Advice on researching a property

[Dave Garlick]

I am a newbie and have been looking for my first deal.

I found a house down the street where I live that appears to be abandoned. In looking up the tax records it appears to have been bought on a short sale back in 2013 for $85,000 and the owner took out a mortgage of $63,000. The Owner on the tax record is an LLC so they must have been an investor. I also see a note that says "Taxes paid by tax buyer" for both 2014 and 2015. I assume the owner has defaulted on the taxes and someone else purchased the lien. Given the area and type of house it is, the ARV on this house would be just under $200,000. I have not been able to walk through it but I suspect it would need a decent amount of rehab.

My questions is...what is the best approach to research something like this? It is not on the MLS or for sale and as far as I can tell it is not in foreclosure yet. I'm guessing the only thing to do to start out is trying to contact the owner via mail? I have not been able to find a phone number associated with the LLC yet. Any other recommendations in vetting out this property?

Dave Garlick