Driving for dollars, found a possible flip...

[Derreck Wells]

Hey all,

I was riding the motorcycle today (getting in every minute I can before the cold gets here) and came across an abandoned property. I must have driven past this house hundreds of times in the last few years, but never noticed it until today. 

I stopped and knocked on the door, no answer. Read the note from the city that the water was shut off a couple of weeks ago for non-payment. Total owed about $500. Went around to the front door, fought through the trees, brush, and thorns to knock on that one; no answer. You literally can't see the front of the house from the street 10 feet away, the brush is so thick. 

Walked around the house and entered through the open bulkhead into the basement and took a self guided tour. Looks like the house has been vacant for many years, no real water damage, but horsehair plaster is falling in some places from temp changes. The kitchen and a greenhouse were added as an addition on a  slab and is destroyed. Roof gone (hole right through), walls rotted, etc. That section would be a total demo/rebuild. The main structure is solid, it's just the addition that needs to go. 

I spoke to the neighbor and she told me the house has been vacant and the addition was covered with a tarp for the 4 years she's been living there. It was tarped before she moved in. The tarp is shredded and dangling in strings from years of exposure with no maintenance. 

So, I got home and looked it up on the assessors database. The listed owner is the one on the letter from the town. The address on the letter is to a mailboxes etc in MA. I searched the name and found the owners obituary. I dug a bit deeper and found his wife's obituary a year later. Both listed as owners in the assessors database. Both obits were from Maine. An intellius search confirms that they lived at all three addresses, the house in NH, the mailbox in MA and the house in Maine. It also points me at a daughter that has been married twice and lives in a different city in MA. 

Knowns:

• Both listed owners died 8-9 years ago.
• They bought the house in 1971, last mortgage I could find was discharged in 2002.
• The property has been vacant at least 4 years.
• Property needs about $75,000-$100,000 worth of work (if I hired it out, I can do it much less myself). Will be valued about $250,000 when done. 
• It's currently a 4 bed, 1 bath, no kitchen house. (Would add a bath with the kitchen build) sitting on about a quarter acre in a desirable southern NH town.
• The town filed a lis pendens and has a $5000 lien on the house from 2011 over a removal of collapse room off the kitchen. That would be when they tarped it. (Court paperwork lists the owners as "(deceased)". 

Unknowns:

• Why hasn't the daughter claimed ownership? Didn't she get the memo? Mail not forwarding from the mailbox due to not keeping up with the payment?
• How far into back taxes is the house? ($3000 per year) I found a tax lien from 2005 for $2000. 
• Is the property stuck in probate? (For 9 years? Seems impossible, but I have no experience with it.)

Basically, I'm not sure how to get this property into my possession. Should I try the daughter? Maybe she did rent it out till the roof went, then just let it rot, but never actually transferred the deed? Figured she'd wash her hands of it and let the town have it. Since it's not in her name, maybe I leave her out of it completely? Should I go to the town? Is there a way I could get the to give it to me to save them the expense of dealing with it? Is there a way they can sell it to me if not outright give it to me?

I'm open to suggestions. This would make a great winter flip for me. I'd like to get it. I'm going to the town hall tomorrow and see what else I can dig up. I didn't stop there today because I was in my bike gear, didn't look very professional. ;)

Thanks for your suggestions. 

Derreck