There is a home in Ohio that has been vacant for at least 5 or 6 years and I have been interested in purchasing it for a long time. I used the auditors website to find out who owned the house and got ahold of the owner by phone. The owner said the house was purchased with the help of some people that turned out to be scam artists and she is just going to "let the house go", unwilling to sell. Taxes on the home are far behind, and a lot of the vacant homes around are being scheduled to be demolished. The owner lives in Hawaii & has never actually seen the house.

Have you done a title search to find out if there is a mortgage or other liens on the place? I suspect that back taxes might be the tip of the iceberg.

If no one has paid taxes for years it should have come up for auction by now. Contact the county tax collector in your county and see if they have taken or liened the property. Welcome to Fairfield County Treasurer's Office, Lancaster, Ohio.

Thank you for the answer AK L but no I have not. From what I was told she bought the house with money from her savings. Wouldn't want to pay for the title search if there was nothing I could do to acquire the home.

Calling the county tax office is free.

Something doesn't sound right. You actually spoke to the owner and rather then sell to you, she wants to let it go? Sounds to me like this house was just a scam to get a tax loss and she already claimed the loss on her taxes. Otherwise why would she not jump at the chance to get some of her money back?

In any case, as long as she is the owner of record, you have to get her to agree to a sale. Otherwise, you have to watch for the house to be included in a foreclosure or tax auction.

Yes a very weird situation. According to the auditors website, a real estate company purchased the house for around 8k and then sold it to her on the same day for 35k. They must have done this with several houses. She wants the 35k which is not going to ever happen with anyone with the current condition of the home. Is there anything I can do to inquire about the home and force the foreclosure or tax auction?