Every once in awhile you’ll come across a property where the owner (or heir) is doing time in prison. You can still buy the property, but there are a few extra hoops you’ll need to jump through in order to get the deal done.
Find out where they are incarcerated
The first thing you’ll need to do is find out what prison the owner or property heir is doing time at. You can find out what prison they are at by looking at your state’s department of correction criminal justice website. On this website you’ll be able to get their DOC (department of corrections) number along with the address of that prison.
Contact them and make an offer
You won’t be able to initially drive down to the prison to visit them because in order to visit an inmate or correspond with them on the phone you need to get put on their visitation and or phone call list.
You will need to either send them a letter or an email through JPAY (click here to learn about JPAY) that has your contact information, so they can reply to you, telling them you are interested in a house they own. Make them an offer on their property, and make it clear that you can put some money on their books if they agree to sell.
Follow-up with them
You may need to have several conversations with them so that you can explain all of the details that will be involved with buying their property, so be prepared to either talk to them over the phone or visit them in prison. If you decide to talk to them over the phone, then you will need to accept their collect calls when they call you. Whether you visit them in prison or talk to them over the phone, you can overcome any objections or concerns they may have about selling and get them to accept your offer. After they verbally accept your offer, the next thing you will need to do is send them a contract in the mail which they can sign and send back to you.
These are some general guidelines to follow when you’re trying to buy a property from an incarcerated homeowner.
Learn more through our coaching calls
Acquiring a property from someone who is in prison is uncharted territory for many investors we speak with during our weekly coaching calls. If you’re interested in learning more about how to cash in on properties that are owned by people who are incarcerated, you can find out more during our weekly coaching calls by becoming a client and using us as your data provider. Click here to view or plans and pricing. We offer weekly coaching at no additional cost to all of our clients that enables you to ask questions, listen to success stories, and learn about the intricacies that are involved with closing complicated deals, such as when the homeowner of a property you want to buy is incarcerated.
