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All Forum Posts by: Samantha Ruiz

Samantha Ruiz has started 3 posts and replied 13 times.

Post: Wisconsin Turnkey Investment Companies

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

Any advice on where to find turnkey investment companies in Wisconsin (and where to vet them)?  I'd be looking for single or smaller multi family properties that are turnkey ready, and property managed by the same company who sold them.  We live about 30-40 minutes west of Milwaukee, so I'd prefer companies that have properties within 1-2 hours of here.  Pretty much the lower southeastern corner of the state, starting from Madison.  If you've had a bad experience with a turnkey company, that would also be helpful to know.  Please & thanks!  

Post: Delinquent Tax List & Land flipping

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Andy Bauman, your post is really helpful, despite it being a bit disheartening, haha.  I thought this might be a viable strategy if I could outsource some of the legwork like refining the list down to properties that are worth more than they owe & then working with it from there.  At this point, even if I outsourced that work I don't think it would fit well in my current hectic life of working in/on our primary business.  It would be one thing if this was a one time thing, or repeated only every 1-2 years to track down the next possible rental property purchase, but I think you'd really need to be repeating this process once a quarter at least because the profit comes from the purchase & sale of the land.  I suppose you could always purchase & seller finance the property for more long term cash flow, but it still doesn't seem like it would be as much cash flow as a turnkey single family home or duplex, etc.  Thinking this is another possibility to eliminate, at least for now, simply for the time factor.  

Post: Delinquent Tax List & Land flipping

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Aaron K. Got it, I think! So it essentially would takes the property addresses, compares them to some database that will state the property type, and then organize them according to type?

Post: Delinquent Tax List & Land flipping

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Aaron K. *googles "what is a python script"*

I assume you don't mean me writing my own program, but paying someone to write the program for me?  I'm just wondering how a program would work if the list itself doesn't specify what type of property it is.  Can you explain it more?  

And that is definitely something to be considered, since I'd assume you'd be looking at updated lists on a regular basis.  

Post: Delinquent Tax List & Land flipping

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

Hey everyone,

I'm still deciding what method to start out with in real estate investing.  One way that really interests me is land flipping using a delinquent tax list.  Basically it's a list of people who owe back taxes to the county but are not in foreclosure yet, who may be motivated to sell their vacant land for very low prices.  Episode 39 on the podcast :) 

I've found that I can get this list from my county treasurer for $75 in an excel format.  On the list: tax key, owner, owner address, property address, tax year, & taxes/penalties/etc due. 

However, it does NOT break the listing down into categories like single family homes, commercial, land, etc.  

The report would be for the county I live in, which is currently home to ~400,000 people and is the 3rd most populous county in Wisconsin.  

For those who invest using this route (or have tried it), how do you deal with a list like this that won't break it down into type of property?  I have no idea if it will have 100 or 10,000 listings to know how manageable it may or may not be.  (I have more money than time these days, as we already own another unrelated business).  Pay a virtual assistant to weed out everything except vacant land property and then I'd work off that list?

Just figured I'd ask around to see if I could get some feedback before spending the cash on something without having a plan.  If you use or use this method, I would appreciate any advice.  Thanks! 

Post: Newbie from Southeastern Wisconsin

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Jeff Cichocki way less worried about my greed button and way more about my stupid button, haha

It almost seems like it would be better to look for good sponsors vs looking for the deal first.  It will be interesting to see what my current book has to say about that!

Post: Newbie from Southeastern Wisconsin

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Jeff Cichocki Then I guess I'll keep an eye out for one, haha.  I just dove down a thread reading rabbit hole, which lead me to other sites with posts about crowdfunding/syndication investing.  Seems like one of the concerns about crowdfunding is the market downturn everyone's been predicting.  Because crowdfunding via the internet is relatively new (has always existed in an increasing market) that no one really knows what happens when there's a downturn.  And posts like:

"When people are throwing their money into crowdfunding or syndications of which they have zero - I mean absolutely no clue as to the underwriting or track record and history of the deal operator - yes, that spells big trouble and is on my top ten list of reasons I believe we are at or near the top of this market run."

"This is what creates bubbles. People with no idea what they are investing in coming late to the party. A good friend of mine who is also a dentist and has done well in real estate the last 4-5 years has started doing some syndicating of MF in the last year with a person (deal operator) he met through another group. They are of course, well intentioned, yet I have no idea of the track record, history or experience of the operator (which is critical). He told me the last deal that they offered from a webinar had dentists wiring $50K-$100K without asking any questions. Yep, that’s scary. Very few understand or take into consideration the nature of the current market - most don’t give it a thought."

"It’s super concerning because we are seeing deal sponsors crunching numbers to make the deal work. Buyers are overpaying by $500k-1m on assets in Dfw! It’s insane. We walked away from a $10m asset bc they wanted an additional $25k. Doesn’t move the needle, but as a buyer, you HAVE to draw your line and not move.
It worries me when you have someone with a Full Time job decide to be a part time syndicator. There is NO feasible way to know your market and your numbers when you do this Part Time (due to another job).
Those will be great deals for us to buy in a few years though 😝"

I'd argue that my current job is full time and then some.  Which is why the idea of crowdfunding/syndication investing really caught my attention.  I mean I'm not looking for something to just throw money into with ZERO research or vetting, but I also worry that I may not have the time to really educate myself as much as I need to to ensure that what I'm investing in is actually a good idea.  Analysis by paralysis is a real thing!

Post: Newbie from Southeastern Wisconsin

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Michael Doyle good to hear!  Are the meetings pretty much same time/same place every month, or do they rotate?  

Post: Newbie from Southeastern Wisconsin

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

@Michael Doyle Thanks! Have you been to many of the Milwaukee REIA meetings? I came across that group in my research so far but was just wondering what they were like from someone who's also somewhat new.

@Calvin Ozanick Not too far!  So far, turnkey investments are probably top 3 in addition to crowdfunding & raw land in danger of foreclosure that I'm really interested in and doing more research on.  Thanks for being a resource, I know if we do rentals we'd definitely need a property manager :) 

@Jason Graves Is investing in a syndication the same thing as crowdfunding?  I have more research to do in this area, but it is definitely HIGH on my list because of the mostly passive nature of it.  Any good books or resources you'd recommend on this topic?

@Kevin Rea Yes, I did hear back!  $75 for the entire list, but it is not broken down into different property types.  Just names, addresses, how much they are tax delinquent.  I was thinking if I went this route I'd hire a virtual assistant to narrow the list down to raw land only and then go from there.  Do you have the website for delinquent tax info?  I've found how to look up who owns the property and what the annual taxes are, but I'm not sure if it would also list delinquent taxes or if I've simply never looked up a property that had them.  Sounds like you're doing a lot of legwork though, but good for you!

@Marcus Auerbach @Jeff Cichocki Those are definitely good points, and after doing more reading since my original post I've decided to put note holding on the back burner for now. I think it would be a better outcome for me down the road once we've built up enough of our investments that we a) have more cash to fund entire properties and b) have more experience in real estate dealings in general. Do you guys feel the same way about syndication/crowdfunding investments? The mostly passive nature of it is very attractive to me. I just started reading "Alternative Financial Medicine" to learn more about it & other investment techniques. A mentor would certainly be a great asset but I also feel like I need to have a better idea of exactly which 1-2 REI techniques I'm going to start with as we begin our real estate investing journey.

Post: Newbie from Southeastern Wisconsin

Samantha RuizPosted
  • Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Posts 13
  • Votes 7

Hi Michael!  Funny that you mention turnkey, and I was just listening to a biggerpockets podcast episode yesterday about a radiation oncologist who got started with private notes and then moved onto turnkey properties & crowdfunding.  The turnkey and crowdfunding really piqued my interest, so thanks for the input! @Michael Wallimann

Hi @Mark Mattison!  Funny ALSO that you mention that website, as I'd already come across it and was wondering how legit it was.  I got an email back yesterday saying that the delinquent tax list for my county is only $75 (when Seth said they sometimes charge per listing on the list, which can make it hundreds of dollars to get).  Glad to hear it should be a good resource should we choose to go that route!  Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks @Gagan Hurria for the welcome!  Not all communities can be super welcoming to newcomers, so I am pleasantly surprised to see that isn't the case here!  Hopefully some day I'll know enough to be able to contribute back :)