Transcript:

Hey there, it’s Casey Denman from TaxSaleAcademy.com and I’ve got a quick tip for you today.

If you’ve followed me for any period of time, you probably know that I am huge on tax sale research and due diligence. Your research equals your results is a saying I often quote both on here and inside The Tax Sale Academy. If you want a successful investment it will always start off with a successful research. If you want lousy results, perform lousy or no research and that’s what you’ll get.

With that said, I did a podcast episode recently about Digital Tax Sale Investing where everything is handled online. I’m a huge advocate for using online tools as much as possible and I stand by that approach.

Of course, the online world has spoiled many people especially those who only know online stuff. I order from Amazon multiple times a week simply because it saves me time; it’s easy, convenient. You can have your meals delivered to you, you can Uber anywhere you want, you can use technology for so much.

But what happens is we get so use to that convenience. And there are two aspects of it – I use Amazon because it’s so easy to navigate, they have everything, I get it in a day, it’s unreal right? Now those same products I order can be purchased from probably 100 different websites, but I use amazon because it’s easy. That’s why they’re so successful.

Unfortunately, because of this type of transaction, the ability to easily get whatever we want is something that is stuck in our heads. In most of the areas I invest, I can give you a rundown of a property within probably 45 seconds of research. Size, shape, location, sales history, zoning, lots of stuff. But that’s part of the problem. We have become so used to that easy research. Our research processes have been shaped by the interactions around us where everything is at our fingertips within seconds. We expect that and when it’s not, we panic or we run the opposite direction.

When we reach a county or a property where we have difficulties in our research process we think we’re stuck. Many investors will skip entire counties if it means they must put forth a little bit of effort… just a little. The same effort that ten years ago was very routine for every single property, in fact. It’s such a psychological mind game you’re playing with yourself. And we’re all guilty of it.

Let me give you an example…In some areas, GIS is offered. If you’re not familar with GIS, just envision an airplane flying over a bunch of real estate with property lines drawn in, then we can add layers to show roads, flood zones, zoning classifications, recent sales, school zones and about a hundred more features in many areas. It makes locating and analyzing a property extremely easy. This is a very valuable research tool for tax sale investors.

Now, it’s also an expensive tool for the counties. Which means that many rural or smaller counties don’t have the funds in their budget to utilize GIS. So, how do you find properties in those areas? In many cases, we have to go old school – we’re first search and locate a plat map of the subdivision that the property is in, then we’ll read the property’s legal description, compare it to a plat map, then we’ll take the location of that property and cross reference with a mapping program such as google maps, then we’ll measure lines and road, until we are finally able to tell exactly where the property is. And that is if the street names haven’t changed since the plat map was filed 50 or 60 years ago, which usually happens.

A GIS search takes seconds, a plat map translation into the real world can take five, ten, twenty minutes for one single property. And that’s only for the property’s location – if we want stuff like zoning, school districts, area sales. . . that’s all a completely serpeate process.

So, as you can see without a GIS program it makes it fairly difficult. And this can also be applied to property assessor reports, outdated Google Street View or aerials, county files only accessible in person and so many more things.

What happens is this becomes a HUGE sticking point for many investors . . . which is actually a good thing. People love convenience and people are lazy. Most won’t take the time to do all of the required research if there is any level of difficulty to it at all. And if we’re honest with ourselves here, that might actually even include you, as of right now.

The same people that love convenience and won’t put in the extra effort for the difficult due diligence . . . those are also YOUR competition. Those are the ones you’ll be bidding against usually. But in the scenario where they didn’t want to take those extra steps for research, they won’t bid on those properties.

What I’ve discovered over time is that the more difficult the research is, the lower the competition is which means the cheaper the properties are and ultimately, the more money I make.

People won’t invest the time required for the difficult research. So the next time you come across a property that requires a little extra digging, maybe a phone call or two, and it just generally required additional effort, it’s time to realize that this isn’t something to hinder your progress, slow you down or complicate things . . . it’s potentially a HUGE opportunity in disguise for you to grab a property when the others are too lazy to take those extra steps. Some of the best deals I’ve ever been involved in were the toughest properties I ever had to research. So remember, difficult research can mean strong returns.

Thanks so much for joining me on today’s video. Be sure to browse our channel for other training videos or head over to my website at TaxSaleAcademy.com for the most advanced and step by step trainings we offer.

Take care and make it a successful day. See ya!