Missing Owner properties

[Rick H.]

Any other investors out that that work Orphan (vacant & abandoned property) deals?

I started working foreclosures in 1978 and, although I'm best known as a probate investor guy, I really love working the weird stuff. Here's my short list of the primary reasons people leave their houses , during all economic cycles:

1. Drugs and alcohol. While certainly no laughing matter, druggies & alkies provide about 25% of our opportunities, I figure
2. Incarceration. Be careful here. These sellers may lie to you to when truth sounds better!
3. Skipped. Sometime people just want to get outta dodge before selling.
4. Severe mental & emotional problems. We used to call them 'goofy" but that's insensitive. Also, it's not so funny when you have an owner who has lost touch with reality.
5. Senior dementia. This is a particularly tricky area. Your target property owner may be alive and living in an assisted living or nursing facility around the corner or hundreds of miles away. The challenge is to find someone with the capacity and power to do business with you
6. Deceased. All the expensive government studies have concluded that people will continue to die and leave messes. Count on it. BTW, in my State, California, it is not automatic that a property will be probated when the owner dies. Some properties just fall between the cracks.

Any other investors here hunt for these properties and work these type of deals? Is there enough for a separate discussion group?