Rich,Not really sure how you came to the conclusion that there aren't any clubs nearby.In McHenry you have the Northern IL REA run by Gladys GortThere is also the Lake County Apt Owners Association.

So, you really shouldn't be making any purchasing decisions based on the rule.Use the rule to help determine if a deal is a possibly good deal, and then if the deal looks promising based on the 50% rule, dig in further to the actual income/expenses associated with the property.In some cases, 50% will be way off (low or high), so making any decisions based on the rule could hurt you in the long run.As for your specific question about the property with the low taxes, keep in mind that a reassessment by the county could change that quickly.

I have a couple questions.Does anyone have experience with some sort of agriculture agreement with the county/state that allows for a tax free property in exchange for a promise to not develop said property for X number of years.

Having said all that, there may be a glitch in clearing the title - again, if your agent can find out who the local closer is (through the listing agent) - he/she may be able to ascertain through them, if there is any title issue causing the delay.I've done that too and found in one deal of mine the seller - Countrywide - had not filed the foreclosure title transfer with the county yet, so the county could not release the sale.

I don't know if the bank would give you that info but if you go to the county's Registar of Deeds you should be able to look it up through the property ID number or name of the previous owner or by the commonly known address.

You can go to the county courthouse to verify title (that the seller is in deed the owner who is the ONLY person who can sell to you) and that there are no liens on the property other than his mortgage.

I assume it's over 5 houses - they typically need to be within the same county.

We have been putting these properties in an exel spreadhseet and then hitting Zillow and the county records to fill in some of the missing information such as delinquent taxes, public utilities owing etc.I have also thought about hitting the REO listing agents to do a lot of the ground work for us.

I am interested to see some of your information about the Parrish system that exists in Louisiana as it is different than the county layouts in just about every other state!

Some counties publish it online.