6 Vacant Houses on My Street

[Eric M.]

Since moving into my personal residence, I've had an idea in the back of my head. You see, I own a house in the middle of 6 vacant houses - which are all owned by one individual. I've talked with him twice, just meet and greet conversation so far. The story I heard from the previous owner of my house is back in the 60's his father owned a corp. across the street and had his employees in the houses (same guy still owns the commercial building - and a cell tower.) The corp was sued for violation of rights and went under... The current owner inherited the properties and I assume they're still under corporate person hood.

The reason for this post is to generate ideas on how to acquire some if not all the properties. I have no experience in RE aside from buying my own house, but see huge potential in these vacant houses. None of them have had tenants within the last 8 years and all of them need rehab work - anywhere from $5-20K. Comps are $75-85K and are located in a very decent part of Rochester, NY. I haven't talked with the owner about purchasing since I have zero personal finance and no concrete plan of attack. Not to mention I think it'd be beneficial to grow a relationship prior to asking for a deal on what he owns. I thought about getting a deal under my belt elsewhere to gain experience but I'm still in the analysis paralysis stage. I'm also a member of my local REIA and thought about mentioning this there to go in with an experienced Investor.

Please ask questions to get more details as I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention some things.