How Do I Beat Leo ?
Hi All,
I called OKC's country clerk yesterday to find out what to do when the house has changed hands during the 60 days clock. She looked up the dead records on her computer, and said: "Ah, that's Leo, he watches the publications and every time snatches up the property by buying it from the owner". He bought my ex future house for $12,000.
Am now down to my last tax lien in OKC. The property is owned free and clear, and am ready to go for publication. I am worried that this Leo guy will steel the deal from me again. I am thinking about tracking down the owner myself before going for publication. Both certified letters i sent him came back as undeliverable.
What's the best way to locate him from long distance (I am in CA and don't plan to go to okla any time soon) ?
[addsig]
try www.knowx.com, www.peopledata.com or www.deadleads.com
Abdenour--(CA)----------------
There are many things to try. One is to look at the Oklahoma County assessor's website and research to see if the owner has other properties in the same name. Then write to any other address and tax bill mailing address you find.
Also, you look for a telephone listing at this URL:
http://directory.superpages.com/people.jsp?SRC=&rtd=wp1.superpages.com-144425
Try the assessor's roll to get the owner's names of adjoining properties and maybe a couple of houses away. Check for phone numbers for them and then call them and ask them what they know about the owner of that property.
Try calling the Oklahoma County Court Clerk and ask if they have a probate file for that person. If so, maybe you find out if the address is in heaven or hell. [**joke alert**ignore previous sentence, you have been the victim of an horrible attempt at humor**joke alert**]
If so, there is no likelihood that Leo will be able to make a purchase.
Good Investing************Ron Starr********
There are many other ways to try to track people down, but there are a couple of ideas.
Try:
Qwest Dex
www.qwestdex.com
Google
www.google.com
Search Bug
www.searchbug.com
Google
Can provide address and phone numbers from the “invisible web”
Retrieves documents stored in .pdf, word, excel and power point
Be sure to use quotation marks for words grouped together
Offers reverse phone search
A simple personal property
tax search can provide new
location information
Contacting the neighbors
next door to the subject property
and directly across the street
can yield a wealth of information
[addsig]
Thank you very much Linlin, Ron and John. I will try what you suggested to locate the owner before publishing the notice of application in the journal record.
[addsig]
Thank you all for the recommendations above.
I went ahead with the publication, and it seems like Leo didn't steal this one. I don't know yet if that's good news or bad news, since the house is boarded up and don't know what kind of damage needs to be repaired. The 60 days clock is going to be over in 8 days, and I hope to get the deed this time.
I wonder what the best exit strategy is. I am thinking about looking for a property manager who can finance the repairs, rent it out and get paid from the rent. Has anybody on this forum found such a property manager in OKC ? My second option is wholesaling, but I would much rather hold on to it, since I expect real estate values to go up in OKC over the next few years thanks to increasing prices of oil.
[addsig]
once the clock is up go and check it out. Not all boarded u-p buildings need major rehab.
Abdenour--CA---------------
I have done that with a couple of properties, but not in Oklahoma County.
I'd suggest you try to raise the repair funds with loans from people that know and trust you. Those that love you might be best.
Good Investing*************Ron Starr**********
Quote:
On 2004-12-13 02:56, RonaldStarr wrote:
Abdenour--CA---------------
I have done that with a couple of properties, but not in Oklahoma County.
I'd suggest you try to raise the repair funds with loans from people that know and trust you. Those that love you might be best.
Good Investing*************Ron Starr**********
Nobody loves me :-? ... except Leo when he steals one of my deals. The 60 day clock is over without redemption ... I already fedex'd the tax deed paperwork to OKC treasurer.
The RE management company I found online who offered to fixup b4 renting is Amprop services. Besides BBB, how can I check them out ? I don't trust the references method much, since they can always use bogus ones. All I know so far is that they have a nice web site.
I would wholesale it if it wasn't for taxes (40% combined federal and state, since that would be a dealer property).
[addsig]