The importance of viewing properties....

 Given my healthy respect and fear of getting in over my head, I've always been a big believer of getting as much knowledge about a property prior to even opening discussions with the owner/bank/squatter/etc. There may come a day when operations will scale up to the point where this is less practical, but I can't recommend it strongly enough.

Case in point: a duplex in a B-C neighborhood that was going for 18K. Given the area and the market, this is a really good deal, but not so low that it sets off all kinds of alarm bells - you know, the ones that go off in your head when a wholesaler gives you the price first, and then you slow coax out the fact that the house is currently on fire.

Looking at the auditor's website, the clerk of courts, and the county recorders I pieced together that the original owner died a few years ago and his daughter was being foreclosed upon. She was hard to track down - the court's certified mail had all come back - but a quick look on Facebook ratted her out. Google didn't have much to say about the property or the owner, though, either positive or negative.

I gave it a quick drive-by on my way to other business, and it looked promising...the block was nice, the neighbors cared about their yards, there wasn't a great deal of evident repairs needed. I was starting to put the numbers together, but decided I really wanted a better look at the place.

While the building was pretty evidently vacant, there's never any harm in knocking - especially since it gets the neighbors' attention. True to form, neighbors on both sides popped out. The gentleman on the right side of the property, after figuring out I wasn't from the bank, proceeded to relate a story about the meth lab bust that had happened there in the recent past ("the cops were here, K9, sheriff's office, FBI, CIA, homeland security....") That was pretty much enough to stop this lead dead in its hazmat-covered tracks.

So, the lesson I learned: if there's a police blotter, it might be worth checking. Most importantly, though, is digging deep enough to find out the property's deep, dark secrets. Perhaps you'll use them to your advantage - an experienced investor with a history of meth abatement could negotiate and get a fine property. Or, like me, you'll move onto your next conquest with a palpable feeling of relief!