How to approach a driving for dollars home

[Sherwin Vargas]

I recently moved into the dorchester, Ma area and two houses around me are just not being taken care of one in pretty bad shape, the other in decent shape just overgrown lawn, and in need of new roof from what I can see. I have gotten the owner information for one of the homes and contact information, if they are correct and am working on gathering the information for the other home.

How do I go about talking to the owners. I do not believe the owners reside in either of the homes but I could be mistaken. 

Should I call and if you how should i begin the conversation? mention I am their neighbor?  show interest in the home? I just want to get into the home to do an analysis because a lot of the information on the homes haven't been updated in years! 

I am afraid of calling, mentioning i am their neighbor and being forever hated! I am a new investor and have been pondering this question since I moved into the area 

[Brandon M.]

First of all, definitely call them, the worst they can do is get mad and hang up. I probably wouldn't mention you live in the neighborhood, you could just say you were passing by their house the other day and noticed that it appeared to be vacant. If they are receptive to your call and don't hang up on you, you could ask them what their intentions are with the property. 

"Hi, my name is Sherwin, I passed by your property on ____ Street the other day and noticed your property was vacant. I wanted to see what your plans were with the house, because I might have an interest or be able to help you with it in some way. "       

Something to this extent is likely how I would try to start out the conversation. Whatever you do, you want to come across as someone willing to help and not as a slick salesman type. 

Before you call them you could also look at the county official records site to have an idea if they still have a mortgage on the property, if the bank has started a foreclosure process, etc. You might not want to mention you did all of this research, but you could use this info as a guide to try and get some information out of them. 

If you don't try at all, you will have a ZERO percent chance of getting a deal! Give yourself a non-zero percent chance, you never know unless you try! 

Hope that helps.