It might sound crazy, but if you’re in the real estate game long enough, you may come across a vacant house where the owner is deceased.
How can you proceed?
Let me tell you from my experience …
First up, you’ll want to contact the deceased person’s heirs. And, whether it’s by phone or direct mail, your messaging should be similar.
Let’s back up a second…
The way to figure out who their heirs are is relatively easy: skip trace.
Just search for the owner’s name online, and you’ll likely find an obituary. And in that obituary, you will find that their family members or their heirs are named, and you can reach out to them.
Another thing that works well is leaving something at the property, if that’s practical. Now, if the property is in two states over, that may not be practical. But if you’ve got a bird dog you’re working with in that area, they could do it.
Or, just send mail to the property, because someone’s likely watching it (unless it’s in unkempt/in bad shape).
So, through a skip trace obituary, you can find the heirs. Obits sometimes say where the heirs are located, something like: “… is survived by son John and his wife Linda of Columbia, South Carolina.”
Then you can skip trace the heirs a bit easier.
The messaging
IMO, your initial messaging should make no mention of your awareness of the owner being deceased, because then that just makes you look like, well, a vulture.
And by the way, that is true of all motivations… I’ve said over and over again that you don’t ever let the seller know that you know what their problem is. You let that come out in conversation.
Because otherwise it’s just unsavory.
So, I would reach out to the heirs by direct mail or phone. And don’t mention that the owner is deceased.
Final point
You’ve got to understand that it’s a fairly long deal cycle when you have a deceased owner, because there’s going to be an estate or probate to settle.
But, the sooner you get in touch with the heirs, the sooner they know you’re out there and you care.
BTW, if you get no response or they say they’re not interested: following up is going to be key here.
Very gentle follow up, because it clearly tells the heirs that you are professional, persistent, and you care enough to stay in touch.