Real Estate Agent · Nashville, TN · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
My fiance and I are very interested in starting our investment career. I work for a real estate developer, so I have a little bit of knowledge when it comes to acquiring properties, but this one has me stumped.
We found a house in a neighborhood we like...weeds up to the roof, everything is overgrown, and signs on the door from the Codes dept saying the house is slated for demo. Here's the problem...we've called the Codes dept and advised we are interested in acquiring the property. They keep telling us they only demo the house, and they have nothing to do with the sale of the property. I've tried calling the property assessors office, I've even paid for a service to look up the owner's contact information. Every time we find a new lead, we end up back at square one.
It sounds like the actual owner either passed away, ran off to Alaska to start a new life or just decided they were done with the property. If there is no bank involved and it is owned outright it could sit there quite awhile. The reason the Code enforcement people said that is because they jump through hoops to get it condemned and then they add the cost of demo to the back taxes. Which are then usually sold off at an auction.
So really the only one that can help you is the official owner of the property. What happened when you got the owners contact information
Investor · PA · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 602 votes
9y
I wouldn't try to acquire the home at this stage. By the time it is put in your name they will probably be ready to tear it down and then they will bill you for it.
Real Estate Agent · Nashville, TN · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
9y
@Mike Cumbie I used beenverified.com and all of the numbers are inactive, we still are unable to reach the owner. How can I find out if a bank is involved?