All Forum Posts by: James Gilbert

I've got a friend who is looking at a deal in a city close to me. They are using a program that gives them a down payment assistance grant that does not have to be paid back if they stay in the property for five years. One of the stipulations she mentioned is that the property must be move in ready and require no renovations. This property is move in ready, but it just needs two ranges/ovens.(it's a duplex) Our question is what would happen if she purchased two ovens and just put them in the house completely knowing that she forfeits these if the sale falls through? Has anybody ever encountered this? She obviously doesn't want to do anything illegal. I would NEVER let her do something illegal just to get a deal, but it does seem like a creative solution to a silly problem. Any thoughts? PS She's working with the seller and her realtor is also checking on these things I just know I'm likely to get a quicker response from you guys. 

I found the owner! It was put in the tax assessor site with the wrong street name, but I found it using the legal description and an alternate searching method. Thank you all for your help.

I've tried the tax assessor, and I assumed that if someone is paying taxes on it then it must have been assessed in order for a collector to collect. I'm totally new so I don't know if this is the case. Am I wrong to assume this? Conveyance records yielded no results. I searched for  a little over an hour with no luck. I also had to pay to get access to these records. Is this common practice in most markets? I've asked the only neighbor that answered the door when I had time to stop by. They rent their property and don't know who owns the distressed property. I'm not sure how to find out which mail carrier to speak to, but I'd love a shot at that. Do you think it's worth writing the neighbors letters to see if they know? There is one neighbor that takes really good care of their property across the street. I'd be willing to bet that they would like for someone to come in and clean this property up. They've never been home when I stopped by, but a letter might work. Thank you all for your help. It may not be easy, but so far the hunt is kind of fun. 

Thank you so much for your responses. I tried to utilize the tool that you recommended Robert, but it has St. Tammany Parish as locked for some reason. I tried to find a way to join the site, but was unsuccessful. I did some additional searching and I found that St. Tammany Parish has what appears to be it's own geoportal type tool: [http://gispub.stpgov.org:8645/sttammanygis/?submit=I+Agree ] Is this similar? The property is not listed on this tool. I'm currently trying to locate the property using the conveyance records as well. Thank you so much for your help and I will post an update if I get somewhere. For those with experience, is it a bad sign or a good sign that I'm having this kind of difficulty determining the owner of this property?

Good Afternoon, 

I'm new to investing and I currently have more time than money. I found a distressed property that looks like an opportunity for a deal by driving for dollars. The only thing is that it is not listed with my Parish(I live in Louisiana so we don't have Counties) Tax Assessor. One of the neighbors I spoke with does not know who owns the house. Can someone point me in another direction here? How can you find out who owns a property when it's not listed with the Tax Assessor? 

Thanks, 

James