Vacant property owner passed no direct heirs

[Lance Queen]

I found a great potential flip driving through a nice neighborhood. I researched the title to contact the owner only to find he had unfortunately passed away 4 weeks ago. I contacted our court house and they have no death certificate and nobody has come forward to start the probate process. After going back and researching him a little more it appears he lived with his mother and when she passed in 2011 the home became his. He does not have a will on record and I can’t find any heirs or next to kin. After coming to a dead end no pun intended I contacted a friend in the neighborhood and they were able to tell me he had passed in the home and was there for almost a month before anyone found him. I looked up his obituary and it was only a couple sentences long that said where he was from and that there would be no service held for him. It looks like he has no family and not many friends. The person at the court house said to check back in a few weeks and maybe they will have more information then.

What will happen with the property?

Will the state take over his estate?

How does the state liquidate someone’s estate?

I sent a letter to the house.

What would you do?