Posted by Becky IL on July 17, 2001 at 13:31:05:
Don’t go to a realtor unless the property is already listed. You can find the owner’s information at the courthouse/County Assessor’s Office and then contact them and ask if they would like to sell their house. If the answer is yes, then you need to do some due diligence on determining the amount of repairs needed, the after-repair value of the home, minimum profit you want to make, costs you’ll have for holding the property while repairs are being done, financing costs if you’re getting hard money or private financing, and negotiate from there. If you can, you try to get the owner to finance you or take it subject to, but then have them pay a couple of months of payments while you’re repairing the property because, after all, if there’s a mortgage, they’ve been paying on it already while it’s sitting there vacant.
But start by finding the owners and asking them if they want to sell.