OfflineFor almost a year I've been looking at a property in my neighborhood. I searched the county records and the payments have been made as well as the taxes. I found out that the owner had received a notice of default back in the 90s.
So here's the story. I live in Southern California (Ventura County to be exact). There was a magnitude 6.7 earthqquake back in 1994 in Northridge which is about 60 miles south of here. Even with the epicenter being that far away it was strong enough to wake us in Ventura County. Because of this the wife of the owner of my subject property refused to stay in the house. She is from Italy and insisted they move back there. As I said this was 14 years ago, the house has been empty since that time.
As you can imagine the house has been vandalized and after someone broke in, they think it was some kids, the water was left on and there is mold. I talked to the neighbor (like Dean says) and he said he had seen people in haz-mat uniforms going into the house. It's sad because the house is in a very desirable neighborhood and, if it is salvageable, there would be several people interested. I have a call in to the person in code compliance who is handling the case. Fingers crossed that the house is fixable.
I've run into a wall right now because, as I stated, the owners have moved to Italy and there is no forwarding address. Does anyone know how to locate someone out of the country with just their name? They possibly have a daughter and I also thought about trying to locate her birth record, I just don't know how because I don't know where she was born.
Thanks for any ideas.
The tax records should have a mailing address of the owner.
Al
"NOW GO FIND A DEAL"
Watch your thoughts; They become words,
Watch your words; They become actions,
Watch your actions; They become habits,
Watch your habits; They become character,
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
Regina,
Now a Day...Nobody can really hide(I am not saying it can not be done)!If you really want to find information about someone...Find out:Theyre origin?
Anybody that walks away from anything in a life,Will generally think of or go home(birth place)!
Invest in yourself!
I went to the county court house and he hasn't changed the address, it still shows the property address. The neighbors haven't seen anyone come to the house except the police and code compliance officers.
Unfortunately that's the problem I ran into, they went to the wife's birthplace which is Italy. I have been unable to locate anyone who knows where in Italy. Thanks for responding to my post
Try mailing to the home address. Maybe there is a forwarding address for their mail.
"NOW GO FIND A DEAL"
Watch your thoughts; They become words,
Watch your words; They become actions,
Watch your actions; They become habits,
Watch your habits; They become character,
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
I think I will try that. When I looked at the property the mailbox wasn't overflowing with mail as you would expect with an empty house. We'll see what happens. Thanks
I was reading the third part of Successfest and noticed that Craig's list is international. Idea!! I posted an ad attempting to locate this property owner in Italy. Fingers crossed that he responds.
Hope you hear from him soon. If you don't hear back (soon)from the CL ad try sendig him another letter. I wish you the best with this.
Lea
SPR Property Solution, LLC
Don't take this as gospel but from what I have read...you could as mentioned before send him/her a letter marked "Mail Forward Service Requested" I think thats right? Anyhow it requires the USPS to find a forwarding address for the occupant and respond back to you. Others online may have a more precise method. Another possibility is using an online locator service to track them down electronically. This way you can have them sign a quit claim deed to the house. There may be more than one way to locate someone especially if they are still in the continental United States and have to pay taxes, their name is paper trailed somewhere. Hope this may be helpful to churn out more ideas.
Bill G
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
Thanks for the encouragement. It's become a challenge to me now plus the property is in such a good area it would be a shame to let it keep looking so bad.
I don't know if the USPS provides a forwarding address when the person has moved out of the country (they moved to Italy) but I'm willing to try. Thanks for the idea.
You may already have tried this but here are a few more ideas. Try to contact a few neighbors on the same block. Soemtimes a neighbor on the sme street may know of antoher relative or may know the story of what happened or how to contact them. A few letters to al lthe neighbors on the street may help. Or if you see a nighbor out try to talk with them.
Also, another approach could be to look into the phone book for people with the smae last name that live close to this home. If they do nothave a really common name this coudl be a relative of the owners. It could be worth a few calls. I hope this helps. Good luck with this potential deal. Believe and Achieve!
- Joe
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