Divorce Filing Real Estate Lead Lists
Divorce Filing Lists
How can real estate investors find and use divorce filing lists to do more real estate deals?
Divorce lists are one of the most valuable but lesser utilized forms of lead lists for real estate investors, agents, and related business. This can make them great sources of deal flow, with less competition, while providing a high value service to others.
Where do you find them? How to you approach them well?
Why Seek Out Divorce Filing Lists
Like bankruptcy, vacant property and foreclosure lists, divorce filings signal a form of distress and people who need your help as a real estate investor. That applies whether you are wholesaling real estate, flipping houses, building a rental property portfolio or are lending your private capital.
Separations and divorce spark multiple housing needs. Those involved are typically highly motivated and need to take action quickly.
At a minimum someone is probably moving out of the previous shared home. That person needs to buy or lease something else. In many cases that home will need to be sold, and both parties will need to find other housing. If there are adult children, in-laws or parents living there, they may need to go their own way too. Just one lead can turn into multiple opportunities to help people and earn fair compensation. If you serve them well in this crisis you can win their business for life too.
Why it’s Always Best to Sell the Home in a Divorce
The first instinct of many people in a divorce may be to fight for the home. They invested a lot in it one way or another. It can have a lot of significance in their lives. However, despite those initial impulses, it is almost always best to sell quickly instead.
Even if you win the house, it will be at great cost. You’ll have to give up a lot of other things for it. Then may not be able to afford it. Only to find the memories are more painful staying there than having moved on and gotten a fresh start.
All too often that property becomes a financial and emotion drain. Most of the equity is burned up, and it can often be lost to foreclosure in the following years.
Selling right away can give both parties a clean start and more money to do it with.
Other Properties Impacted in a Divorce Situation
The family home often isn’t the only property that needs to be sold off in a divorce or separation.
There can be:
- A second home
- Vacation properties
- Rental properties
- Vineyards and equestrian property
- Business property
- Homes they cosigned on
These can all further multiply the value of a single divorce lead and the ways you can help those involved.
Who to Contact in a Divorce Situation
As a real estate professional you can contact either party, and or their attorneys. If there are already divorce attorneys involved they can provide legal guidance on what can actually be sold and when. If you can reach property owners before they actually file for divorce you and they will have more flexibility and options.
How to Tactfully Use Divorce Lists to Find Real Estate Deals
These are obviously very delicate situations. This should never be just an opportunistic play to squeeze a distressed homeowner into selling out cheap. It is a chance to help them. It is an opportunity to serve and provide value. Getting the property at a fair price for a fast cash sale can be a part of that.
These people are already hurting. You’ll probably need to minimize the stress and bickering to pull off a deal, not add to the fire. You have to be careful about how you contact them. You don’t want to waltz up and knock on the door announcing you know they are in divorce in front of kids who may not know yet.
Mail, texts and email may work best. Phone and social media can work too.
How to Find Divorce Filing Leads
Divorce notices are often published in the local newspaper. You may be able to find these online as well as print.
Divorce and family law attorneys can be great referral sources for these leads. You might even run into some of their staff if you go to search public records.
However, if you are looking for a consistent number of deals and reliable income, and the best ROI on your time, then it can be smart to find divorce filing lists, databases and software that can scrape them and automate the process at scale.