Does anyone have experience with dealing with code enforcement officers of the town you live in? I want to begin networking with code enforement officers because it seems to me that they would have first hand knowledge about properties that are vacant and run down and have been cited for this violation or that violation. I don’t know if those violations are public record or not but I think these people would be a great resource. What advice can I use to proceed with this particular avenue?
Since I own a property management business I deal with them all the time. Some are great. Some are only there to screw you.
All the nice ones call me and let me know of potential deals or properties that the in violation.
My advice. Be nice to them, do whatever they say (if you are dealing w them), be honest and tell them upfront what you want, give them tons of your business cards.
Short story…
I am doing a rehab and fired a contractor. He called and said I had illegal electrical throughout the house. An electrical inspector came and said we had a bunch of issues to correct. I called the main city inspection phone number and talked with the inspector who will be signing off on the whole house. He offered to come out and make sure we weren’t doing anything wrong. We he came he “overlooked” a bunch of small issues and just wanted to talk a little. He gave me 4 possible deals in half an hours time. He also asked me for my cards so he could give them to owners looking to get out. It turns out he is the inspector who spends 40 hours a week looking for distressed properties to write up. He deals with owners making them fix up the mess or face court action. Most owners want to sell.
Also…
In another town I bought a six family. I ran into an inspector one day at the property and he was so pleased we were actually fixing the property up, he brought me to 3 other properties in the neighborhood that he wanted me to buy and fix due to code issues. He also took a bunch of my cards.
Sorry for the long post :-X
AzonPM-
I appreciate the long post very much and thanks a couple of million for responding. I’m specifically looking for properties that have code violations filed against them and I couldn’t think of anyone who would know any better of the whereabouts of such properties than an actual code enforcement officer . I know this will take some networking on my end to establish those relationships but from your post, it will be more than worth it. Can you tip your hand to how you network with these folks? Letter, email, phone call, personal visit? I’m farming a few different municipalities and they all have separate divisions so any advice is greatly appreciated.
Here these guys are only in their office an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I would try to catch them in the office. You can try calling but they are usually busy and don’t have much time to return
“non business” calls. Do you best to meet them in person and get their CELL PHONE numbers. This way you can reach them when they are out of the office.
Say you see your dream distressed property. What is the fastest easiest way to get info?? Call your new friend on his cell phone. Most of the time they can get you everything you want to know of the property in 5 minutes. Plus if the property has back taxes owed, they will usually help you out even more.
Try to find the building inspector or code enforcement officer. They are the ones who will help the most. An electrical or plumbing inspector doesn’t really care about a distressed property, they only care about their specific issues.
Thanks for your response again. That sounds like a gameplan to me. In a couple of the municipalities that I farm, I found out that they have town hall meetings and zoning and planning commission meetings quite frequently. I would imagine that these officers would be at these types of events. Any thoughts? In response to your comment about the “out of office” lifestyles these guys have, are there any other likely places that I could meet these folks? They seem to be a pretty “on the go” bunch if they’re in the office only 1 hr here and 1 hr there so I’m trying to get as many likely places in mind as possible.