Author Archive

Probate Real Estate, the Last Frontier

Posted on September 7, 2016 by

Jim BanksFor the real estate investor, knowing how to capitalize on what others commonly overlook can be the key to success. And to that end, probate real estate has become a profitable investing niche for many successful investors.

Probate is the governing process for the distribution of a person’s assets after they pass away. Many investors stay away from probates because of their lack of education. This breeds fear—a fear of the unknown. However, a fear of the unknown is the same as going into a dark house. If you turn the light on, the fear goes away.

Years of television, movies and the media have established the belief that if one goes to law school, that individual knows all there is to know about the law. But that isn’t the case. If your neighbor is a brain surgeon and your child falls out of a tree and breaks his arm, would you take him to your neighbor or to the emergency room? Just like doctors have specialties so do lawyers. However, very few would specialize in probate. Instead, they specialize in personal injury, corporate law, tax law or something more traditional. Attorneys usually take one probate course in law school… estates and wills. As a result, the majority of the attorneys of record that are handling probate cases are doing so because they hand-led other matters for the deceased, such as, divorce, corporate matters, traffic tickets-etc. Probate is not their area of expertise.  Read More→