Motivating owners of vacant property
Hello. New investor here trying to get my game plan in order. At the end of the street I live on are two vacant houses, one with a gaping hole in the roof. Researching in property records, I find they (along with several other properties around town that seem vacant on Google maps) are owned by an orthodontist that lives about 10 miles away. He acquired them in the early 80s, all the liens show released, and google searches of these two addresses show other names; indicating he likely used to rent them to tenants. They are in disrepair and have city code liens for having to lock them up to keep out vagrants.
My question is this: I get yellow letters myself from investors seeking to acquire property in the area, so I can reasonably assume someone has tried to make offers to him before on those properties. I want to know what motivates someone to hold vacant houses so I can see if I can use that knowledge to advantage in a negotiation. It would be plausible if he bought them in the 80s in a different regulatory era that he was offsetting his orthodontist income with passive losses. But then property management became too much of a hassle and he gave up. If he hasn't sold yet even though he could, what would change his mind?
Anyone have similar experiences with real estate "hoarders" that own property with no clear goal for it? How do you convince them it's in their interest to accept an offer? Thanks for any suggestions.