Unknown street address of "junkers" - Posted by Matthew Chan

Posted by Matthew Chan on May 18, 1999 at 17:19:56:

I got there kind of late today but I did manage to find everything I wanted within 30 minutes even with me “stumbling” around. Actually, it is a very easy process(after she showed me) in the county I am in and very inexpensive ($0.25/record to print out).

The lady had me go to a planning map, look for the district and landlot. It was a simple matter of finding the parcel and corresponding address in their book as long as you had a landmark (like neighbor’s address.)

They had a public computer terminal to search on legal description, owner, street address, etc. which was very convenient.

It took me longer to get there, find parking, and get to the office than it did to do the work! :slight_smile:

Unknown street address of “junkers” - Posted by Matthew Chan

Posted by Matthew Chan on May 18, 1999 at 03:08:00:

On my way back from the post office today, I decided to take some detours and look at some houses today. I saw some FSBO’s but what really perked me up was 3 abandoned “junker” houses that are within a mile of each other. They are hot stuff to me because the area is a fairly nice middle to upper income area (an area I could live in happily!). They just stick out. All the houses are sitting on fairly large lots meaning there is privacy and room to spread out. They are the classic “junkers” Legrand talks about that has plenty of potential for a nice rehab and I wasn’t really even trying!

Needless to say, I pulled up to each one to check things out. Those houses stink really bad and are open to some degree where anyone can take a peek inside. Heck, they are abandoned!

My dilemma:

I can’t find the exact street address of these houses because there doesn’t seem to be a clue except that I narrowed down the number based on the neighboring homes (which are not that close to begin with). Now, I have a range to narrow down the exact number of the street address but the numbers jump up so much from one house to another. I looked at the curb, I looked for some old mail, I looked for faded indications of a street number, and any other physical evidence that might be left to no avail.

I tried to go to the neighbors homes to ask about them but they either didn’t know much or they weren’t home.

I plan on calling and visiting the county offices and see if they can help me pinpoint the addresses of these 3 houses. But if that doesn’t work, I am at somewhat of a loss what to do next in this hunt. I thought about calling the utility companies by looking for some unique identifier number on the meters. But it looked like a standard meter to me with little to help me.

To date, I haven’t looked at “junkers” so this is proving to be an interesting experience. It never occurred to me that I would have such a tough time getting an exact street address so I could eventually trace it back to the owners to make some offer.

Any ideas for me? What haven’t I thought of? Thanks!

Plat maps - Posted by Rosie(CA)

Posted by Rosie(CA) on May 18, 1999 at 13:45:04:

You may also wish to use the neighboring houses to look up the plat map, showing the lots. Just to make sure that your ‘hit’ of an address number is the one for the house,not an empty lot. Empty lot? Who owns it - maybe you can get that too!

Rosie

Re: Unknown street address of “junkers” - Posted by Kevin(OK)

Posted by Kevin(OK) on May 18, 1999 at 09:16:32:

Go to the CH Land Records office with the addresses of the houses on both sides of the vacant house. This should give you a narrow range to start from. Then, go to the computer terminals or have someone there help you, and just punch in the number (either even or odd numbers) until you find a property. That should be your house. Example: The houses on both sides of the vacant house are 2900 and 2912, now I know that the vacant house is either 2902, 2904, 2906, 2908 or 2910.

Good Luck!

Kevin(OK)

The postman rings twice - Posted by Bud Branstetter

Posted by Bud Branstetter on May 18, 1999 at 08:10:54:

The local postman may know. The postal service is the one that assigns addresses. The tax assessors/appraisal office usually has the physical maps to identify the legal.

Re: Plat maps - Posted by Matthew Chan

Posted by Matthew Chan on May 18, 1999 at 14:24:21:

I made a couple of calls to the county office earlier and was recommeneded to simply find the closest intersections and simply count the number of houses from the intersections with the neighboring houses as a reference.

And yes, they would pull some maps (surveyor?) out to get the legal description and, in turn, the exact address. Regarding the neighboring lots? Oh, man, if I can get them, I will!

So guess where I will be going today?

OK,I’m cheap - tracing paper - Posted by Rosie(CA)

Posted by Rosie(CA) on May 18, 1999 at 16:03:59:

Good luck!

FYI, I bring some blank white paper I can sorta see through and I trace the lots/streets of interest.

(Too cheap to pay $3.00 a page or whatever they charge to make a copy.)