Hey Everyone, 

I have been driving for dollars in my neighborhood and I came across a vacant house in a fairly nice neighborhood. It is a fixer for sure......there's a mountain of garbage by the side of the house and when I got to the door, there wasa sign from the city stating the house. Is condemned because there is no power or water to the house.  The main structure  looks in good shape though. 

So here is my question, on the notice is also the owners name and address which is about ten blocks away. do you think I should go knock on the door?.....send them a letter? Or work on getting their number to call them?  OR... all of the above?.....also. A list of some good questions to ask them would be awesome as well.

Thanks

Kevin Carbon

Go knock on the door today, Be friendly and smile, Say you were looking for a home in the area to fix up and invest in and when I was knocking on doors on main street a resident there said the house at 123 main may be for sale. So I checked and found out you are probably the owner of that house and I thought I would stop by and find out if you would  consider selling it?

Also see if you  can research the last sale price and current lien status on it .  Has it been foreclosed?  Then talk to the owners to see what would motivate them to sell (quck close , cash deal )

Yes, if the home has already been foreclosed on it will do no good to talk to the owners.  If they owe more than it is worth it will be a very difficult buy.  

GO KNOCK ON THE DOOR.  If it is not in foreclosure, you want to make sure you are the "first on scene".  Do you have any fears with knocking on the door @Kevin Carbon  ?

Hey, thanks for all the tips, so this is what ive found out today from the title company. It is  being sold at a trustee sale on Jan 9. Please bare with me...That's the same as a foreclosure sale?.... So what I can gather is the original deed 191,000.00 and they are 75,000 in default. the papers also say if that amount is paid by the end of Dec that would stop the sale.  Is this something I should pursue or should I move on...

Hey @Kevin Carbon  , just an FYI...

There's a law in Washington state called the Distressed Property Conveyance Act (RCW 61.34 + RCW 9.94A).  Working with pre-foreclosures as an investor can be a class B felony, Level II offense.

A lot of experienced investors in the area avoid pre-foreclosures because of this law.

thanks for the reminder Nghi Le , I know about that law , I forgot to mention that it's a non occupant owner:)

@Nghi Le  yeah if the owner LIVES a few blocks away it's clearly non-owner occupied...:)

Ahhh, my mistake. I tend to do more skimming than reading during the late hours of the night, and my head isn't always thinking straight at that time either :-) 

Just be sure that it doesn't "look" like they're owner occupied either, for example if the tax mailing address matches the property address. Lawyers will always try to find ways.

Any updates on this? I'm new as well and I'd really like to hear about your experience.

Hey Ross, 

Tomorrow I am going to stop by the owners house with my mentor and see what we can find out. The house in question is definitely vacant and a non owner occupied... It is going to auctioned off in January. That's what u know at this point. I will keep you updated.

Kevin

Thanks for the update. Best of luck to you.