Investing in unfamiliar areas can be a daunting task if you go into it blindly. In this video, we discuss one of the most important research steps you can take which is to check the local maintenance requirements. Doing so can keep you headache free!
Transcript:
Hey, folks! Casey Denman here with TaxSaleAcademy.com. In this video, we’re talking about a huge step of your tax sale research. And that is to check the local maintenance requirements. And again, I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s a huge part of your tax sale research. And I promise you, by checking the local maintenance requirements, you’re going to save yourself from a lot of headaches and a lot of hassles. And I speak here from personal experience.
When I started investing in tax sale properties, I invested locally. I kind of grew up in the area and I knew everything just about possible when it comes to investing in real estate in that particular area. Then I started expanding my target areas more and more away from me, until eventually, I was investing in areas on the other side of the country. I thought, “Hey, it can’t be that different than the local area that I grew up in, is it?”
Well, as a matter of fact, it’s a lot different. Different areas have different customs and different formalities. They expect different stuff. On the opposite side of the country, they have maintenance requirements that I thought were absolutely crazy and absolutely silly. I didn’t go by these maintenance requirements. I just kind of ignored them, if you will. And lo and behold, I started getting nasty letter after nasty letter after nasty letter with the threat of fines and all sorts of other fun stuff.
So what maintenance requirements am I talking about here? Well, they vary from state to state and from county to county and from city to city. And we’ll get into more information on that here in a second, but here are a few examples.
The first one is if there’s debris in the yard. Say you buy a vacant piece of property and it’s the only vacant property on that lot. Could potentially the neighbors have put their limbs on the yard or could they possibly even put trash in the yard? Well, guess what? That’s your responsibility to clean up. And many cities will have that your lot has to be free of debris and free from limbs and all sorts of other stuff. So that is a maintenance requirement.
Another one, especially in the northern states, of course, is that sidewalks have to be snow plowed. They don’t allow any accumulation of snow in a lot of areas. So if you aren’t there to plow the snow off your sidewalks, that could potentially be a maintenance violation.
Another one here is if you buy a house. Say it’s a dilapidated house. Say there’s a few broken windows here and there. Well, some cities actually require all your windows and all your doors to be in perfect working order. Otherwise, you’re violating the local maintenance laws, the local ordinances and all sorts of other good stuff.
And the last one here, the last example, is one of my personal favorites. This is your grass has to be mowed. Yes, believe it or not, a lot of cities, even for a vacant lot, will tell you your grass can only grow three inches or four inches. That’s only this much. So you have to literally mow your grass every couple of weeks. So if you’re not local to the area, you have to hire somebody to mow your grass. And guess what? If you don’t mow your grass, they’re going to send you a nasty letter, they’re going to fine you, and potentially, threaten jail time. And yes, that has happened to me in the past, but we’ll save that for a future video.
So there are a lot of different things that these counties and these cities will require. As you develop as a tax sale investor, you’ll start learning which areas to avoid. Obviously, the areas that require the grass be mowed, I try to avoid those areas just because I don’t want to have to deal with that situation.
But how can you check their maintenance requirements? Well, the easiest way is to call the city or the county. Call their building or their code enforcement department and simply ask them. Tell them who you are. Be honest with them. Say “I’m a tax sale investor looking at investing in tax sale properties in this city or this county.”
Number one, it shows them that you are a responsible person. And number two, they’ll be more than happy to help you because they want responsible, law-abiding citizens who will maintain their properties. So they’ll be more than happy to tell you the maintenance requirements in their city or their county.
So I hope this has helped you and possibly saved you a lot of headache and a lot of hassle, and maybe even jail time in your quest to become a successful tax sale investor.
If you’d like more information about the very lucrative tax sale investing business, head on over to my website at TaxSaleAcademy.com. And you can do that by clicking the blue link right here next to my head. Again, it will take you to TaxSaleAcademy.com.
Have a great day, folks! Take care! Bye-bye.