Tax Delinquent Property Lead!

[Ardie Mansouri]

Hi everyone! I need advice!

Alrighty, I'll cut right to the chase.  I started mailing out letters this week to tax delinquent properties with absentee owners in my area.  To my surprise, I got a call from an owner within the week!  

Going into this, I had a very specific idea for how I wanted to start out my foray into real estate... hopefully acquiring a property on the cheap through marketing tax delinquent absentee owners, updating the property as needed and again HOPEFULLY selling for a profit!  It seemed to work for Seth Williams from podcast 39 anyway.

I'm not sure what I was expecting with an absentee owner though... of course they have tenants! So I get the call from the owner today asking what my offer would be on their place.  To make a long story short

-The property is a 1.5 story 2 bed 1 bath building that seems to be fairly well maintained based on the appearance of the front of the house.  

-The taxes owed are right around $10.5k, property was bought in 1986 for about $55k so it stands to reason that they have significant equity in the property.  

-They do have tenants, I was stupid (and nervous) and didn't even think to ask what they were paying monthly.  

-The properties around it are generally going for about $120k-$150k. 

-The city will not file suit until next july and around here the owners have a full year to pay before the property is auctioned off.  So they basically have a year and a half to pay off whats owed.  It seems to me that this would make them a little standoffish to a low ball offer, but then again I've never done a deal before and I have no idea!  

Any experienced investors out there willing to lend some advice or suggestions?

Thanks everyone!