Cold Calling Her Way into Probate, with Miriam Cruz

0:00 Is how do I build a probate real estate business as a real estate agent how do I develop a business where I get more listings and sales using probate as my area of expertise and what better way than ask somebody who's done it and I actually kind of watched her start and become a superstar from Northern California also from our probate Master group Miriam Cruz Miriam thank you so much for joining us today you're welcome thank you for having me here so just all background how long have you been real estate so I started cold calling for a family member maybe five years ago or eight years to go off and on I try to become a wholesaler I try to become one because I was never successful at it maybe like four years ago and then I became a licensed agent about a year and a half ago so a year and a half ago you started and I think I met you through or you know new of you through Chad's program around that time is that when you started with a probate program right so what was it that brought you to probably you're relatively new in real estate what was it brought you to the probate space specifically so I had been cold calling for like I said a family member and I was working for the courthouse here in Santa Clara so I really enjoyed the legal side of probate and when I call people I knew how to look at their account and I actually knew what I was reading and I'm like oh this judge my judge is now working in Civil Court and deals with probate here in Santa Clara the judge that I was working for so it was really cool how it all came together so what was your what was your position in the courthouse I was a clerk to honorable Judge Eric Efron and then I was a supervisor for traffic and then Criminal Court so not probate but you knew the basics procedures of the courthouse and the files and the online resources and things like that right and my best friend works at probate there you go so my the judge that I work with again now works at probate my other best

2:03 Friend works in his courtroom so I knew the legal side and now I got to learn probate probates like a lot more simpler than a criminal case I mean yes when I'm reading it when I'm looking at the files so at least for me when I would look at the file I'm like oh okay it's not as we were in the Motions unit death penalty cases so I was handling some pretty serious matters yeah nasty people if you think probate families are difficult I imagine somebody up for murder charges must be yeah there's levels to this sure you so what fascinating about your story is that you know one of them I'm extremely versed in CPR I do know how to administer CPR however I will not admit unless you're a hall female this is the reality this is this is a zoom bomb and you know I thank you for getting on there so quickly and I did not jump on him quick enough and we'll just do this later okay we got this that's the second time I've let my guard down on the security settings but We've now got that you can't immute anybody so you made the call you can't meet yourself you need to ask the chat box if I recognize you great if your name is something other than your full name and then you're registered I would ask you to put your contact info so I know it's you and we get to the point where it's participative so let me go back what I find fascinating about your story is you know the top probate Realtor® I think in Los Angeles was a paralegal for a firm and as a result I think Nelly learned the process like you did but had some unique insight into the relationships that she's used your credit you saw it be good to develop those relationships but most people don't have that opportunity but I hear your story fairly often which is not that you initially had the opportunity for the referrals but you had the opening for the expertise right so how did you convert your knowledge of the probate process into getting

4:07 Business so whenever first of all I think it's an added bonus right when I deal with people I actually the way that I run my business coming from a place of caring so whenever I come and I speak with the potential client it's never about well how can I sell their home it's how can I help them and sometimes it's probably not even probate sometimes it's something else maybe they have a question and I refer them to an attorney so I do a lot of referrals for trust or estate planning it's always coming up with the solution and I think that's how I began to build my business it was always about helping someone else or leading someone to a solution so that's how I started so however having knowledge in the legal the paperwork has helped me I mean Beyond you know when I look at a paper I'm like okay now it's a different personal representative so I'm not calling that person that I shouldn't be calling maybe there's conflict when the case is continued I'm able to kind of know why right so when I talk to a potential lead they're like how do you know all this right and I'm aware yeah if you look careful because you can know a lot more you know so much almost feels creepy to them right it's all it's all public right it's just I know how to get to it you know how to get to it so to them it feels creepy but the reality is welcome to probate it's all public yes and actually I've never had a situation where it's been creepy I've always had thankfully and I hopefully moving forward where people feel like okay I could trust you because you know what I'm going through and actually I could trust you because I don't want anyone else knowing that there's hella drama in my family so I'm not gonna get my friend who's a Realtor® I'm actually going to hire you because I don't want people knowing what's going on here is that a legal term hello drama is that oh yes you're sweet right I mean you had to be

6:10 Careful what you tell people you know and be discreet with it I'm sure you are it's not because you do know you know information that would make people uncomfortable if they knew you knew it right away right you have to be a little careful with that absolutely and that's where the what I call that's my main actually now it's becoming more referrals but when I started it was mainly cold calling and my conversation with the potential client is never about the house the probate it's more about how are you doing and this is who I am because normally when you call someone they're already freaked out how did you get my information and what do you mean you go look at cases what are you doing why so it's mainly about getting to know each other on a personal level and then I touch upon that and I won't go too far into the case if they if I know they don't want to talk about it you're so coming to talk to I mean I'm almost feeling relieved myself of whatever personal problems I have and anxieties so you're a cold caller before you got to probate you said you called for your family right yeah so when you started in probate a year and a half ago how long did you have to cold call before you start seeing a couple deals and had maybe deal flow how long that process take it took maybe well based off when I used to call I didn't get any probate maybe like six months probates it took six months to see a probate deal right and the cold calling yeah so just stop for a second of those listening and those may be on the replay six months now today you have a great business was it worth six months to invest yeah absolutely and sorry but I used to call before and you're the skill you had the muscle the hustle muscle right yeah you just turned it into probate and took about six months for that specifically to convert absolutely and it's oops sorry the lights go off here let me stand real quick sorry there we go

8:15 So yes that's how long it took and it's completely worth it I mean I love what I do now after five months cold calling how did you feel about it you know to me it was more of a challenge because I really enjoyed probate and I wanted to help someone now hold on one second just if you pause for those watching you've seen her eyes determination when I asked that question like I asked a question five months and most many people too many people in five months are feeling Despair and quitting and you saw like her whole posture changed and she was like boss lady no I was determined I felt it right so five months you were determined what was the kip you think on track I wanted it badly I wanted to leave my job I wanted to make money and I knew that it's possible and the only one that can make that happen was me you know many people are looking for a fix a quick solution I'll buy a thousand leads I'll do this and for me it was really to be determined to be consistent and I knew it was going to be there and you have to believe in yourself I knew it was coming so I think based off of that and when I first saw when I saw the first one I'm like oh shoot okay so I think I have something here like you have to believe in yourself I think that was my main thing that's exciting so of course for everybody listening is meant to be participative if you have a question raise your hand in the zoom chat Zoom application or put in the chat box I'll call you try to ask you on mute just because we get Zoom bombed I'm not able to do keep people I mean let you jump in on your own but that's part of life I guess and then if you're on the live stream YouTube twitch I see somebody coming in from YouTube Marvel how you doing and also Danae Marie sellers I talked to you in San Diego thanks for joining us into if you're on

10:17 The YouTube or Facebook or link to feel free to put your questions there and I'll be monitoring that and if you're watching on the recording afterwards I'll either answered or Circle to Miriam if appropriate so okay so you started sorry if I have to stand again because the lights go off my bad okay otherwise I'll be I'll be talking here in the dark yeah that's okay thank you for as much as I'm paying you can stand as many times as the actor I promise and it's nice you to offer to help today because really I'm like you I'm just a broker doing this business make good living started with nothing four years ago and probate built a great business and I wouldn't be here if not for the community people who supported me and I watched you kind of be helped along the process when you started so I really appreciate your willingness to give back you must get because I know you've been you know you know on different calls I've seen in the chat boxes you must get agents to call you I think you say just an upward one recently the time to call you and ask you how you did it and for guidance correct right so do you get what I get which is yeah but what's the easy way I mean really it sounds like a lot of work do you get that you know question back yeah you know but I'm only looking for a way one time I got one I'm gonna be more from a machine gun kind of approach where I can kind of spray it and then just get the listings yeah how do you do that do you get that question I had a I had an open house in Berkeley it was a Triplex and one of the buyers agents came and said I saw your website I want to do what you're doing please give me the five steps to do exactly what you're doing and I started laughing I'm like I don't even know and I said okay why start cold calling he's like no I don't call like let's jump I said I don't know what you did I just want your results I just wanted I just want to have what you have and I'm like it doesn't work that way there's no like Quick Fix You can't just start and all of a sudden get all these listings referrals it I don't think that's possible like it just doesn't work that way I've interviewed you

12:20 Know tons of real estate agents like you and nobody's done that I've come across only the seminar speakers will tell you that but they'll never let you ask some questions about what they did and when you break what I've found in my career is when we break down that business it's never as simple as they explained to you they're part of a big team they're just the front man doing the coaching and there's 50 people behind them and they add all the numbers up there's always some other kind of weird thing going on behind it but I really admire that by you that you only plugged along and went through that so talk about when you started cold calling I guess to this day now it's mostly referral but when you when you as you cold call business would you get your data from do you mind sharing what provider it was and what was a what was script or what was that come from when you call people you started so actually when I first started I think I got them from all the leads right Chad used to be there and then I got him from DF probate [Music] and I only have them from DF probate I've tried other lead systems and it just doesn't work for me and I go to the courthouse and I pull my own data every week I'm there every Friday so wow that's how I pull my data from Santa Clara County it also allows me to really look at the file and understand what's going on I feel most comfortable my friends are there I love to hang out at the courthouse I had actually funny story there was an agent that I met there that I work with at the YMCA back in the day and he said hey you're doing great I want to call practice cold calling with you so I said wonderful I always want to work with people it turned out he's a friend of my client at that time and he called my client and said you should fire Miriam because I'm going to do this job cheaper for you and I need to feed my kids so my client quickly called me and said hey you saw him and he told me to fire you I'm like no good

14:22 So I said I didn't want to call his broker and like create this drama because my client didn't go with him anyway but I have been waiting to see him at the courthouse and I told the staff be ready because I'm going to go off on him so the staff every time I come in on Fridays they're like hey he hasn't been here and last week one of the step Court staff said I warned him you're gonna tell him off and we're ready for that because he's a cheater so everyone's ready to see the drama and I know the deputies you know so when I go in there on Friday it's really a fun experience I get to chat with people and you know connect with people that I used to work with so let me ask you then do you get I mean it's always hard to say where a deal comes from but have you gotten referrals just from people you've met while you're there drawing the data like if you had other family members or attorneys or Realtors® or for you deal or employees in the courthouse are free to deal just because you're there doing what you're gonna do anyhow employees yes how about that yeah and so I think the what's the moral of the story the moral of the story there is we're in the talk to people business if you talk to people you get business it's almost like you're using going to the court as an excuse right to get the business right it's not even really that you have to be there necessarily and that's actually what happened with this situation I told the staff hey I'm a real estate agent I focus on this please tell I'm gonna kick his ass when I see him and sees my language so now they know okay she does Real Estate yeah she's a badass and she's about her business yeah and not so good for training because I'm sharing his you know baggage out here but I don't care because I think he deserves that but it's a way for me to use as an excuse and build relationship and have them know what I do so any situation whoever it is I don't come up and say hey I'm a real estate agent I do this it's like how are you and then the conversation will go there

16:26 Right so they know and they're informed if it's natural to go there it will go there right if it's not natural go there it's just slimy I'm a Realtor® to give me referrals right it's just it just feels slimy because you're not really that intimate with a person to get that kind of a relationship with them exactly yeah so you use the data source I'm not familiar with the one you mentioned you said it's DF data DF probate it's like Gary DiGrazia or oh during Crossroad yeah he actually he's with my company of the eXp Realty he's a there's a son of the father passed I don't know if you know right yeah and the sun okay so they had the data but I think they packaged somebody else's data but nice okay good you use their data and then so today now is most referral both at your court on Friday do you look at Friday time as lead generation time or administrative time or how do you kind of classify yeah that's my day to go to the courthouse download data from wherever go visit attorneys relationship day that's what I use it for any food involved you're bringing snacks or cookies or something for the office to actually bring I do this go ahead I bring the attorneys a goodie bag that says just popping by with a whole bunch of popcorn like spicy popcorn different flavor and I put my information inside to be honest that hasn't really been that successful because many times they're being blocked right by their paralegals and whoever else sometimes I catch them or I do that with attorneys that I've worked with in the past I'll just stop by and drop the goodies and it doesn't have to be where I have to meet with them because I know they're busy I just want them to know who I am I think the real power play is bring it for the paralegal because everybody's going to turn in tweet some poorly but the person who's filling out the form and the person has a question oh my gosh what is the APN oh we need a copy the deed oh you know when was the property you know bought sold whatever oh just give me Miracles she

18:29 Could probably look it up for us I found that really the real powers of paralegals and I would say really this is for you not for the attorney or make sure you know that kind of thing make them feel important that's just with my play so okay so what do you what do you think you do different you mentioned I think if I was to summarize your value proposition one is a relationship with a person who has a problem it sounds like you're carrying a thoughtful person rather than just a Realtor® give me a listing is that when you say that's your the primary focus of your you're obviously knowledgeable do you how do you do you or how do you present yourself your knowledge in relation to your competition how do you share that you're distinctly different because every Realtor® you know says they're appropriate expert right they all have a they'll have a certificate they'll have another email address their probate experts obviously you're a different level given your background as well as the work you've done do you bother to make the distinction do you expect them the customers they figure it out or how do you present that no I think that it's very important for us to tell them right and not wait like oh have them guess and I want to be different than everyone else so my mission is whenever I go to a listing appointment to get the job but by being myself providing the information that I have to provide and also knowing about their case and their house and their family situation again I don't just go in and oh I heard there's drama but clearly if you saw you know a continuance and other things in the case I know things are happening right so the reason why I use that is so I just have knowledge and I'm able to understand what this person is going through if there's multiple siblings and there's you know a trial recently on my trial and probate I know that she's going through a lot already so coming from a place honestly of like you said caring in love is where I go in it's like okay I know this

20:32 Person's going through a lot how can I assist them in providing resources and solutions also as we all probably do I have my handyman my contractors I have people that I specifically have chosen because they're good people like me so everyone that works in my circle is honest you know we don't take advantage of anyone it's not always about just making money we make it work for each other and we work as a team and I actually had a interview like three weeks ago and my client said I'm gonna interview four of you and I said please do so you can know that I'm the best one and she's like oh my goodness so after she called me and she said you were right you were the best one so it's not about being cocky or I'm better than people it's really you will be you will have the best results because I will do my best for you in every way possible I will help the paralegal I will help the attorney the title company I will help the buyer's agent you know to make sure that everything's smooth so I'm not just here for one side I'm here to work as a team that's how I deal with my transactions one thing you said is that you see when you first meet the customers sometimes you'll see their the case is already under process there's already conflict there's maybe a trial so you're not necessarily focused on getting the new filings right away I know there are agents who buy the date and they think I have to be the first one to call I feel like that's only if you're not as good as I am or you are if you're as good as you are you want the person who has some problems they've been maybe with a Realtor® for a while but the Realtor® can't help them and also I could read the case File you read the case File and saying well here's a problem my guess is also that when you read the case File you recognize some of the attorneys yeah so just I'm going to ask you a question I give an answer all the time

22:34 Too I'd love to get your perspective how would you describe the competency of the probate attorneys as a population as a whole what percentage you would say are competent what percentage is not competent how would you describe that you are on the internet right I'm like why are you doing this I'll tell you why because I work two things I'll tell you why Beyond it 100 honest because you and I are colleagues and I appreciate being here and you know for all the money I'm paying you I have to write I have the right not to one I would say is I aspire to work with the top 10 who are really good right and they're distinctly different and I'd say the bottom 90 of that group some know that they're they don't know what they're doing and they need me to help them and the other of the 90 don't know they need me to help them and there's some nightmare to work with I'd rather not work with them anyhow so to be honest I don't mind saying that just like in our business I think the top 10 are really good the bottom nine percent are terrible and if you know you're terrible and you need help I'm here to help you if you don't know it you know whatever they're not watching things to improve now I completely agree yeah you might want to stop there I'm gonna place in my business that I want to work with before when I started I was desperate I'll take anything now I want to work with attorneys that I know are successful in the business because I see their name very often I look at their website I see what they're doing and I'm able to now people reach out to me for estate planning clearly I'm not an attorney so I'm able to refer I just referred an attorney from San Francisco that I've been wanting to work with for years because he's so big a case in which he's making over 100k well and he was like Wow and I said I want to provide to you and I think that you are knowledgeable clearly you have so many cases I see what you're doing I want to work with you and credibility right and he's like that's amazing like thank you for referring to me so it's

24:37 Not always about me and me getting the business it's about referring also clients to people that know what they're doing I've had attorneys that come to me on the low and says or will ask me what's a notice of proposed action like I'm like oh my gosh I don't say anything but I'm thinking geez you know out-of-state attorneys that are practicing in California I've seen that too and things that I'm like wow actually one of my cases one of my cases one of my clients in he had a stroke he had a home in San Francisco the attorney filed the case in San Francisco and I'm like didn't your wife die in Santa Clara and he says yeah so he called the attorney he said you've had my case for two years did you file in the wrong County and the attorney's like oh my bad so Mike ended up letting him go and hired someone locally and not only that bill a real estate agent had his house key and was waiting for probate to end never had a listing agreement and came and I'm like how do you give someone your house key so that I feel like the real estate agent and the attorney were not being efficient in dealing with a person who had a stroke he couldn't even walk so I was able to I called the agent and I said hey I need the key back and he's like who are you that's my client I'm like you never sign a listing with him I'm surprised that you took his house key and ask him for the code for his safe you know all these random things that are happening to this to the population this is why I became a senior specialist so I can know more how to talk to people that are older but people are doing things not only attorneys agents that are really not appropriate and this is why people don't trust us sometimes

26:40 So I think in that situation the attorney didn't know what he was doing the agent clearly didn't know and the agent was waiting for this probate to end and he never took the time to even check in and see where Mike was at in the probing process so once I took over we got it going within six months I sold the property in San Francisco The A Team took over right that's why I saw people's time to work with the A team you work with the B team that's what it looks like and to be honest I don't think that's that uncommon I don't know maybe you don't see it or maybe things are better in Santa Clara than LA but the filing of the wrong County wrong forms wrong process not clearing notes just fundamental not giving notices to other parties just fundamental mistakes Basics I see it all the time and attorneys who come in fancy suits and work for good firms and it's just shocking and yet then you see the guy who is the Pro or gal or lady and they know their stuff and they know the judges everybody knows them things move the judge gives them exceptions different story and that's who you want to work with and when you grow up and be like some questions here so evangelist single mom Marvel herbin what's the student request message to be accountable to the co-air like a quarter request so Marvel I'd say reach out to me probably that's going to be a very personal situation I really want to go into detail online if you want to text or email me be best and maybe I can help find the right person make sure you include what state that's in I don't assume it's in California because I'm in California but that's a bit of a private situation we don't want to get on the internet I think a couple of you guys put in your names and contact info love to have your network on here I'm always looking to network out of state I'm building a national platform I closed a deal this week in Maryland and last month in Michigan so definitely make sure if you're out of state especially put your information in the chat box so I can

28:42 Stay up on top of you Claudia question okay let's go back a little bit further so I guess you and I were talking so much I wasn't paying attention sorry about that so at this point most I think you answered this question most your business is coming from referrals because you've you're dealing with people who are around quite often right do you still do any kind of cold calling or direct marketing or is it all pretty much no inbound business for you no I cold call I love it how often do you do it every other day for how long as much as I can some days could be two hours some days could be 15 minutes and I have that one that I got I only had 15 minutes I think it was Mike and I got it was the first call that I made that day beautiful so I think any time that I can't call I will call because that's how I run my business I truly believe in cold calling I believe that it's helped me so much wow and you know in Probate it's not like you get the listing and you could just sell it there's a lot of moving parts to prepare the home or you start the conversation with someone and I've had some that I started a year ago and I'm barely selling it now so you have to just go for it and continue doing whatever it is that you're doing you're so right when I have one I you know I have two I just took right in a row that are both we're supplementing trying to get full three on both of them now and there's a little hiccup by the attorney on both of them but you know they could it's months from my first talk to them and got things signed and we're not and it's on the MLS I just tell the agents sit tight we're not accepting offers yet because we want to be full Authority we don't want to have to have court confirmation okay Christopher asks so we answer that question what geographic era do you handle so I know you said Santa Clara but you also do San Francisco or you refer out to San Francisco what's the geography I do San

30:46 Joaquin San Francisco Alameda Contra Costa Santa Cruz Santa Clara so I do six counties did we call the from down here we call it the Bay Area generally speakings right except for the southern war or Central Valley which is Stockton but I also run that area yeah Stockton's like for Cowboys so that's not for you let's do dirty down there no I like Stockton actually it's just I just noticed how San Francisco people look at Stockton people so Pat asks how do you put people at ease so can you kind of role play a little bit with me as though I was a when you're when you're cold call is not a referral call by cold call sure so I'll just say initially when I call I say hi my name is Miriam when I speak to bill hi Bill hey Bill this is Miriam I'm calling you because I normally call families once a week that are going through probate how are you doing a little busy with everything but we're okay oh good so again my name is Miriam I used to work for the courthouse and I specifically help families with their probate real estate do you have a little bit of a time do you have some time right now to talk sure and then I don't want to go in four people but basically what I do is I tell them about me I tell them about my services I see that you went to court back in January yeah how did that go and that's how we start the concert it's never good the answer there is never good nobody ever says it was great we had fun there was balloons some that say yes finally got the letters my gosh thank you for asking we're so happy I'm like yay I'm glad so it really depends on the person's tone okay I've had some actually last was it last week or two weeks ago someone said oh yeah my brother's living at the house with my husband with my wife's girlfriend and I said oh that's fun so your wife has a girlfriend that's interesting and we started cracking up he's like oh my gosh no she doesn't have a girlfriend this is crazy she's my wife so I said

32:51 That's probably a lot of men's fantasy that you just told me about so we're cracking up well and that kind of built a trust and you know a connection there we're just talking being silly so it really has to do a lot of clients also one of them has said oh please call me sir I'm like sure you know like whatever floats your boat I don't I don't care it just really depends on the conversation and allowing people to feel good and to ask questions something that I do with my calls I don't rush it I've role played with other people and it's like oh my name is and I used to be like that my name is Miriam okay thank you click now I how are you how are things going right okay it's not a good time can I call you on Tuesday at two no I work till five okay so where do you work at oh good okay so how about I call you at seven like it just really depends on the conversation and really listening and allowing people to talk that's how I feel that's the best approach for me at least well that's very nice so one thing I'm glad to ask a question but I want to say to anybody who's ever been to court every court is so different that I urge courage people to go to the court that's your primary now in her case she works in six counties but my guess is you go to one courts Courthouse you don't get all six do you no the only one that I go to is my County Santa Clara it's like me I go to L.A County I do business in the others when I've gone to other counties it's like a whole different world you've got Orange County everything's like clean everybody's nice there's no lines it's like a whole different world La you're in the ghetto it's it is it is safe because they have security otherwise it's a whole different spirit because but what I want to say is you that Claudia you asked a question and I'll ask her but the real answer is you need to go to your county and see what's there and if you are the expert of what's there you win you don't need it

34:55 Doesn't look like La it doesn't look like Santa Clara looks like whatever County you're doing your business in so can you share a little bit you know obviously when you're there you're there to meet people I felt like sometimes when I went to the court I'm almost purposely not doing anything just to get attention but I don't want to look like I'm getting attention but as far as looking for data looking for cases can you share what you're looking for specifically sure so I look for of course the case File name right who the person was the case number just in case I need to go online and look at something or you know I need to know and talk to family about that I look for the name of the personal representative and of many times it's also on the duties and liabilities the phone number now if the address looks a little bit iffy I know that the attorney because a lot of attorneys do that they put their address and their phone number so you can't reach out to their client so many times I Google the address I get the address from the house where the person lived and I get the address from the personal representative sometimes I look to see how many errors or if something looks a little bit odd I'll notate that on my notes but for the most part as long as I have the address phone number and the person who passed away and of course the personal Representatives name as well and I also get the attorney's name just so I know which attorney that is now do you have that data when you're buying it from DF probate already or and you're supplementing it on the cases you're interested in or nuclear is not provided by them there you go so you buy the data in the other counties but Santa Clara you have to get personally which the good news is you have to go personally because it means knives and Realtors® aren't going to bother with it or do it twice in a row right wow okay good for you and it's really kind consistency what has helped me in this field like you have to stick with one thing I know agents reach out oh I've tried these I've tried this I cold call I do it's

36:58 Like just stick with one thing focus on that and try it out and that's what cold calling for me has been the best thing I also do mailers and I have received clients off of that but you have to get really good at one thing so you can expand and focus on the rest that's how that's how I view it yeah I would agree with you I would say two things one is you know you learn by doing it when people ask a lot of questions about well how do you say this I say that I would say well you're not making phone calls yet are you no because when you make phone calls some of that you start to figure out right as you're calling people and second all marketing typically ends up with you talking to somebody if you can't talk to him on the phone and convert them then your Millers aren't going to work because the mail doesn't cause them to call you if you don't know how to talk to him on the phone you're not going to convert it into a new business so Claudia asks this is a classic question too I assume going to Mortuary homes and developing a relationship with them is that a good deal I almost feel like the quiet and now help me make fun of you Claudia I know we're headed your heart's in the right spot but I almost feel like I'm waiting for the Realtor® who says to me I was thinking of putting my flyers in the ambulances that way when the person died the family member would see my flyer right there and call me before it's like as if that's the goal that the to be closest to person who died is the strategy I don't get that talking to you at all in fact to me it sounds like you're just as good if they've been around for a while in Probate for six months or a year as if they're brand new right yeah I that's not my Approach I would not do that yeah I actually feel for some that might even hurt you at points you know if you approach a family at when they're in that space right I've had one client who said that the agent showed up at the funeral and just give them the card and they were so disgusted by agents period but everyone's different I don't know that's not my approach to me it doesn't when they file for probate that's when I go in whether it's in the beginning or the end or they've been stuck for years

39:02 It doesn't really matter to me because my goal is to help them whatever stage I've had some that come to me after probate so it just really depends on the person that I'm helping the conversation but I don't Target them specifically just because they just filed many times they're super confused and they're not going to make a decision anyway right and some they don't have the right to make a decision anyway right they don't have the letters yet so they don't even know if they're going to be appointed I've had one that thought was going to be appointed and then it changed to another family member because there was Major drama right so really I don't know it really just depends on the situation yeah I could be more excited about how soon you are it's about you being effective when you talk to people working stuff out you know I also would say this Claudia I was in college one of my team members in college his family-owned mortuaries they're very wealthy and they own like seven you know Mortuary facilities I suppose if I had been a probate real estate right away maybe he would have called me with her for all possibly right and if your best friend he wasn't my we weren't friends really but if he was my best friend I imagine I would socialize with him maybe he goes to you know he goes to Mortuary Association conventions and meets people and if that's your best friend you enjoy that and you're working with them maybe but to think that you're going to call somebody because you're closer to who died sooner I just don't think you that's a basis for building a business I just so just be careful of that okay again feel free to put your contact information in the chat box we want to network and all that Christopher asked do you take on underwater or short sale properties in Probate yes do I describe what that process looks like or what you what your strategy is there so it really depends on the situation if it's a short sale property let me clarify so I've never done one a short sale in Pearl bait I have done foreclosures where and I have a really amazing story

41:05 That was so fascinating but it really depends on the situation and it's pretty much that's what I people come to me all the time but what if it's foreclosure and it's probate it's the same thing we just have to rush and make sure that we get into action immediately right so I had one here in Santa Clara the family called me they said we haven't paid for five years my dad passed away five years ago the auction date is in two weeks and I said okay let's sign the listing agreement I'm sorry we didn't sign the listing agreement yet I said let's get into action let's hold off the auction date and then we'll sign the listing agreement well probate the probate Department as you know the court is super delayed I called my friend Eric who works there and I said hey there's this family who's going to lose their home in two weeks blah and he said file ask the attorney they didn't have an attorney I referred an attorney to them she filed a motion they were able to move the case so quickly that we stopped the auction literally the day the Friday before Monday so the family called me in tears are like oh my goodness thank you and I'm like you need to pay your stuff and fix your probate situation so I was able to help him in that way I don't think they're gonna sell but if they do they're going to select me because I helped him through that process and that's ideally what I want to do but I think foreclosures or short sales I'm trying to I think it should be the same I've never done a short sale through probate but it's pretty much the same the only difference is there's a legal side and there's deadlines and of course you need to know that and you can't jump the gun and do things for example the notice of proposed action hasn't been sent out I've heard about cases where people try to sell the house before that I'm like no you have to know the legal stuff as well because then the family and the personal representative can really get into hot water right when that happens so it's to me it's pretty much the same you just really have to understand the goal

43:09 Right and the time frames and if you can't wait until the notice the due date you need to talk to the attorney and get them to expedite that somehow do an ex parte motion or do whatever they need to do to ensure that everyone is protected do you work if there's Equity do you work with states that have reverse mortgages I think the answer was yes based on what you said before right one of mine that we're actually just put on the market like three days ago she has to reverse mortgage I deal with that very often how much of a cold calling is the attorneys versus the families attorneys I would say five percent I mainly call families and I have a lot of now friends that are attorneys and actually one of them said she receives a lot of calls and she said honestly it's uncomfortable I shouldn't even be talking to you anyone about the case and it just seems like very Cutthroat so I do that when I know maybe the attorney or I've worked with them in the past but I rarely call them initially to talk about someone else I don't do that anymore Steve Kaufman's hour YouTube says he has done short sales well on probate so interesting Steve you and krisha get together Steve Kaufman on The YouTube and if Christopher watching you might want to go to YouTube and put a comment there or reach out to him okay good we've got some more Network going on there glad to see that we got a few minutes left if anybody else has a question raise your hand in the app or put in the chat box I think I think I pretty much got up to date my questions so let's talk about referring to attorneys this is another area that Realtors® complain to me regularly they'll say you know I referred cases and I don't get anything back do you hear that from other Realtors® and what do you say to them I think you have to be very clear with the attorney

45:11 And have a conversation you know normally when I refer I let them know I would love to have a relationship with you and I would love to add value to USU to me and it's pretty much you can't hold them accountable for not referring to you right so picking the ones that you feel might do that I think that's also based off their field and you know that they're working they're doing this so often there's some attorneys that refer to the same agents all the time I already know that and I know who they are but I do have like the one in San Francisco that's really big and he said I have my selected agents and I said I'm referring this big case to you and I want to be one of your selected agents moving forward can you can you do that for me and he said yeah and within two weeks he referred someone to me nice so I'm referring to him he's referring to me and it's a relationship and I think that's the best way but not what someone called me actually from the group one day and asked me because she was super pissed off that she wasn't getting referrals I don't think you need a for me I don't hold on to that anger or anything I just move on to the next and don't believe that everyone's like that and if that doesn't work for you try something different but I don't think that holding on to that idea I don't think it's the best way to deal with that because attorneys do refer I think maybe not all of them and some of them have their selective few but our goal is to be there selective for you so it's continuously you know trying to get there yeah I get a lot of Asians who'll tell me they refer leads to attorneys but and I see you know Chad I'm sure like you do I see in different chats people say oh I need an attorney in this area it's like well what do you need the attorney to do right there's a difference between an attorney who's a probate administrator or probate litigator right State planner you know and they've just you know so when you start referring people you make sure that you're giving people the business they want in the way that they want to

47:13 Get it so that's such a great Point bill so people actually reach out to me and say hey do you have an attorney for probate well what about is it Estate Planning in what county is it going to be litigation and I actually screened them before sending them to my attorneys because I don't want them to get a headache right some people maybe it's major drama and they feel like they're being cheated and they want to sue the family it's like is that even probate like I don't know so before sending people to my attorneys I want to make sure that it's quality I can't just send him drama and then they're going to be frustrated with me because I keep on sending them just people that are not going through probate or it might be something else so really understanding what you're referring and for me I want the same thing when they're referring a client to me I don't want it to be just some random person who's you know has drama I want it to be something that will actually work for me I think they feel the same our time is very valuable good way to put it you know I think sometimes we think of eight of attorneys as handing out referrals like candy but the reality is they just want their probate case funded and the real estate is an asset to fund that case and so when they're selecting you they're selecting somebody they're not gonna get paid unless the house sells right they're like a happy client unless you do a good job and so just like you know the other day I had this type of call me because I just give him a title order like well no I'm just gonna hand my commission check in your hands because you think it's your turn like this is business I have clients who need me to perform and I need to know that the you know my team performs and so we have to be that way if we want that kind of business and I think treating referrals as you know intimate exchanges of information rather than just you know can you give me a piece of it's not like Halloween you're going door-to-door looking for trick-or-treat it really is more intimate than that absolutely and something that you mentioned that referrals and treating them so whether

49:16 It's the type title company that I work with the contractor I'm pretty clear or an attorney I'm pretty clear straight up this is how I run my business being super respectful really honoring each other's time being ethical professional so all these things and honestly I could say all the people around me that I know of are in that same frequency like we're all on the same page so the attorneys that I work with and refer to they're all good people my contractors everyone so just really knowing what you want for your business and knowing who what kind of people you want around you and they'll continuously refer to you whether it's I have friends that are someone's going through probate and they'll reach out to me I mean I have stories that I many stories that I could share just random people are sharing my information or people at work I mean it just I am becoming like that probate expert I am that someone said oh you're like the probate Queen I that's what I give out right I want people to know that I post it on social media I'm not just a real estate agent this is my specialty so when you come to me you will get results in this space and I think we really need to own that nice and again and I hope those of you watching on this call just get how she owns that right that was not a script it wasn't just a sales pitch it's like that's her Essence as a person who she is so thanks for sharing that with us well look I could talk all day about one last question an area that I'm interested in I'm working more and more on appropriate advances do you do are you involved in that at all do you work with appropriate Advanced company do you refer them is this something you're familiar with at all where errors get in advance on their inheritance so I have helped someone pay that off one of my clients I've never been interested in them because of the interest rates when I did my research maybe a year and a half ago and my client wanted to fix their home before

51:20 Selling it and I said I will pay for that which I often do out of pocket and like get reimbursed that close of escrow yeah so I'm not too familiar with them I don't work with them I think if it's going to and the way that I see it if it's going to harm the family I won't do it yeah for sure but it but there are some but I'm not knowledgeable enough and I don't use them got it well I'll just say share with you just you know I think they're like they're a very powerful tool like a gun that can be life-saving or can be dangerously misused and you have to know how to use it properly and I think that people should be educated on it's expensive money it's also non-recourse meaning if they if they Advance on it and they don't get the inheritance they don't owe the money which is a big Advantage wow there's no payments or interests accumulating so if it gets litigated for five years their interest isn't accumulating in most cases so there's pluses and minuses to it but I find that for some people they get quick you know money to hire the right attorney if you know they need a certain type of attorney eviction Services you know there are things that I will advance money for but I find that they have more ownership and control if they do it themselves so if I have to be the one I would have like you said Advance my I've had cases where I've been against ten thousand dollars on a 25 000 I get it all back in my commission right but if they Advance ten thousand dollars I feel like they own the work they own the process and I don't have to invest the money which is you know and along with probably better for me business-wise too so right it's not about the money on the probate advance but I do feel like it's a tool that can work for some people so just something to for those who are listening absolutely and like you said as long as for me it's used in a positive way which it sounds like what you're doing yeah I think as many resources as we can provide to people

53:21 I think helping and having them decide and have some ownership and what they're getting involved in I think that's great I think the common case I use it for is bad brother has an attorney has letters the sister feels that she's gonna get take advantage of there's a half million dollars a million dollars at stake and so she can advance ten thousand dollars have an attorney and who's let me find probate but we'll just kind of Ride Along and watch their interests for them and while you might say well they can do it themselves they sleep better at night with the attorney doing it for them and they refer to feels likes the business so it works out I think in that sense for people okay look you've been very judgment time and I don't want to go overload so for people to reach out to you what's the best way to get a hold of you to refer your business or to get in contact with you so you could call me my cell phone is always with me [phone number] or you can email me Ms Cruz Realtor® gmail.com and we'll put that in the description and as well she has a website if you want to see more information about her your background and her you know important information about probate buying a house it's Ms Cruz realtor.com is her website and feel free to go there to get more information if you need to I'm very it's been it's been exciting watching you grow from when you first started you're so excited and I think the thing I appreciate about you is you've taken a very professional approach to the business I think that's what I got into this Niche for because I saw it being twice at really slimy and dishonest and I think that being willing to compete based on knowledge and information is very inspiring and I know you raise the bar and I want to take that challenge and raise it again and just push each other to do better okay thank you and just before I go that's actually the reason why I started a person that I was helping I saw what he did to someone who was going through probate and took advantage of her and me so I actually decided to help people

55:28 Or prevent people from getting into that situation so I think anyone that's in this space with us is probably on the same place that we are we really want to help people and I think we are making a difference and we have a big job that we're doing so I really appreciate you all listening in feel free to reach out Bill thank you for this opportunity if there's any way that I could help you're welcome to reach out to me and I'm always here fantastic thank you so much for the pleasure look for this for a long time thanks so much thank you and for the rest of you thank you for joining in this is Probate Weekly we do it every Thursday 4 P.M Pacific 7 P.M Eastern we live stream it on YouTube Facebook LinkedIn if you're watching on the recording please like it subscribe but more important if you have questions put them in there and I respond almost all of them as quick as I can and if it's from Miriam I'll send to her as well and we'll get an answer for you so again thank you so much for participating see you guys next week thank you bye-bye