Finding/skip tracing absentee elderly owner

[Edward Badal]

Hello BP community,

I wanted to get some advice in skip tracing the owner (or decision maker) of a property I've had my eye on for a bit.  Some background on the property - it's a large 5/3 in a nice, quiet neighborhood that about a year ago had a fire and there's probably 200k+ of repairs that are needed.  It's sat that way this whole time and neighbors tell me the "owner" was waiting for insurance to come through (I'm told it was a space heater fire).  It's been vacant the whole time and is in total disrepair.  

After some Googling and digging, it seems the home is owned by an elderly lady who may be in a nursing home now and I'm not sure how to track down the right party with whom to speak about a sale.  She seems to have some family in the area but I'm not sure they're in a position of authority regarding the property.

My questions are as follows:

1) does anyone have any advice on how to track down a decision maker for an elderly person's property for which they seem to have no involvement anymore?

2) any advice on how to work around a potentially stonewalling family member?

3) if I were to tell the decision maker they could keep the insurance proceeds and I would assume the property as-is, would this be legal?  In other words, does the insurance payout have to be used for remodel or could they just pocket it and move on upon the sale of the property?

Thank you in advance!

[Rick H.]

It’s easy to get off topic and mission (“Skip-trace a target;” record owner in this case).

I suggest you retrace your steps and begin by asking yourself if this opportunity will be worth the effort and expense. This means some very preliminary guesstimate about current equity, etc. concerning the subject property. 
Now a word of advice from someone who has decades of experience working with 1,000’s of estates, including Conservatorships: a (72) year old woman is considered a vulnerable adult. Think OPTICS (people don’t look at your reasons for paying a fraction of market value and ignore your fire damage repair costs.

Ok, let’s continue. Local fire dept will likely have record of fire incident. Get the back story from them as well as neighbors. Go to SD probate court and search the woman’s name. Invest $100 - $250 for a skip trace service to access their databases and do the work for you (better use of your time and money). If target woman is in a facility HIPPA laws will prevent release of that info to you. It’s not inconceivable that she’s incarcerated, BTW, or institutionalized.

Ancestry can be a helpful site to determine genealogy. Skip trace reports may provide info or clues about offsprings, siblings and common relatives and associates. I would wager a (72) year old woman would be unlikely to desire returning to a 5-Bd house, especially is multi-level.

Lastly, this property will certainly be on the radar of local code enforcement agency. I’ve been a member and speaker at the state organization and they HATE house flippers! You will alienate yourself if you ask for “lists” but might find a friendly person who works in the field. Otherwise, next step for property will be court appointed Receiver taking over.