Cool Calls

11 Jul Cool Calls

You: Can I ask for the list of real property delinquents?

County Employee: Sorry, sir, but we don’t have that here.

You: But dose your office know who has not paid their property taxes?

County Employee: Yes

You: Great! Who identifies them?

County Employee: It’s Nancy, not me.

You: Who is Nancy?

County Employee: She is in charge in sending mails to those who are tax delinquent.

You: Great! Thank you, can you transfer me to her?

This is just one of the many ways to get a list of real property delinquents, which is a must-document to start tax delinquent investing. It is called probing. Probing is an investigative technique that throws series of question that may lead you to the desired answer. Use it when your respondent do not understand or simply do not know you are asking. The situation is often detectable in counties.

When you call or visit the county and ask for a list of all properties with back taxes or delinquency, county employees often may not understand you or may give you the wrong list. On occasions, they may give you a quick excuse to look strenuously for the list by saying, “we do not have such a list.” Sometimes, these county employees just look at you and say, “sorry, we do not have them” or “they are not delinquents anymore because we already have collected payments.”

County employees are often unmotivated to fulfill any tasks that are out of the norm. They often are just in the county to receive monthly salary. Just probe a little and be courteous and you will get through to the right person in the county that will help you find the proper list. The process is not 1 strike. You usually have to get through 3-5 people before finding the right person. Find the I.T. guy or recorder or in-charge of property delinquents and you’ve hit gold.