Cold introductions for off-market houses: Possible family death?
Hello everyone!
Introduction
I run by a house in my neighborhood that is clearly abandoned, but in a lovely neighborhood. I moved here 2 months ago, so while I don't know everything about the area, I do find it's a great place to live. I'm not in San Francisco, but further north. From the Google Maps pictures it looks like it wasn't maintained even pre-pandemic (2019).
With some research I found the property owner's name, but I can't find his occupation or any social media accounts. He's likely in his 60's, so maybe social media isn't his space. I found an apartment in town that may be another residence, but I can't be sure. Also, I found that there was another person related to the current owner (brother or father) who died in 2019 and may have been the previous owner of the property. Oddly enough this possible previous owner was involved with real estate!
This would be my first deal. My thought is to see if the owner will sell it and either BRRR or flip it depending on my finances (I'm going to start school again and may need more liquid cash to pay for my own tuition). My sister is a travel nurse and looking for a place to invest outside of the stock market and we've discussed it. She's excited to partner with me.
Challenges
I don't know if any of my contact information is accurate. I want to see if I can further verify the address of the owner. Mostly I've just been Google searching, but the name isn't terribly unique. Sonoma County seems to protect personal privacy (which I can appreciate!), but it hampering my search so far. My plan was to send a letter to the address as well as to the other apartment I found to see if the owner is interested in selling. I want to see if I'm missing another possible residence for this owner, perhaps one out of state. It seems like this person does have some family in the area, and I'm going to check with housemates if they know anything about my mystery person.
I'm not in an amazing position, but there's no time like the present! I have some cute Trader Joe's cards and I could certainly just write from the heart, but I didn't know if there are any points I should include or avoid with my first contact? I don't want to be inconsiderate or creepy, but I also want to be direct. If they're not interested I'm okay with that. It just occurred to me as I was running!
Goal: to send these letters by next Monday.
Where I'm looking for help:
1) Strategies to broaden a property owner search?
2) Cold call script for a mailed letter?
Thank you so much for any advice or thoughts that you have!