Marketing To A Tax Delinquent List

[Sydney Chamberlain]

I just grabbed the tax delinquent property list for my county and I am considering doing a direct mailing campaign to the property owners. However, I have a couple questions about due diligence. 

First, if an owner gets back to me, do I reach out to a title company (or someone else) to learn about the liens, mortgages, and potential amount owed on the property? 

Secondly, could any experienced investors let me in on some of the criteria they use to value a property? Is it just the amount owed and then some? 

Thanks in advance :) 

[Jonathan Holmes]

I wouldn't want to pay for a title search until I have a deal in place. Once that is done and I am moving forward then the title search will happen and if it comes back different from what the owner says it will you back out. Otherwise you could end up spending a lot cash running searches on properties when a deal can't be made anyway. 

Comps aka Comparable properties. Is it a three bedroom two bath? Look for a recently sold property (6 months or less) that's generally the same and see what its sale price is. You should look for the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garage space, lot size, square footage. Similar amenities like central air, pool, location etc. Look at as many of these as you can find. That will give you an idea of what the property should be worth after all repairs. Then you need to figure out repair costs. A standard formula is .75 * After Repair Value (ARV) - repair cost= maximum purchase price.