The standard probate approach has two parts, and both are aimed at the wrong target. The first is a letter of condolence, mailed to the property address, which is the address of a person who has died. It is opened by whoever is clearing out the house, if it is opened at all, and it tells them that a stranger has been reading court filings about their mother. The second is the question the letter and the follow-up call both lead to, “are you planning to sell the property,” which is asked of whoever answers, who is very often an heir with no authority to sell anything and a strong opinion about being asked.<\/p>\n
The probate leads<\/a> piece explains why: the filing has three names on it, only the personal representative can sign, and only once the court has issued the letters that appoint them. The correction, then, is about direction and timing. The contact goes to the representative, at the representative’s address, after letters issue, and the first question is about where the estate is rather than whether the house is for sale.<\/p>\n Before the call, the record answers three questions from the filing.<\/p>\n Who petitioned to be the representative. Where they live, which is often not the decedent’s house and often not the county. And whether letters have issued, which most court dockets show as an entry with a date. If letters have not issued, the record waits. Call before that date and you reach a person who cannot act and who is, in the meantime, arranging a funeral.<\/p>\n The number you dial is the representative’s, sourced and scrubbed like any other, with the hours set to their clock, per the absentee owner piece<\/a>. The decedent’s number, which the data will hand you, is removed before the record reaches a dialer. That rule is repeated here because it is the one that matters most and the one most often broken.<\/p>\n Hi, is this [representative’s name]? [Your name], with [your brokerage], here in [county or city]. I’m a real estate agent. I’ll tell you plainly how I have your name: the probate filing for [decedent’s name]’s estate is a public record, it lists you as the representative, and I call representatives once the court has appointed them. If you’d rather I didn’t, tell me and that’s the end of it. If you’ll allow me one question, it isn’t whether you’re selling the house.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The structure is the one every script on this site uses, per the opening lines<\/a> standard, with two adjustments for this list. The decedent is named, once, respectfully, because pretending you do not know why you are calling is worse than saying it. And the role is named, “the representative,” because a person who has just been appointed executor of a parent’s estate is carrying that role heavily and hearing it acknowledged, rather than being addressed as a seller, changes the temperature of the call.<\/p>\n Then the exit. Then the question.<\/p>\n Where are you in the process?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Not “are you planning to sell,” which assumes the answer and is heard as circling. Not “has the court appointed you,” which you already know. “Where are you in the process” lets the representative describe the estate in their own words, and the description sorts the call. Some will tell you letters issued last week and they have not slept since. Some will tell you the house is full of forty years of furniture and they live six hundred miles away. Some will tell you their brother thinks the house should go to him. All three are answers, and all three are more useful than a yes or no about selling.<\/p>\n Then silence. Hold it. It matters here for the reason it matters on the pre-foreclosure call<\/a>: the person on the other end is weighing how much of a family matter to share with a stranger.<\/p>\n “We just got the letters and I don’t know where to start.”<\/strong> The most common answer in the first month, and the one where the agent has the most to offer without selling anything. A representative at this stage needs two things from someone who knows houses: a realistic number for what the house is worth, for their own planning, and a realistic timeline for what selling it would involve, from clear-out to close. Offer both, in writing, at no charge, and be precise about what the number is. It is a broker’s opinion for planning. It is not the appraisal the court or the estate may require; in California, for instance, a probate referee values the estate’s real property for the inventory, and your number does not replace that. Say so on the call. It costs nothing. A representative who has just learned there is a difference trusts the person who told them.<\/p>\n “The house is going to be sold, we’re just not there yet.”<\/strong> Then the questions are about the path. Full or limited authority, which the representative may not know and the attorney will; whether the heirs are aligned; whether anyone is living in the house; whether it is a rental with a tenant, in which case the tenant-in-place piece<\/a> applies with a court process on top. The ask is for a walkthrough, not a listing appointment, framed as the visit that lets you write the two numbers honestly. The listing conversation happens after the walkthrough, when the representative has the numbers and the timeline and can see what you did with the first meeting.<\/p>\n “My sister is handling all that,” or “the attorney is handling it.”<\/strong> Then you are talking to the wrong person, politely, and the record needs the right one. If the sister holds the letters, ask whether they would mind you reaching out to her, and how. If the answer is the attorney, that is the next call, and a welcome one: an estate attorney who fields your call, hears that you offered a planning number and a timeline rather than a pitch, and has three more probates on the desk is worth more than the listing in front of you.<\/p>\n Strip everything else away and a personal representative in the first month needs a number and a calendar. The number is what the house would bring, as it sits and after a clear-out and light preparation, so they can talk to the heirs and the attorney about what the estate is worth. The calendar is how long it would take, from the day they decide to the day it closes, including the notice period under full authority or the confirmation hearing under limited authority, which the probate leads<\/a> piece explains and which the representative usually does not know exists.<\/p>\n An agent who provides both, unasked, in an email the representative can forward to the attorney and the siblings, has done the only prospecting this list needs.<\/p>\n The listing follows the numbers and the calendar, weeks later, when the family has decided, and it follows the agent who provided them.<\/p>\n Some agents route every probate contact through the attorney of record and never call the representative cold. It is a defensible method. The call to the attorney is shorter: your name, brokerage, that you work estate sales in the county, that you provide representatives with a planning number and a timeline at no charge, and that you would be glad to do that for any estate the attorney thinks it would help. No pitch beyond that. None. An attorney who takes you up on it once and gets a useful document back will take you up on it again, and the representative you reach that way arrives with the attorney’s introduction, which no cold call can match.<\/p>\nWho you are calling, and when<\/h2>\n
The opener<\/h2>\n
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The one question<\/h2>\n
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The three answers<\/h2>\n
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\n \nThe representative says<\/th>\n Your next line<\/th>\n The record<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n “We just got the letters and I don’t know where to start.”<\/td>\n The two things: a planning number and a timeline, in writing, free, with the appraisal distinction stated<\/td>\n Letters date; authority if known; email sent; a call date two weeks out<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n “The house will be sold, we’re not there yet.”<\/td>\n Full or limited authority; heirs; occupancy; a walkthrough to write the numbers<\/td>\n Authority; occupancy; heir alignment in their words; walkthrough date<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n “My sister is handling it.”<\/td>\n Whether you may contact her, and how<\/td>\n The representative’s actual name; the introduction; the sister’s clock<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n “The attorney is handling it.”<\/td>\n The attorney’s name, and permission to call<\/td>\n Attorney; permission; the attorney call as the next record<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n “We’re keeping it in the family.”<\/td>\n Thank them; ask whether anyone will live in it; offer nothing further<\/td>\n Outcome: retained; closed unless they reopen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n “Please don’t call again.”<\/td>\n “Of course. I’m sorry for your loss.”<\/td>\n Internal do-not-call, immediately<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n The two things a representative needs<\/h2>\n
The attorney as first contact<\/h2>\n