Transcript:
Welcome to the Tax Sale Podcast, where tax sale investing is made easy.
I’m Casey Denman, a tax sale veteran, the author of the tax sale playbook, founder of the tax sale academy, the leading tax sale expert and trainer and your host right here on the tax sale podcast.
Thanks for joining me on today’s podcast. This podcast is provided completely free to help teach you about tax sale investing and is made possible through The Tax Sale Academy. If you’re looking to learn about tax defaulted real estate, in a comprehensive, step by step basis then head to TaxSaleAacdemy.com and click on join. Again, taxsaleacademy.com and click join.
So, as you’ve probably noticed we are in the middle on the holiday season. Consequently, this is also the slow time for many tax sale investors. Most county offices are closed this time of the year for a number of days, and when they do return it will take a week or two for things to really get fired back up. In areas where auctions are routinely scheduled, it’s a time where you might skip a week or a month. In other areas where auctions are held just once or twice a year, it’s probably not going to be anytime soon.
As investors, this is a time where we too like to take a break. Where we go on vacations, spend time with family and relax. I’m all for the time required to recharge.
But I wanted to shoot this episode to provide some slow season hacks. Some people refer to it as the slow season and they sit back and relax. Others refer to it as a time to gain traction for upcoming auctions. I’ve mentioned this before, but my gym is routinely home to professional athletes during their off seasons. Despite it being months before they get back into the groove of training camps, the intensity in which they workout is nothing short of unreal. They use this time to grow, to outwork their competition, to gain ground on whatever their goals are – this is when they truly make progress. Some of these athletes are world class – we’re talking Olympic medalists and probowlers. Now, we can discount is as well that’s their job – that makes us feel better of course about our lazy and relaxed slow season. They are professionals, of course.
But as a tax sale investor, whether you’re brand new just starting out or if you’re a veteran, you should also conduct yourself as a professional. Amongst many other things, this means that you shouldn’t be lazy in your off season. Sure, take trips, do the things you love, enjoy the fruits of your labor, but don’t overlook your big picture. This is a time for you to get a leg up on everyone else and most importantly, yourself. This is the time to capitalize and work towards your goals.
So I wanted to record this podcat episode to provide you with some direction during a slow season. Direction that can help you become a more successful tax sale investor. Apply these five slow season hacks and reap the benefits when it’s auction time.
The first one is to learn. It’s pretty obvious I’m a huge advocate of learning. I operate an entire academy to teach tax sale investors. But I don’t want you to look at my business as the reason that this one is included. Whether you learn from my academy or you choose to self learn over time, it dosen’t matter. The point is that you learn. I am frequently contacted by people who have made mistakes and are looking for a way out of them. Buying something that got demolished, unexpected county liens or bills, over valued something, difficulty selling something, the stories go on and on and on. Every single time I get one of these stories in, asking for help, the very first thought that crossed my mind is “well, they didn’t know what they were doing.” Of course, I don’t tell them that and I don’t mean to sound like a jerk when I say that, but the point is that mistakes are made when people haven’t taken the time to learn. And a huge news flash: It’s best to learn BEFORE you do something, rather than trying to learn how to fix something after it has happened. Screwups happen daily because people never took the time to learn.
Listen to this podcast, every episode. Ready tax sale playbook. Go to my youtube channel. Scroll through my state guide. Become a member of the academy. Go to your county’s website. Call your county and ask questions. Find a local mentor or allow me to mentor you through the academy. Go to auctions. Review lists. Review results. Look at every webpage in your area that mentions tax liens or deeds. LEARN. It’s easy to learn. There are resources available. I’ve got 600 videos on YouTube. I’ve got the most thorough training program. Tax sale investing is not easy out of the gate. Learning how to invest in tax defaulted real estate CAN be easy. And once you learn this business is easy. But you must learn. That’s the number one priority. Slow season is an incredible time for it!
The second one is research. The most obvious types of research is researching for upcoming tax sales if there are any. Instead of procrastinating and waiting until the day before the auction, go ahead and get that research knocked out. That way you’ll have plenty of time to finish up up and do any necessary follow-up and additional research. Beyond that though, I want you to just practice your research. Use all of the available resources for you. Figure out what every single button does on the various sites that you use for research. Ready thorugh property assessor reports, through chain of titles, building inspections, past sales, review prior auction results, look at active listings. Determine where the growing areas of the county area. Even if you already to this, take the time to now go through and do it on a deeper level.
One suggestion I always make is to research some properties familiar to you. Start with the place. Get all the basics about it – size, age, value, that kind of stuff and then dig in deeper. Who owned it before you? What about before that? Was there any improvements to it? When was the area developed. What is the history of the area? How have values changed over time? What are the comparable in the area? What about the areas’s nearby? The point is not to just learn about your property, but it’s to become familiar with each aspect of the research phase. Even if you’ve already been using all of these research resources, I promise you that there is something you can learn every single time if you try hard enough!
Alright, next one . . . explore. During this holiday season many people are traveling. While you’re traveling start looking around you – if you’re not traveling, choose a destination in the US you’d like to go. Even if you have zero intention to invest in this area, just by learning about it you are going to learn things that you can apply to your business. Go onto Zillow or Realtor.com, or grab a real estate magazine if you’re in the area and look through the listings there. Watch for things that are common. Maybe it’s that all the homes are log or brick. Maybe it’s everything seems to be a condo or whatever it is. Review the sales copy – is water access a big deal? Or maybe it’s parking that’s always advertised. Find differences between what you’re used to and what’s there.
Then go on to their county sites and browse around. Choose a property from their local tax sale list or pick one out of a real estate website if they’re not offering a tax sale anytime soon. Use the county resources to learn about that property. Value the property, figure out what comps you should be using, find the history . . . do everything that we just discussed doing for the property that you live in, but now do it out of area. This simple task will allow you to expand your knowledge and ultimately your ability to research and learn about properties which you can apply, no matter where you’re investing.
Next One . . . get creative. Often times when we’re out of our standard comfortable atmosphere, our creative juices really start flowing. I’ve discussed this numerous times before, but doing the same old boring thing that doesn’t require a single ounce of creativity will often put you out of business. Using some form of creativity in your business can guarantee your business grows and expands. This could involve the way you market your properties, what you buy specifically, any special buying strategies, selling strategies, there are all sort of ways you can learn to be creative in your business.
When we’re stuck in the same old office chair day in and day out, it can be difficult to look at our business any different than how we are currently. But if you take yourself out of that environment, even if it’s just to a local coffee shop, sit down and really analyze your business. We’re often so busy working in our business, that we forget we actually need to work ON our business. So, how can you be different? How can you be creative in how you operate your business? Now is the time to figure this out.
The last way to take advantage of your slow season is to plan. Again, so many people get bogged down in the day to day – getting lists, research, going to auctions, marketing properties, all of the stuff that is required to operate. But when they do that, they tend to overlook the future. Unless you’re extremely conscious of what you’re doing, it can be very easy to just go one day at a time without any real growth or expansion. And ultimately, this can lead you to actually regressing. I don’t want to see you do that. Develop a plan for the next year. Break it down into monthly, then weekly segments. It doesn’t have to be all that lengthy. We actually have a podcast episode coming up on this exact topic, but now is the time to start thinking about it.
What can you do, IN THE FUTURE, that will help you see success? What can you do right now to begin implementing that plan? What are the steps you’ll take. Us this slow season as a way to work ON your business and not in the trenches just out of habit.
I really hope that these little hacks for the slow season have helped you out. Again, they were using the time to learn, become a better researcher, explore new areas, get creative and plan for your future. Right now or whenever you’re listening to this when you have a break between auctions, is the best time to put these five things into action. Use every opportunity you get to better yourself and your business.
Thanks so much for joining me on today’s episode. Inside The Tax Sale Academy we go creative funding methods, we discsus how to make your money go as far as possible, we teach you so you don’t waste money or time. Our entire academy is designed around help you profit from this incredible business. If you’re interested in signing up, you can get started by going to TaxSaleAcademy.com and clicking on Join. Again, that’s TaxSaleAcademy.com and click on join.
That’s it for today, if you enjoyed this podcast episode please take just a few moments out of your day to leave us a positive feedback rating on whatever platform your currently listening on. We read every single comment, notice every single 5 star review and are so thankful for each one of them.
Have a wonderful day. Take care, bye bye.