Real Estate Investor · Colton, CA · Member since 2016 · 18 posts · 1 vote
Hey everyone, my name is Miguel and I'm a fix and flip investor based out of Southern California, Inland Empire. I'm currently flipping two properties that were sold to me by a tired landlord. The area I'm rehabbing them in has a lot of potential for more flips and I started thinking if perhaps there were more tired landlords that were willing to sell these properties. I wanted to know what is the best way or cheapest way to find out how many of these houses are rental properties with absentee owners? Without having to look each one up in property radar or the tax assessors office?
And when you start mailing to that list, you'll join the dozens of other investors contacting the same group of people. Maybe you'll have a different spin on it, but if you mail the "We buy houses," "fast cash," "As-Is" nonsense, then you'll join the ranks of dozens of investors wondering why their mail isn't working. Imagine 100 people all fishing the same beach. Sure, there's fish out there, but there's also way too much competition.
And when you start mailing to that list, you'll join the dozens of other investors contacting the same group of people. Maybe you'll have a different spin on it, but if you mail the "We buy houses," "fast cash," "As-Is" nonsense, then you'll join the ranks of dozens of investors wondering why their mail isn't working. Imagine 100 people all fishing the same beach. Sure, there's fish out there, but there's also way too much competition.
@Aaron Mazzrillo hey, I was thinking the same thing . I've been 'driving for dollars' and looking for absentees . do you have any other suggestions . thanks
If you have the money consider buying property which has been on the market for awhile. Have an agent search for property which has been on the market for 'a long time' (relative term). Ask your agent to get you title commitments on the properties. Once in a while, you can identify a property which has a defect in title or even a defect in the title commitment (title companies rely too much on their 'title plant' and I always find errors). Leverage these things to negotiate the price down on an already low priced property, fix, flip, and sell.
@Miguel Martinez sometimes Title Companies can run a farm area for you. I would try reaching out to the title company, speaking directly with their marketing person (every office has one), and tell them what you are trying to accomplish. They should be able to give you a list of the community with the info you seek.
This doesn't work in ALL states. I am told that East Coast states don't offer title company relationships like we have here out West, but California is a consumer friendly state, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting the list.
@Cara Lonsdale CA passed a law limiting what title companies can provide back in 2008. Ever since then, they can't provide anything but really basic lists.
Also, lists from title companies are out of date the minute you get them. If you really plan to farm an area you should use a provider that keeps your list constantly updated with the latest data.
@Cara Lonsdale CA passed a law limiting what title companies can provide back in 2008. Ever since then, they can't provide anything but really basic lists.
Also, lists from title companies are out of date the minute you get them. If you really plan to farm an area you should use a provider that keeps your list constantly updated with the latest data.
I agree that the lists are limited for mailing purposes. However, the OP was looking for a good/affordable way of identifying absentee owners. This type of list would accomplish that.
Yes....and?? Are you telling me that the OP has no other options than to look to you and your fee based list? I am sure it is great, but it is not the ONLY option. He CAN explore others. And just as a friendly reminder, you may want to be careful as to not violate BP rules for self promotion.
@Cara Lonsdale Yes and title companies in CA can not provide all the lists you can get in Arizona. As such I'm trying to save the OP from wasting his time, especially since he stated he was already a customer of ours, and was already paying our "fee", but just didn't realize he could create the list right in the product he was already paying for. If you don't believe me on the title companies, you can read the legislation here: ftp://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_010....
As for fee vs free - you can walk from AZ to NY for "free", or pay to take a plane. All depends on how you value your time.
Is there a way to be able to sort a list with only folks that have cell phones? I dont think I see that feature available but maybe i’m looking in the wrong area?
Also, (using the app), is there a way to sort a list by “purchase date”?
On my desktop i’m able to sort using the purhase date; however not on the mobile app.
@Account Closed - No sort for those two right now, but good suggestion, thanks! On the phone, you can copy your current list, and add the criteria "Has Owner Phone" set to yes. That would give you an identical list but of just those with phones.
Being able to sort folks that only have cell phones would help us speed things up a bit. I would love to see that feature in the future. Thanks again for the reply. Have a nice evening.