Need to find the owner of a house I have under contract!

How much time is left in your inspection period? How long do you have until you need to close? Are you worried about the Seller not meeting his obligations under the contract?

If you have time left on the inspection period and time left to close and a ready buyer why not just assign the contract to your buyer and make a nice fee?

did the owner run off to? Did he/she say they were going? Do you know his parents or other family you can go to to find out? They have skip tracers that are pretty good at finding people, too. Wow, now that's a buyer!

Chanda,

Excuse me for asking, but who do you have a contract with as the Seller of the property? Is the Seller not the owner? Unless this is an estate issue and the Seller is the Executor / Executrix with Papers of Authorization, do you really have a valid contract? My contracts have a section as to how the parties to the contract can be contacted; does your contract have this information?

If you have a valid contract with the actual Owner Seller, then the Seller should not be needed at this point until closing. Does the Owner Seller have clear title? Did you pay a significant cash EMD (earnest money deposit) to the Owner Seller at the time you signed the contract??

As Dallas has said, if you want you can hire an Investigator who does Skip Tracing to find someone. That will cost a couple of hundred upfront for this service and you might want to shop around as their rates are arbitrary.

Good luck and congrats on your first deal!!
--Walter

If the seller signed the ocntract why NOT just assign it over to your buyer and dont worry about the buyer w/have to worry about closing on the prop it's HIS now not yours, HE is obligated to close on the deal and if it doesnt happen and the seller has gone for good then you are off the hook anyway's and maybe he comes back and you get paid after closing right and maybe even a deposit for the assignment.

Question? Do you get a deposit up front for the assignment? Or paid in full up front for that? NO right it is after the closing right? LMK folks thanks.

I would assign the contract get your fee, (assuming the person who signed actually owns the home)then tell the buyer to file a memorandum of option with the courthouse on the property so someday the owner will want to sell it but can't because the title is clouded due to this previous contract, and will have to deal with the contract (pay him off or close with him) in order to sell.

and leave it to the new buyer to deal with the closing. Make sure your assignment fee is NON REFUNDABLE. It sounds like you already let the buyer know upfront you can't reach the seller right now. But, is the buyer able to get into the property to see it?

under the county records. Type in the address and you should come up with the name and mailing address. You could then do a google search for the phone number as well.

Granted i'm pretty sure you can locate the owner and contact information in the county records, if you already have a buyer ready to purchase the contract AND he's telling you he will find the owner, what's the hold up??? I would assign the contract and let him do the dirty work.. Just make sure its non-refundable.

I may be going out on a limb here, but it sounds to me like even though you know the buyer is still willing to take the property, you're wanting to feel that your first deal has integrity. And if that's what this is really about, my opinion is that your integrity is solid in that you've disclosed the "gone-missing" seller to the end-buyer. In this, you've honored your values; now move forward with the assignment. The end-buyer is taking the property in complete understanding of the circumstances. And it sounds like he knows what he's doing and how to navigate any issues that arise due to an absent seller or he would have backed out.

Congrats on your first deal.

Forget that joker assign the contract and move on to deal #2