Tracking down a property with a deceased owner Help needed

[Scott Upshaw]

Hey all. Have some questions about a property around the corner from me that I need some advice on trying to aquire it. I will list the steps and some notes of what I have found out and maybe somebody can steer me in the right direction of how to proceed.

1. found vacant property with an eviction notice from sheriffs office posted on front door

2. from all my research the woman is dead and may possibly have children

3. went to clerks office and pulled the records.. clerk told me it looks like it was sold back to bank. also looks to be a 60k tax lien on property

4. went to tax assesors office and they said the tax bill is up to date

5 called wells fargo about property and they told me it looks like the property is still in forclosure. they wouldn't tell me the amount but from my research at clerks office it is about 70k.

Can anyone tell me how I can aquire try to aquire this property? its probably worth between 360k and 390k all rehabbed and I would like to try and get it before it hits the market and everybody is on top of it. any advice would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance

[Ned Carey]

Just because a prperty is vacant does not mean there is a deal there. It is often frustrating to new investors to see a vacant property,  thinking there must be an opportunity here. Often there is no opportunity.

If the taxes really are paid up the bank has probably paid them. If the property is in foreclosure but the foreclosure is not complete, you may possibly buy it from the heirs. That takes some detective work on your part or literally pay a private detective to track down the heirs. 

My guess is that an estate needs to be opened in order for the sale to happen. This may already be the case. In that situation you simply buy it from the estate and the bank is paid off at closing.

If the bank has already finished foreclosure then, you will most likely have to wait for the bank to list it. Large banks like Wells Fargo, simply do not sell houses one at a time to investors. They give them to agents to sell.