Approaching a Distressed home owner

[Madison Holbrook]

In my area there is a home where the lawn is completely dead and bare. Gutters are falling off. Driveway is cracked. Blinds are damaged or not on in places. Mailbox is fallen over. Car is late 90’s or early 2000s and looks worse for wear. The property looks distressed. I’ve never seen anyone come or go from it. Upon a spear of the tax parcel assessor site the home values are between 200-250k. Owner is a single male in his 60s. I do not think that this has actually caught up to market prices even though it is from ‘19. Homes updated and similar are selling for 315-320. Listing at 350k they’re sold within 30 days so it’s a sellers market. 

In a situation such as this how would you approach someone who I’d like to offer buying the house in distressed condition (subject to major huge things such as foundation issues.) 

is this person a likely candidate for selling? Or aM I way off base? 

How much of a discount on this would you aim for? Go off of tax assessor or neighbor selling prices? 

25-35% off? Or?

How do I find out when this property last sold?

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Ehsan Rishat:

@Madison Holbrook the initial stage to approach this homeowner would be to send a postcard every two weeks for 2 months. If you don't hear from him, then the next step would be to skiptrace his contact number and make a call. You need to try these steps before door knocking. 

I disagree if its just one house your honing in on .. why someone is writing letters  someone else is door knocking and taking your deal.

Go door knock no reason to send letters to just one person that your fixated on..  letter campaign is a shot gun approach not a laser focus.