Driving For Dollars...couple of questions

[Mitch H.]

Inventory in my desired market (Denver) is extremely limited.  I decided to take it upon myself to start Driving for Dollars(tm), as they say.  My first sweep was for duplexes in my own neighborhood, as this is ground zero for where I want to be.  I biked around and took pictures of 22 properties.  I then spent 2 hours scouring the tax assessors website pulling data and came up with 16 properties that are "Residential Duplexes" i.e. not individually owned.   I have some questions, and was hoping someone with knowledge of tax assessor technicalities could chime in and shed some light.

1. I saw HUD as a Grantor on the most recent chain of title. Does this mean the current owner used some sort of low-income HUD program to finance?

2. What do the "Instrument" codes GR, WD, QC, BS (etc. etc.) mean?

3. When the Grantor/Grantee are the same, does that indicate a refinance? If there is no chain of title, does that mean the property has not changed hands/financing since they started tracking the info?

4. What does "Actual Value" really mean?  Can I make assumptions about true market value based on these? 

I plan on doing this a few more times in different neighborhoods and building a targeted list to send letters to.  I still need to devise my selling points, as I don't have the usual "quick close, cash offer, as-is" cards in my pocket. I, unfortunately, will be doing low-down conventional financing and will likely need an agent in some fashion.  Any advice here is also welcomed warmly!

[Theresa W.]

Hi @Mitch H. 

Someone once told me that before I invested, I should be knowledgeable enough about my target neighborhood to know the going rate vs the list rate of the price per square foot when I see any given home for sale.  What will you say when someone calls you up in 4 months from a letter you sent?  How will you demonstrate the knowledge that your numbers are more accurate than what they've proposed?

In your quest to get to know the neighborhood, consider starting a spreadsheet that you can save comps that you find on Redfin: list price, sale price, price per sq.ft, bed/bath counts, age of home.  Once you get an idea of what things are selling for, you'll be able to have an off-the-cuff conversation with that potential seller and convince them to accept your terms. 

While you're at it, I also keep a list of CL rents in the area so that when I see a deal, I generally know what it can rent for.  Pretty soon, you'll have all those numbers in your head and will be able to do quick math to analyze a deal.

Keep at the letters and add a little personal touch like @Jean Bolger said and soon enough, someone will remember that nice young man that wanted to buy their home.  Good luck!