Last month I told you about the opportunity abandoned
property can represent as a new investment strategy.
Knowing that these properties exist is only half the
battle, especially if you don't have a clue as to how to go
about locating the owner. While the owner's can sometimes
be difficult to locate, if you're willing to put on a
detective's hat, you can usually locate them fairly easily.
Once you have located your target property, take a walk
around the yard and look for any clues that may have been
left behind by the owner. Many times the yard will become
overgrown and you may discover a for-sale sign lying in the
yard with a telephone number on it. You might also look in
the window next to the front door for legal notices.
Another strategy you can use is to speak with the next-door
neighbor. Explain to them that you are a real estate
investor that is possibly interested in purchasing the
property. Ask if they happen to know how you might be able
to go about getting hold of the owner. If you have a
business card, give it to them, because this can build
credibility for you. They may not know how to reach the
owner of the property, but a lot of them know much more
than they're willing to tell you. By leaving your card you
give them a means of reaching you at some point in the
future if they discover the whereabouts of the owner, or
later learn how to reach them.
In addition, if they do know where the owner is, they may
not want to tell you for fear of violating a friend's
trust. If they have your card, they have ample opportunity
to contact the owner of the abandoned property to let them
know that someone is trying to reach them. You may wonder
why a neighbor might be secretive about the actual location
of the owner. It's really simple: if the owner has walked
away from their property, they know that the bank will
eventually be trying to reach them. Furthermore, they may
be experiencing other financial difficulties as well. If
this is the case, the neighbor may just be trying to
protect them from bill collectors or process servers. In
any event, by leaving your card you do make it available
for the owner to reach you.
If your efforts to reach of the owner through the next-door
neighbor or other nearby neighbors don't yield results, you
can always venture a trip to the county courthouse for a
manual records search. This can be somewhat
time-consuming, but when you're done, you will have the
name of the owner. With this information in hand there are
a couple of other strategies you could implement.
The first is to go online to www.reversephonedirectory.com
and fill in the information that you do know. It'll cost
you a few dollars, but it may very quickly yield results in
the form of a telephone number you can use to contact the
owner of the abandoned property. If that resource fails to
pay dividends, there are other resources online as well. A
simple Google search may tell you what you need to know.
Another way you can try to reach the owner of the abandoned
property is by putting the power of the US Postal Service
to work for you. Simply address an envelope to the owner
of the abandoned property and mark the front of the
envelope "Address Correction Requested". Once you've
ensured that you've put your return address on the
envelope, mail it. When the Postal Service sees that
you're requesting an address correction, they'll send you a
postcard with the owner's updated address if they have one
on file.
These strategies aren't guaranteed to locate the owner of
every abandoned property, but they'll usually yield results
more than 90% of the time. Once you locate the owner and
make contact with them, you can present a creative offer
that will not only solve the owner's problem, but will help
you to expand the size of your own real estate empire. You
can utilize traditional or creative investment strategies
at this point. Because the owner has his back against a
wall, he's usually willing to entertain any idea that will
solve his problem, especially if you can help his problem
go away with minimal pain. Whatever approach you utilize,
abandoned properties are an excellent means of taking
advantage of investing opportunities that you may have
previously overlooked.
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Mike Lautensack is a real estate entrepreneur and creator
of the Private Lender PowerPoint Presentation Kit. This kit
is loaded with tools and techniques to attract a consistent
stream of private investors. To learn more about this
powerful step-by-step kit go to
http://realestatewealthtoday.com/page2.html
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