Generating leads @ the courthouse

[Jordan Northrup]

Hey everyone, has anyone had success in pulling lists/leads from your local county courthouse? I was listening to episode 332 of the BP Podcast recently. Brent Moreno and his partner were being interviewed and they mentioned how they go to their local county courthouse and request lists of vacant/distressed properties. I tried to do the same thing but got denied because that type of information is exempt under FOIA rules. 

Does anyone know of a workaround?

[Corby Goade]

Your county won't have records of properties that are distressed or vacant- how would they know that?

The records you want are non-owner occupied properties- that's a start. Secondly, you should be able to get records of notice of default, then you know who is in some sort of financial trouble- that doesn't mean the property is vacant or distressed. 

If you want to dig deeper, you can get records of federal tax liens- that can be a rabbit hole, but you never know what you'll find. 

Good luck!