Deed Owner dead... What do I do?

Question

So, I am very new to this whole process. I am brand new at this and was "driving for dollars" and found a place that looked good. I went home and researched it on my local assessors website. Turns out they have Delinquent Taxes on the place. Pretty sure this is what I am looking for. Now the person lives out of state "about a 13 hour drive". The "owner"  looking through records on google I find has died back in 2014, the current year is 2020. It seems her husband is still alive at a sprite 86 years of age. I have not talked, mailed, or messaged anyone. So he could be gone for all I know. But... the question is still the same. How do I go about this as far as a wholesale deal? and or purchase it for myself if it is the right price? I really need help. Thanks in advance :) Only her name is listed as the owner on the assessors office by the way...

Bob Floss II · Answer

@Lynn Belnap First step is find out if the husband is alive. If you pay for a skip trace you should be able to figure it out. Send a letter to the husband and any children. If she had a will, it probably went to husband. If she didn't have a will, it likely is owned by husband and her children, although it depends on your state. They can sell it but you have to get all the heirs to sign off on it. Get a good attorney to help you, there are a lot of legal hoops to jump through to complete the process.

Frank Luna · Answer

@Lynn Belnap I can definitely help I’ve done several of these. First step is to contact that heir(s).

Lynn Belnap · Answer

@Bob Floss, Thank you for your advice, I do not mind putting some money into this beforehand, but when would be a good time to get the attorney?

Lynn Belnap · Answer

I might be giving you a call here shortly, thanks for looking/helping.

Lynn Belnap · Answer

Crazy story Chin, But to answer your question, If playing detective and running down rabbit holes makes me some money and gets me into the game, I don't mind running around.

Frank Chin · Answer

PM is a property manager. When my dad was in his 80's, had trouble walking, doesn't drive, so it's not easy to collect rent, do maintenance for the rentals. We suggested a PM but my brother volunteered.

Who can you talk to on this? Normally the husband inherits the wife's estate, unless there is a will that names someone else. If it only has her name on it, quite possible she remarried, and left the property to her children from another marriage. That's why people don't probate because it could be a huge complication. We just probated my MIL's estate and had to lay out attorney fees, and the process took about a year with everything working OK, no squabbling siblings, no other heirs coming out of the woodwork. If not, it could take years.

I was communication with a driving for dollars investor, thinking like you, these case involved less competition, and related one situation he came across:

" I am reading your post and so fascinating.  Here is the messed up story with this one, it is a house with a lot of land.  The house literally looks like it will fall down any second, I thought it was vacant but later found out there is actually a sibling living in there.  You hit on everything in your reply to me.

The property was owned by lets call him JOHN DOE, john doe was married to wife  (will come back to her later) and had 4 children.

john doe jr, 2 nd chilrd, 3rd child, youngest son.  The middle two are mentally disapled and live in group home.  The older one and the younger are fighitng over house and land.  Turns out, JOHN DOE also owned a home across the street.  JOHN DOE JR, impersonated his father and sold the house and kept all the money for himself (same name and everything so thats how he did it)  now the younger brother lives across the street and is holding that house over his older brother, because his older brother screwed him.  On top of that, they borh don't want to probate the will because then the two mentally disabled siblings will get a share.  so they are waiting for them to pass away... (this is what one relative told me all under me swearing to never bring up her name and remain anonymous)

Wife passed away, and JOHN DOE remarried wifes bestfriend 6 months after... these 2 brothers hate her, wife 2 recently passed away.

its a crazy story , i have not been able to stop thinking about it till i found out about it, and trying to figure out if there is anyway to buy the land, worth about $800k-$1mil for development.

Should I go knock on the door of older brother and younger brother? (I have their addresses) I don't think this will go anywhere, and I want the property so bad!!!"

I told him, don't waste your time on it!!! Who should he speak to?

There are stories I seen on crime documentaries, where the estate was never probated, taxes were never paid, but too small for the authorities to bother with. What happens is some relatives squat there, living rent free for years, till someone, a real estate investor, kicks him out.

There is a vacant property a block from me, lawns not mowed, dilapidated for several years. Turned out the owner is in a nursing home out of state. He had dementia, and someone had to be named a guardian since his wife died. It came into the local news as some scammers changed the deed to their name, took out a HELOC for $200K, cashed out and skipped town. The scam got found out when the bank came looking for payment, and found out the owner was in a nursing home somewhere, out of state. It was resolved later, but that's another long story. It took a while for it to be straightened out. The bank cancelled the HELOC and took the loss.

So the question is are you a real estate investor, or do you have more fun playing private detective, running down rabbit holes that you waste time and money on. What would you do if the husband is in a nursing home, 13 hours away, has dementia, and needs a guardian appointed if he needs to talk to anyone. After going through that, turns out you have to deal with squabbling siblings.

Steve Morris · Answer

Well, you're going to need to find out how to get a clean title by closing.

If it's in probate, that's a while to clear up.  Think paying a local atty to find out is the fastest way.  If you really like it, maybe a lease with option to buy and agreement not to accept other offers is the way?  I've heard that and it keeps the property in your grasp.

Lynn Belnap · Answer

@Frank Chin what is PM? And I am eager to see if I can do this deal. If others are scared then that just means less competition. But my question seems unanswered still. Like I said before, they owe taxes on the place, roughly 5,000 American greenbacks. So who can I talk to about this? Any help is much appreciated.

Frank Chin · Answer

I think estates is one of the most time consuming types of deals to consummate. And you don't know if it ever went to probate, and the reasons for not selling. There usually is a reason.

My parents died a few years ago and we inherited a mortgage free property finally sold for $1.1 million. My mother in law died last June and left her coop ARV of over $310K to my wife and her sister. My MIL place was vacant for two years, she was incapacitated  by a fall, and her children including us was taking turns taking care of her, hoping when she gets well, she'll have a place to return to. Discussed selling it, but where will she go to when she gets well, to a nursing home? MIL was always nervous about going to nursing homes.

My parents had a mixed used property they rent out, stores and apartments, had it since 1963 when they bought it for $25K, was worth $1.1 million at their passing. Through the years, had investors offering to buy it. Finally, we concluded it's better they'll keep it, pass it to their kids, rather than sell and get hit with a  huge capital gains tax of over a million. They passed a few years ago, we inherited the place with no capital gains with the stepped up basis on taxes. Capital gains for us of over a million is too much to ignore.

An investor I know who specialize in these cases would do a long term NNN lease, with an option to buy. The advantage he cites with this approach is often more convenient for heirs as they don't have to look for buyers, and in the meantime, the lessor acts as the PM handling all matters, usually for tired landlords. The heirs avoid cap gains. But you'll have to hang on to the property for a while. But the way I see it, people driving for dollars has no time or interest doing this way, rather make money faster with a quick flip or wholesaling.

Deed Owner dead... What do I do?

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