I just received a list of code violations in my county (overgrown grass, accumulation of rubbish etc) and I was thinking about cold calling these property owners to wholesale or purchase their properties cash.

The list goes all the way back to 2015, any wholesalers have any luck with these? If so, how far is too far to go back to skip trace? 

Also, are there any indicators that show that the property would have a more motivated seller like overgrown grass or sideways and driveways or vacant lots?

I first heard of them through the BP podcast with Tom Krohl. 

@Clayton Hepler Focus on the violations that speak to distress. For example high grass violations are an indicator, but multiple high grass violations or a citation and/or abatement by the city is even better. Violations like loud dog or improperly parked vehicle etc are not indicators of distress or vacancy and should be disregarded. Also, if the list is in an XL spreadsheet then highlight the duplicate addresses. If a property has several different violations thats also worth looking into. Hope this helps, good luck!!

@Lydia T. Thank you so much it does :)!

Have you looked into Lien and Nuisance Property Abatement as a strategy? A lot of good deals can be had by approaching and developing relationships with city and county officials. There is a major city in the US that spends 15 million a year demolishing vacant houses. Great opportunity to acquire them for 1000 and under maybe even a dollar and wholesale them.

@Clayton Hepler Code violations are good, even though they go back that many years. Do you have the date on the file? How about the tax-bill-mailing address? Without the owner's current address, it can be very expensive to try to track down phone numbers.

Another list to consider is Seniors with Low Financial Stability Scores. These folks are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. They are off-market and can really benefit from not having to fix things up before listing with an agent for the cumbersome traditional sale.

You can work with a list broker to get both the list and the phone numbers.