The Deborah Strategy
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MEMBER PLAYBOOK
The Deborah Strategy
How to Win 12-15 Probate Listings a Year by Slowing Down
A step-by-step field guide for ProbateData.com members
Based on the live training session, April 20, 2026
Why this worksMost agents quit after 4 or 5 contacts. 86% of sales happen between contact 6 and contact 12. The Deborah Strategy is built around that one fact. |
Why this playbook exists
Every real estate agent is hunting for the same two things: inventory and motivated sellers. Probate real estate solves for both. About 5% of regular homeowners sell within 12 months. Roughly 90% of probate properties sell within that same window, and most within three to four months.
This playbook walks you through the exact filtering and follow-up system used by Deborah, a long-time ProbateData.com member who consistently closes 12 to 15 probate listings a year on top of her regular business. Her approach goes against the grain. While most of the industry shouts “more leads, faster, faster,” Deborah does the opposite. She slows down, picks fewer cases, and out-persists everyone.
The premiseProbate real estate is not a magic wand. It does not replace your fundamentals. What it does is multiply them because the people on the other end are already motivated. |
Who this is for
• Members in ProbateData.com counties who already understand the basics of probate as a real estate niche.
• Agents who are willing to commit to a 90-day to 12-month follow-up cadence per case.
• Agents who want a small, qualified, high-conviction list of leads rather than a fire-hose.
Part 1 · Quick orientation inside ProbateData.com
Before you run the strategy, make sure you know where everything lives. These are the four things to bookmark.
1. Your support bubble (lower right of every screen)
• Type your question. The AI assistant Alex answers about 9 out of 10 questions instantly.
• If Alex cannot answer, a human team member follows up by message.
• Browse the article library here for written walk-throughs and playbooks.
2. Class schedule and replays
• All upcoming live sessions and the Zoom link live in this tab.
• Past sessions are recorded and posted within about 24 hours.
3. Counties and billing
• Add new counties to your account at any time (additional counties are typically $50/month each).
• Add more downloads to your account from the same screen.
• See the full national county list at probatedata.com/counties.
4. Your dashboard
• Review everything you have downloaded and your account activity.
• Two delivery channels run in parallel: leads delivered straight to your inbox (PDF + spreadsheet, with phone, email, AVM, MLS status, and DNC flags), and live searches inside the platform.
How fresh is the MLS data?ProbateData re-checks the MLS every 48 hours for cases filed in the last 4 months, and weekly for older cases. So when you filter by “Available,” you are filtering against a recently refreshed picture of which probate properties have already been listed or sold. |
Part 2 · The Deborah Strategy, step by step
Run a New Search inside ProbateData.com and follow these steps in order. The goal is to deliberately narrow a wide county down to a small, high-conviction working list.
1 | Pick your geography and date rangeSelect the county where you actually want to do business (Deborah works LA County).Set a date range that gives you a meaningful pool. Deborah typically pulls roughly 2 to 3 months back.Older cases are still searchable; ProbateData will show you what has been listed or sold since the filing date. |
2 | Filter for Available onlyIn Market Insights, set Status to Available.This removes cases that have already been listed or sold on the MLS since filing.You are now looking only at properties that are still in play. |
3 | Set your price band (the AVM filter)Set AVM Minimum and Maximum to your sweet spot: the price range where you have repeatedly closed business.Deborah uses $600,000 to $1,300,000. Yours will be different.If you have never measured this, look back at your last 10 to 20 closings and use that range. |
4 | Require contact dataToggle Phone Number to Required.Toggle Email Address to Required.You can prospect cases without these, but the Deborah Strategy is built around multi-channel follow-up. No contact data, no cadence. |
5 | Filter by ZIP code (and use the DECEASED ZIP)In the Deceased filters, enter the ZIP codes where you want to work, separated by commas.Use the deceased ZIP, not the petitioner ZIP and not the attorney ZIP. The deceased address is the property that will get listed. That is the address you prospect.Pick ZIPs you genuinely want to do business in, not just any ZIP with volume. |
6 | Optional power filter: out-of-state petitionerGo to Petitioner Filters → “Petitioner states to exclude.”Exclude your own state. What remains are personal representatives who live somewhere else.Out-of-state PRs are absentee. That is an extra layer of motivation on top of probate motivation.Skip this if it shrinks your list too aggressively. It is a multiplier, not a requirement. |
The complete filter setUse this as a checklist when you set up the search. Adjust the numbers to your own market and your own price band. |
Filter | Setting |
Market Insights → Status | Available |
AVM Minimum | Your low end (Deborah uses $600,000) |
AVM Maximum | Your high end (Deborah uses $1,300,000) |
Phone Number | Required |
Email Address | Required |
Deceased ZIP Code | Your target ZIPs (comma separated) |
Petitioner States to Exclude | Your home state (to find out-of-state PRs, optional) |
If you started in a busy county, your list should now be down from several hundred cases to somewhere between 10 and 30. That is the working list.
Part 3 · Working the list
This is where the strategy stops being a search query and starts being a discipline. The point of the Deborah Strategy is not to generate the longest list. It is to commit to the shortest list you can defend, and then out-work everyone else on it.
Look at every single case as a person
• Open each case. Read the address. Look at the age of the decedent. Look at when they passed.
• If you can, drive the property. Or send someone (an assistant, a college student you pay $10 to $20 per address) to take a phone photo.
• Decide, case by case, whether you actually want to work with this family. If the answer is no, take it off the list.
The picture moveIf you only do one thing differently this quarter, do this. Get a real photo of the property. Notice one thing: overgrown gardening, mail piling up, signs of squatter risk. Circle it on the printed photo, in red, and send it to the petitioner with a short, helpful note. Almost no one does this. Out-of-state petitioners notice immediately. |
The cadence: 4 + 1, weekly, for up to 12 months
Deborah’s cadence is simple and sustainable: four touchpoints, then a phone call. Repeat weekly. Continue until the property lists, sells, or the petitioner asks you to stop.
A workable touchpoint mix
• Touch 1: handwritten sympathy card.
• Touch 2: letter with property photo and one specific observation.
• Touch 3: postcard or short follow-up letter.
• Touch 4: text message (where compliant) or short personal email.
• Touch 5: phone call. Then restart the cycle the following week.
The number that justifies the strategy86% of sales happen between contact 6 and contact 12. Most agents quit at 4 or 5. If you are still showing up at contact 7, 8, or 9, your competition has already moved on. |
Be the leader, not the hunter
Probate families are processing loss, paperwork, and family politics all at once. Your job is to lead them through their options, not to push for a listing. Sometimes the right answer is to rent, to rehab, or to wait. When you have the integrity to say so, you stop being one more agent in the inbox and start being a service provider.
The agents who do this well are the ones the family quietly remembers when it is time to act.
Part 4 · Handling the call
The discipline of the cadence eventually produces a phone conversation. Here is how to handle the most common moments.
“I already have an agent in the family.”
Almost every petitioner has someone. Do not concede the conversation. Answer with a question.
• “That’s great. When was the last time you actually closed a transaction with them, and how did it go?”
• “Have you seen a written marketing proposal from them, or are they assuming they’ll get the listing?”
• “What’s most important to you in getting this done? Speed, price, hand-holding, or all three?”
If they keep retreating to “family,” let them. Your time is worth more than chasing a deal that was decided before you called.
“What’s your commission?”
Frame commission as commensurate with service. Full service, full commission. Lighter service, lighter commission. Then move the conversation to outcomes: your last several deals, the average percentage above asking, the size of the team behind you, the trash-out and locksmith vendors you bring.
“You’re the 30th agent who’s called me.”
Treat this as a compliment, not a rejection. It means they are screening for the one agent who acts like a professional. Show up, take a photo, ring the doorbell so the cameras catch you, and follow up by text and email so they know you actually went.
Field example from the sessionAn agent on the call closed a 30-minute conversation with an out-of-state petitioner who had been called by 30 other agents, because she had already sent a sympathy card, then a letter, and then drove 30 minutes to physically visit the property. He kept her card. He told her, “Send me another, I’ll be in town in two weeks.” That is the Deborah Strategy in one story. |
Always answer a question with a question
• Respect your own time first. People do not respect agents who beg for the deal.
• Ask what success looks like for them. Their answer becomes your pitch.
• If the conversation reveals you are not the right fit, walk away cleanly. The next case on your list is already warming up.
Part 5 · The one-page summary
Print this. Tape it next to your monitor.
Do this | Don’t do this |
Pick the ZIPs you actually want to work in. | Cast a wide net just because the data is there. |
Filter to a working list of 10-30 cases. | Try to work hundreds of cases at once. |
Filter on the deceased ZIP code. | Filter on the petitioner or attorney ZIP code. |
Use 4 touches + 1 call, weekly. | Send one letter and wait. |
Stay on the list for up to 12 months. | Quit at contact 4 or 5 like everyone else. |
Send a real property photo with one observation circled. | Send a generic mailer that looks like every other agent’s. |
Lead with service and let some cases go. | Push for the listing on every call. |
Answer questions with questions. | Beg for the deal or undercut on commission. |
The mindset, in one lineSlow down. Pick fewer. Stay longer. Lead with service. The listings follow. |
Need help?
Click the support bubble in the lower right of your dashboard. Ask Alex (the AI) for the 90-day playbook for real estate agents. It is in the article library. If Alex cannot answer your question, a member of the ProbateData team will follow up by message.
ProbateData.com · Member Training Series
Updated on: 21/04/2026
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