All Forum Posts by: Jake Hartnett

It seems that there is no competition like they say. I believe this is an extremely inefficient market. You can find plenty of sellers that have no buyers. Your average seller has no idea how to sell a piece of raw land and I believe there are plenty that are not highly motivated by money and just want to be rid of the land. You see this in all markets. Most people sell their car to the dealer for 30% of what they could get on craigslist for the convenience factor even when they know they could get more if they sell it themselves. There is your 300% markup that Mark says is normal.

I will warn you that it is probably more work than you think it is. When I first got interested in this I imagined the scenario like this: send letters, send offers, watch the checks roll in. There are quite a few steps in between that I believe will become automatic eventually but are rather cumbersome when you start out.

I have sent out two lists of 100 letters each and I have seen a 1% response rate. I think my list is poor because this is about 1/10th of what everyone says to expect. From that I have not had any good leads.

Good luck. Share your successes and failures.

Thanks.

I bought the course and I can tell you that there isn't a lot in there that you cant figure out from Seth William's awesome blog www.retipster.com along with other business and organizational material.

So on the minus side it costs money and doesn't have a ton of information you can't find elsewhere.

On the plus side, its all right there, its well organized, it tells you step by step how to create lists, write copy, acquire property, sell property, etc. If you are just poking around and not too serious, go to retipster and learn more. If you are extremely self motivated you can go ahead and figure it out from retipster and asking questions on BP. The course holds your hand a little bit but you are still going to have to figure a lot of stuff out and work hard. It is encouraging as well, and you will get email updates that help keep you on track to get a deal done. I have had it for a few months and I have sent out one list and had a poor response rate. Im working on my second list now.

I think the best investment you can make is in education. If buying the course means the difference between actually doing a deal and just poking around, the course is worth it. If you are willing to forge on and figure it out yourself, do that.

@Michael Quarles, is there a tax delinquent option on listsource? I was just playing with it but I couldn't find that feature.

Thanks.

Great work Victor,

I am building my first vacant land tax delinquent list right now and I'm excited to share my first success story as soon as possible.

Thanks.

I have been doing a lot of research in St Paul and Minneapolis and from what I can see the best deals are in St. Paul, though it will be tough to find a bona fide 2% rule except maybe in the toughest neighborhoods. Rent prices are fairly consistent throughout the cities but property values vary widely, so in general the cheaper the property, the better the cashflow.

S MPLS is basically off limits because values are too high, though you might be able to find a deal in Powderhorn or Phillips. NE still has potential, but there has been a lot of activity up there in the last 5 years, so there aren't the same great deals there anymore. North has a lot of potential but the neighborhoods are block by block so be careful. I think there is a lot of potential to force appreciation in North by cleaning up the neighborhood: organize trash cleanups, organize block parties, neighborhood watch, mow lawns of vacant houses, get active in other community building organizations etc.

In Saint Paul the up and coming neighborhoods I see from most to least gentrified are: Midway, W 7th, W St. Paul, Southern Penn Ave in E St. Paul, and Frogtown.

The most important question for a house hacker is how much BS are you willing to put up with (burglaries, assaults on your block, etc.) compared to what kind of cashflow you are looking for, as well as what part of the city do you want to live in? Family friendly, quiet St. Paul? Easy access to bars and clubs and cultural amenities in Uptown and Downtown MPLS etc.

I can't speak to the suburbs, I don't want to live there so I have not done any research. Also, there seems to be a reverse urban flight happening, where more and more people want to move into the cities gentrifying previously seedy neighborhoods. This is driving property values up throughout the cities and pushing some poverty and crime to the inner ring suburbs, so I would be careful about which direction any suburbs are heading before you invest there.

Good luck.

I would be interested to hear from a house flipper that does their own work. We have heard a lot from the J Scott types who have built a business, but I don't think we have heard much from a weekend warrior type who goes out and gets it done one house at a time as an "S" rather than a "B". I'm personally interested in that perspective, and how it works out for them. Thanks.

That sounds like the taxes when there was a house. You can see what the land was valued at apart from the improvements in the public records and ask your assessor's office what the taxes should be. You can also look for vacant lots in the neighborhood and see what their taxes are relative to their assessed value. Good luck.

Thanks Richard Devaney The course is $1000. My worry is that I have never bought a piece of property, including a primary residence, so I don't even really know how the paperwork works, let alone due diligence and valuation. If the course is good, I think it could easily save me $1000 in stupid mistakes, or make me an extra $1000 in opportunities I would have missed. Marks website is kind of slimy, which turns me off, but if there is good content in the course it might be worth it.

Has anyone bought Mark Podolsky's Land Geek Course about flipping raw/vacant land?

I'm interested to hear what you thought of it.

Thanks.

Has anyone used AgentPro247 in Minnesota? I tried without success to get a free trial account to see if it will work in my area. I've heard that is is not good in all areas.

Thanks.