Deciding how to approach an out of state owner with two neglected houses on one block

A scenario worth thinking through for anyone driving neighborhoods for leads. Two houses on the same block, same owner name on record, mailing address out of state. One has plywood over a front window and a tarp on the roof. The other looks fine at a glance except for a dead lawn and a small tree growing out of the gutter, the kind of detail that's easy to miss without a second pass. Tax status often shows current on both in cases like this, which can be misleading about the owner's actual level of neglect. With an owner name, two addresses and a limited number of skip trace lookups, the practical decision is whether to send one letter referencing both properties or two separate letters each referencing one. A single letter is more efficient. Two letters read less like the sender has been building a file on the owner, which tends to land better with the recipient. The harder read is who the owner actually is. An out of state owner with two houses on one block is often either a landlord who's stopped actively managing, or someone who inherited a relative's rental properties and hasn't dealt with them yet. Those two situations call for very different conversations, and it's usually worth trying to infer which one it is before reaching out. On method, calling after a skip trace tends to move faster with an owner who's simply checked out, while a mailed letter often works better with an heir who needs time to process the situation before responding.

luis_carrera CS1CPRO 12

Answer

mikeoconnell7 SO3CPRO 12

Mail both, separately, and don't reference the other house in either one. Two houses on one block with the same name on record is a strong signal to you, and to the owner it reads as somebody who pulled records on them. Nothing is lost by keeping the letters simple. On the phone question, hold the skip trace until any response comes in at all. A cold call to an out of state number that opens with "I noticed your two properties" tends to go badly. If either letter gets a reply, then spend the lookup so there's a number to reach back on when they stop answering email, which they usually do. The landlord versus heir question mostly answers itself in the first two minutes of a conversation. Heirs talk about the person. Landlords talk about the tenant who left. There's no need to guess it in advance, just a first line that works either way, something like "I buy houses in this neighborhood and I'd like to talk about the one on X street." One practical thing worth noting: taxes current on both properties means somebody is opening the mail and paying the bill. That's a live counterparty, which is better than the alternative where the mail goes to a house nobody has entered in five years. It also suggests the neglect is a choice or a shortage of time rather than a shortage of money, so a low cash offer with a fast close may land better than a high offer with contingencies.

mikeoconnell7 SO3CPRO 12

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