Transcript:
Hey there, it’s Casey Denman with TaxSaleAcademy.com and welcome to this week’s quick tip. Now, before we get to this week’s tip, be sure that you subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss out on future tax sale training videos.
Alright so, from time to time I’ll get questions or browse forums or just stumble across a variety of topics related to real estate and specifically tax sale investing.
Many of these topics revolve around the “easy” way. People that want to click a button and make a thousand bucks. I’ll go into the details, but I can summarize my thoughts on this very simply: If it’s easy for you and if it’s convenient for you, it’s easy and convenient for everybody else too.
When you put forth effort in the tax sale business you will be rewarded sooner or later. Now, I’m not talking about rewards like participation type trophies. I’m talking about the person who is creative, strategizes, and truthfully even works their tail off. Those type of people will have the most successful tax sale businesses.
Now, there is a time and a place for convenience, for operating efficiently, for doing the things that truly are easy. I am 100% in agreeance with that, and in fact I’m a HUGE believer in creating my business to operate as easily and as convenient for my lifestyle as possible. BUT, I’m also a big believer in having the awareness as to what’s working and what’s not working and, most importantly, WHY.
The odds are that, unless you’ve found a crazy untapped angle, you need to find some sort of middle ground between constant, relentless and exahusting effort and the convenience that fits your life. There is a tradeoff there that YOU must be comfortable with.
Let’s go over a few examples of this . . .
When it comes to money. If you’ve got tens of millions to invest you’ve got options. You have choices. Buying properties becomes easier. When you’ve got ten cents to invest, it becomes more difficult. YOU must then put forth the effort to source funds, to find creative funding methods, to push forward despite your financial pictures. It’s possible, absolutely. But it does make it slightly more challenging. You can’t be broke, lazy and still expect to invest and be successful in the tax sale business, it doesn’t work like that.
Let’s discuss auction lists. The majority of tax sale lists are available online now. So this is generally going to be something that’s an even playing field for most people. If you and I both need to access an auction list, then we both know where to get it, it’s a one step process. Now, I’ve told this story before, but I once called a county to ask about their tax sale list because it wasn’t posted online since they were a rural county with an extremely limited website. Calling them was step one. Then I spoke to the lady who said that they don’t actually have lists, they just post them in the county newspaper and suggested I called to county newspaper. That’s step two. The county newspaper that I called transferred me to the classified ads department who only worked select days. I had to leave a message. Step three. They never called back, so I had to call again the following week. Step four. They told me that they would be happy to send a copy of the newspaper to me, provided I covered the cost of the paper and the mailing fee, so I gave them a credit card. Step Five. Then I finally got the list a week later and began reviewing it, that’s step six. Guess what? When I finally showed up to that auction, the ONLY people there were locals. And they were ONLY interested in a few specific properties. Every single property that I wanted to buy at that auction I did. Obviously, the large majority of the tax sale lists I review involve a simple click or two to navigate to the county’s website. This was a situation where I could’ve just skipped it entirely if I wanted to. It took a lot of effort to track down that tax sale list, but I was rewarded because of that effort.
Alright, how about auctions? I’m a huge fan of online investing, online auctions and leveraging technology for everything. And I actively participate in online auctions. But, I know that the tradeoff to this convenience is increased competition. If I only need to click a few buttons to register, that’s a whole lot easier than having to preregister for an in person auction, then driving to that auction or maybe even flying there, spending days away from home and family, then sit in a courthouse waiting for hours to bid. It simply takes more effort to go to an in person auction. Because of this, you’re rewards are usually going to be better deals.
I can go on and on about this. We can discuss marketing, selling, closing, learning, mentorships, and business in general. At the end of the day though, the easier something is for EVERYBODY, the less rewarding it will be. Now, some things might become easier to you overtime. But if it’s something that anyone off the street can walk into and easily start doing, I can just about guarantee it won’t be as profitable as you’d like. And I’d be careful about chasing opportunities that are constantly promoting just how easy they area.
I’m a huge fan of making this tax sale business as easy as possible. But making something as easy as possible does not mean that it requires NO effort. When it comes to the tax sale business, more often than not . . . Your efforts will be rewarded.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s quick tip video. If so, please do me a favor and click that thumbs up button just to let me know.
And if you want to learn more about investing in tax defaulted real estate, just head on over to TaxSaleAcademy.com where you can grab a free copy of my book or you can click that join button to become a member of the academy for the most comprehensive, step by step training that we offer.
Take care and make it a successful day. See ya!