How can I contact an abandoned house owner?

[thomasortega]

Folk, some of you know I love watching urban exploration videos.

A few days ago, I was watching a video about an abandoned mansion in Malibu and I saw an interesting Maytag washer and dryer.

I wanted to find the owner and started digging. I discovered the mansion belongs to Cynthia Beck, the same woman that was involved in a scandal in 1999 with the Getty family. (She had an affair and 3 children with Mr. Getty).

Anyway, Googling I discovered she owns several other properties in LA county, including a huge mansion in Bel Air. Digging even more, I saw a somewhat recent picture of the Bel Air mansion and BINGO. I've found a super rare washer which I won't tell now because i don't want spoilers to give me bad luck.

Well, now I'm desperate to find a way to contact Ms. Beck or discover whoever is responsible for the two abandoned properties and could either sell me those 3 appliances or even authorize me to grab them as they're abandoned anyway.

 

[maytagbear]

You might

ask a librarian. If s/he does not know, they would know someone who has that information.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[golittlesport]

Hi Thomas! How about county tax records?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Tax records are how I found the name of the owner of a barking dog chained up in a back yard on the next street. I had to have proof that I had sent the letter before I went to court. Turns out the owner was a cop. The dog was a rescue from a drug raid and was not up on its shots. Really attractive picture. The cop was highly offended that anyone would complain about his affairs. The kinky thing was that the dog slept with the wife while the cop was on duty at night so when he got home, he put the dog outside so he could have sex with her. The dog was angry at being put outside so it barked.

Another cop who lived next door kept a beautiful dog in a cage outside. Max would get scared and bark during the night. I talked to it during the day so it knew my voice and I could calm it in the dark of night from my bedroom window. The only interaction between man and dog, other than when the poop was shoveled off the cement pad, was when he took Max hunting. The dog suddenly disappeared so I asked about it. He said Max had to be put down because he turned on him. I was not surprised. Max got his revenge and freedom in heaven at last.

 

[rp2813]

I would second county tax records -- except

I have a current/ongoing personal experience at my address.  Ever since moving in a year and a half ago, I've been receiving property tax statements for two former occupants.  I called one county (different from my own) and those bills for a boat slip have stopped, but I still get them for owners of another couple of properties who I am guessing are slumlords.   I cross out the addressee information and bar code on the envelope and drop them in a mailbox.  How the taxes are getting paid on those two properties, I don't know. 

 

I also got letters from city code enforcement about blight on one of their properties.  I called the number provided and advised that the owners are not at this address and that an online search didn't turn up a thing.  I never heard anything more on that subject.

 

So, whatever the county provides may not necessarily be correct.  However, in Ms. Beck's case, I would hope that things regarding taxes are in proper order.

 

Good luck, and I hope that the pictures you've seen are recent. 

 

[thomasortega]

Well, i discovered who the owner is... She's actually quite famous.... Cynthia Beck, who was Mr. Getty's lover and had 3 kids with him.

She was recently involved in another scandal when ATF found over 1000 weapons in one of her other mansions.

How to contact her? She's known for being super discrete and she probably lives in Europe.

It turns out that she collects abandoned mansions WTF. Today I discovered other 3 abandoned mansions in los angeles area that belong to her. (total is 5).

 

[rp2813]

She may have a representative you can contact, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how to track any such person down.

 

[ea56]

She probably has a property manager of some sort. Call the city planning dept. and explain that you would like to do some business with the owner of the property and ask the planning dept.if they have any contact information. I’m the pres. of our HOA, and I’ve done this in the past to obtain contact info for a shopping center adjacent to our complex, and was given the info. I requested.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

Fair word of warning

What you call "abandoned" versus how owner of property sees things may be to totally different things.

If owner is still alive, and or some thing or enity is managing the property (paying taxes and so forth), then it isn't "abandoned" per se. Not currently used, maybe, but not abandoned.

As suggested above write a letter addressed to property in question (using information from tax records), stating your case. Mail addressed to property has to go somewhere, and if it is returned to sender, you'll have to try another method.

It just may be possible an attorney, accountant or some other entity handles these properties for owner. Who that is may not be a matter of public record; but local property tax authority would surely know because of who/what makes tax payments.

Now if you were Columbo, Mannix, or Cannon, you would go into local office charm the ladies working in department, and or slip someone a crisp $50.... Neither might work today, and the latter could result in arrest. *LOL*

 

[DADoES]

 
Property tax databases are typically public info.  Many appraisal/tax districts have websites nowadays with databases searchable various ways ... property address, owner name, etc.  There may be a postal address stated along with the property physical address.

 

[lowefficiency]

There was another thread on here a while back, of a guy who successfully retrieved an old machine (Hoover?) from an abandoned school after seeing it in some photos posted by an urban explorer. I think that was in the UK, but even so, they might have some tips on how to go about the process?

 

[combo52]

Rare Maytag In an Old mansion

There are only two MTs that I can think of that are all that rare that would make this worth the trouble, it would either have to be a Gas MT Combination or a set of black A900 and the matching D [E or G ]750 dryer.

John L.

 

[thomasortega]

Well, the MT in the first mansion isn't thaaaaaaaaat rare...

Actually I don't know if it's even worth the gas Kevin will probably spend picking them up for me. Maybe, as both mansions are somewhat near each other...
It's a TOL of those black control panel maytags, maybe late 1980's or early 1990's? IDK...

Anyway...

Digging. I've found the other mansion that has a washer and a matching dryer "made only by..." and they look like they were never used. Next to them, a design that is impossible to forget... a Bendix.

There's also a cabinet that looks like one of those drying cabinets that were popular in Argentina.

 

[combo52]

Getting old appliances from an unused house for your collection.

 

Be prepared to spend money especially if the items are in an expensive property like you are looking at, unless you are lucky enough to find someone that just wants to see an old washer preserved and not scraped [ very unlikely in this situation ]

 

So be prepared to spend several hundred dollars per machine to get someones attention and cooperation. I would guess in an expensive house like you are looking at somewhere in the range of $300-600 per machine.

 

 Money Talks, I have spent well over $1000 for some of the machines we have.

 

John L.