Please gave me advise on a vacant house

[Jim Keegan]

I am interested in buying house that has a foreclosure notice on the door.  I don't know what stage of foreclosure it is in and have never purchased a foreclosure before. This is what I know...

1.  The house is in Va Beach 

2.  Bought in 2015 for 210k, Zillow estimate at $370k (so let's say $340k on the safe side)

3.  Real estate taxes owned according to city website is $3k.

4.  The name of the owner.  I unsuccessfully tried to contact him via Facebook. 

5.  House was recently rented. So, I am thinking it doesn't need too much work.

6.  Wells Fargo holds the note.

Here is where I need help from the biggerpocket community.

I am thinking of asking some people who posted on his Facebook page if they can get me in contact with the owner, as his page seems to be unused.  I am also thinking of using a skip tracing service to see if I can get additional contact information.  I haven't been able to find the foreclosure notice in the local paper. 

How should I proceed?  Should  I hire a title company, realtor, or foreclosure attorney to help me?  If I can't find the owner I can bid at the courthouse steps, should  I get a title search down ahead of time?  Any insight would be great!  

[Donna Thurman]

First off, all the foreclosure information should be readily available through the County Clerk, / Records, to find the owner you can do a skip search,  I would hold off on any other purchases until you find the owner of the house, they are probably out of town owners.  I would refrain from asking people on Facebook though, as you said, it does not look like it is used. Also, Property Tax records will show the Mailing Address of the owner.

https://www.vbgov.com/property-search

here is the link to the property search, happy hunting