Tracking down an absentee owner

[William Brown]

Found a super distressed property in Winchester, VA going door to door with my business partner. House is in terrible condition. Walked down another house and spoke to neighbors, saying that the owner does not live there anymore and is looking to sell it. Foundation problems, I believe its going to be a full rehab/possible tear down. We went to the courthouse and printed out a copy of the owners information. We have his name and other address as well as the assessed value of the property in question. There is serious meat on the bone here for an investor and we are looking to wholesale.

What have you all found to be the most effective means of tracking down an absentee owner's contact info? We tried whitepages, as well as a couple other free services but have not had much luck. Any advice/tips are appreciated. Thanks!

[Clayton Barnes]

Mail something to both addresses. If he has forwarding in place it will likely get to him. Did the neighbors know of any way to contact him? If the property is in terrible condition they would likely love for someone to rehab it.

If his name is somewhat uncommon you can probably use any of the skip trace sites out there and get some info on the person for a fairly minor fee. If his name is super common, then it is much harder to use those.