When a tax delinquent owner calls you, there are a few questions you have to ask them, especially when you already have them on the line.  It is obvious you have to know who they are and why they are calling you. If they fail to be detailed about which property they are talking about for you to distinguish which one they own, go ahead and ask them, it’s perfectly fine to do that. Secondly, you ask for the state where the property is located in.  Another important question you have to ask is the county where the property is located in. These are the basic things that you will need to properly identify their property. Of all the letters you have sent out expressing your interest, I am quite sure it would be difficult to know right away which property they are speaking of unless you ask these basic questions. The data you collect straight from the owner is the data you will be encoding into your spreadsheet records in Microsoft Excel.

            Remember that it would always be ideal to talk to the actual owner of the Tax Delinquent property. Not a relative or a friend because they could mix up things and create confusion in your recorded spreadsheet. You also need to confirm their address. If the seller has moved away and the letter was mailed to an old address and went through a mail forwarding process, it would take weeks to get to them or even might be returned to you by the post. Knowing their current mailing address will help in speeding things up in the Tax Delinquent Investment business.

            Ever heard about snow birds? That’s another thing you have to be aware of. These people are from the upper states where it gets really cold in the winter. They come to live down south to spend their winters there to avoid the frostbitten weather.  Then during the springtime, they go back up to their northern residences. Believe it or not, the county office has a record of them. You should probably keep a record of them as well. You might want to send them a letter at some point and you could be sending the letter to their northern address during the winter. They won’t get it until they come back in the spring. At that point, someone has beaten you to that Tax Delinquent Investment property. When you have a property delinquent over the phone make sure you clarify it with them where they would like you to send them the offer to, or ask them if they have another residence they stay at during winter months.

            Towards the end of the phone conversation, you might want to ask them: “How many properties are we talking about?”  Is this the only property they want to let go of for taxes or do they have more properties they want to add to their list?” You never know, they might just give you a list of properties they are willing to unload. This would be a jackpot for the Tax Delinquent Investor, YOU.

            Before you let them go, or hang up the phone, try to sneak in a little question regarding their Tax Delinquent property. Try to find out if they happen to know how much they owe in back taxes. If you get them to answer this tiny little question then it would cut your work for you in trying to estimate how much you would offer for this property. Knowing what questions to ask a tax delinquent will help you reduce the amount of time you have to spend in hard research. You have them on the phone and they can practically hand you pertinent information on a silver platter. Tax Delinquent Investing is like riding a bike. If you learn and master the basics, then you’ll never have to worry about falling off.

In Tax Delinquent Investment, it is important to find out if a certain property you are looking to invest in has access to a road. How would you be able to get to your property if you couldn’t find a way to get there? Road access according to Gloucestershire County council means, roads, which serve limited properties carrying only access traffic. In rural areas these roads serve small settlements and provide access to individual properties and undeveloped land. In urban areas they are often residential loop roads.

            This road access is important to know if you are dealing with land properties. This should be asked from the sellers or the seller’s realtors. Why? These can be a point of reference for the value of the property and a price you will offer the seller. You should ask the seller if the road is either paved or unpaved. You should also find out if there is electricity available in the area, if not how far is the nearest power poll from the property.

            One of the benefits of knowing if the road is paved, with electricity and is owned for over 30 to 40 years is that you the property will undoubtedly appraise higher. You could also forecast how much you can sell this property for in the future. It is indeed like a gem in your hands.

            When you find out that the road access to their property, then you know that in the Tax Delinquent Investment business, this is a good find. You are in the business of buying low and selling fast at close to market value. Although, not having road access might bring the price of the Tax Delinquent Property way low, the selling price would also not be so profitable. This might not be well suited for your investment goals.

            A prime property model you should consider to add to you Tax delinquent Investment portfolio is that the property should have the 3 basic necessities: Road Access, Electricity and water source. With these three complete amenities, you are sure to get rid of your investment in no time for a hefty profit. Your Tax Delinquent Investment property will be equipped with the essentials for selling fast and big time profits.

In the Tax Delinquent Investment Business, you might want to start investing in a diversified market. When you find a property you are interested and when you already have the time to talk with the seller of a property, one thing that you should need to ask them is: If the property is free and clear. This is important because in here you will have the idea if there are current mortgages owed or none. You might just get to know how much taxes are owed or mortgage balance left in the property. Sometimes, they tell you the amount right up front.

            In a case where a seller tells you that they owe $60,000 on to a mortgage, you will know if that property will work towards your financial goals in your tax delinquent investment business or not. In most cases, it might just be too big of an amount to make an offer to the tax delinquent owner. Basically, you need to scratch that property off from your list. But, you can still research on that property. There is always the possibility that prices have exploded in a certain area. In some cases what you have paid $60,000 for, two years ago is now worth $200,000 in which case a $60,000 mortgage would have still made you profit.  Nevertheless, we are in the business of buying low and selling fast to make a profit, so a lengthy wait would not work towards our financial goals.

            Generally speaking, knowing what kind of debt a certain property has, during your research and conversation with the seller, tells you if you have a deal or no deal.   Usually in the price range that you are looking to invest in your Tax Delinquent Investment business, most properties that you deal with, will be owned free and clear.   If they are not, there are ways of dealing with the escrow of that specific property. 

If a property does have a mortgage and you still determine it to be a great deal, remember to get an authorization from the seller to talk to the mortgage company to verify the exact mortgage amount outstanding.  That is a one page form, a very simple form which you can use to verify what they are telling you.  The next thing to do is fax it to the mortgage company. They are now obliged to tell you how much the mortgage is because you have the authorization letter now. However, you do not need to do this until you have the property under contract.

            To know if a certain transaction is a Deal or No Deal, you have to know all dimensions that are related to that property. Not only do you have to know certain physical details regarding the property, you also need to find out the financial standing of your prospective Tax Delinquent Investment.

Research is a vital part to your Tax Delinquent Investment Business. You would have to search for these properties in many different ways. Making use of today’s internet technology can help you save time and effort. And since time is Gold, saving it would definitely promise a bigger fortune. After looking through properties online and narrowing them down based on your preferences, you want to see how the property looks not just up close on picture but to see what surrounds that property, REALLY.

Location is a factor to consider in sell real-estate and it so researching this aspect is pretty beneficial and important. The surrounding tells a lot about a property, how accessible it is, how near is it to commercial areas and other facilities. Also, where the property is exactly situated. Now, it’s easy to say, “ill check out the place myself”, but it’s really is not considering you got 5 or 4 top picks to physically visit at the same time. That could turn out time consuming. There’s time needed to drive off to the place and of course you got to spend on gas. If you don’t have the luxury of time to drive off scouting or inspecting for properties, you can still get to have a view of your prospective Tax Delinquent Investment Properties through the internet.

Here is when Google Earth comes in handy. Download the free software and key in the address or GPS of your prospective property on its address bar. The globe would zoom in to that area until you could see an aerial view of the property you picked. You can move from all directions, left, right, up, down so you can see how much there is that the property is being surrounded of. From that angle you can see the terrain, the surrounding infrastructures and most roads. Although nothing beats the real deal of looking at the area itself, this online inspection comes in handy if you want to know for sure if the area is worth your time and of course your money.

After a few views on your prospects, you’ve finally narrowed your list to ones you can visit, if you have to. Since you’ve viewed the surroundings of the property, its pretty much easier now getting to the area. You can use Delorme, Mapquest, Googlemaps or Yahoomaps to get driving directions and see your future investment for yourself.

Now the time you saved in gas and actually driving, scouting..etc, can be used for a better purpose, like counting your earnings. Today, you can have access to so much information through the internet, it is as if the Earth is literally at your fingertips. The sooner you integrate technology into your business the sooner your Tax Delinquent Investment will profit in the future.

In the Tax Delinquent Investment business, if you’re interested in buying tax delinquent properties, you should speak with each seller first and get to FEEL him or her out and see what his or her motivations are.  As a result, from the initial List of prospects you have, you can discard a lot of sellers right away, because they are not motivated. At the same time you can identify the sellers who are really, really motivated and just want to get rid off their properties. This will let you determine, which Tax Delinquent Property owner to focus on.

When you speak to a tax delinquent property owner, you will hear a bunch of different responses and from those you can probably decipher to find out if they are motivated to sell or not. People who are usually not that motivated are those who would say, “I bought it 2 years ago.  I paid market price for it, but if you give me the right price I’ll sell it to you”. While people who are more than willing to let go and rid off their properties, they will literally tell you that they don’t need or want it anymore and may say things like “I inherited the property and since then the taxes have been raise on me every year, I have never even seen the property.” Now, this type of rhetoric is your green light.

Personally, I would offer only to those who just want to get rid of their properties. It means I don’t have to offer as much money to such a person as I have to offer to somebody who is on the fence and say, “If the offer is good, I’ll sell it.  But, I don’t really need to sell it.  I’m not really motivated.” You can still try to offer them something if you like, since that person never specifically gave you a number they imagined to let go of their property. Of course, then there is also a case when somebody says, “I bought it two years ago.  I want $150,000 for it.  If you don’t want to pay me at least that, don’t make me an offer”.  In that case, you know that you don’t have to even make that person an offer.  There will be in so much more delinquencies out there that wasting your time of such properties is not advisable. You might not make an offer now, but you could possible be making an offer to them in the future, so make sure you are polite about saying No, Thank you. That saves you an envelope, and it saves you postage. It saves you Time and Make you more profit.  You don’t have to spend money on them if they’re not motivated.  That’s what I mean that I can adjust my offer based on what my FEELING is from talking to the seller.

Feeling the Motivation Vibe is a talent in itself that you will get to develop as time progresses. The sooner you sharpen this skill and use it to your advantage the brighter your Tax Delinquent Investment future will look. There are signs that you can decipher to know this during and after you have spoken to your prospect. Use at and you will succeed in this business.

Taking everything carefully like an infant learning to walk is very helpful in giving you clarity with your intentions. Having a more realistic, attainable set of goals is your primary responsibility before hitting the large scale. Meaning to say, you need to be specific with the location of where you plan to invest in before you do a research study on a certain county. That will practically save you time, effort and legwork in achieving your ultimate goal – and, that is a good deal with a tax delinquent property owner. Being focused is the key to reach the ultimate goal in tax delinquent investment. You need to be specific with your intentions and your purpose as to why you want to purchase or invest in such property.

In addition, you have to pick one specific county instead of different delinquent properties all over the state. With this attitude, you become more specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bounded. You begin to research about the area, the property value within that specific county. From that perspective, you can make a decent offer to the property owner. If you have done your research carefully, you would give an offer that is just right instead of wasting your financial resources by over shooting the offer price.  You don’t need to look beyond but instead, take baby steps before reaching or hitting the whole state. You become more rational and practical at the same time if you do it. The more experienced you are in one area the better you would get in mastering certain strategies in that area and more chances that you would be successful in tax delinquent investments, in general.

In conclusion, you need to be careful to climb the ladder of success in tax delinquent investment. You have to be more practical and specific in which areas you intend to crash into first to save you more time, money and effort. Being more practical is helpful especially when you are new in the business to further formulate more realistic goals. If you go up too fast you might slip and fall hard. Take the baby steps and from there you’ll know you will definitely get to the top.

It is just annoying to receive phone calls from people who do not know what they are talking about. Or, not being able to speak with the suitable person you are trying to get a hold of. It just turns out to be useless and a waste of time.

Practicing proper courtesy when receiving or making a phone call is essential in any transaction in the Tax Delinquent Investment business. It is ideal and important that you attend to each phone call you receive. But if circumstance won’t allow it, you better switch your voicemail of I actually use software that allows me to make every single one of my callers feel attended to even if I can’t personal pick up the phone. Key thing is, if you happen to be in a position to take phone calls, then always try to take it. If you missed a phone call and you retrieve it via your voicemail, call them right back. If you happen to have a hectic day with very minimal time to answer calls make sure to check your messages once you’re available and phone them back. Chances are, if the calls are still fresh, say 5 to 10 minutes old, then they might still be available. If they’re unavailable, make sure you leave them a voicemail they can understand easily. Contacting them the soonest possible time wouldn’t give them a chance to jeopardize their interest with your offer and willingness to sell the property. This is very important in Tax Delinquent Investments. Strike while the iron is hot. You wouldn’t want to play cat and mouse with a prospective seller. Time is of an essence.

You maximize the efficiency of making phone calls by making sure that you get in touch with them the soonest possible time. While phones are one of the best communication tools in this business, technology has given us another powerful tool. Email. It might be best to also get a hold of your seller’s email address, especially if you have been unsuccessful in contacting them by phone. This will really help you get hold of them. It can be powerful when you need to get some clarifications and verifications. Phone calls are personal and turns a seller into a business contact, if done right. It actually makes your life easier. All you need to do is to practice and in no time you’ll be at tiptop performance when phoning prospective sellers. Enhancing your skill to develop this is all to your advantage. Being courteous and diligent in the Tax Delinquent Investment business can take you a long way and eventually can lead you to success.