Hi All,
I am finding diamonds in the rough and need some experienced help. I would love to hear some of your successful stories as well as what type of tactical approach you used to, for lack of a word, win this deal. Keep in mind these are distressed properties and are vacant and boarded up, or not.
If you wouldn’t mind, please provide what you did (letter, called, or showed in person) and what information you included to them to get their attention along with some appropiate questions to ask them.
Here are the situations…
1. Has a vacant/distressed property, sent to nursing home, address is forwarded to relatives nearby. The taxes are owed 3 years back.
2. Has a vacant property, has a forwarding address to another city, and the taxes are owed 2years back
3. Has a Vacant Property, Deed shows Probate from spouse, taxes are owed 3 years back.
It appears I am going to need to act fast and need to seem like I am helping them out, as this is what most of us do for people in these situations. I would love it even more if someone would contact me via email that has experience with this.
Thanks in Advance!
Lee R. L.
Wow! 40 people viewed but not one success storie or any feedback! Any takers out there?
Finding vacant properties and then finding the owners is an art in my opinion. Beyond that you then have to get the sometimes unwilling owners to sell. I’ve never understood why some owners are unmotivated to sell their unused assets, but that’s the way it is.
All 3 of the properties you mentioned are delinquent in their property taxes. Your state may either have a tax deed sale, or tax lien certificate sale coming up with these properties on the list. Check with whatever the county revenue department is for that.
As far as what questions to ask the owners, your going to have to just go with the flow. Sometimes you have to tip-toe around certain subjects that may turn them off. You just need to feel out the owner to fill whatever hidden agenda they have.
I send the property owners a letter first. A week later, if I haven’t heard anything from the owner, I will call them if I can find them. The goal is always to meet with them in person ASAP to get in the property, look around, and negotiate face to face. You just have to do whatever it takes.
Keep track of every vacant or distressed property you find. Also, keep notes of every attempt you made to contact the owner. I just finished a rehab on a property that I found over 2 years ago and just made contact with the owner 3 months ago. I had taped a letter in a plastic bag to the front door that finally got read. There’s your success story.
Awesome Danny! Thank you for sharing your success story! It really helps me understand how successful I may or may not be with vacant owners (expectation; expect the unexpected) and how I should go about contacting these owners. I have one more questions. What do you include in this letter, if you don’t mind sharing?
Thanks,
Lee R. Love
I can’t give you my letter word for word because it’s copyrighted. But here are some things it includes in no particular order:
-Introduces what my company does (rehabs)
-Explains how difficult it will be to sell their property in it’s current condition
-Explains how hassle-free it is for them to liquidate their property
-It says I am looking for properties in the area and will soon have my capital tied up and they won’t be able to sell
-Urges them very politiely to give me a call or email ASAP
-The letter says that if they are currently not interested in selling the property, to keep the letter incase they change their mind later.
I make sure the letter doesn’t say anything negative about the condition of the property. I’d never use “I BUY UGLY HOUSES”, I don’t call peoples children ugly (in front of them) and I don’t call peoples houses ugly (in front of them).
Most important part is that the letter must be from YOU talking to them. Don’t use any catchy ad-type phrases like: “Turn your property into cash now!” Just a low-key personal letter to let them know your interested. The biggest mistake is coming off like your trying to sell them something, which is an automatic turn off for most people who delete 50 spam emails, hang up on 5 telemarketers and throw away 10 pounds of junk mail every single day.
Thank you for detailing the information as I know it is a little time consuming on your part, but it is very helpful to me and I appreciate it!
I have create the mailing letter and will be getting them out tomorrow. I’ll let ya know the success.
Lee