My husband and I were out walking our kids tonight and talking about potential properties in our neighborhood we would like to renovate. When we turned down our street a light came on and we remembered that the little house on the corner (probably in the worst shape of any on our block by far) was owned by an old man who we suspected died many years before. It has been years since we have seen him. 

We decided to do a little research and found out that the name on the title has not change in over 15 years. We looked up death records in our state and found a listing for 2016 that matched his name and approximate age we believe. So we dug a little deeper and found that property taxes were not paid in full for 2019 and have not been paid at all in 2020.

We think that it is either relatives, but it may be just renters that were living there and they are the same people who were living with him while he was alive. Younger guys probably in their late 20's. 

The property is distressed and it appears that in a matter of time someone will discover that these tenants may not even own this house. Any advice on how to approach this situation?
 

Hi @Lauren Church , and welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!

This seems like a prime situation for:

1. - Paying the owed taxes on the house and back-dooring ownership that way (with an attorney's guidance)
2. - Skip tracing the descendants and asking them if you can purchase it.
3. - Waiting until the government takes it and sells it a tax auction.   Uncle Sam doesn't like it when you skip property taxes!

Knock.....on.....the......door! ...go from there.