There are a ton of people in the business of picking up properties, via Death Notices.

The Villages is the perfect place to do it, as so many folks are approaching the big giant golf course in the sky.

Just people trying to make a living. If you don't want to talk to them, don't. Many folks are happy to field offers on a home they no longer want or need. You may not get the highest & best price, but usually these type of buyers can move fast and don't need a lot of contingencies.

I'm sure that's a wonderful idea for those living here that are very old or demented or childless. Maybe the caller should check for those details first. Otherwise, most will arrange for an orderly, profitable sale when they are ready.

The potential Buyer doesn't care about "most", they care about the 1-2- or 3 they may get.

No different than folks calling and trying to sell your Medicare Advantage Plans, every winter.

.... or an Extended Automobile Warranty!

There's Nothing Creepy or Disgusting About it!
 

Yay! A sensible reply to the thread.

While some may feel offended by such a marketing tactic, other’s welcome it as it can help clear an estate asset cleanly and timely.

I refuse to answer phone calls if I don’t know who is on the other end. Also IMO life is too short to be listening to voicemail. I still get the occasional rogue text message but it gets deleted

Don’t answer the phone problem solved

My phone is always on "do not disturb" with the exception of numbers on my "contacts" list. This has totally eliminated unwanted calls. They can leave a voicemail if it is important.

They are not only watching the obituaries but also keep up with public records that show when deed ownership has changed. I have experienced them calling and texting wanting to purchase properties. I ignore these due to the offer would likely be far less than the value of the property and therefore a waste of my time. Do not think they are calling/texting to do you a favor, it's to make them money!

there always been rip off artists from around world preying on vulnerable and anyone else they can cheat or steal, Especially now in digital age.

I would get random offers in the mail to buy my house for cash. When I put my house on the market, some official offers came in far below market value. I suspect they are house flippers looking for a gullible person. On the phone, I only answer calls where I can identify the caller.

It is a scam. They are hoping that in your grief you make a decision in haste
and sell for next to nothing. I got these for 6 months after my husband died. One listed a cash price they would pay me that was about $200,000 less than my house was worth. They are hoping you are desperate for cash. Two actually stopped by my house and made offers. I did not sell and was angry at these people for trying to make a buck off of my misfortune. Don't make any major changes in your life for at least a year after a spouses death. These are dispicable people.

Agreed! Silence unknown callers is a great feature on my iPhone.

Sold home
 

My friend sold his home in Arizona for a cash offer and it was a great choice. After much thought, he decided to see what they had to offer.

The price agreed on was very fair, considering the ease of the sale. There was no commission paid. No inspections, except one, for structure of house. He could just walk out, leaving anything he did not want to take. No cleaning. No showings.

And again, the selling price was about same as if it had been sold by a real estate agent.

He would try that again and was very happy with the sale.

Often, these are small companies given access to a large amount of credit by bigger companies. The small companies specialize in finding and contacting people who might be interested in moving and offering them cash in exchange for skipping the entire sales process and 6% paid to realtors. Some of them make a low-ball offer, but some make a pretty fair offer. These small companies tend to immediately turn the houses over to bigger companies, repaying the loan they received and keeping part of it. These larger companies then bundle house sales from all over the country and sell them to REITs. (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Investors buy into these REITs. The investors don’t own the houses. They just own shares. These are also sold like mutual funds. Some years they are the best investments on Wall Street. Some years they tank.

At some point the homes are reconditioned and perhaps sold for a good profit but more likely rented out. The huge companies doing this use computer algorithms to figure out the absolute maximum the market will bear for each house in its neighborhood and charge it. That is how REITs make their money, mostly from rents. However, when one of these companies starts renting out a house, the top dollar it charges is discovered by other companies in the area that rent out homes and duplicated. The result is that these companies bear the primary responsibility for the huge increase in the cost of rent around the country. As local owners raise rents, that money goes into the pockets of the local companies and out of the pockets of the millions who have to rent homes and apartments. However, the companies that own thousands of homes and hundreds of thousands of homes and raise the rent every year are doing it for investors.