Tracking down a property owner from an estate

[Clint Harris]

I’ve pulled county tax records on 40-50 properties before, and have an unlimited account on WhitePages to look up owner contact info, numbers, addresses, etc. I’ve done cold calls and sent a couple targeted letters. I picked up a triplex and a duplex by calling, never had success with the letters, but I’m not blasting them out like a wholesaler. Now I’ve found a property I’m very interested in, and I’ve hit a wall, was hoping for some insight.

There’s a multifamily property in my area that’s been sitting empty for several years. Built in 2004, the owner was an elderly woman that passed away in 2017. According to the neighbors, it was inherited by family, they came down several weeks ago to “do some fixing up” and it sounds like they were a little overwhelmed. Siding is falling off, paint is completely peeled, tons of deferred maintenance, and apparently a family of squirrels is living inside. So basically, it smells like money to me. Here’s where I’m stuck.

I pulled the 2020 tax records, it’s still showing as listed in the previous owner’s name, keep in mind she passed away in 2017. I pulled the obituary, all next of kin are previously deceased, no children listed. Her last known Address is Raleigh, and it sounds like that’s where the family that inherited it drove down from. I have a wholesaler friend in Raleigh that I’m hoping to get some insight from, but given what I’ve stated so far, what am I missing? How do you track down the owner of a property after it has gone through an inheritance, or if it’s owned by a trust for that matter?

[John K.]

The will is usually recorded in the deceased name, so I would search for that. If it's a fairly common name, you will have to confirm that with by any known assets of the estate. Hopefully, if a will is present, the assets are listed.

I would not put any stock into an obituary, especially if it's just a formal notification and not one taken out by a family member. The information won't be complete, when it's just a formal notification. When it comes to data sites, never put your trust in just one. None of them are 100% accurate, so you need access to 2 or 3. I use fastpeoplesearch and have very few complaints.

I would dig in deep and start doing some PI work.

1. Search Recorder of Deeds (your equivalent) for any documents ever recorded for that property, for any reason. Look for different names and addresses and search them.

2. If that county/city has an open record policy, request any and all documents pertaining to that property, over "X" number of months/years. Look for different names and addresses, that you may not have.

While it's not unheard of that a generation line is stopped, it's rare. If you can't locate children, then go wide and try to find siblings or their children. Find family members of her spouse/ex. Someone out there knew her and can put you in contact with a family member. It really comes down to how hard do you want to dig in, versus hiring an actual PI to do it for you.