Buying an Abandoned Domain

Not expired yet...

[siteseo]

Rather than waiting for domains to expire, I'd like to pick up a domain that someone bought years ago and abandoned updating (lack of interest, lack of revenue, etc.) I've tried mining the bottom of the serps for various terms, but does anyone have experience with/ideas on how to best do this?
Basically I want a site that was built pre-2004 and is currently indexed by Google, but has no real value for the current owner. A generic name would be alright, or a "shopping" or "information" type domain would be even better. I don't want to pay much - $50 tops.
Appreciate anyone's ideas.

[Webwork]

"Us the telephone, Luke, use the telephone."

Also, email sometimes works as well as a letter sent by the postal service.

There's a thread in here somewhere where I gave away my very best domaining secret about a year or so ago. Never should have done that, but c'est la vie. Now everyone knows the secret.

Use the phone and do your homework if you have to to track down the current phone number.

Oh, stop, stop, stop telling, Webwork.

Truth is I managed to acquire a few rather phenomenal domains in this manner.

[siteseo]

My question wasn't pertaining to CONTACTING site-owners...it was more in regards to FINDING sites that are no longer being updated. Several people have stickied me with offers to sell their sites :-)

So, I guess the question I'm asking is, short of going to portals that sell other websites that are for sale, is there another good way to LOCATE poor, decrepit, abandoned web sites and pursuade the hopefully disenchanted site owner to sell it - cheap - so I can give it a new lease on life.

[ogletree]

I registered a deleted domain a few years ago. It had been deleted for a while. I just went to my host and registered it I did not have to use a service. I just sold it for $750. If you watch the deleted domains you can find some great things that nobody else saw. That way you don't have to use any service.

I remember you posting a while back webwork I won't tell your secret.

[siteseo]

Thanks ogletree, but again - I'm not talking about expired domains (I have plenty of those). The problem with expired domains is that Google forgets about them and DMOZ delists them (usually Yahoo doesn't).

If I obtain a site that is still listed in Google, listed in DMOZ, listed in Yahoo's Directory AND index...I have a good shot at avoiding the Google sandbox (potentially) and I can be off and running.

I guess I'll just have to hope I get lucky and stumble across a gold mine...

[Webwork]

Some secrets aren't given for the asking is the likely explanation for the lack of an answer. The current value of such properties, in the sandbox era, would justify keeping such information to as few people as possible.

I don't know the secret myself. It's not my game anyway.

[Pedent]

I can't be much help, but if you're looking for sites that are listed in DMOZ, then looking in DMOZ might be more efficient than mining the bottom of the SERPs. I guess that abandoned sites will tend (very generally speaking) to have lower PR than similar sites that haven't been abandoned, so browsing the Google version of DMOZ, sorted by PR, from the bottom up might work in the absence of a better solution.