Reintroducing myself as a self-proclaimed stalker, PI extraordinaire...almost.

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Hello all!

There is a beautiful condemned, boarded up home with an incredible view that I am bird dogging for an investor. All of my, 'pre-negotiation phase work,' is coming to a close, and I can't EXACTLY pin down the home owner, her mailing address, or phone number. I really want to be sitting down with her...well, yesterday so I can get my inspector in there ASAP....but, an introduction by Tuesday is my goal.

I've seen posts about how to locate property owners who are MIA...I will shamelessly share for your entertainment, and shock...I am determined, so yes, you will be shocked...how I have gone about locating my friend who I call Wald-a. My hope is that someone will take-away a tip or two, but also that someone living without sleep deprivation will have a suggestion for me as well!

I started with the basics of course. County public records, searched the property found owners name...mailing address was condemned property. Okay. Taxes...Mailing address was condemned property. Looked up her marriage record...married...Husband's mailing address was condemned property. Okay. On to Washington State Archives. Her name, Husband's name, variations of both...every single solitary purchase they made throughout their life was new development/land, no address...mailing address was condemned property. See a pattern? Okay. To make life easy, I paid $39.95 for a background check. No phone numbers. Mailing address...you guessed it. Google. Facebook. Twitter. Talked to neighbors. Done all of that. Moving on. At this point, I am summoning my stalker spirit. I go back into the public records. Look up every person they have bought real property from, or sold real property to. See if I can make any connections through google, FB, etc. Eureka! I find the Husband's Son. Sadly, he passed. The obituary is archived. I see I can pay a couple bucks for the obituary and the guest book...GUEST BOOK! I did this. Then, spent countless hours on Facebook (I was up until 4am, my normal alarm clock went off) plugging the names of the guests into the search bar, digging through their friends lists until OMG, YES!! FINALLY!! MY HOME OWNER AND HER HUSBAND ARE ON FACEBOOK!!! They are real people, lovely people. I can help them out of their awful situation, get my investor this home he wants, collect a sweet check. Heaven is real (I knew that anyway, just want to remind my friends on BP). I start to look through their pictures, and smile, I like them....then I notice...they have not been on Facebook in years! Neither have their small list of friends and family!! What is up with that!!!?? I write a message to the daughter who was on there most recently, and tell my stalker spirit to go to sleep for now.

Next morning...I summon my PI extraordinaire spirit. Open the guest book from my obituary back up (go ahead, think what you will, this thing is gold)...and search the Washington Archives for every name in the guest book. When I find RE records that looks like it could belong to the person in their guest book, I double check on FB the spouses name on their family list, or maybe a comment someone made on a photo, "wow, you and your wife AMY look great!" Then, I plug it into the people finder that I now have an account for the month with from my background check I previously did on my home owner, and it gives me their phone numbers.

So, I have the name, address, and phone number of everyone who attended the memorial service that owns real property in the state of Washington, who is friends with them on Facebook.

Ideally, I would like to connect with the homeowner myself. I feel this concerns her and not her friends and family. Also, by the looks of it she is a very traditional Korean woman, and I need to respect her cultural business practices. Any last minute ideas on how I can locate her before I start calling, and mailing gifts to these other contacts I have?

Also, because this is a condemned property, does anyone know if I can send my inspector in with city permission, and not owner permission (she is current on her taxes and mortgage, not sure if that makes a difference...clearly not bank owned).

Thanks!!

[Rick H.]

Rachel - you are a P.I./Stalker Goddess - and just a bit obsessive. Your dedication and persistence are remarkable. I hope never to upset you.

Send me a PM and I'll send you my a checklist for dealing with vacant properties. One of the distinctions between being a truly abandoned or orphan property vs. mere vacant is that the former does not show any signs that anyone cares. If someone is paying the property taxes, they care.

Ultimately, you'll want to find catalysts (or triggers) that would cause an owner (or heir or beneficiary) to be motivated to sell. I'm fascinated at the number of owners with vacant, boarded up property that 'intend' to fix up a property (or fix up the old car in the garage, for that matter). Consequently, just because you make contact, after all the work you've done, and struggle to catch your breath after a sleepless night or two, don't be shocked if the owner(s) are not ready to sell.

If this is the case, just make friends with them and keep in touch with them. Your job then becomes to be the only person in contact with them when they are ready to let go of the house.

I wish you the best of luck. A friend of mine once commented that an old girl friend of mine and I were not really in a relationship as much as experiencing dual obsessions flying in a formation of two. He was right!