All Forum Posts by: Nick Paul

@Kyle Doney That's a tough call....are you able to drop by and talk to the neighbors at all? I would recommend doing that first and see what type of information you get. Then if you don't receive any good info from them you could try contacting him via facebook. If you do end up using facebook as a means of contact, just make sure you have a good approach as to why you are contacting him and how you can HELP him in his situation. He needs to know you are trying to help him out, not take advantage of his situation. Need to pitch it as a win-win for both sides.

When I've encountered this situation I do a couple things....1.) There are companies online that offer skip-trace services that help locate phone numbers and addresses that are associated with that particular name. In my experience, the majority of the time this information is not of much value. Numbers are disconnected or an old number the person may have had 5+ years ago. Same with the addresses you get back in the skip-trace. 2.) I go talk to the neighbors and just let them know that I noticed the house was vacant, I'm a real estate investor and was trying to contact the owner to see if they might have a need to sell. Often times the neighbors have some type of information that proves to be useful. I've had more success with knocking on doors and talking to neighbors than skip-tracing people. That's just my personal experience though.

Does the assessors records still show the mailing address for property taxes as the address you are targeting? If so, then it will likely take some work to track this person down. If you are able to view records online regarding how long this person has owned the property that help to determine whether or not they have any equity in the property. If they've only owned for a couple years there may not be much  equity, making it difficult to swing any kind of deal that would be worthwhile. Just my two-cents. 

@Frank Caputo 

I'm a licensed real estate broker in New Mexico and have bought several VA foreclosures over the past couple years and have never had an issue. Unless you speak directly with the other buyer/agent it's hard to say why they would've backed out of the deal. Maybe their financing fell through last minute or they discovered something about the property that affected their ability to purchase at the price they'd negotiated. Hard to say.....did you end up resubmitting an offer on that property?

I've also subscribed to peoplefinders.com, just as @Mooro El mentioned and from time-to-time it does help me locate a number/address to those owners who seem difficult to find. It's not super accurate, but for the monthly cost I feel it's a worthwhile resource for my team to have access to.

Another thing I do is talk to the neighbors. Sometimes they have information regarding the owners whereabouts or another means of contacting them through a friend or family member.

I have yet to find a solid way to locate hard-to-find property owners except through good old fashioned hard work and persistence. Sometimes it'll take me 3+ months to locate the true owner of a vacant property but the persistence pays off. I recently closed on a house where that was the case and once I finally reached the owner, they where ecstatic that someone wanted to buy their property. Would've made my job easier if they wouldn't have went completely awol....but, that said, because they did I was able to put in the time to locate them...whereas other investors likely got burned out and gave up the lead.

Just keep searching and the deals will find you! (or the owners in this case...haha)

I would agree with @Chris Adams and @Jerry W. ......if your potential rent rate is between $800-$1000/month, there are plenty of harding working prospective tenants that won't have the "baggage" of someone who has been in trouble with the law. I don't disagree that people need a second chance, however, if I have assets worth tens of thousands that need to be rented to a quality tenant the last place I would look is for someone who has been in trouble with the law. You can screen any tenant as thoroughly as you like, but all landlords know that sometimes even the best tenant on paper becomes the tenant from hell. Why increase the risk by seeking out a prospective tenant who has already proved that in some capacity or another they were unable to do the right thing and be an honorable citizen?? That's just my two cents......

Wish you the best and hope whoever you decide to rent to becomes a great long term tenant.

@Steve Babiak @Akhil Bhargava Thanks for the feedback guys.

@Johnny Flewellen

@Johnny Flewellen I've got a website in the works to help capture this type of info along with other nuance and also a marketing campaign ready to launch once the website is live. I was just looking to do something in the meantime to jump-start this list. I have several deals right now that I'd like to turn over to investors but because I am new to this particular market unfortunately my network is still in the development stages. I'm also working with several others involved in real estate in the local market to get a REIA setup....so was looking to have a list of people to inform about it once it is established. At any rate, I'll keep building my network and see if I can't get some responses from a direct mail letter personalized to each prospective investor while I'm waiting for the website to be completed.

Input needed!

I've gathered a list of potential investors/buyers in my local market and I'd like to send a letter to gather their contact information (i.e.- Email address, direct phone, etc.). I currently have mailing address, but would like a more direct and faster means of communicating with them. Does anyone on BP have a specific letter they've used to generate a response from potential investors looking to buy property for either long-term investment or short-term fix and flip type investments?

I can easily come up with a letter to send but wanted to see if anyone here has a "tried and true" method of getting potential investors/buyers to respond with contact information.

Thanks for the feedback!

Hey @Rios Waddleton

I would also recommend checking to make sure you are able to convert the property into a four-plex. There may be some zoning issues if the property was originally built as a single-family residence. Best to find that out first.

As far as financing, as Mehran has mentioned...partnering with another investor is an option. Also, if you have any family/relatives that would be interested that is an option as well. Just be sure to put everything in writing regardless of what creative financing route you choose. Best to spell out the details of how the deal will work and what everyones roll is before a penny is spent on anything.

@Bill Gulley @Lolita Ellis....thanks for the feedback! Will go ahead with purchasing the title policy.