Eviction filings as motivated seller leads
By Josh MillerUpdated 4 min readEviction cases are filed in the local court that handles landlord and tenant cases, often a justice, municipal or county court, and in most states the case index is public, naming the landlord as plaintiff. Use it to find the landlords on your absentee list who have a real problem right now, and write to them about the property, never the tenant.
An eviction filing tells you three things about a landlord at once: the tenant stopped paying, the landlord is paying for court, and the house will likely sit empty and need work when it's over. That's the definition of a tired landlord, in a public record.
Where eviction cases are filed
Eviction goes through the local court that hears landlord and tenant cases. In Texas that's the justice of the peace court for the precinct. Elsewhere it's a county, district, municipal or housing court. The landlord is the plaintiff, so the case index names the owner, often an LLC.
Most states make the case index public. Some don't. California keeps most eviction case records from public view unless the landlord wins within 60 days, so the list there is thin and late. Check your state before you build a process around it.
Match the case to the property
- Pull new eviction cases each week: plaintiff, property address, filing date.
- Look up the address in the county property records to confirm who owns it. Property managers sometimes file in their own name.
- Find the owner's own mailing address. Most aren't at the rental.
What we know, and don't
We haven't measured eviction filings against sales county by county, and we won't put a number on a list we haven't counted. What we have measured is the list it narrows: across 1,794 counties, high-equity owners living elsewhere sold off-market at about 1.8 of every 100 within a year, about the rate of any house. An eviction is one of the signals that separates the landlords who want out from the fifteen million who don't. Do tired landlord lists sell?
How to write to them
- Write about the house, not the case. "I buy rentals as-is, tenants or not" lands. "I saw your eviction filing" doesn't.
- Offer to take the problem. Buying with a tenant in place, or after they're out, with the repairs as-is.
- Write more than once. The landlord often decides after the tenant leaves and they see the house.
- Never contact the tenant about the landlord's property.
Read your county free to see which lists sold best there.
Questions investors ask
Are eviction filings public record?
In most states the case index is public: plaintiff, defendant, address and dates. Some states restrict it. California, for one, keeps most eviction case records from public view unless the landlord wins within 60 days of filing.
Do landlords with evictions sell?
Some do, especially small landlords who own one or two rentals. We haven't measured eviction filings against sales county by county, so treat it as a filter on your absentee list, not a list on its own.
Where are eviction cases filed?
In the local court that hears landlord and tenant cases: justice of the peace courts in Texas, for example, and county, district, municipal or housing courts elsewhere.
Should I contact the landlord during the eviction?
Write to the landlord at their own mailing address about buying the property. Don't contact the tenant, and don't make the letter about the case.