All Forum Posts by: Seth Williams

Hi @Brandon Osmon - to sort the list adequately, part of the answer depends on what specific types of properties you want to buy. For example:

• How much are you willing to pay? Use the assessed values to narrow down the price ranges that fit within the scope of what you're looking for (if certain properties are clearly out of your price range, delete them)
• What kind of property uses are you looking for? Look at the zoning codes and eliminate anything that doesn't meet your intended use (if you're only looking for residential zoned properties, you can delete anything that is zoned commercial, industrial or otherwise)
• What property size are you looking for? If the list specifies the acres or sq ft of each property, eliminate anything that's too big or too small for your purposes (I like to eliminate anything under a quarter acre, for example)
• Are there any specific zip codes you want to focus on? If there are any areas of town you want to avoid, use the zip codes of each property to eliminate the places you aren't interested in.

There are many different ways to use this criteria to sort your list so it fits the mold of what you're looking for. It's not necessarily a "one size fits all" filtering process... because you need to start by understanding what you want and THEN you can use the information available to start eliminating the prospects that don't belong on your list.

To @Thomas Guillory's point, when you consider all the different systems used among the 3,000+ counties in the U.S., there are dozens (maybe even hundreds) of different formats these lists can come in. Sometimes they're pretty straightforward and easy to sort through, other times they are VERY bizarre and require a lot more time and mental energy to figure out. This can be one of the harder aspects when starting out, because you won't always know what you're going to get until they give it to you.

If you see a column you don't understand, don't hesitate to call your county contact back and just ask them, "What does this mean?" It should be a pretty simple question for them to answer... and once you know what all the fields stand for, you can start making sense of which recipients to delete and which ones to keep on your list.

Does that make sense?

I haven't seen any noticeable difference in the counties I've worked @Jay M., but that may just be attributable to the markets where I've done most of my business (I suspect some areas probably see more traffic for this sort of thing than others, and most of my work hasn't been in the "hot bed" of the SW US).

Honestly though, even with the slightly increased interest in vacant land over the past few years, it's still a massive market with a relatively small number of investors who are actively pursuing deals. When you compare the number of land investors to the number of house flippers, house wholesalers and rental property investors out there, it's still a very underutilized type of investment property.

Hi @Bradley Morrill - I've had some good success with it, but I realize you're probably looking for someone else's opinion. 

I will say that it can be challenging to get a delinquent tax list and the level of ease vs. difficulty usually depends on a few things:

• The county you're requesting it from.
• Your ability to find the right person at the county office who can provide it for you (it's usually NOT the first person to pick up the phone). 
• Your own knowledge of what you're asking for and your skill at communicating the request (many times you'll have to repeat, rephrase and reiterate what you're asking for - because it's a list that rarely gets requested from most counties and most county employees don't really understand what you want). 

The list always exists in some format, and it's usually available in most counties, but some counties will make it much harder than others to get your hands on it in the proper format.

This information is extremely valuable when you know what to do with it, but it's not for the person who likes to throw in the towel at the first sign of resistance.

All that said, if you're willing to put in the effort to get the list (and learn how to sort it correctly... that's the other crucial piece) - the hassle is worth it.

I'm glad you found it helpful @Sean Casey - that's great to hear!

Hi @Megan Aldridge- I think @John H Hustonhas some great advice above. One other resource you might find helpful in your due diligence process is this blog post.

Also, given that the property is covered in mature trees, have you considered harvesting the timber? Depending on what kind of trees they are (and a handful of other factors), sometimes you can find properties like this with timber that is worth more than the land itself. If you want some pointers on what to look for, check out this article.

@Aj Bowman- in terms of the property's market value, this can be a tricky thing to determine with vacant land (a lot of the appraisers I've talked to don't even have a firm handle on how to do it with much certainty - because in many cases, the data needed to make the determination simply isn't available).

That being said, there are several things you can look at to help get you most of the way there. You might find this article helpful, where I explain how I approach it. As I think you'll see, it's a bit of an art and a science.

The fact that the property perks is great news, but it's only part of the overall equation in determining what you can use it for. For the potential uses, you'll probably want to start by calling your local zoning & planning department - they should be able to point you in the right direction.

@Kirshner Baptiste- If you're still deciding which one to go with, I actually did a pretty in-depth comparison between the two data services (and several others) in this blog post. You might find it helpful, as they all have different pros and cons.

Hi @Devin Beverage- the old pricing is available, but the numbers won't show up until you type in Partner ID code: CFGRSH at checkout (it's a little strange, but the numbers are basically hidden until you type in that code).

@Mary D.- I don't use the mail merge function with my direct mail pieces, but if you search for some answers on Google or YouTube, I'm sure you can find a tutorial for it. Sorry I can't be of more help here.

Hi @George Torres - thanks for the shot out! Sounds like you're already getting some helpful feedback from @Ryan Pettitt and @Steve Haight, but if you're still looking for insights, I'll share my thoughts on your first two questions questions...

First off - I can't say I'm intimately familiar with either of those markets, but generally speaking, I think you can find acquisition opportunities almost anywhere if you're looking in the right places (and the delinquent tax list is a great place to start). 

You'll probably be best served by looking in rural counties (areas that don't contain a big city) and it's ideal if these rural areas are within a reasonable driving distance (1 - 2 hours) from the nearest large metro area (that's what I try to shoot for anyway). This video explains more...

As for the pictures, I think you'll definitely want to see some representation of the property before you buy it (to make sure you understand what you're buying) and on the selling end, it will be greatly beneficial to have some pictures to include with your listing (if you literally have zero pictures, you'll have a much harder time selling it).

As a starting point, you can get a fairly good look at most properties with tools like Google Earth and AgentPro247, like this...

but even as helpful as these tools are in getting parcel maps, street views and the like, it's hard to replicate the value of an ACTUAL, on-site photo shoot without having someone (even if it's not you) visit the property and get some pictures.

If the property is too far away for you to get them yourself (which is usually the case with the properties I'm buying), there are a few ways to get what you need:

1. You can try to contact a local realtor and ask them to help you. The downside is, not all realtors are created equal, and you never know what you're going to get (if anything at all).

2. You can hire someone on Craigslist to help you out (offer to pay them $50 for some simple point-and-shoot pictures), but again... it's hard to predict how responsive and reliable a random stranger from the internet is going to be.

3. What I've found to be the easiest, most reliable option is to hire someone from WeGoLook to do it for you. I just started using them this past year and I've been pretty happy with their service.

Thanks for your input @Joe Kooner and @Anthony Patrizi!