Finding off market properties- Part 2: Absentee Owners

[Kimberly Kesterke]

Absentee owners are just that- absent owners. They could live a block away, or out of state- either way, they do not live in the property but still pay the tax bill.

Many times absentee owners are long-distance landlords, or people who inherited the property from an estate. A large percentage of absentee owners are “accidental landlords” or simply do not have the funds to properly fix up the property and get it sold on the retail market.   These owners can have a variety of reasons why they haven’t yet pulled the trigger on selling. Since everyone has their own unique situation, it is important that once you connect, to spend a lot of time listening to their story in order to find ways that you can help.

What are some free ways to find an absentee owner list?

Local tax records

If time is on your side and you know the property address you are looking for, you can find absentee owners pretty easily. Most counties have their tax records on-line (check out https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/) to see if your county is listed. Simply type in the property address and scroll down to the owner section. Here, you can see if the owner lives in the property or not.

Local county office

Did you realize your local county office can be an amazing resource? I once was looking for a list of all the 2-4 unit properties in my favorite zip codes. I called the local county tax records office and they directed me to a person that actually had that list. I only had to pay a small fee and got all of the county records of 2-4 unit properties. So maybe this tip isn’t free, but what I paid for the list felt like it should have been free- honestly, it wasn’t expensive at all. (Note: this county did not have an exportable list available online)

The only disadvantage to this, is that I received about 500 records that only had addresses- I did have to input those addresses on my own- it’s pretty labor intensive, but monetarily inexpensive.

Your local county may have different policies- you may need to go down to the office yourself, or there may be an online directory- either way- do your research and see what you can find.

County offices to check are the county assessor's office recorder of deeds and county appraisal office. They may have online options or not. I would always give them a call first before going down in person to the local office- many times the people you talk to on the phone can direct you to a more efficient way to obtain the information.

Title Companies

I personally have never called a title company for absentee owner leads, but I know that some real estate investors reach out to them. I would recommend starting the relationship with title companies that have a relationship with your local REIA, however it never hurts to pick up the phone and give them a call.

(If you have any tips about using Title Companies for obtaining Absentee owner lists, then please add to this forum thread- I would like to learn more about that..)

Networking

Networking with your local REIA or local wholesalers is another way to find absentee owner deals- but frankly- if they know about them, there has already been a markup added to the original price, so you are better off finding your own.

Family members, friends and co-workers may be another resource for you. If you don’t mind asking the question if they know anyone who has a rental property they want to off-load or a property they don’t live in to sell, you may find some good leads.

Asking everyone you come into contact with can be an aggressive but effective way to find absentee owners as well- just ask them- do you or know someone who has a property they want to off-load? It can be worth a shot. 

Paid Services that can find Absentee owners for you

If you would rather invest money instead of your time, there are paid services out there you can tap into. These services not only give you the addresses and owner address, but some services can find phone numbers, e-mails, and other identifying information.


Local Real Estate Agent- MLS Search

I put this under a paid service because it does take a professional’s time, and unless you have done other deals with the real estate agent, it would be a large ask for them to pull the records for you for free because again- it takes them time to do it. However, they have unlimited records available to them depending on their subscription level and can be a very affordable resource to you. Much more affordable than the standard list services.

All you have to do is simply let them know the zip codes you are targeting and they can run the search. Expect to pay about $125/ 1,000 (around .12.5/ lead) depending on how many results they find for you. The results can be filtered by Owner address, what the owner originally paid for the property, when they purchased the property and in some cases how much is still owed. Not a bad price to build your list very quickly and get some very valuable identifying information.

Paid Search Services

If you don’t have a relationship with an agent, and want to purchase absentee owner names, then Listsource.com and other paid website services are available to you.

To give you an idea of what leads will cost- I found an absentee owner list on Listsource with 1300 leads that was quoted at $210.00 or about .16/ lead.

Have a absentee owner strategy that isn't on this list? Please keep the forum thread going by adding in your two cents.