In the world of real estate investing, there are several kinds of properties that come with great potential. However, absentee-owned properties sit near the top of that list because of the sheer number of opportunities they present.
Whether you’re looking to wholesale, grow your rental portfolio, or flip, these properties can make you a lot of money. So in this blog, we’re going to explore what absentee owners are, why their properties make great investments, and how you can start building a great lead list today!
What is an absentee owner?
An absentee owner is any motivated seller who does not occupy a property or participate in its management. Not all absentee owners have the same motives or intentions, but one thing they do have in common is that for whatever reason, they’re not personally involved in the property.
There are several reasons that someone might be an absentee owner. Some owners aren’t interested in actively managing a rental property. They’re the kind of long-term absentee owners that hire out property management and create a passive rental income stream.
Others are holding the property as speculators, with no interest in developing it. These owners are very likely to sell if they make a return on their original investment because that was the entire goal of buying the lot in the first place.
Some absentee owners are even people who’ve inherited a property but haven’t decided what to do with it yet. They may not have the time to list the property and deal with the responsibilities that come with an on-market sale. They may also simply be avoiding the issue because they have an emotional tie to the property.
Finally, you’ll also find real estate investors who bought a property for development, got into another promising project in a different city or state, and lost the ability to focus on it. They’re excellent prospects for low-cost acquisitions because they don’t have an emotional attachment to the property. As long as they can recoup their investment, they’ll be happy to let the property go.
How to find absentee property owners
Now that you understand the various kinds of absentee owners, how do you find them? This has traditionally been pretty tricky and required investors to be well-connected. However, the advent of real estate lead generation software has made this process incredibly simple.
In the past, you’d need to scour public records or ask around in real estate communities to find absentee owners. Even then, some situations were practically impossible to find. But with lead generation software like BatchLeads, you can generate a list of these properties with the click of a button.
If you want to narrow your search down to include some of the other situations we discussed in the previous section, you can do that as well. BatchLeads has a wealth of filtering options that will let you search for the exact criteria you’re interested in.
Once you’ve constructed a list of properties, you can also uncover the owners’ contact information by skip tracing them in-app. If you want to call them, you can do that from the app as well by clicking another button or by importing a list into a dialer like BatchDialer. In short, finding and capitalizing on absentee-owned properties is fairly simple if you have the right tools.
Conclusion: The pros and cons of absentee owner lists
Working with absentee owners in real estate to find investment properties can be a highly lucrative investment strategy. But is it worth the effort? Let’s close by taking a look at a few critical pros and cons.
First, it’s important to understand that absentee-owned properties can give you deep discounts on properties, but they aren’t guaranteed to. Because these properties range from rental listings to vacation homes, the discount they sell for will vary widely.
Another factor to consider is the complexity of making a deal work. Sometimes, these deals will be very straightforward. However, if probate, complicated tax records, or liens are involved, the sale can quickly become more complicated.
Despite these challenges, there’s one undeniable pro that comes with absentee-owned real estate investments: many of these properties are in great shape. If you can land one of these move-in ready properties for far below market value, there’s no limit to what you can do with it. Whether you want to flip it, rent it, or wholesale it, an absentee-owned property can create incredible profits.
