, spent $2,450 plus his labor, and seven weeks later sold the property for $98,500, earning approximately $15,000 afterward. of all costs to him.

He called me a few days after his closing and said, “Get me all those deals you can find and I can quit working on cars!”

So let’s take a moment and analyze this deal.

the heir – He got rid of the property hanging around his neck and went on vacation.

Me (this could be you) – I made a nice profit, $9300, for writing some letters.

my investor (this could be you too!) – Made a nice profit of $15,000 for fixing up the property.

The buyer – They bought a very clean condo that was all fixed up for about $5,000 less than market value.

Talk about a win win deal — this was race for everyone!

And that, folks, is probate business in a nutshell!