Tips For Finding Vacant Properties

Bird Dogs, Wholesaling
1

Here’s some tips for finding vacant properties(other than the owner’s mailing address being different on the county property records):

  • Overgrown grass and weeds
  • Property looks very neglected, lack of maintenance
  • A build up of free newspapers and other advertisements
  • No trash out by the street on trash days
  • No lights on in the evening for multiple nights in a row
  • Snow is not cleared from sidewalks and/or driveway when there is fresh snow

Feel free to add any other ideas!

2

that was helpful! I come across vacants all the time in detroit, the only problem i run across is getting them to sell. i would think that if you have a vacant that you would be a very motivated seller. you have taxes, water bills, vagrancy… all those things are money drainers on an owner so why wouldn’t one want to sell.

3

Here’s another tip. If you can’t find the owner of a vacant property use a skip tracer service such as this one:

http://www.findtheseller.com/

I think they charge $25 for each search. Not too bad considering what you could make from each deal.

4

I’m thinking of driving through neighborhoods that I’m interestded in and keeping track of properties that don’t have garbage out by the curb on trash days. Sometimes people just forget to put their garbage out. So, I’ll go two weeks in a row, and any properties that didn’t have garbage out by the curb two weeks in a row I’ll assume are vacant. I’ll let all you know how this goes when I do it. :wink:

5

I am new to real estate. I put out 1000"s of circulars a week so I thought I would try to make some extra money bird dogging. I have no trouble finding vacant houses because I naturally notice the things you described because I don’t want to hang a circular on a vaccant house, and just glance in through the window or door while walking by to confirm it then write down the info.

I find about 25-50 a week. I just don’t know what to do with them . I believe I have found a person wanting to use my info but don’t know how it will work out.

6

Hey Robert. If you can find that many vacants that often you should be doing some wholesaling. Read through all the “Real Estate Articles” here on REIClub. It’s on the left sidebar under “Investor Information”. Also, look at getting a good wholesaling course such as Steve Cook’s.

7

I would love to use those tips for finding a vacant property, unfortunately here in the Boston area many properties are like that and are rented out.

Are there any other ways for finding a vacant property?

on Monday, Feb. 6th, I drove around and saw so many homes with peeling paint, trash on the property, papers piled up and of course, there would be a car in the driveway or some old person sitting in the window looking out.

what they hey???

8

Well, I went through part of a subdivision last week on trash pickup day looking for houses that didn’t have trash put out at the curb. I found 16 altogether with 5 meeting my criteria for number of bedrooms and square feet. I went back by those 5 this week on the same day, two had trash out this time. That leaves me with 3 potential vacants in this part of the subdivision. Not too bad for only about 20-30 minutes of driving around. Now I’ll be sending out postcards to the owners…