How do you know there are no heirs? This happens once every 100 years. Just because you have not seen any, does not mean they are not out there. and how do you know there is no will? the owner just passed away? You don’t. Unless you talked to the dead man right before he died, and he told you “I have no will.”
Investigate! If this house has meaningful equity in it, someone will appear on the scene soon enough. it is does not, it could sit there until the bank or county tax ofice takes it back.
Back to your question. there is very little you can do. You are not the executor. You do not have legal authority to transfer title to the property.
If, after 6-7 months, the place seems to be totally abandoned (no utilities, mail piling up, no upkeep), you can file a petition to be named the Executor. If nooone objects, you get the job. But this does not mean you are going to get a bargain. Thos job opens many cans o’ worms, which are too voluminous to detail here.
Steve -It’s very unlikely that there are no heirs. If there are but they’re hard to locate, that can work in your favor.
Why not see if the heir(s) can be found by investing a little time (and money) thru research:
Primary research - online databases. Don’t forget to check the local court for an open probate or key documents
Secondary research - interview neighbors, vendors, utility company, local police, fire, etc.
Tertiary research - Hire a licensed P.I. experienced with these types of searches. It’s not hard to spend $500 -$2,000 but the lead can be very profitable plus you won’t have much in the way of competition
Also, think this thru backwards, i.e., how did you confirm that the owner is dead? Who told you? How did they know? Keep going backwards and think it thru as to who deals with such problems at time of death.
Odds are, there is one or more heirs around somewhere. I was asked to help on a case some years ago where a man died owning a shack of a house in the Los Angeles area with a stock acct worth over $90 million and no will! His only living relatives were second cousins, elderly, living in a small village in an Eastern European country (where everyone is named Vlad or Boris).