All Forum Posts by: Paul Spangler

I'm live in the Tigard area and I've been thinking about getting started in real estate investing as well. For those that already invest around the Portland area, how much of a discount are you looking to buy at? I've been running some numbers and most of the properties around my area are $220k+. It seems like a tough market to buy and hold and not end up with a negative cash flow. Any tips for a newbie?

I live in Portland, OR, which is a tax deed state, and the nearest tax lien states to me are Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona.  Right now I only have around $7k to invest, so I don't really want to spend the money to travel to go to a live auction, because the travel expenses would eat a lot of my profit unless a property doesn't redeem, which is somewhat unlikely.  That leaves me with investing in over the counter (aka assignment purchasing, struck liens, whatever the county calls it) or attending an online auction.  I know that AZ, CO, and FL do online auctions but I'm not sure what the competition looks like for those and I want my return to be as high as possible.  I'm also struggling with the question of whether I should go the tax lien route or if I should just try to put my money towards a buy and hold property instead.  How have people been doing with remote tax lien/deed investing?

Note: I've done quite a bit of research on tax liens and deeds through some of the products that the US Tax Lien Association offers, so I feel confident that I have a good basic knowledge around tax liens and deeds, and my next step is to focus on specific states and counties and start learning the specifics.

Hi there BP Community. My name is Paul and I'm from the Portland, Oregon area. I am brand new to REI, so new that I haven't ever purchased a property yet (even for myself). What I do know is that real estate is something that fascinates me because there are so many ways to get involved in it. My goal for right now is to just get started and figure out what my options are for purchasing my first investment property. The prices around the Portland area are fairly high, so the 2% rule and even the 1% rule seem like they would take a miracle deal to make happen, but I'm ready to be proved wrong. I'm also super interested in tax liens and deed, but unfortunately for me Oregon is a tax deed state (and a crappy one at that from what I understand) so it looks like I may have to think outside of the box and start investing outside of my local area, or even my state. I'm looking forward to chatting with everyone and starting my journey to financial freedom through real estate!

Tax liens can provide some great ROI, with some states over 15% annually and some even over 20%, but are tax liens worth the time and energy unless you plan on dumping $10k+ into them? I'm trying to get started in real estate investing and I can't decide if I should put my money into tax liens or try to buy and hold a rental for cash flow. I don't have a whole lot of money to get started, only about $7k cash right now. I listened to the podcast about tax liens and I've done quite a bit of research on them, so I'm just wondering how well the tax lien strategy has been working for people.

Some of the properties with a lot of equity could be there because the owner passed away and no one has been paying the bills, or they are rentals and the owner hasn't been paying property taxes for whatever reason, probably just unorganized. Either way, the county wants it back on the tax roll so go ahead and grab the lien/deed as long as it's not a complete piece of trash. Do your research and every now and then you find a gem.

Check out taxtitleservices.com. They specialize in performing quiet title actions on deeds won through tax lien or deed sales. Georgia is on the list of states they operate in. Their pricing seems fairly reasonable too. They come highly recommended by the US Tax Lien Association (training program for people interested in tax liens and deeds).