Estate vultures

[Sigarms]

I've scratched my head to figure out the connection. How they got my name and address after having my brothers mail forwarded to me. My only guess is that the Post Office is selling my information to them.

If I were to guess, I would guess that if any deceased names are in the classifieds in the newspaper for settlement of estates, that's where some of this info is "harvested".

In todays internet age, you can pay for a ungodly amount of information on people that you normally can't find on the internet, and I'm guessing that includes direct blood relatives.

 

[2manyrocks]

Some thieves read the obits to see when the funeral service is so they know when to break in.

 

[EddieWalker]

In my case, the land is still in my brothers name. It will bet two years in October since he passed, and we're still dealing with a step by step process to get everything done with the County and Legal System. The paperwork has not been filed yet, we just got the final things notarized last week.

The Post Office is the only thing linking me to my brothers land. I never got any of those letters before he passed, and they only started after I forwarded all of he mail to my address.

It could be coincidence, and they just discovered me after owning my land for 20 years, or they got their information from the Post Office. I don't see any other way it happened?

 

[newbury]

There is a lot of foreign interest in US real estate. I had been getting the occasional "would you like to sell" for decades but post Covid it's really escalated. The last couple of years I've seen an increase in the letters that offer a stated amount for various parcels, usually at values slightly less than the assessment.
I used to just throw them in the trash but ever since the Zillow mess up a few years ago I've started paying close attention.
For those that don't remember back in ~2018 Zillow started buying up homes.
article here
Unfortunately they used their own numbers. I've read of some people that claimed they got about 3 times the actual value of their home.
I've a couple of houses that I would sell for 3 times their value, and a few hundred acres I'd like to unload, then buy back later.

 

[Midniteoyl]

When my brother passed away two years ago, I had his mail forwarded to me and I was amazed at how many letters he gets from people wanting to by part of his land. He had 40 acres, but they always offered to buy 5 or 7 acres. I just through the letters in the garbage.

After a few months, I started getting those letters too. It never happened before, but now I get them just as often as he does, but from different people. They are usually different every time, and the amount of land they are offering to buy is different. Never all of it, just a certain sized parcel for so much money.

I've scratched my head to figure out the connection. How they got my name and address after having my brothers mail forwarded to me. My only guess is that the Post Office is selling my information to them.

More and more GIS info is available for free online. Instead of relying on mailing lists, they can just now do a search for larger properties, complete with satellite images so they know how much is used, how much it's worth, the taxes, and the owner's info.

 

[5030]

I don't think the post office sells info.

In a lot of places the info is available from the county. At our new place in Oregon we have gotten a lot of home warranty ads and other similar things marketed to new home owners.

Far as I know, they don't. Seems as though the Post Office has a hard enough time just delivering the mail on time and not loosing stuff.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, at work, I needed to get info for a person, with nothing but a name. Using nothing but 100% free online search, I was able to get her work number, personal number, personal address, political affiliation, personal address, likely family members, ect

 

[ultrarunner]

Some thieves read the obits to see when the funeral service is so they know when to break in.

A few times I stayed at neighbor family home after they had been broken into during the services...

It's a real problem in some areas...

Several unsolicited weekly mail or calls about property I own... 90% is for Washington property recently... not so much for Oakland where values are dropping.

 

[japody]

In my case, the land is still in my brothers name. It will bet two years in October since he passed, and we're still dealing with a step by step process to get everything done with the County and Legal System. The paperwork has not been filed yet, we just got the final things notarized last week.

The Post Office is the only thing linking me to my brothers land. I never got any of those letters before he passed, and they only started after I forwarded all of he mail to my address.

It could be coincidence, and they just discovered me after owning my land for 20 years, or they got their information from the Post Office. I don't see any other way it happened?

Did you fill out a forwarding order for your brother? If so, the sender can request an address correction and that is how they get your address.

 

[EddieWalker]

I think so. I went to the Post Office with a copy of his Death Certificate, and filled out a form to have them stop delivering all mail to his address, and to send it all to my address.

In Saturday's mail, I received two offers to buy my land. One from a realtor that looked to be in his mid 20's from the picture. Another was from an Investment Firm