Transcript:
Hey there, it’s Casey Denman here with TaxSaleAcademy.com. Thanks so much for joinng me for our tax sale investing question segment. This week’s question comes to us from Valerie via email.

Her question . . . looking at joining your academy soon, but are there any free places I can learn from in the meantime?

Hey Valerie, thanks for your question.

I’ll get to a few free training resources momentarily, but since you sent that email it sounds like you’re aware of what we offer. For those that are watching who aren’t, I have produced more tax sale training material than anyone else on the planet. This includes 650 plus videos right here on YouTube, my podcast, and plenty more. Then, of course, the most advanced, detailed information organized into a step by step format is available through TaxSaleAcademy.com.

So that’s where we are on our end. Now, there are a few resources that I suggest outside of our own. We actually teach about and really go into depth on these in the academy, but if you’re looking for something prior to joining let’s go over five completely free resources to help you learn in the meantime.

So the first suggestion is to visit your county websites. There are a number of sites in most counties that can really provide you with a wealth of information. We also use these sites routinely when we’re researching properties. The first on will be whomever handles tax sales in your area. The specific department varies from one area to the next and it could be the treasurer, clerk of the court, sheriff’s department…just head to google to figure it out then find their site. What you’ll be looking for is a tax sale link. Usually it’ll provide you with the rules, time, date and plae of the next auction, maybe some relevant laws, perhaps FAQs and your tax sale list. Study every single page in depth.

Once you’ve finished with that, browse and learn to use the rest of the county’s site that are related to real estate. Most importantly are the property asessor’s reports, but there are also buiding department sites, recorder’s offices, code enforcement sites, zoning department . . . search the county directly and find every single one related to real estate. Then study them and learn what everything means and how to use every single link.

Alright, the next resource are the auction sites. Many counties utilize third parties to help sell their properties. It might just be where they use a third parties’ software to sell or it could be that the third party is an auction company who handles every detail of the sale. There is a wealth of information on these sites. Not only will they teach you how to utilize the software and how to bid, but it might even include a number of relevant suggestions based on previous auctions. Auctioneers can be incredible teachers of what NOT to do. So find out if your county uses third parties and absorb every bit of information they offer!

The next resource for you is sales data. Now, some of this can be obtained from the county resources, but some of it can’t be. My suggestion is to take to sites like Zillow and Realtor.com. Filter by sold properties and then active properties. Take a look at the different areas and learn the values for those areas. See what’s currently listed and what has sold in those areas. Review the descriptions, the photos, the property specs. Figure out why one property sold for more than another property. Start becoming familiar with real estate valuations. Obviously, that’s such a huge part of our business as investors so it’s extremely important you have a grasp on it.

The next resource I suggest learning everything you possibly can about are the tax sale laws. And this is one that I know probably isn’t all that exciting. But the fact is our entire business is built on these laws. These laws are what allow our business to exist. Without these laws, tax sale investing doesn’t exist. Go to Google and dig up the laws in your area. Read them over and over, analyze then, take notes on them and be able to quickly reference them. Some states are dozens of pages long, but every single second you spend learning those laws will be well spent.

The last resource I suggest actually a combination of all of these and that’s to start practice your research. Go back to the county’s site and find the auction list or even a previous auction list. Find a property on it and begin to research it. Determine what exactly the property is, find out where it is, figure out the value, your max bid, comparable sales, that kind of stuff. Then actually go to an auction and watch the process with the sole intention to learn and NOT to bid. Interact with others in the room, keep your ears and eyes open and pay attention to everything that’s said. Use it as a learning opportunity.

Tax sale investing is such an incredible business, but there is certainly a new skill set to learn from most investors. These are just a few of the free resources that I personally recommend and truthfully you can learn so much from them. In addition to these, I highly suggest you take the time to learn the details about all of these tools, how to put them all together and some strategies with this business. Find a local mentor if you can who is able to assist with this. If you’re not able to do that, then obviously, that’s the entire purpose I created The Tax Sale Academy, which is the premier learning tool that I wished I had when I started almost two decades ago. More information on our training can be found at taxsaleacademy.com and there are also a bunch of helpful links in today’s show description.

So I hope that this video has helped you out. If it has, please don’t forget to subscribe and click that thumbs up button.

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