Abandoned House!! 23 posts by 8 users

Posted: 02/07/2008 at 10:54AM

I am a new realtor/investor and have found a house that has been abandoned but need some advice. A neighbor told me they had their car repo'd then they just moved out; this was less than a month ago so it may not have gone into foreclosure just yet. I peeked through windows and they have definately vacated but the property is in a mess. The house should be valued at about $100k and it appears they bought it in 2004 but did find out they owe about $5400 in taxes. What is the best route on this possible deal? How do I find out who the lender is? etc. Your advise is greatly appreciated!!! :shock:

Posted: 02/10/2008 at 10:36AM

Kathy had good advice for talking to neighbors, etc. When the people JUST left, its harder to find people as databases haven't been updated to show new addresses, numbers, etc.

Finding out who the lender is will not be any use to you. Until the bank owns the house, you will need the owners permission to speak to them.

Go to the Central Appraisal Distict website for the County the house is in. It will list the current owner and last known address (likely the house they just left).
Keep looking around the site for links to the County records and you should be able to do a search to find out what liens the house has filed for/against it (mortgage, etc.).

If you get to talk to the owners, simply tell them that you understand the house is vacant and neighbors indicated that they weren't coming back and you want to know if they are interested in selling. Its that simple with abandoned homeowners.

Two other tips:
1) Mail a letter to house they abandoned and write on the envelope
" return service requested" You will get the letter back and if they
left a forwarding order, the post office will list the new address on
the envelope.
2) Tape a note/letter in an envelope with the owners name on the outside
of it to the front door. Many times the owners have not gone far and
will go by the house to check mail, mow the grass, etc.

Posted: 02/11/2008 at 05:25PM

Hi,

Sorry I disagree with the DFW Mentor...No hard feelings. However, depending on who the lender/servicer or owner is could mean maybe getting a discounted note if it would help any depending on the circumstances if you have cash.

For a note sale you don't need the homewoners permission to talk. Discounted notes are sold regularly.

Best of luck,

Kathy

Posted: 02/11/2008 at 10:06PM

No disrespect to either Kathy or Becky but...

While Kathy is commenting on something that IS possible and she is correct... I have to say that I don't feel that attempting to buy the note in Becky's case, would be the best option.

Based off of what Becky has said thus far, I would guess that she is fairly new to the business.
Buying notes is not an entry level job. I think it requires a good amount of skill and experience to do.
Giving Becky the benefit of the doubt, lets say that she was able to buy the note. She would still need to know how to proceed from that point in order to get the property. She would have to go through the foreclosure process as a lender.
I don't think this particular situation would be ideal for a new investor to break into the business.

In my mind this could be compared to an elementary student attempting to take a high school or college course.

PM me if you would like the contact info for a PI that I have referred in the past that charges well under $50.

Posted: 02/22/2008 at 11:29PM

[b]Crazy?... No!
Stupid... Yes! [/b]

Come on… So you are saying… Put out thousands of dollars on a house you don’t own or have title to… Then spend more money to make it rentable and fix it up, then rent something you don’t own or have any ownership interest in?

First of all, that sounds real similar to all those “Equity Skimming” transactions that are on Dateline and 20/20 with people being investigated by the FBI and getting sentenced to Federal prison… Now there is a free place to live!

Not to mention if you did get away with it, what are the odds that the owner wouldn’t find out? How about the next time they pulled their credit report… Tried to but a car… Buy another house in 3 or 4 years…

Sorry, but that idea is tied for 1st for the worst “Real Estate Investing” idea I have ever heard…

PS Let me know how many homes you would like to reinstate the mortgage on... I will get the deed from someone in foreclosure, and you can swing on by and reinstate the loans for me...

Posted: 02/23/2008 at 02:01PM

Hey, I have an idea…

How about once you find a house, track down the owner and offer to buy it from them? Just an idea…

After all, if you don’t think the owner will ever find out or come around for 10 years, then I would guess they probably would sell…

Posted: 02/24/2008 at 01:43AM

Eric,

Adverse possession is more or less what you are describing and completely legal when done correctly.

If the owner is not likely to come back it is a calculated risk.

The initial idea is not something I would follow but there is a fair amount of logic to it. It does happen.

Posted: 02/24/2008 at 10:14PM

Legal or not, it is just a bad idea. At the very least, it is a technique where one would have to lack poor moral character and judgment… I agree it is not something I would do either.

Spot on Eric...

This is BY FAR the worst thread I have ever come across on the site. CREATIVE REI at it's WORST!

Lets's assume I see a house that is vacant and decide to try what deadmule is suggesting here.

I break in, remodel, fix up, rehab or whatever...
I advertise the house being for rent...
I SIGN a rental agreement or or WORSE a lease with some un suspecting family...
They move in...

NOW- let's remember here that a vacant house can be in the process of
A) Foreclosure
B) Bankruptcy
C) Probate
D) Out of state or in state owner who just does not give a dam and CHOOSES to leave their house vacant and looking a bit neglected for as many years as they CHOOSE

Now, after you have broken in, altered and defaced the property for the good or bad.. After all your improvements might not be what the OWNER had in mind!! Gee? Now you rent or lease a property that you have NO right-title or interest in. (Why don't you just LEASE OPTION) this stolen property to make things worse on everyone involved) All is well an your collecting rent and banking it ( Or more really mis appropriating funds on stolen property which you have NO right ,title or interest in AND:

A) The bank forecloses and there is a new owner or the bank takes it back. They go to evict and the renter or lease holder and they answer the complaint. They go to court and explain that they have a lease that was not signed by the foreclosed owner, but you. See where we are going here?

B) The owners file a B.K. and the trustee finds YOUR tenants in THEIR home.. Hmm? That would be easy to explain to the courts.

C) Probate courts get involved and find these renters in the home and YOU as the person who signed the agreement.

D) The out of state owner either sells the home on Craigs list and settles title with an out of state buyer through an attorney. The buyer has a local property manager go check out the place that YOU signed a rental agreement on and finds YOUR/ or rather NOT YOUR tenants in there.

In any case, what a mess! Ethics aside, CLEARLY, none of these scenarios play out good at all.

If YOU have assets, you may just find yourself in a HELL a mess as a result of a civil suit, in which I would clearly see the Judge NOT being open mined to your answer, to ANY complaint filed with the court. $$$$$

You could easily find yourself with FRAUD charges file against you and it could go FELONY depending on the dollars involved with the scam.

I could go on for hours, but I need to wind this up. YOU have NO right, tile or INTEREST in the abandoned home what so ever and it is plain WRONG
and NOT ETHICAL to even SUGGEST the above in your posts.

Now I would assume being that your not on title, that you would just pocket the rents and would care less even if their were an underlying mortgage on the property etc. So I might assume that you would not use your real name or real address on the renal or lease agreement either.
Then you would have nothing to fear I guess, except FEAR it self, RIGHT?

Well, that's my summary of the worst CREATIVE REI STRATEGY I have ever seen or heard of.

I say- LOCK THIS THREAD!

Any Votes??

Posted: 02/24/2008 at 11:02PM

O.K.-Thats one vote for " keep it open"

Posted: 02/25/2008 at 03:25AM

Why keep it open? So more people can get knocked about?

We are way past discussing the details so let it die. Some of the advice provided by those who think the idea is dumb are inaccurate.

Brainstorming is obviously not what we were doing here. Lets move on.