Help buying an established website?

A 'Fan' Website with some revenue opportunity

[tonygore]

I really need your advice... I have discovered a 'fan' website that I wish to purchase. This website is 4 years+ old and hasn't been updated since Q1 2003. Details of website:

Domain Registered: Sept 2000
Domain Expires: Sept 2005
Last Updated: Q1 2003
Amount of backlinks: 265
Amount of Google Indexed webpages: 450
Google Search Results: Listed at top - Number One for its Keyword
Amount of keyword searches: 4000 per month on Overture alone
Google PR Value Rank: 4

The problem is I don't know if its for sale. The website hasn't been updated in 18 months and has no advertisement or revenue sources (which I plan to introduce if I can buy it). The problem is I've emailed the 'whois' owner and also the webmaster 2 weeks ago but so far not had a reply.

In my email I told him I would be prepared to pay a fee although I didn't say how much. How much should I offer this guy?

If anyone has any experience (good or bad) of either buying a website or alternatively, anyone who knows of ways I can convince him to sell up I would be grateful for your input.

[specter]

What a strange thing...

How do you do to don't understand that simply the owner don't want sell his site!?

[trillianjedi]

anyone who knows of ways I can convince him to sell up I would be grateful for your input.

Make him an offer he can't refuse.

As mentioned above though, maybe he just doesn't want to sell.

TJ

[Rosalind]

Maybe the owner doesn't check the email associated with that site any more? He may be unavoidably detained elsewhere, perhaps in prison, hospital, or the army. The fact that it hasn't been updated in a while suggests that he's busy elsewhere. Or he has simply lost interest and forgotten about it.

[nonstop]

Try giving him a phone call instead?

mention that you are a fan and the site hasn't been updated in 2 years, say that you're bored and you've got some free time on your hands, you'd like to take over all the hassle and responsibility of updating the site, that you're interested in the subject and it's your hobby.

[grandpa]

If he is available or interested..

A fellow I know with a niche site is asking a grand for his site. For a reference point, the site is #1 for its keyword.
It has a history on the web, and was once an active forum site.

Lack of maintenance of general screw-ups have reduced the site to about 3 pages with no real content,
and the forum users got tired of losing their threads so they migrated elsewhere. The forum is dead right now.
All that for a grand.

I wouldn't buy it, however. It's just as easy and less expensive to set up my own community site.