New to real estate in the Houston area. Any ideas on investing in the Denver Harbor/Port Houston area for abandoned or vacant properties.

Welcome to BP.

Small question with endless possibilities. 

Why abandoned houses?

Are you looking for free and clear? Deceased owner? Bank owned? Drug houses? Tear downs?

Vacant house are like turtles as they don't move very fast. Do you drive around looking for signs of vacant houses and check title for equity?

Thanks

I'm interested in abandoned houses because I figured the owners of those houses would be the most motivated to sell.

have drove around wrote down some addresses of properties that looked vacant. I did do some title research just not sure if I'm looking in the right places for that particular information.

Originally posted by @Angelo Foster :

Thanks

I'm interested in abandoned houses because I figured the owners of those houses would be the most motivated to sell.

have drove around wrote down some addresses of properties that looked vacant. I did do some title research just not sure if I'm looking in the right places for that particular information.

 My advice is to first learn how the condemnation process works in your town and then to learn how aggressive they are in knocking troubled buildings down.

@Stone Teran

Not to ask for some spoon feeding, but do you assess this by reading about it int he papers? Surely no city would say, "We love to knock old houses down." I find mine doesnt even publicize the process. 

I believe you can get a list of condemned houses in your area from theCondemnation Department. The list go out every January well at least they do in my area. 

Hi @Angelo Foster , welcome to BP. I hope to see you at next month's Houston BP meetup. If you follow @Charles Nguyen you can find out when it's happening next. 

My recommendation is that until you figure out how to find if a property actually is vacant (it sounds like you don't want to buy a list), go look up the address on HCAD.org and see if the owner address is one and the same as the property. That should give you an indication if its non-owner occupied. Write a letter and send it to them!

Good luck, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for the advice Tim and I will for sure see yall at the next BP meet up.

Originally posted by @Dave G. :

@Stone Teran

Not to ask for some spoon feeding, but do you assess this by reading about it int he papers? Surely no city would say, "We love to knock old houses down." I find mine doesnt even publicize the process. 

 Cincinnati doesn't publicize the process either.  We do, however, have a website where you can look up city orders by address.  That website will show if an order has progressed into "ordered vacant" status, condemned status or the final "nuisance" status.  I once almost bought a building that was close to being deemed a nuisance.  5 months later, the city demolished it.

Perhaps find a property that is far along in the process and call the city inspector assigned to that property.  He'll probably be willing to talk to you about the building and shed some light on the process.

thank you I'm not really looking for properties that deemed condemned. I'm more as looking for more recently vacant and abandoned properties. 

Originally posted by @Angelo Foster :

thank you I'm not really looking for properties that deemed condemned. I'm more as looking for more recently vacant and abandoned properties. 

 Yup, i understand but you should know the process inside and out so you don't buy a building that is condemned by the city a month after you buy it.

Why don't you start with researching one (1) single property?

Fishermen fantasize about catching fish after fish when they see them in a school just swimming around. Catching a single one is a different story entirely.

You'll need to know who owns a property, how to locate the owner, convince them to sell, know what paperwork is involved, how to use it, MONEY, and how you'll benefit once the property becomes your responsibility.

Hope you sort this out and make this work for you.