All Forum Posts by: Bruce Lynn

Quote from @Chad U.:

But aren't you at risk that it sells for the minimum bid of $67,000, all that goes to the taxing entity and you get wiped out?

Different perspective...... One thing I would ask, is does the law office represent you or are they only transactional, assisting you with paperwork?  Big difference.

Who saves the commission, you or the seller?  You don't both get to save it?

Sometimes these deals are easy and smooth and everyone agrees, nice, and friendly, and then sometimes when they look easy, they end up way more complicated.  I see stuff like this occasionally and always seems like way more to the story.   Husband died without a will, had 3 kids from a prior marriage, wife thinks she owns the house 100% and will get 100% of the proceeds.   She didn't understand that the kids also have to sign and get 1/2 the money potentially.  They can't or won't sell because they won't net enough money or what they thought or are upside down.  They forgot they haven't paid taxes in 5 years,  They forgot they got a big insurance check, but didn't do the repairs, so now you can't get insurance.  They're behind on the mortgage by a year and owe all kinds of extra fees that will make them upside down.  Plenty of times $ are not in the contract...so when you agree with the seller for sale of $300,000, they think that is what they are netting, when there could be charges of title insurance, surveys, lender required repairs, prorated taxes, escrow fees, etc.  So they get miffed when the $300,000 is not $300,000 and maybe just refuse to close.   Stuff like this and 1000 other reasons are why 70% of the wholesale deals that get to title don't close.   You have to spend some time thinking about that.  Why don't they close?

When/if you run up against stuff like this, check to see what kind of consultation fees your attorney has to resolve them and see if you think it is worth the risk vs having your realtor resolve many potential issues for you.  Every location is a little different in this regard.  If the attorney represents you ask them for their professional advice or what risks you face?

I can tell you that if my mom, grandmom, or my daughter called me and said they were going to do this on their own, and their experience is 2-3 transactions, I would advise against it.  

Of course it might go totally smoothly with no hiccups and everyone is totally happy in the end and someone either you or the seller save a small amount of money on commissions.  However the savings come with increased risk and most people are just horrible estimating the costs of risk.  This probably especially true when a home purchase for most people will be one of the biggest investments they will make.

@Chris Seveney  WOW did you get the whole overage, or just your payoff?   Didn't the authorities notify of the sale?  If it went to the tax sale, why didn't you as the noteholder get wiped out?

Quote from @Don McAlpine:

Hi Julia - I'm a tax lien and deed investor in the Austin area and frequently attend the Bexar, Williamson, and Travis County auctions.  PM me if you'd like to chat.

I've never been to Travis County or Bexar County.  How do you feel like the auctions go?  Is there a lot of people that show up?  Is bidding crazy?  Any deals, or are they mostly close to retail pricing?

Honestly I don't see the disconnect.  Is your broker prohibiting you from working with investors?  That seems strange to me.

If you want to work with investors go after it.  You find investors that want to sell, you find some that want to buy.  Listings are better.  List to last.

In what ways of your broker's business operating and generating business is not compliant with the niche you want to go after?

There may be some shady things that your broker does not want you to do and probably rightly so.  Those probably aren't really investment activities anyway.  But that is not where your money will be anyway.  That's chump stuff.  

Who are the top 10 investors in your city or market?  Have you called them?  Have you met them?  Have you taken them to breakfast or lunch?   Are they buying more property, or selling more than they are buying?  Who are #11-20 and #s21-30.   Does your broker prohibit you from calling them, meeting with them, selling their properties?

My thought is don't focus on new investors, focus on existing ones who are selling or buying more property.  While everyone has to start somewhere, too many first time investors will waste your time, when you think they are serious, and never buy a property.  There's probably stats somewhere on BP or around, but the average number of investment properties people own is very low.  So that is tough to get repeat business from 1st time investors.  Go where the money is.  Then if you want to pick up a first time investor buyer and show them the ropes of the most successful long term investors in your market you can share your time and expertise now and then.

Ok...Texas....just a few thoughts.

OTC is mostly trash.  Now and then you can find a gem, but we don't really have a lot of OTC for the most part and what there is mostly is stuff no one wanted at the sale.  That's the flood zone stuff, or stuff where value is less than what is owed, or maybe partials, land locked, drainage ditches, stuff like that.  I'll bet you would dig thru 1000 properties if there are that many to find a decent OTC deal in Texas.  Sales are well attended by good buyers for the most part and the good stuff typically will sell at auction.

In Texas you pretty much need to be available to attend the sales in person on Tuesdays.  You pay same day, same hour, or even in some places like Dallas county the same minute you buy in CASH or cashier's checks.  So no loans possible typically.  Every location a little different as to how they want payment, who it goes to, and when, but general rule is same day. Most sales in person.  Texas allows online sales now, but not many places doing it. Burnet county near you seems to have put some lots online for auction, kind of as a test it seems.

No one redeems in my experience so the 25-50% rule is a bit of a myth.  Can happen, but pretty rare.  When you win, chances are you will get the property.  Typically you will need to hold for 2 years before reselling. Forget the 6month idea, nearly impossible to sell before holding for 2 years.

That's some of the basics.

You've probably got some good counties around you to try.   I've never been to Travis or Bexar county sales, but imagine there is a lot of competition and money there.  I have seen some properties that looked good in Kerr county the past couple of years, but chose to go to other sales instead.

Letting us know where you are or where you plan to invest is probably the first step.

Why tax liens/deeds?

Why OTC?

My advice is don't take any national road tour class.  They are excellent at making you run to the back of the room and pay $5000-$10000-$25,000 for training that won't be applicable to your area.  They'll also want to sell you a software subscription you will never use.

Learn from someone that actually invests in your area of interest. This type of investing is often very local. So go find that local person who teaches cheap classes, or provides a 1hr overview at a local REIA.

Read the book the 16% solution for a general overview of concepts and ideas.

Congratulations on deciding to get your license. We may have a free course option for you, if you are willing to do it online and at your own pace.  Basically read the books and take the test.  That may or may not be a good option for you.  Maybe worth a shot, before you pay for a course.  Use that as your backup plan.

There are probably more investor agents at Keller Williams than any other brokerage.  KW wrote the books for example Millionaire Real Estate Investor, the book HOLD, and the book FLIP.  All great books if you haven't read them, and while they were published a few years ago, still awesome to read and understand and will also help you with working with investors.  They also make great closing gifts.   At any brokerage you should get to choose who you work with or what niche you fill.   This business and the investment knowledge probably won't drop in your lap at KW or even any other brokerage.  You have to network, and listen, and show up at the right places, at the right time, seek out the right people, put yourself in the right positions.  They may not be in your office or even in your city and they may not jump up and down, saying look at me, look at what I've done.  Some do, but you may also have to dig some.

Probably our closest office to you is Litchfield and McDowell.

Are you trying to buy the land from an individual seller who has not paid IRS or property taxes?

That's probably the main question.  If YES, then you are probably not going to be able to negotiate the IRS lien.  Seller would need to do that.  I'm guessing if they have not done it already, probably not going to happen.  As for property taxes, I won't say it hasn't ever happened, but I would think on most properties it would be very unlikely to negotiate those to a discount by the original seller.  It's either pay up, or at some point they foreclose.  If it is some kind of big deal like it is an old metal barn eyesore on a downtown city block undergoing revitalization and you're going to build a $10mil apartment building on it, if you can get the land...hey hey maybe the powers that be might negotiate something with you, with perhaps a promise you won't fight value for 10 years or something like that.  If it is brownfield and you're going to clean it up, they might talk.

If it is just kind of a run of the mill deal, I don't think you get any break on taxes.  IRS seller might need to ask for some kind of settlement and compromise or get an a tax attorney to assist in negotiations.

Is the IRS and property tax lien more than you want to pay for the property?

Tell us more.

Well DFW is meetup central with lots of ways to learn more about real estate.

DFW Investor Groups

Please note I am not affiliated in any way with any of the groups other than that I have attended some of their meetings/presentations. Many groups during Covid have switched to online only or a combination of online/in person events. Many now getting back to live events. These groups are often in flux about where they meet, when they meet, how often they meet, so this is meant to be a general resource.

NTAREI- https://ntarei.com/ Normally meets about 2x a month in North Dallas at the Holiday Inn at Preston and LBJ NE corner. Some vendors present. Probably 20-120 in attendance depending on the topic. Meeting is normally on Thursday nights, occasionally on Tuesdays, and some full day Saturday seminars. Could be in person or online. Organizer is Roger.

Texas Tuesday DFW Real Estate Mastermind- https://ttdfwrem.com/ Has met 1st or 2nd Tuesday of the month Venue has changed cities and locations several times, but seems to be currently meeting in Ft. Worth. Great energy with this group. Tends to attract a younger /trendy crowd. Location could change. Used to be on 1st Tuesday of the month, but has occasionally met on different days. Tends to attract a younger /trendy crowd. Sometimes they will record for youtube.

1REClub- http://jimmyvreed.com/network/... Fort Worth based with the organizer Jimmy Reed. Traditionally has met at Best Western Suites, 2000 Beach St., Fort Worth, Texas 76103 on Thursday nights.

DFW REI Club – dfwreiclub.com – Meets about 2x-4x month, normally on Saturday morning from about 9am-12noon at Manhattan Plaza 6850 Manhattan Blvd, Suite 205 Fort Worth, TX 76120. Seems like about 20-50 people present when I have attended. , Organizer is Robin Carriger...super nice and knowledgeable guy.

IMPACT LIVE- www.impactreievents.com Meets about once a month in various places around Grapevine, Denton. Latest venue has been Dave and Busters in Euless Typically on the 4th Monday of the month in the evening about 6pm for networking and 7pm for training. Organizer is Sherry Patterson. I’ve been and there was a great group of people there...about 40 or so and a handful of vendors. May have other locations as well.

IMPACT Live Arlington- https://www.meetup.com/impactarlington/ Dennis Henson’s original group in a new form.

Novice Investors Club was Texas Investors Club- https://www.meetup.com/novicereiclub - Meets several times a month in Carrollton or Grapevine. Organizer is Michelle Landry.

Dallas and Ft. Worth REIG- https://www.dallasreig.com Organizer is Joe Boston. This has been a popular group for a very long time. Mostly meets on Saturday mornings.

Lifestyles Unlimited - https://lifestylesunlimited.co... - a membership only group but certainly adds lots of value for their members. There can be big costs to join this group, but if you follow the system and need a lot of mentorship, it might be worth the investment. Nice way to move up into syndications once you have a nice capital reserve.

Quest - https://www.questtrustcompany.... Meets about 1-2x per month. Often on Wednesdays at 12noon. Specializing in how to use your investment accounts to invest. So get your 401k and HSA and other self directed accounts ready. Plenty of online meetings as well.

MLSIQ- https://realestateiq.co/ meets mostly online right now 1x month. Variety of topics with different experts. Good mix of experienced and new investors and a variety of strategies.

West DFW REI Group- https://www.westdfwreigroup.com/ Check their online calendar for meeting times. Some Tues/Thurs/Saturdays.

REI Connections DFW- https://www.facebook.com/groups/172353131007199 Meets 1st Saturday of the month 8am.

The Dallas Event- https://www.instagram.com/theeventpresents/ Several times a year...normally 5pm-till close. Virgin Hotel. Great speakers..plenty of networking.

Total Wealth Academy- https://totalwealthacademy.com/ Houston based group. Former Lifestyles trainer Steve Davis has started this and has some Dallas trainings and meetings periodically. Full day class was probably one of the best I’ve seen and great value.

Roddy Round Up- https://roddy.com/roddy-event/ Occasionally back in action after a few years of hiatus. Currently meeting in Flower Mound about 2x/year. Organizer is Curtis Roddy.

Richard Helppie-Schmieder Group Saturday mornings 2x month at 8am sometimes in Carrollton, sometimes at projects in progress. See Richards link on BP.

Texas Tuesday Mastermind and Party. 1st Tuesday of the month in Fort Worth and Dallas. https://www.facebook.com/texastuesdaydfwremastermind/

Xcelerate. Wednesday at Palace Theater in Grapevine, 5pm 1x a month. Check eventbrite for tickets.

TIP Real Estate Investors Network & Mastermind. Meets in Addison, various weeknites normally about 6pm. Occasionally at 12noon. Juan Carlos is the organizer. Find them and the latest schedule on Meetup.

LARGE Multi-family- Look up Brad Sumrok, Kenny Wolfe, Aaron Katz, Emily Courtright, Jorge Abreau, and Dawn Keller. They all have meetups about 1x month in various locations. Saturday is popular, but some lunches and dinners as well. I’ll detail these out at some point.