I have a small portfolio of 4 land parcels in Jackson, Lawrence & Piatt Counties, IL — acquired through tax auction, one in a Federal Opportunity Zone. Looking to connect with anyone actively investing in that area or nearby (Indiana, Missouri investors welcome too). Happy to share details if you're interested in land in that region.
@Deven Mykel Bigger Pockets is more of a national website. You might get some people who comment on your post here but I would highly suggest going to Facebook and asking this same question in some of the Illinois Real Estate Investor Group pages. There are several and those have THOUSANDS of local people in them. You might get a little more of what you are looking for in those.
@Deven Mykel — you're already ahead of most people on this forum. While everyone here is asking "how do I find deals?" you already bought 4 parcels at tax auction. The county handed you the deals through the tax sale process.
Here's something that might help you underwrite those parcels or find more in those counties: layer the tax auction data with the other county databases most investors ignore.
Jackson County (Carbondale area): The Tax Collector has delinquent tax lists BEFORE they go to auction — that's your pipeline of future tax sale parcels. Code Enforcement documents violations with dollar-amount repair estimates, which helps you underwrite what each parcel actually needs beyond just the tax bid.
Lawrence and Piatt are smaller rural counties, which actually works in your favor — less competition at auction, and the county records are easier to pull because fewer investors are digging through them. Piatt County (Monticello) is tiny enough that you can probably walk into the courthouse and get a full picture of distressed properties in one afternoon.
The Opportunity Zone parcel is interesting. Have you cross-referenced it with the county's code enforcement records for adjacent parcels? If there are documented violations on neighboring properties, that tells you where neighborhood distress is concentrated — which helps you figure out the highest-and-best-use for your OZ parcel. An OZ designation is nice, but OZ + documented county data on surrounding distress = a much stronger underwriting story for when you sell to a developer.
Andrew's right about Facebook groups for finding buyers. But here's the flip side: when you DO find buyers, having county-data-backed underwriting (not just "it's in an OZ") is what separates a $5K land flip from a $15K one. Buyers pay more when you can show them documented county data instead of just a parcel number.