Probate is the process of administering a person’s estate after death, which involves transferring the title from the deceased to the next of kin or heir. In contrast, the pre-probate process allows you to identify a property before the probate process has begun. This enables you to speak with a family member who may be motivated to sell but hasn't yet made a final decision. You can find the Pre-Probate filter on PropStream listed under "Ownership Information" in the filter menu.
To learn more about the difference between probate and pre-probate, check out this video:
To help you find new ways to connect with motivated sellers, PropStream has over 3.5 million pre-probate data points. We are the only nationwide company to offer this list type without any additional subscription costs. Pre-probate now joins several other Lead List choices in your search for homeowners looking for a solution only you can provide.
We also paired this information with our 160+ million property records so that you can see in the property details if a homeowner has passed away. Now, you’re probably wondering “What is pre-probate?”
Pre-probate data matches the current name on a property title with the name and address of a death record. This data identifies the deceased person as still being on title before the probate process has been initiated. Your next question is probably “What is probate?”
Probate is the legal process of administering a person’s estate after their death. It involves transferring the title from the deceased to the next of kin, so let’s now address the ultimate questions, “What is the difference between pre-probate and probate and how can pre-probate data be useful?”
First off, let’s consider that probate is when the title is being transferred from the deceased to the next of kin and that probate is only issued if the next of kin wants to sell the property or refinance and they are not on title. In other words, a property going through probate has already made a decision on what they want to do with it. For pre-probate deceased owners, since you are identifying a property prior to the probate process, you are in theory likely to speak to a motivated seller who hasn’t made a decision to sell or refinance just yet.
Now, for a very important message from us to our investors: deceased data is a sensitive dataset and as such we recommend that the focus of your marketing efforts be on actions you want to take, such as the desire to acquire the property, list the property if you’re an agent, or refinance if you are a lender. We recommend that you do not focus marketing efforts on the fact that the owner is deceased. Your goal is to present your offer or service at the time that it could be needed by the family member or estate manager.
Now that the formalities are set aside, where can you find the pre-probate data? Let’s start with the “Lead List Choices.” Pre-probate is included as a lead list choice from the filter menu. The next option is to use it as an additional filter and to do this you will need to locate the pre-probate filter in the ownership information section. This feature will allow you to stack the pre-probate results with any other Lead List choices, such as tax delinquency.
Once you have created your list, remember you can export this data in the “My Properties” page, get it skip traced to start a campaign, and market to the list right away. For those exporting, the deceased option is included in the property ownership information, which allows you to see the information when exporting the data out of PropStream.
Finally, the deceased data can also be found on the "Property Details" page under “Ownership Info." This will allow you to view any deceased owners on the property title when analyzing the property.