Once you are aware of the different offices in your county, visit them and start gathering data.

Example Foreclosures: If you are interested in foreclosures, there will be files held at the Clerk of Courts office or atleast this is a great starting point. Each file will be accessible and holds all of the documents for the case. These files will be retreivable by case number, the case number can be found on the ad for the auction. On many documents within that file you will find Statute numbers pertaining to info on documents, query them on Google. The same holds true for most auctioned property, there will be a file-in that file you will see referenced Statutes or U.S.C. that can be used to gather other information. This is what I call information lincoln logs. Some small piece of info leads to building a new piece on top and then it begins to expand. You can see for yourself I have a page on my site which answered a question in regards to Hawaii Tax Deeds and Oklahoma tax lien auctions, the process for locating the info is the constant and in both instances it took less than 2 minutes to gather the information. Knowing where to look is of more value than being told what to do.

Ask lots of questions and befriend someone at the court house. This will always give you a leg up, I frequently pay for luches with people from the court house that we have gotten friendly with. Because of this I can get attention and answers where many can not.

I have paid for lunches with judges, deputy clerks, assistants in the property appraisers office, pretty much anyone. This always works better if it is woman to woman, that is why I say I pay for lunches not attend them. My female counterpart actually gets to enjoy the lunch and I get to enjoy the free info. Men offering to take you to lunch over a simple answer seems weird to many, sorry men we are out of luck on this. If you are serious, send your wife.

http://www.floridataxsale-foreclosure-info.com/RealEstateInvestorFAQ.html

Just my 2 cents

As you mentioned, I think a great place to start is in forums and you can begin to figure out the direction you’d like to go and ask experienced investors for advice. I think I’m going to work on a blog post in a couple weeks that talks a bit more about the options you have as a new investor and how to compare them and make decisions about where to start.

All Praise The Real Estate Gurus-Truth Be Told

@Steve, thanks! I agree with your comments. I’m a big time online researcher and there’s so much to gain from hearing from others. At the same time, I feel that you have to also consider the fact that there are a LOT of loud complainers who actually shouldn’t be complaining because they didn’t take any action. It’s easy to say something doesn’t work if you haven’t done anything. LOL! Thanks again for your comments!

I have found a discouraging number of people claiming to have great experience and knoweldge who do not. If someone is boasting they sold 7000 properties in Florida for 30% of value it takes about 2 minutes to check. It is always better to check before writing a check, if you don’t check the only one who will be putting profit in their pocket will be the guru who duped you.

Lets Check
Google “Florida Division of Corporations”, you can query statewide records for named persons who are agents , officers, partners, managing members, owners of a corporation. If the persons name appears in the registry the records returned will show position in company and contact info. Ohh Look there he is Jeff K, the boaster guru, from XYZ Realty Buyers in Marion County.

Google, “MyFlorida Official Records Search” run a state wide search of the official records by name Jeff K and by business entity, XYZ Realty Buyers. If the business location in the Division records reflect Marion County, for example, you can restrict the MyFlorida query by county. Oh Look Jeff K nor XYZ have purchased a property tax deed yet he is the expert and guru. Once you have located a few counties in which they have purchased property write down the names of the counties, lets say Marion County again.

Run a Google search for, Marion County FL Clerk of Courts. Once the County Clerk of Courts Homespage is found you can locate a link for and query the county official records by the persons name and business entity. In most counties you can also see the documents of conveyance.

I received a call from someone in Mexico wanting to know my opinion on a seminar he was about to take on Florida foreclosure investing and auctions. Oppps the individual he had been talking to was not an officer, agent, owner or partner in a Florida Corporation and the guru personally had purchased a total of 4 properties over the course of 6 years-now that’s truly the markings of a guru. His claim was that he had been personally investing in Florida foreclosure auctions for 15 years and through his Florida Corporation for 5 years. FYI-He needs a better story such as I have invested in Florida reale estate for centuries but all of my transactions are through a trust and my name is not on the trust and the funds I draw from the trust go into my sister-in-laws name and I own a business but I am not a owner, agent, officer, member and I hold no stock in the company, it’s in my step sons name.

By The Way, I’m no guru, I’m not flashy and I’m not a marketer. When real estate investing is new to you, it is hard to obtain accurate info. If you have the desire to learn and invest in Florida real estate I have approximately 130 free pages and of the millions of US sites on the internet this is the only one where you will actually learn for free. Here’s a short tutorial on using county official records to be a pre foreclosure finder.
floridataxsale-foreclosure-info.com